Transition of Libya from an Authoritarian Regime to a Democracy Paper
Outline: It should be a one or two page summary, in outline form, of what your argument will be and how you intend to make it. In addition, it should include a proposed bibliography, which contains at least three academic sources (I will explain more about sources below). I will review the outlines and return them with comments and suggestions to help guide your research.
Length: The text of the paper, not including title page, bibliography and notes must not exceed seven double-spaced pages. I will not grade a paper of more than seven pages. The paper must have one-inch margins and be a standard 12-point font such as Times New Roman. I will not grade papers that use small fonts and margins to stay within the seven-page maximum. Style: The paper should have footnotes or endnotes. If you are in doubt about whether a citation should be given for a particular statement, err on the side of using the footnote. Remember, anytime that you quote, paraphrase or use data from a source, the source must be cited. The paper should also have a bibliography. If you do not know the proper form for footnotes, endnotes, and/or bibliography entries, consult a stylebook, such as the Chicago Manual of Style. Proper spelling and grammar is important. Numerous errors indicate to me that you do not care enough about this assignment to produce a quality product. Sources: The paper should use at least three “academic” sources. By academic sources, I mean articles in scholarly journals (such as the Journal of Democracy or Comparative Politics), or books or monographs that are written from an academic perspective. I realize that this second category is vague. In general, a book written by a professor is an academic book, and a book written by a reporter is not an academic book (but there are exceptions). If you are not sure if a particular source falls in this category ask one of the Teaching Assistants or me. Due to the current nature of the events that this paper will address, it may be difficult to find academic sources (or any sources) on many countries. You should keep this fact in mind when you choose your country. On the other hand, materials written on a particular region of the world (such as the former Soviet Union) are acceptable. 14 In addition, the paper should be as current as possible. If a coup occurs in your country two weeks before the paper is due, the coup should be addressed in your paper. Sources for current information can include articles from newspapers and popular magazines. You should probably begin your search for sources of information with the library online catalog. It is set up so that both books and journal articles can be located, and searches can be conducted using keywords. In addition, access to the Nexis computer database is available in the library. Nexis is an excellent source for obtaining current information, but it requires some training and there are presently only two Nexis terminals in the library. Nevertheless, if you are interested, the library offers classes in Nexis. You may contact embassies and use the Web but be critical of your sources. Finally, the Teaching Assistants and I can offer suggestions for possible sources. General: This paper will examine a country that has made, or is making, a transition from an authoritarian regime to a democracy. You will discuss why the country is making that transition, what the problems are with that transition, how they could be overcome, and what the likelihood is that your country will emerge as a democracy. In order to do this you must define your terms. What is an “authoritarian regime”? What is a “democracy”? Do not look in the dictionary for a definition of democracy but you can use a definition of democracy written by a political scientist. Think about the variables that characterize democracies. In other words, ask yourself how a democratic regime can be distinguished from an authoritarian regime. The Third Wave by Samuel Huntington provides some useful ideas about evaluating whether a country is a democracy. Next, you must evaluate whether your country is, or is becoming, a democracy. Make this evaluation as a political scientist. Explain why your country was not democratic and why it made a transition toward democracy. What were the forces that promoted democracy and what forces threaten democracy? Use the theories from the readings and class discussions to evaluate how others would view your country, reach your own conclusions, and defend your conclusions against possible objections. If you make a well-reasoned argument, whether or not the professor agrees with your conclusions, you will get a better grade than if you just give the recent history of your country, or if you just state what Huntington would think. Finally, use your argument to predict what problems will emerge in the future and, ultimately, whether your country will make a successful transition to democracy. Countries: What follows is a list of countries to choose from. It is not a complete list, and, if you want to write about a country that is not on this list, discuss it with me. You may not write about a country that we have studied in class. Also, keep in mind that the countries on this list may or may not be democracies or in transition to democracy. That is a question that you must address in your paper: 15 Albania Afghanistan Algeria Argentina Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Burma Chile Colombia Côte d’Ivoire Croatia Czech Republic Egypt Ethiopia El Salvador Eritrea Estonia Georgia Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea -Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary Indonesia Kazakhstan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lebanon Libya Lithuania Mali Mexico Moldova Mongolia Namibia Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Pakistan Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Sierra Leone Slovakia Slovenia South Korea Spain Syria Tajikistan Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine Uruguay Uzbekistan Venezuela Yugoslavia Zimbabwe
