Government 101

Example of an effective response to a Mandatory Final Exam Essay (in class). There are instructor comments throughout the document, denoted by the symbol .

Exam Question

Answer

According to Huntington, democratic reversals are the result of several factors, and are a circumstance in which democracy is eroded and flows back toward an authoritarian regime . One reason for these reversals is that snowballing occurs, meaning that one country's actions of reversal set a precedent and may even set a trend . Another factor is that as the failures of authoritarian regimes are forgotten, frustration in new democracies may increase. Asia represents a good example of one cultural reason for a democratic reversal. Its Confucianist Culture is centered around the good of the group rather than the individual, and on duties as opposed to rights. Besides this, there is a general East Asian model of democracy that is democratic by definition only and thereby weak and more likely to fall into a reversal. Finally, the final factor Huntington cites as a cause for reversal is the increase in Islamic fundamentalism. This is a cause for reversal because Islam and democracy rarely go together in practice, if at all in theory .














This student successfully identifies the concept's source (Huntington) and defines the concept in the first sentence. BACK

























The student strengthens her definition by relating it to another course concept (snowballing). BACK

























To demonstrate her understanding of the concept as applied in real cases, the student uses Huntington's examples of democratic reversals in Asian and Islamic contexts. BACK