Deck 1: Introduction

Question 1

Which of the following statements about parliamentary systems is accurate?

A)It is more difficult to remove a head of state from power in a parliamentary system than in a presidential system.
B)Heads of state are usually directly elected by the people.
C)Political deadlocks are often overcome through new elections or the election of a new prime minister.
D)They combine the roles of head of state and head of government into a single figure.
E)They are typically more stable than presidential systems.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Marjorie believes that private property and capitalism create inequality, but she also places a high value on individual political freedom. Her ideology is called:

A)liberalism.
B)anarchism.
C)fascism.
D)communism.
E)fundamentalism.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Political scientists use which term to describe the norms and rules regarding individual freedoms and collective equality, the locus of power, and the use of that power?

A)legitimate authority
B)political regime
C)constitution
D)government
E)federal regime

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Citizens' trust in government, their knowledge about politics, and their views about their ability to influence political outcomes are aspects of:

A)ethnic identification.
B)civil society.
C)legitimacy.
D)political culture.
E)national identity.

Question 5

Which of the following describes electoral systems in which voters cast their ballots for a list of party candidates and the percentage of the votes a party receives in a district determines how many of that district's seats it wins?

A)single-member districts
B)vote of no confidence
C)plurality systems
D)first past the post
E)proportional representation

Question 6

Which of the following units of government most often represents geographical subunits of the population in lawmaking?

A)the executive
B)the upper house of a bicameral legislature
C)the lower house of a bicameral legislature
D)the judiciary
E)the constitutional court

Question 7

The apartheid regime in South Africa was an example of a(n) ________ regime, one that retains the basic structures of democracy but does not protect civil liberties.

A)totalitarian
B)liberal
C)illiberal
D)populist
E)theocratic

Question 8

Social democracy as a political ideology is a sort of hybrid of what two other ideologies?

A)anarchism and communism
B)liberalism and conservatism
C)communism and liberalism
D)liberalism and anarchism
E)liberalism and radicalism

Question 9

The symbol of the people, their formal representative both nationally and internationally that embodies and articulates the goals of the regime, is the:

A)head of state.
B)head of government.
C)ambassador.
D)legislature.
E)prime minister.

Question 10

States that divide power between the central state and regional or local authorities are called:

A)unitary.
B)devolved.
C)weak.
D)federal.
E)democratic.

Question 11

Courts with the power to decide questions that do not arise from legal cases, sometimes even before legislation has been enacted, have the power of:

A)due process.
B)judicial review.
C)abstract review.
D)constitutional veto.
E)the head of state.

Question 12

Which of the following statements about mixed electoral systems is accurate?

A)Candidates in SMDs are elected on the basis of a plurality.
B)Voters are allowed to vote in either an MMD or an SMD but not both.
C)Votes cast in MMDs are allocated on the basis of absolute majority.
D)Voters cast votes for party and prime minister.
E)Candidates in MMDs are chosen through plurality vote.

Question 13

Organizations that maintain a monopoly of violence over a territory are called:

A)nations.
B)regimes.
C)governments.
D)states.
E)enforcement schemes.

Question 14

Regimes featuring a strong official ideology that seeks to transform fundamental aspects of the state, society, and economy through force and popular mobilization are called:

A)authoritarian.
B)totalitarian.
C)illiberal.
D)populist.
E)praetorian.

Question 15

Which of the following represents an argument for the superiority of the SMD electoral model over the PR model?

A)SMDs waste fewer votes.
B)SMDs allow for the expression of a wider range of political interests.
C)SMDs help voters connect more directly with their representatives.
D)SMDs allow parties with minority interests to gain representation.
E)SMDs are less likely to produce centrist legislative majorities.

Question 16

When an executive head of government is elected from within the legislature, we usually refer to the legislative-executive system as:

A)presidential.
B)authoritarian.
C)vote of no confidence.
D)semi-presidential.
E)parliamentary.

Question 17

In which of the following ways do multimember districts differ from single-member districts?

A)Multimember districts are considered a less democratic method for electing leaders to office.
B)Individual candidates for office are more prominently featured on the ballot in multimember districts.
C)Multimember districts are more likely to grant small political parties seats in the legislature.
D)Multimember districts are less capable of removing a sitting head of state from power.
E)Multimember districts are less well-suited to proportional representation systems.

Question 18

The act of a local nonprofit organization trying to promote better schools for children is an example of which of the following?

A)clientelism
B)co-optation
C)civil society
D)patron-client relations
E)party systems

Question 19

Amnesty International and the International Red Cross are examples of:

A)intergovernmental organizations.
B)multinational corporations.
C)global government groups.
D)world trade organizations.
E)nongovernmental organizations.

Question 20

Which of the following statements about semi-presidential systems is accurate?

A)Primary executive authority resides with the prime minister.
B)It is strongly tied to the proportional representation electoral system.
C)It is more likely to occur in some of the oldest democratic regimes.
D)Presidents in this system are typically more powerful than the prime ministers.
E)Presidents in this system must be approved by the legislature.

Question 21

Describe the differences in political conflict and competition between democratic and nondemocratic regimes. How do political scientists consider suffrage and civil society when studying that difference?

Question 22

What are the major differences seen among parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential systems? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each model?

Question 23

Roger views change as risky and worries that change will only make things worse than the status quo. His political attitude is:

A)radical.
B)moderate.
C)conservative.
D)reactionary.
E)fascist.

Question 24

How are political economies affected by political ideology? How does that play out in the real world? How do political scientists employ tools like GDP per capita or the Gini index to measure economies?

Question 25

Steven wants to compare the degree of economic inequality between his country and a wealthy, developed democracy. The measure he uses yields a score of 68 for his country and a score of 12 for the wealthy democracy. What measurement did he most likely use?

A)GDP
B)GDP per capita
C)UNHDI
D)Gini index
E)Human Development Index

Question 26

Describe the major types of nondemocratic regimes. How do nondemocratic governments use co-optation to support their regimes?

Question 27

Edward regularly votes for politicians that promise to do more to alleviate the crushing income inequality in his country. Even though he has enough material wealth to be comfortable, he sees many of his fellow citizens suffering under low wages. He would like his government to step in and regulate the amount of wealth each person has in order to force equality of both income and wealth so that everyone becomes equal. Because this is not a popular view, he understands that the government would have to cease to be democratic in order to enforce this, but he would be willing to sacrifice that to achieve equality. His ideology could be categorized as:

A)liberalism.
B)anarchism.
C)fascism.
D)communism.
E)fundamentalism.

Question 28

Karen has a business that has grown over the years from a small one to a large, very profitable one. She has amassed a high degree of wealth in a society where most of her fellow citizens are extremely poor-to the point of common homelessness. Additionally, the state she lives under has eliminated all citizen access to government and regularly violates all measures of civil rights and freedoms in the name of securing and building up the state. Karen agrees with both her economic situation and the role that the state plays in the life of her country. How is Karen's ideology best characterized?

A)liberalism
B)anarchism
C)social democracy
D)fascism
E)fundamentalism

Question 29

Which of the following two entities are most responsible for formulating and executing policy in a parliamentary system?

A)parliament and head of state
B)prime minister and cabinet
C)president and prime minister
D)prime minister and head of state
E)president and cabinet

Question 30

Distinguish between political attitudes and political ideologies and also between the major political ideologies. Where does each ideology fall in its relative levels of freedom and equality?