Hi Everyone,

Okay, for this week, we have a short writing assignment that asks you to read White Nation's Fail and listen to his lecture and identify what his research question is, and what are his causal variables. We are building on the work of the previous weeks in identify how political scientists think about their research. Ultimately, what is his argument as to why some nations are more successful than others?

In 2-3 double-space pages I want you to (1) identify Robinson's argument and (2) do you agree with him, why or why not? To be successful, you need to identify Robinson's terms and clearly identify his argument citing the reading or the lecture video. Second, I want to see your voices come through. You are not graded on whether you agree or disagree, but on the quality of your argument. Do you think his variables are sufficient to explain why there is liberty and freedom in some countries but not others? Are they missing something? Or are they correct? What matters is that you justify why you are making the argument you are making. Now, the literature on democracy is vast, and more vast, and we are starting out this discussion, so don't feel overwhelmed or like you might be missing something. The debate over democracy goes back to the beginning of political time, and we have been debating it since Aristotle. I just want to know what you think!