Draft categories of past SECD exam questions, with the questions

SECD Prelim Exam Questions 1/06-8/07
Sorted into broad categories

Transnational movements/ Globalization (break up into multiple categories?) (11)?
Until the mid-1990s, most discussions of social movements focused on movements inside national borders, and SECD literature focused on national problems, movements and policies. Recently, however, many scholars have shifted to a focus on transnational social movements, suggesting that these movements may be >restructuring world politics=, or even constituting the basis for a >new world order=. What are some of the shifts B both in terms of global politics, and in terms of intellectual trajectories B that have led to this focus on transnational processes?
????? Choosing two or three specific examples of work on transnational social movements, discuss the underlying assumptions, evidence and arguments about transnational activism, and consider how those arguments would be altered if the authors had adopted a focus on a single nation-state. What theoretical insights are gained, and what might be lost, in the shift to a transnational perspective?
(August 2007)?
Are we moving to a world where the nation-state is obsolete? Many analysts argue that increasing transnational flows of persons, commodities, symbols and ideas, together with the rise of concomitant supra-?national? institutional structures, threaten the future existence of the territorial nation-state as the world?s preeminent political form.? To what extent and in what ways do the political, cultural, and economic changes subsumed under the generic notion of ?globalization? undermine, challenge, or reinforce the legitimacy and the sovereignty of nation-states?? Compare and contrast at least three works that discuss the implications of some dimension of ?globalization? for the role of national states in economic or social development and critically evaluate their argument, evidence, and conclusions .? Make sure you locate each work within the larger literature.
(January 2007)?
For many analysts, transnational social movements herald a new era in global politics, some suggesting that transnational activism creates a global ?boomerang?, as local groups bear witness and transnational campaigns hold repressive states up to universal standards of human rights, while others arguing that the ?new world order? involves horizontal networks as well as vertical institutions.? Does a transnational perspective alter the kinds of questions that scholars are asking about development?? Choosing three or more examples of recent work on the sociology of economic change, consider? whether and how a shift from a national unit of analysis to a transnational political sociology alters the kinds of questions analysts ask about social movements and national policy debates, the kinds of evidence collected, and the kinds of conclusions that researcher might reach. What theoretical insights might be gained, and what might be lost, in the shift to a more transnational perspective?
(January 2007)?
Recent studies of work in export-processing zones have moved away from simply describing the ?global assembly line,? to more detailed explorations of the dynamics of work in specific contexts. A remarkable number of these studies compare work in different settings, exploring?? difference, rather than convergence. Compare at least three recent comparative studies of work in developing countries, describing the authors? questions and theoretical framework; the axis along which they compare different work experiences; their underlying assumptions; the evidence they use to support their arguments; and their contribution to development theory more broadly.?? Based on these studies, what questions do you think seem most important to analyzing the character of work in export-processing zones? What weight do you give to suggestions that export-led industrialization strategies can change the underlying dynamics of ?unequal exchange? and/or global hierarchies of production? To what extent do you think these studies support claims that investments in human capital will prevent a ?race to the bottom? for developing countries?
(January 2007)?
Around the world in the past 50 years, local policy-makers have discovered that their development projects have been seriously affected (either ?positively? or ?negatively?) by factors outside their local areas (e.g., international/national market forces, international/national trade/loan policies, international/national environmental policies, international /internal wars, etc.).
???? Select three monographs written in the past twenty-five years describing locally planned/implemented projects that have been so affected. In the case of each monograph: (i) Describe the effects of a specific outside factor on the planning/implementation of the local project. (ii) Describe the author's/authors' views of those effects. (iii) Locate the author's/authors' perspectives within broader development debates.
(August 2006)?
Until the mid-1990s, most discussions of social movements focused movements inside national borders, and SECD literature focused on national problems, movements and policies. Recently, however, many scholars have shifted to a focus on transnational social movements, suggesting that these movements may be ?restructuring world politics?, or constituting the basis for a ?new world order?. What are some of the shifts both in terms of global politics, and in terms of intellectual trajectories that have led to this focus on transnational processes?
??? Choosing two or three specific examples of this kind of work, discuss the underlying assumptions, evidence and arguments about transnational activism, and consider how those arguments would be altered if the authors had adopted a focus on a single nation-state. What theoretical insights might be gained, and what might be lost, in the shift to a more transnational perspective?
(August 2006)?
In his book Development and Social Change, Philip McMichael quotes former World Trade Organization director Renato Ruggiero as saying that "globalization is indispensable to development." McMichael argues that this presupposition is behind the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as well as behind trade pacts such as NAFTA. Yet, in the context of rising global inequality, certain marginalized communities and social movements are beginning to take issue with this claim, arguing that development might be better fostered at the local, regional, or national level -- giving rise to new projects of self-determination or "cosmopolitan localism." Identify three such projects of self-determination and, drawing on those three projects as well as key theorists, explain the extent to which you think globalization is -- or is not -- indispensable to development
(August 2006)?
In recent studies of global production, there seems to be a shift away from treating export-processing zone workers as simply vulnerable and exploited, to a growing focus on variation in export-oriented factories. Salzinger suggests that different work processes provoke different gendered performances? Lee discusses different work regimes in terms of workers? different status within families; and McKay discusses how different factories may organize work very differently within a singleindustry in the Philippines.
????? Choosing at least three studies of export-oriented industrial work, describe the kinds of variations that scholars have found in work organization To what extent does this discussion of variation alter theoretical discussions about export processing, backward linkages, ?bloody Taylorism?, etc?. What, if any, might be the? implications of labor-process variations for broader discussions of work organization, or for theoretical discussions about? the long-term developmental prospects of export-processing?
(August 2006)?
In his book Development and Social Change, Philip McMichael quotes former World Trade Organization director Renato Ruggiero as saying that "globalization is indispensable to development." McMichael argues that this presupposition is behind the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as well as behind trade pacts such as NAFTA. Yet, in the context of rising global inequality, certain marginalized communities and social movements are beginning to take issue with this claim, arguing that development might be better fostered at the local, regional, or national level -- giving rise to new projects of self-determination or "cosmopolitan localism." Identify three such projects of self-determination and, drawing on those three projects as well as key theorists, explain the extent to which you think globalization is -- or is not -- indispensable to development.
(January 2006)?
Recently, authors writing about local debates regarding development policies have pointed to the role of external pressures such as international epistemic communities, institutions, and networks in shaping and framing local debates. Thus, for example, James Ferguson points to the World Bank in framing Lesotho's development strategies; Sanjeev Khagram looks at international agencies' roles in dam disputes in India; William Robinson looks at the role of USAID in Central American development strategies; and Anna Tsing looks at international environmental organizations' efforts to work with indigenous communities in Indonesia.
Choose three monographs written in the past twenty years about local debates regarding development policies. In the case of each monograph: (i) describe the author's/authors' views of how the local debates were influenced, shaped, or responding to external pressures. (ii) locate the author's/authors' perspectives within broader developmental debates.
(January 2006)?
Countries' shifts to export-oriented industrialization have often led them to establish export-processing zones which in turn have often led to increased women's participation in the manufacturing labor force in those export-processing zones. Selecting any two recent studies dealing with export-processing zones in developing countries, describe (i) differences in patterns of employment of men and women. (ii) major issues of concern for women, households, and communities. (iii) Incorporate into your discussion some of the main schools of thought in development literature.
(January 2006)

