M.A. in Political Science

Representative Samples of Comprehensive Exam Questions in Political Theory

The following selected questions appeared on the Political Theory Comprehensive Exams between 1989 and 1997.  They are presented in the same schema as the exam itself.  The exam is formatted virtually identically to the MA Reading List for Political Theory. 

Use these questions to practice your answers and general prepare for the exam.  The questions below are NOT the exam questions which may appear on the exam when you enroll for it.  However, they are representative of the types of subject matters covered and the style of questions asked. 

I. The Nature of Theory

A. What is so difficult about establishing empirical concepts in political science?  In your answer discuss 1) essentialism, 2) nominalism 3) operational definitions, 4) validity, and 5) reliability.  Use specific examples to illustrate your answer. 

B. Those who are against the scientific study of politics have argued that this type of study is 1) logically impossible, 2)practically difficult, and 3) normatively undesirable.  Give specific and detailed examples of each of these three arguments as well as specific and detailed arguments criticizing each of these views. 

C. "The difference between instrumental political theory and normative political theory is that the former totally ignores values and the latter totally ignores facts."  Agree or disagree in whole or part with this statement.  Explain in detail. 

D. According to Easton, what should be the focus of political science?  Why?  In your answer explain why he rejects power and the state as orienting concepts and then explain what virtues and limitations he sees for his own. 

E. Thomas Kuhn writes only about the history of natural sciences, but political scientists are fascinated by his arguments.  What are the major concepts Kuhn uses to discuss science and how are these conceptions relevant to our understanding of political science? 

F. Some scholars have argued that politics cannot be studied scientifically.  Why do they take this position?  Explain.  How can their arguments be rebutted? Explain. 

G. Western social scientists have found that when democracy ios defined in temrs of competitive politics, capitalism is a necessary condition for the establishment of stable democratic regimes.  In other words, no democracies exist in socieites without a market system economy.  Given the validity of this relationship, is it scientifically proper for American economists and political scientists to tell Russian and eastern European leaders seeking to introduce western style democacy in their countries tha they ought to institute market economies?  Why or why not?  Discuss this fully in terms of the distinctions between normative and instrumental theory. 

H. Before Kuhn, the conventional view of science focused on scientific method and the cumulative knowledge produced by reliance on this method.  How does Kunm challenge this view?  With what does he replace it?  How does this change affact those who want to study politics scientifically?  Explain. 

I. Defend the use of the methods of natural science to study politics. Your defense should be positive, but not uncritical. In other words, you should be clear about the limitations of a scientific approach to the study of politics as raised by relevant critics, but explain why the scientific approach is valuable despite these limitations. 

J. What does Easton mean by orienting concepts? Why are they important? What examples does he use? What does he think is wrong with prior orienting concepts in the discipline? Why? How does he propose to solve these problems? 

K. On the basis of what you have read about Kuhn's view of science, do you think he would say that political science is really a science? Why or why not? If you argue that he would call political science a science, describe what kind of science he would call it and explain your position fully. If you argue that he would not call political science a science, explain your position fully. Whatever conclusion you draw, be sure to explain the implications of your position for those who want to scientifically study politics in the future.  

A. The idea of the "community" or "body politic" in Western political theory has been a concept which has shaped the notions of purpose and power from the Greeks through the early  20th century theorists.  Identify the varying concepts of the "community" or "body politic"  developed in different epochs of Western political thought and the thinkers identified with these concepts.  Discuss. 

B. Trace the development of the concept of Natural Law from the Stoics and Romans, through its role in Medieval, Scholastic political theology, to its secularization, to the refocusing of its content on individual rights, to its incorporation in Enlightenment concepts of the "laws of nature" and the "market," to its virtual destruction as a philosophical construct by the 18th Century empiricists.  (Identify the philosophical contributors with the changes in this fundamental concept in political theory.) 

C. Describe how the individual became the focus of many, if not most, modern political theorists.  Does the selection of the individual as the fundamental unit of the political system affect the role and functions of society and the state in those theories?  Analyze,  explain, and discuss. 

D. Political theorists listed below are representative of the great political thinkers in Ancient, Medieval and Modern Western European political theory and in American Political Thought.  From each of a, b, c, and d, select ONE theorist.  Describe the basic components and structure of the political theory of each.  Compare and contrast these FOUR selections, identifying the similarities and differences in their theories. 


