Final Exam Preparation: Key Concepts and Topics

Posted on Mar 10, 2025 in History

Your final exam will consist of 50 multiple-choice questions, 5 short answer/identification questions, and one long essay. You will have choices among the questions. You may prepare a 3×5” card to bring to the final, which you can use for the long essay question ONLY.

Terms/Concepts from Lectures and Class Discussions

Economic Means/Models of Economic Management

Understand the economic spectrum, including the extremes, and various economic models. Be familiar with aggregate and distributive aims. Be able to categorize our case studies on the economic spectrum.

British Politics

Know the basic structural components, founding documents, parliamentary dynamics, and major parties of the UK.

  • The UK does not have a written constitution. Instead, the government incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights, which serves as a set of constitutional liberties.
  • The United Kingdom’s restrictions upon the monarchy are imposed in the Magna Carta.
  • The United Kingdom has other documents like the Bill of Rights and the Act of Union, which united Scotland and England.
  • In the United Kingdom, the executive branch is divided into the chief of state, Queen Elizabeth II (since February 6, 1952).
  • The head of government (Prime Minister) is David Cameron, and the cabinet is appointed by the Prime Minister.
  • The UK Parliament consists of the House of Lords (760 hereditary peers and 380 created). The House of Lords is the “second chamber” of the UK Parliament.
  • The House of Commons consists of 650 MPs: 523 from England, 72 from Scotland, and 18 from Northern Ireland.
  • The main political parties in the UK are:
    • The Labour Party: Founded by the trade union movement, with a primary goal of establishing welfare in Britain.
    • The Conservative Party: Historically supported a strong Monarch, but currently emphasizes patriotism and family values.
    • The Liberal Party: Historically believed Parliament should hold most powers (as opposed to the Monarch). Their current major objective is to establish a new electoral system for a more democratic government.
    • New Labour: A rebranding of the old Labour Party.

German Politics

Know the history of the German state, including the post-WWII era and unification. Understand the structure of the political system, the Länder, and the political parties.

Communist Systems

Be able to present on Marxist doctrine, including Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and Deng Xiaoping Theory. Know the revolutionary sequence. Understand party institutionalization and issues with democratizing post-communist states.

Chinese Politics

Understand party-state relations, regularization, state structures, the National People’s Congress (NPC), party structures, Politburo leadership issues, splits in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), terms from the constitution, and the “One Country, Two Systems” policy.

Russian Politics

Know the history of communism in Russia, the Bolshevik Revolution, Yeltsin, executive power, Putin, and the most recent election issues, including the threshold change.

Politics of Development

Understand the institutions of development: the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), GATT, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Bretton Woods. Know the strong state/weak state typology and themes in political development. Be able to define a successful democratic transition.

Brazilian Politics

Understand the history of colonial rule, reform issues, the landless movement, military rule, political parties, and political structure.

Mexican Politics

Know Mexico’s history, the role of clientelism, corruption and drug cartels, control by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and the changing party structure.

Military’s Role in Politics

Know the different roles of the military under democracies and non-democracies.

Iranian Politics

Understand the Pahlavi dynasty, the Shah, Ayatollah Khomeini, the Majles, the Faqih, the Supreme Leader, Imams, Shia-Sunni Islam, and political authorities.

Sovereignty and Legitimacy

Know the challenges to sovereignty and the role of global politics (hegemony and institutions), and the components of legitimacy.

The following chapters from your texts will be the focus of the final. You should be able to define the terms in bold in the text and think about how these apply to the lecture material.