Commodity Chains/ Agriculture/ Resource Extraction (8)?
Advocates of commodity-chain approaches argue that such approaches provide a good way of conceptualizing economic relationships in an era when more transactions are conducted by and within corporations and when national accounts data are becoming less relevant. Citing illustrative works, describe and explain (i) what aspects of the current global political economy are captured well by commodity-chain approaches, and (ii) what aspects of the current global political economy are left out or not handled well by commodity-chain approaches.
(August 2007)?
The commodity chains approach initially came out of the world systems framework, but it can be argued that the global commodity chains involved a significant shift in focus, changing the unit of analysis from national states to supply chains. Describing at least three recent works, discuss the ways the commodity chain approach differs from, and/or is similar to, other approaches to ?development?. What kinds of issues does this approach add? What issues does its framework sometimes overlook or ignore? How have different authors writing about commodity chains tried to address some of these questions?
(January 2007)?
The commodity chains approach initially came out of the world systems framework, but it can be argued that the global commodity chains involved a significant shift in focus, changing the unit of analysis from national states to supply chains. Describing at least three recent works, discuss the ways the commodity chain approach differs from, and/or is similar to, other approaches to ?development?. What kinds of issues does this approach add? What issues does its framework sometimes overlook or ignore? How have different authors writing about commodity chains tried to address some of these questions?
(January 2007)?
During the past two hundred years, the extraction of resources and agricultural commodities have a played fundamental role in patterning the world system and? incorporating into that pattern peripheral areas that possess key resources. Steve Bunker argued that the specific character of particular commodities has often shaped important facets of economic and political change, in terms of labor requirements, political intervention, and class dynamics.? However, in comparing the coffee-growing societies of Central America, Jeff Paige suggests that similar agricultural commodity can be produced in very different contexts, with very different class structures and political conflicts.? With this debate in mind, discuss the way different theoretical perspectives on ?development? view dependence on raw materials and agricultural products, and the extent to which these theoretical perspectives lead to different policy prescriptions. In your answer, discuss at least three specific studies of commodity extraction and/or agricultural commodity production, considering how the specific physical characteristics, labor requirements, and global prices for that product have helped shape (or been shaped by) local political dynamics. Be sure to provide a clear sense of each author?s theoretical perspective, empirical data, and conclusions, while locating each study in a broad set of theoretical debates.
(January 2007)?
Advocates of commodity-chain approaches argue that such approaches provide a good way of conceptualizing economic relationships in an era when more transactions are conducted by and within corporations and when national accounts data are becoming less relevant. Citing illustrative cases, describe and explain (i) what aspects of the current global political economy are captured well by commodity-chain approaches, and (ii) what aspects of the current global political economy are not captured well by commodity-chain approaches.
(August 2006)?
During the past two-hundred years, resource extraction has played fundamental roles in patterning the world system and incorporating into that pattern peripheral areas that possess key resources. (i) Describe the most significant changes in the resource-extraction patterning of the world system in the past thirty years. (ii) Describe the main issues now facing the peripheral areas that possess key resources. (iii) Incorporate into your discussion some of the main schools of thought in development literature.
(August 2006)?
Advocates of commodity-chain approaches argue that such approaches provide a good way of conceptualizing economic relationships in an era when more transactions are conducted by and within corporations and when national accounts data are becoming less relevant. Citing illustrative cases, describe and explain (i) what aspects of the current global political economy are captured well by commodity-chain approaches, and (ii) what aspects of the current global political economy are not captured well by commodity-chain approaches.
(January 2006)?
During the past two-hundred years, resource extraction has played fundamental roles in patterning the world system and incorporating into that pattern peripheral areas that possess key resources. (i) Describe the most significant changes in the resource-extraction patterning of the world system in the past thirty years. (ii) Describe the main issues now facing the peripheral areas that possess key resources. (iii) Incorporate into your discussion some of the main schools of thought in development literature.
(January 2006)

