[Assess graduate students' ability to analyze how variations in constitutional design (presidentialism vs. parliamentarism, electoral rules, separation of powers, judicial independence) and informal political networks (clientelism, party machines, military and business ties, patronage) interacted to shape trajectories of democratic consolidation across selected post‑authoritarian Latin American cases from 1978–2008; require comparative case selection, articulation of causal mechanisms, use of primary/secondary evidence, temporal sequencing, and discussion of policy implications.]