Test students' ability to apply comparative case study methods to evaluate democratization trajectories in post-authoritarian states; scope includes case selection strategies (most similar/different), operationalizing democratization indicators, designing within-case and cross-case analyses (process tracing, structured-focused comparison), establishing causal mechanisms and temporal sequencing, addressing validity and data source selection, and drawing policy-relevant conclusions. Task: outline a concise research design comparing two post-authoritarian cases, justify case choice, specify indicators and analytic techniques, and explain how the proposed approach supports causal inference and practical recommendations.