Migration (4)?
Twenty years ago, most theories of migration focused on individuals= decisions.? As migration has become an increasingly visible part of global society, theories have shifted to focus more on macro-structural causes and long-term effects in both sending and receiving communities.? Choose three works on migration and discuss their starting assumptions, their questions and their use of evidence.??? Be sure to locate these works within the broader literature on migration.
(August 2007)?
During the last 20 years, remittances from migrant labor have played an ever-larger role in earning foreign exchange for some of the world?s developing countries: governments in Pakistan, the Philippines, and Central America increasingly recognize the importance of remittances in sustaining rural areas, and often seek to actively channel remittances into development schemes. How has thinking about migration changed in development debates over the past two decades?? Drawing on at least three recent studies of migration, show how the authors? assumptions, understanding, and questions about migration flows have shifted from the kind of push-pull models of individual choice that prevailed in the 1950s. How might a growing acknowledgement of persistent, wide-spread migration from areas like Mexico to the US, or South Asia to the Middle East, alter or challenge theoretical assumptions about what kinds of strategies for growth might be sustainable for developmental states in sending areas?
(January 2007)?
The past thirty years have witnessed a marked increase in the numbers of migrant workers sending remittances back to their home countries. Several countries now rank foreign remittances as their single largest source of foreign exchange. Drawing on two empirical studies of migrant workers, describe the key issues facing (i) the workers and their families, (ii) the remittance-sending countries, (iii) the remittance-receiving countries. (iv) What theoretical issues does this increase in migrant workers pose for discussions of development?
(August 2006)?
The past thirty years have witnessed a marked increase in the numbers of migrant workers sending remittances back to their home countries. Several countries now rank foreign remittances as their single largest source of foreign exchange. Drawing on two empirical studies of migrant workers, describe the key issues facing (i) the workers and their families, (ii) the remittance-sending countries, (iii) the remittance-receiving countries. (iv) What theoretical issues does this increase in migrant workers pose for discussions of development?
(January 2006)

