Study Questions on Congress

1. What is the main point of each author's article?
2. To what research tradition does each author's theory belong?
3. What are the assumptions of each theory?
4. What is the unit of analysis?
5. What is the phenomenon that each author is trying to explain?
6. How does each author explain that phenomenon?
7. What arguments does each author use?
8. What evidence does each author use?
9. What are the strengths of each theory?
10. What are the weaknesses of each theory?
11. What are the causal mechanisms?
12. How is each theory progressive or not?
13. How would one test which theory is right?
14. What are the normative implications of each theory; that is, what does this mean for American democracy?

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