Burnell & Randall: Politics in the Developing World 2e 
Study QuestionsBurnell & Randall: Politics in the Developing World 2e
Chapter 1
How important are assumptions about the dominance of capitalism to the main approaches to theorising the politics of developing countries?
How if at all does dependency theory illuminate developing country politics in a globalizing world, and what are its main limitations?
Should there be a distinct developing world perspective on how to understand politics in the developing world? What is the most important contribution that scholars in the developing world could make to developing our analytical approaches now?
What important features of developing country politics does Marxism help us to understand better, that other theoretical insights either explain badly or alternatively ignore?
How do neo-patrimonialism and clientelism shape politics in developing countries and to what extent do they distinguish politics in the developing world from politics in the 'developed world'?
How adequately have the different approaches to analysing politics in the developing world taken account of the global economic and political context?
What were the main differences between the 'politics of modernization' approach and Marxist inspired approaches to understanding politics in developing countries?
Assess Almond's structural-functional approach to analysing political development. Were his critics too harsh?
To what extent is globalization theory saying anything new about politics in the developing world?
How convincing do the arguments of exponents of the 'politics of order' seem today?
How do constructivism and poststructural approaches help us to understand politics in developing countries better?
Are theories that originate in developing countries necessarily more useful for understanding those countries' politics than theories that are 'made in the West'?
Is political development bound to move in the same direction eventually, more or less everywhere, and if not, why not?
Have Marxist beliefs become more relevant or less relevant to understanding politics in the developing world over the last decade or so?
Is globalization theory so general and wide-ranging that its usefulness for explaining politics in the developing world is severely limited?
Is the ability of globalization theory to shed light on developing world politics aided or hindered by defining globalization as closer economic integration into the global market?
Are neo-patrimonialism and clientelistic practices merely outgrowths of politics or are they basic determinants of politics in developing countries?
With particular reference to developing countries, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a focus on political institutions in comparative political analysis.
Are the assumptions and conceptual tools of political development theory enjoying a revival?
To what extent have the concerns of US foreign policy shaped the agenda of research into the politics of developing countries?
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