Millennium Development Goals/Development Initiatives (4)?
Following U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's challenge, in July? 2000 the Global Compact was launched that set Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for the world to achieve by 2015. These goals included reducing extreme poverty and hunger by half, reducing mortality of under-five-year-olds by two-thirds, reducing maternal mortality by two-thirds, halting or reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS,? and introducing universal primary schooling. A five-year review of the world's progress toward attaining the Millennium Development Goals revealed that Sub-Sahara Africa had made very little, if any, progress toward achieving the MDG. Selecting? three different theories of development,? (a) describe how each theory would explain Sub-Sahara Africa's absence of progress, and (b) describe what prescription each theory would recommend to enable Sub-Sahara Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
(January 2007)?
The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist, in recognition of the creation of Grameen Bank, a pioneer in the development of ?micro-credit? as a strategy for combating endemic poverty.? (1) What are assumptions and goals of micro-credit programs in high-poverty areas? How do they claim to meet those goals? (2) how do goals of micro-credit as a development strategy compare to other public (state) or private (NGO or INGO) approaches to poverty alleviation from any period in the past 50 years?? (2) Who benefits from micro-credit?? Given your responses to (1) and (2), why, in your view, is a micro-credit bank recognized with a Nobel Prize for Peace?? What does provision of micro-credit have to do with the goal of World Peace?
(January 2007)?
First among the critical concerns listed in the UN's Beijing+5 declaration in 2000 was "the persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women." Selecting any two developing regions in the world, describe (i) the relationships between poverty and women in those two regions, (ii) any changes in those relationships during the past twenty years. (iii) Incorporate into your discussion some of the main schools of thought in development literature.
(January 2006)?
In his book The End of Poverty, Jeffrey Sachs argued that most sub-Saharan Africa countries are caught in "poverty traps," unable to save or attract enough capital to support their growing populations. Most sub-Saharan African countries need large sums of money to break out of their "poverty traps." However, despite large amounts of various forms of foreign aid to sub-Saharan African countries during the last 40 years, in most of those countries life expectancy at birth has declined, as has GDP per person. (i) Drawing on relevant theoretical and empirical literature, describe why 40 years of foreign aid did not enable sub-Saharan countries to escape their "poverty traps." (ii) Drawing on at least two different theoretical approaches, identify ways in which future foreign aid might be channeled in such a way as to enable sub-Saharan countries to emerge from their "poverty traps," increase their populations' life expectancies at birth, and increase their populations' GDP per person.
(January 2006)

Theoretical approaches (3)?
A. Modernization theory, world systems theory, dependency, and neoliberalism start from very different explanations for persistent poverty in the developing world, and offer different strategies for attaining >development=. Compare at least three different theoretical approaches to development, showing how their assumptions about the causes of persistent poverty, about the dynamics of development, and about the character of social and economic change shape the questions they ask, the evidence they use, and the kinds of policy suggestions that flow from the work. Illustrate your discussion with a relatively detailed discussion of at least one major work from EACH perspective, paying attention to the details of the specific work while using it to illustrate the main assumptions and claims of a broad theoretical paradigm.
(August 2007)?
Modernization theory, world systems theory, dependency, and neoliberalism start from very different explanations for persistent poverty in the developing world, and offer different strategies for attaining ?development?. Compare at least three different theoretical approaches to development, showing how their assumptions about the causes of persistent poverty, about the dynamics of development, and about the character of social and economic change shape the questions they ask, the evidence they use, and the kinds of policy suggestions that flow from the work. Illustrate your discussion with a relatively detailed discussion of at least one major work from EACH perspective, paying attention to the details of the specific work while using it to illustrate the main assumptions and claims of a broad theoretical paradigm.
(January 2007)?
Most sociologists and development theorists (including for example David Harvey, Pierre Bourdieu, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, Peter Evans) see neoliberalism as a post-Keynesian "institutional fix"--an attempt to develop a set of laws and institutions for a post-Fordist, post-Keynesian era of market fundamentalism.? While they may be deeply critical of these programs, they argue for a coherent neoliberal vision and a more or less stable institutional environment.? Writing from the perspective of regulation theory, Jamie Peck and Adam Tickell have argued, in contrast, that neoliberalism is a regulatory vacuum--the absence of an institutional fix.? They argue that we are still in an unstable era of post-Fordist crisis and that neoliberalism is a symptom of, and contributes to, the instability of institutions and practices.? Which of these perspectives do you find most convincing?? Provide case study examples that support your
claims of a stable post-Fordist neoliberal regime of accumulation or of continuing instability and incomplete transition.
(August 2006)

