PSCI 105 Comparative Assignment 1. Off all the countries we consider, Great Britain is the only one without a
written constitution. Do you agree the claim that the British constitutional
system is among the strongest in the world? Why or why not?
2. What is the evidence for and against claims that Mexico is democratic?
Which do you find more compelling?
3. How did Maoism and the Chinese revolution differ from Marxist thought
and from Leninism and the Soviet Revolution? What difference did this
make for the evolution of the PRC?
4. How have ethnic differences made the establishment of democracy so
difficult in Nigeria? What could be done about that?
5. Why did the clerics emerge as the dominant political force in Iran? How
have they been able to stay in power for so long?

II. Answer five questions from the following list (10 points for each question)
1. Explain how minorities can be avoided to be threatened in a democracy by
zealous majorities. PSCI 105 Comparative Assignment
2. Why have some post-communist states become democracies, while the vast
majority have not?
3. Describe how Leninism revises Marxism and what causes this revision.
4. To what extent is Islamic fundamentalism a form of anti-westernism? Is
religious fundamentalism compatible with constitutionalism and political
pluralism?
5. The West has long failed to understand the broader political significance of
Islam. Analyze what are the misunderstandings.
6. Describe human rights debate in international politics

7. Why are political violence and conflict common in the third world
countries? Describe what elements contribute to political violence and
conflict in the third world countries.
III. Choose one question from the following list (bonus 15):
1. Compare the causes, course, and consequences of revolution among Russia,
China, and Iran. PSCI 105 Comparative Assignment
2. Modernization theory and dependency theory have dominated the study of
“Third World” countries. Is there any way to find out the new directions of
research or put the two together in some form of synthesis?
3. Modernization and globalization were supposed to undermine the basis for
ethnic and religious conflict. How do you explain the contemporary
explosion of ethnic and religious conflict? PSCI 105 Comparative Assignment