• a) Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas
• b) Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume
• c) Burke, Bentham, J. S. Mill, Marx, Nietsche
• d) Madison, John Adams, T. Jefferson, John Calhoun, H. D. Thoreau
  
  
E. Political theorists have developed something of a consensus on the great figures in Western European and American Political Theory. From the thinkers listed below, select four thinkers, one from each of a, b, c, and d.  Describe the basic components and  structure of their political theories. 
 
a) Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas 
b) Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume 
c) Burke, Bentham, J. S. Mill, Marx, Hegel 
d) Madison, John Adams, T. Jefferson, John Calhoun, Transcendentalists


F.  Those listed below are among the important but lesser figures in the history of Western and American political thought.  Identify four from a and two from b, and briefly describe their distinctive contributions to the evolution of political theory in Western Europe and the U.S. 
 
a) Sophists, The Stoics, Epicureans, Cynics, Cicero, Martin Luther, John Calvin, The Anabaptists, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos, Jean Bodin, Johannes Althusius, Hugo Grotius, The Levellers, James Harrington, Spinoza, Montesquieu, Physiocrats, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas R. Malthus, Herbert Spencer, Thomas Hill Green, Freud, Lenin, Max Weber, Roberto Michels. 

b) John Winthrop, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, The Federalist Papers, The Antifederalists, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Alexis De Tocqueville, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Margaret Fuller, Walt Whitman, Edward Bellamy,  Henry George, Lester Ward, William Graham Sumner, W. E. B. Dubois, Woodrow Wilson, Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, Walter Lippmann, John Kenneth Galbraith, Martin Luther King, Jr., C. Wright Mills, Robert A. Dahl. 


G. The emergence of the democratic nation-state in Western Europe was the probable cause and probable effect of the growth of ‘modern’ political theory.  Identify the key new contributions to political thought which became necessary to explain and justify the modern  democratic ‘nation-state.’  (Among those who should be mentioned are Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Bodin, Althusius, Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Mill, and Marx)  Begin by setting out what the theoretical requirements of the modern democratic nation-state.  Relate the contribution(s) of each theorists toward those theoretical requirements.  Discuss. 

H. Describe the similarities in the political theories of the following pairs: 

a. Aristotle and James Madison 
b. The Stoics and Thomas Jefferson 
c. Plato and John C. Calhoun
What are their main theoretical differences?  Discuss. 

I. The State, society, and human nature are central concepts in the history of Western political thought from ancient times to the present.  Select six major  western political theorists and describe their views of these fundamental concepts, the roles that the concepts play in their theories, and the ways in which the theorists justified those views.  Justify your selection of the six thinkers by reference to their roles in the development of Western political thought. 

J. What concepts were necessary to the emergence of modern social contract theory?  Identify the key thinkers in the development of social contract theory and describe their specific contributions to its development.  Which modern political theorists represent the most developed form of social contract theory?  Explain. 

K. Compare and contrast the theories of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx on individualism, community, private property, and the state. 

L. Identify the major theorists and describe their theories of the relationship between the State and Private Property.  Is there an historical development of ways of thinking on this issue?  Discuss. 

M. Select three political theorists from modern period and Plato and Aristotle to discuss the evolution of the concept of the 'nature of man.'  Make your selections on the basis of the significance of their contributions to the concept of the nature of humankind.  Describe and discuss the role of the concept of human nature in their theories.  Discuss. 

American Political Thought
N. Describe the political theories of the following: a. James Madison, b. John C. Calhoun, c. Henry David Thoreau, d. William Graham Sumner, e. Thorstein Veblen.  Why are these theorists important in American political thought? 

O. Though James Madison's writings form a semi-official justification of the U.S. Constitutional system, there are several very important theorists who have had fundamental disagreements with that theory.  Describe Madison's theory; then, describe the theories of  two thinkers who have substantially disagreed with that theory.  Discuss. 

P. Describe the major differing perspectives within American political thought.  Identify the theorists who developed these ideas.  Compare and contrast the major features of these theories.  Discuss. 

Q. Compare and contrast the political theories of the following: a. James Madison, b. John C. Calhoun, c. Henry David Thoreau, d. William G. Sumner or Ralph Waldo Emerson, e. John Dewey, f. Thorstein Veblen or Walter Lippmann or C. Wright Mills or Henry George. 

R. The role and function and the limitations of government have been contentious subjects from the founding of the American Republic.  Identify the major types of thought on these on these issues and describe the justifications of the major theorists of each type, regardless of the period of time in which their writings appeared.

A. Classical Political Thought

1. According to Plato’s Republic, is it possible to be a good person in a bad state?  Is it possible to be a bad person in a good state?  To answer these questions requires that you examine what goodness and badness are in both the individual and the state.  What is the relationship of these questions to justice?  Discuss. 

2. Why doesn't Plato agree with the argument that justice is something imposed by social convention and practiced as an unwelcome necessity?  Describe the elements of Plato's theory which constitute the major arguments (proof) that 'justice is not merely useful as bringing external rewards, but intrinsically good as an inward state of the soul, even though the just man be persecuted rather than rewarded.'

3. Describe Plato's theory of the psychology of human nature.  What is the relationship between human psychology and human society?  How did Plato use his psychology to set up his vision of the ideal society?  Describe the features of Aristotle's Polity, the virtues of each segments, and the main principles which govern its dynamics.  Compare and contrast Plato's ideal society with Aristotle's best practicable form (polity).  Discuss.

