Test your basic knowledge |

CLEP Political Science

Subjects : clep, political-science
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Efficiency vs. representativeness


2. Basically - synonymous for statistical method - Large numbers of observational data - 'Control' for confounding factors






3. Political violence by non-state actors against civilian targets






4. About agency: we deserve freedom and need to be held meaningfully accountable






5. The organized study of government and politics. It borrows from the related disciplines of history - philosophy - sociology - economics - and law.






6. In social movements - rational choice and culture come together - Culture: the sense of a righteous - popular will that has been subverted ('framing'/'grievance') - Motivates collective action - But also determines the choice of organization and tact






7. State of nature (collective action problem) - Hobbes' solution: the social contract






8. Ideology An ideology that seeks the active reshaping of minds of individuals and believes this can/must be done by force - Coercive mobilization - No social or political pluralism






9. Use of method of inference to create generalizeable explanations






10. Concentration vs. dispersal of power


11. when you must get a minimum percent of votes to have your votes count or (sometimes) to retain your party registration






12. 19th - in the United States and Western Europe.






13. America's two ideologies (Liberal and Conservative) are two versions of classic liberalism






14. The use of force by states or non-state actors to achieve political goals






15. A political organization that primarily uses lobbying - Currency/instrument: money - information - numbers






16. Identities are malleable - and anything can become politicized. Struggles to explain fundamental patterns in political identity or their grasp on our souls. Can't really explain which identities become politicized either






17. A formal document that sets up the basic rules of the political game






18. Force + Legitimacy






19. A political system controlled by rulers who deny popular participation in government






20. An identity-based community - where the identity is strong enough that we think we should probably be sovereign...






21. Selective incentives - Small group size - Social (solidary) incentives - Homogeneity - Others? Duty and altruism? Love?






22. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district






23. Monarchies - Single-party regimes - Military regimes - Oligarchies - Theocracies - Personalistic regimes






24. A civil war (...) in which one party is the state - the insurgents win - the insurgents have a lot of popular support - and the insurgents implement 'wholesale political change'






25. Hypotheses based on what has been observed.






26. Comparative Politics - International Relations - American Politics - (normative) theory or Political Philosophy






27. Territorial monopoly over the legitimate use of force. Refers to the government + the people + the territory ('the country')






28. Basically - density and quality of civil society






29. No or low citizen accountability ('subjects' rather than 'citizens') - Reciprocal relationship between leader and selectorate - Totalitarianism vs. authoritarianism






30. An organization that seeks elective office - Currency/instrument: votes






31. A government with a one house legislature.






32. A systematic study of the structures of two or more political systems (such as those of Britain and the People's Republic of China) to achieve an understanding of how different societies manage the realities of governing. Also considered are politica






33. Public administration (civil service). All (non-military) government workers not elected to their posts - but hired (United States beginning in 1880s)






34. Charismatic - Rational-legal - Traditional/patrimonial






35. Public vs. private goods - Non-exclusivity. The owner can't deny access - Inexhaustability. The good is never used up - Jointness of supply. Its existence depends on our combined contribution; truly 'collective' - Free riding. We generally fail to co






36. (Voluntary) allocation (production and distribution) of goods and services






37. The set of relationships among parties in a country - Often categorized by the effective number of parties.






38. Any identity that significantly shapes our political decisions






39. Number of Parties 2 - Constitutional Review: Judicial Review - Number of chambers: bicameral - Federalism: Federal






40. monopoly over the legitimate use of force






41. Energy or righteous zeal wins large numbers of participants - Nimble in framing issues and changing tactics






42. Describes the principal characteristics of what has been studied.






43. Tactics An organization that seeks to influence government through 'contentious' or 'disruptive' politics - Currency/instrument: show of force - numbers - brinkmanship - Organization A (non-hierarchical) network of organizations and individuals worki






44. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






45. Hard to amass resources (money and information) - Short-lived - The dilemma of formalization






46. Shared sets of meanings






47. Historical origins. Failure of liberalism to address shortcomings of capitalist industrialization; Marx - Central assumption: All persons are of equal value - but they cannot develop themselves alone






48. Shorter-lived - Slightly less repressive - Ideology not so clear - In favor of capitalism - though with state involvement - Based more on Social Darwinism/racism/nationlsm - Conservatism run amok?






49. Long-lived - Extreme lack of social pluralism - Well-defined ideology - Against capitalism - Based on Marxist arguments about class solidarity - economic determinism - Socialism run amok?






50. Utility maximization - Preferences: Comparability/Completeness - Transitivity - Probability - Incomplete information and uncertainty about future - Mathematical modeling