Nations/Nationalism/Citizenship (2)?
A major feature of post-colonial societies in the past thirty years has been the mobilization of indigenous identities, reflecting legacies of colonial incorporation and challenging long histories of political exclusion. Scholars like James Ferguson have warned that in their insistence on viewing developing societies as ?traditional? and agrarian, development agencies risk ignoring local realities; Ferguson, for example, suggests that development agencies discursively create a vision of ?dual economies? that overlooks the links between indigenous ?peasant? households and urban industrial labor.. But a series of recent studies have raised the possibility that claims framed in terms of indigenous rights could redefine the character of citizenship in post-colonial settings. For academics working on post-colonial societies, what issues does indigenous mobilization raise? What kinds of theoretical debates seem central to these studies? To what extent would you say this new emphasis on indigenous mobilization and rights might have changed the way scholars view the role of national states in development strategies??
In the early 20th century Europe and North America, an expansion of electoral democracy was generally followed by a tendency to extend new social welfare provisions to citizens; so much so that T.H. Marshall believed that citizenship rights would almost inevitably expand from a set of civil and political rights to a set of social and economic rights. What are some of the theoretical explanations given for the general paucity of social welfare programs in developing countries? In your answer, be sure to discuss a broad range of theoretical perspectives, including
world-systems and dependency perspectives as well as explanations that might be? more directly rooted in empirical material or in concepts drawn from? political sociology.
(August 2006)

Developmental State (1)?
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Asia's "Tigers" (e.g., South Korea, Taiwan. and Thailand) were viewed as providing models of economic growth that other developing countries might emulate. In December 2006 The Economist's emerging-markets indicators showed China's GDP growth percentage over the past 12 months to be 10.5% and India's to be 9.2%. The "Tigers'" GDP growth percentages over the same period averaged 4.8%. ?
(a) Selecting three different theories of development (citing appropriate bibliography), provide explanations for why India and China are currently "outperforming" the "Tigers" in percentage growth of GDP. ?
(b) From your perspective identify (with supporting justifications) any features of China's or India's current models of economic growth that other developing countries might be able to emulate.
(January 2007)?
c) Joseph Stiglitz wrote recently, "All experiences of successful catching-up and sometimes overtaking the incumbent economic leaders ? starting with the USA vis-?-vis Britain ? have involved ?institution building? and policy measures affecting technological imitation, the? organisations of industries, trade patterns and intellectual property rights."? Choose two developing states, one from Latin America and one from Asia, that you think provide a good example of successful institution-building and describe how they have tried to promote? development goals.
(August 2006)

Failed States (1)?
In the post Cold-War era, political scientists have frequently suggested that civil conflicts in Africa and the former Soviet Union can be attributed to 'failed states,' arguing that states built on military support from superpower allies have collapsed into warring factions, where patronage networks and corrupt arms dealing inhibit nation-building. By contrast, sociological discussions of post Cold-War-era state collapse have tended to emphasize such issues as the impact of commodity extraction on state-formation; inequalities in access to land and resources; the effect of neoliberal 'structural adjustment' policies on state provision of welfare programs; and the links between ethnic conflict, arms trading, and mercenaries. Discuss two different sociological perspectives on civil conflict at the turn of the twentieth century, showing how assumptions about the character of economic growth are related to specific aspects of state collapse.
(January 2006)

Networks (?) (Maybe this should fall under citizenship?) (1)?
One of the predominant trends in the literature on the political sociology of development over the past decade has been the emphasis on the necessary role that a strong AWeberian@ state and/or a well-networked civil society must play in making possible sustained economic development.? A key figure in this literature has been Peter Evans (particularly in his books Embedded Autonomy and State-Society Synergy), but other contributors include Robert Putnam and Dani Rodrik.? Briefly summarize the basic arguments of this scholarly tradition, and then provide an assessment of its theoretical and empirical adequacy as a theory of economic change in the global South.? You may wish to focus on two or three well-known examples of work to illustrate the debates, but you can instead cover the field more widely if you choose.
(August 2007)?

Comparative sociology (?) (1)?
The study of economic and political processes in less developed nations is sometimes called "comparative sociology," but small numbers of cases, large numbers of variables, absence of contemporaneity, and dissimilarities of size, of demographic composition, or of linguistic, ethnic, or cultural homogeneity make systematic comparison very difficult.? Authors working within a world-systems frame, including P. McMichael, G. Arrighi, C. Chase-Dunn, T. Hopkins, I Wallerstein,? have all addressed methods (or impossibilities) of comparing national units across these obstacles. Assess two different approaches to problems of comparison within world systems theory by any of these, or other, authors.
(August 2007)