4. Plato's Republic is said to be the first work which explicitly ties human 'psychology' to the structure of society and the state and which directly ties morality and rectitude to that structure. Compare and contrast the features of Aristotle's vision of the best possible state (Polity) with Plato's morality-individual-society-state architecture in the Republic.  Be  specific in your  references, explaining 'why' the two are alike or different.  Discuss. 

5. Drawing upon Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and his Politics, discuss the question of whether it is better to be ruled by good men or good laws.  Is it possible to be a good person in a bad society?  If so, why?  If not, why not?  In answering these questions, develop the general theoretical concepts of both Plato and Aristotle and compare and contrast their theories and epistemologies. 

6. What is the meaning of ‘distributive justice’ in Aristotle’s political theory? Why is the "mean important? What does the form of government have to do with distributive justice?  In what form of government is distributive justice possible?  What purposes does the best possible form of government serve which the others cannot?  Discuss. 

7.  Describe the features of Aristotle's ideal society.  Why does Aristotle believe that it is desirable and possible?  Explain and discuss. 

B. Modern Political Theory

1.Trace the development of the theory of ‘limited government’ in modern Western political thought.  What are the basic concepts used to make points relative to this notion?  Who constituted its major enemies?  Why?  Discuss. 

2. Why is Rouseau an important modern political theorist?  Take the pattern of his arguments and key concepts and place them within the history of the development of modern political thought, addressing such ideas as social contract theory, natural law, the sources of  morality, and human nature.  What theoretical kinship does Rousseau have with Edmund Burke?  Explain and discuss. 

3. Describe, compare, and contrast the political theories of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill. 

4. Compare and contrast the Marx and Engel's analysis of the history and dynamics of capitalism with Rousseau's arguments in his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. 

5. Describe the fundamental elements of Karl Marx’ political theory.  Where does Marx belong in the historical development of modern political thought?  Why?  Explain. 

C. American Political Thought

1. That the individual has occupied an exceptionally high place in the theories of American political thinkers is certainly true.  However, it begs the question of what ‘individualism’ is.  There are several strains of individualism in American political thought.  There are those who hail the virtue of the individual and those that see dangers in excessive individualism.  Identify and describe the different strains of individualism in American political thought.  What are the concepts and who are the thinkers that exemplify these  major differences?  Discuss. 

2. Identify and describe the political theories of those major American thinkers who placed an primary emphasis upon ‘community’ or society.  What were the concepts they used to justify their emphases?  What was the place of the individual in their thinking?  How important has this strand of political thought been in America?  Discuss. 

3.  The political theories of the following are four of the most important variants of American political thinking.  Describe main features of these theories carefully and note what distinguishes them from one another.: 
a. James Madison 
b. Thomas Jefferson 
c. Henry David Thoreau 
d. John C. Calhoun 
Select three major American political thinkers from the late-19th and early-20th Century; to which of the four listed above does each bear a theoretical similarity?  Discuss. 

4. Both John C. Calhoun and Robert A. Dahl see themselves as building upon Madison's theory of factions and the extended republic.  Describe Madison's theory and compare and contrast the theories of Calhoun and Dahl. 

5. Alexis de Tocqueville is concerned with the growth of what he calls 'individualism.'  Other American political theorists (such as Henry David Thoreau and James Madison) portray individualism as the glory of American life.  Describe the dangers of individualism that  Tocqueville sees, and contrast it with the theories of Thoreau and Madison.  Was Tocqueville right or wrong?  Why? 

6. Robert A Dahl and C. Wright Mills developed theories of the way in which the American political system works.  Describe these theories and compare and contrast them.  Where, in the development of American political thought, do these two theorists belong?  Discuss. 

7. Select the four greatest political theories in the history of America (they should be substantially different).  Describe and explain your criteria for determining the 'greatest.'  Describe, compare, and contrast the content of political theories. 

8. The term 'Liberalism' represents varying points of view in American political thought in different times.  Describe the main proponent and schools of 'Liberal' political thought in America. What are the main conceptual features of each school?  What are the similarities  between these schools of 'Liberal' thought, and what are the theoretical bases for the distinctions we make between them? 

9.  Select FOUR conservative political thinkers in the American political tradition.  Explain why they are conservative and why you have selected them rather than others in this tradition.  Describe, compare, and contrast their political theories (concepts and  definitions). 

10. Select FOUR radical political thinkers in the American political tradition.  Explain why these thinkers are radical and why you have selected them rather than others in this tradition. Describe compare, and contrast their political theory (concepts and definitions). 

11.  Select the four greatest political theories in the history of America (they should be substantially different).  Describe and explain your criteria for determining the 'greatest.'  Describe, compare, and contrast the content of political theories. 

12. Although the contemporary culture has consistently attempted to minimize or obscure them, social class issues have always been extemely important in American politics, and American Political thought reflects this importance.  Choose two writers (e.g. James  Madison, Andrew Jackson, William Graham Sumner, Eugene Debs, John Dewey) or two groups of writers (e.g. federalists, populists, socialists, conservatives) and show how each used the issue of social class in his (or their) arguments.  Explain why the issue is important.