Problem solved

I am writing a paper for my democratization seminar. It is on competitive authoritarian regimes: how they are different from democracies and full-blown authoritarian regimes, how they come about, what internal tensions they are subject to. I have to explain the author's argument, place it within the larger literature on democratization, identify which controversy it aims to resolve and...hold your breath...solve the problem. Maximum length of paper: two pages single spaced. Ha!

Sometimes I feel that being in graduate school has taught me how to ask question but has not helped a whole lot in giving me the tools to answer them. I will explain the problem with competitive authoritarian regimes and sure, then will SOLVE the problem in a paragraph or so. So what?!

I love reading the books that I read. I love writing a gazillion papers a month. Sometimes, however, I start missing the idea of political science I had in my mind when I was applying to graduate schools. We all thought we were in it because we wanted to make the world a better place, didn't we?