POLI 325                                                                                                                             Fall 2004

GUIDE TO FINAL EXAM

            The Final Exam will have two parts. The first part (constituting approximately half the exam) will focus on material covered since the in-class midterm exam on October 29 and generally similar in format to that exam — that is, it will be composed of short-answer items with some choice. The second part will be comprehensive and integrative in nature, asking you to bring together material presented in different parts of the course, and it will take the form of several longer essay questions. You will have some choice among or within questions.

            All the items in the first part of the final will be drawn from the Review List below. Not all items on this list are equally important, and the list of items that you will be presented with on the exam will certainly emphasize more important items rather than less important ones. Some of the items on the Review List are unlikely to be used as questions but you might well use them within answers to other questions. Familiarity with the items on this Review List will also enable you to cite specific facts, examples, concepts, issues, etc., in your longer essay answers in the second of the final, and such specifics are certainly rewarded in the grading. (The same point applies, of course, with respect to the Review List for the midterm exam, so you should review the earlier study guide as well as this one.)

            The questions on the final will, of course, reflect the ways in which the course has departed from the original syllabus and, in particular, the explicit revision of topics and readings that was distributed on November 22.

Review List (for material since the Midterm Exam)

“vendor model” of competition

Hotelling-Downs theory of electoral competion

median voter

two-party convergence

multi-party divergence

reasons why two parties may fail to converge

extension of voting franchise

15^th Amendment

“Jim Crow” system in South

Voting Rights Act

voter registration systems

personal registration vs. enrollment

“Motor Voter” Act

party (or “party strip”) ballot

Australian ballot

ballot access laws

fusion and anti-fusion laws

party-column/line vs. office-block ballots

ballot/voting technology

apportionment (of House seats)

legislative districting

Baker v. Carr, etc. (equal district population requirement)

gerrymandering

“cracking” and “packing”

“minority-majority” districts

Shaw v. Reno

measures of voting turnout

voting age vs. voting eligible population

U.S. voting turnout in comparative perspective

double-vote system in original Electoral College

mode of selecting Presidential electors

House “runoff” procedure

Twelfth Amendment

pledged electors/faithless electors

general-ticket system (for choosing electors)

Electoral College as a voting counting mechanism

“battleground” states

“reversal of winners” by Electoral College

district system for EC

proportional system for EC (Colorado initiative)

the evolution of American party system

sectionalism

critical/realigning elections

First Party System

Congressional Caucus nominating system

Era of Good Feeling

Presidential election of 1824

Second Party System

National Nominating Convention system

Presidential election of 1860

Third Party System

political “patronage,” “machines” and “bosses”

“party dominant” system of Presidential nominations

“Solid South”

Populist Party

William Jennings Bryan and “fusion”

Fourth Party System

“mixed” system of Presidential nominations

“insider” vs. “outsider” strategies in nominating contests

Presidential election of 1912

Fifth (New Deal) Party system

class-based politics

“party reform”/McGovern-Fraser Commission

Sixth Party System

Civil Rights/Race and the party system“candidate-dominant” system of Presidential nominations

“front-loading” of presidential primaries

legal regulation of parties and candidate selection

candidate selection (nomination) process

parliamentary candidate selection by British parties

evolution of U.S. candidate selection process

origins of the U.S. direct primary

“sore loser” laws

party vs. general registration of voters

open vs. closed parties

blanket primary

runoff primaries

pre-primary endorsements by parties

progressive ambition and political careers

term limits

turnout and contestation in primaries

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Federal Election Campaign Act (1974)

Buckley v. Valeo

public financing of campaigns

“hard” vs. “soft” money

McCain-Feingold Act

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survey vs. aggregate election data

National Election Studies

party identification

long-term vs. short-term forces in elections

maintaining vs. deviation elections

critical/realigning elections

conversion vs. replacement in electoral change

Note:  Consistent with the revised outline distributed on November 22, items between the two line breaks are covered in reading but will not be covered in class. Items below the second line break will be covered in class only very briefly at best.

            The following broad themes and questions are noted to guide your review and thinking in preparation for Part II of the final exam.

1.         Think about why many political scientists believe that political parties are both inevitable and (probably) desirable in political systems with free elections.

2.         Think about the variety of electoral systems used throughout the world and how electoral systems influence the nature of political parties, party systems, elections, and the political process more generally.

3.         Think about all the ways in which American political parties and elections differ from those in most other democratic countries. Think about the causes and consequences of these differences. (The Schier book is especially relevant.)

4.         Think about the decline of political party strength and electoral alignments in the U.S. (and elsewhere) from the late nineteenth century onwards. What are the causes and consequences of this decline? (The Schier book is again relevant.)

5.         Think about our (rather abstract) analyses of voting rules, electoral systems, and party formation and operations. Do you feel they are helpful in understanding real world voting, elections, and parties?

Remember that the scheduled time and place for the final exam is Monday, December 20, 8:00-10:00 AM, in PUP 206. Please see me in advance if this time presents a real problem for you.

Note. Course grades (A, B, C, D, F) only will be available from the Registrar (through myUMBC) on January 5 or thereabouts. However, I will post grades for the final exam, as well as more precise course grades, once they are ready (no later than January 3 but perhaps sooner) on the course website for any student who explicitly asks me to do this by checking a box on the final exam. (If you request this, your grade will be identified by the last four digits of your SSN and grades will be listed by numerical order of SSN, not alphabetical order of last name.)