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






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






3. Think of this as gender as outcome; what factors - esp. political ones - lead to changes in gender roles? Key finding: politics does matter - especially who has an organized voice. Formal rules - number/identity of parties - etc.






4. 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






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






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






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






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






9. 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






10. 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'






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






12. All voluntary associations/all secondary associations






13. 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






14. Force + Legitimacy






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






16. The making of collectively binding decisions






17. 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






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






19. it works better in the long run - less risk/variability






20. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






21. Shared sets of meanings






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






23. The opportunity to choose among alternative candidates and positions






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






25. Think of this as 'gender as cause'. Gender roles change and/or mix of women in politics changes; what is the consequence? Key finding: having more women in public office changes the policy agenda - i.e. - more focus on women's issues






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






27. Hypotheses based on what has been observed.






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






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






30. Charismatic - Rational-legal - Traditional/patrimonial






31. A government with a one house legislature.






32. Concentration vs. dispersal of power


33. A historical exploration of the major contributions to political thought from the ancient Greeks to the contemporary theorists. It also involves the philosophical and speculative consideration of the political world.






34. Traditionally measured as capacity and autonomy






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






36. Process tracing through case studies. Requires a well-developed theory and minute examination ('process tracing')






37. Basically - density and quality of civil society






38. A consideration of how nations interact with each other within the frameworks of law - diplomacy - and international organizations such as the United Nations.






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






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






41. equality in political decision making: one vote per person - with all votes counted equally






42. The mathematical formula used to allocate the seats according to the vote - Plurality or 'first-past-the-post' - various PR formulas - such as D'Hondt - largest remainders - St. Lague - etc.






43. 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?






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






45. A subset of culture - based on our ability to attach labels to ourselves and others - or to define ourselves in terms of the groups we belong to - Some political examples: Partisan identity - Class identity - Ethnic identity - National identity






46. Analyzing the data that has been collected and offering plausible general principles that can be drawn from what has been observed.






47. Political parties - Interest groups - Social movements






48. Situation of stability - no party has incentive and ability to undermine the regime (Causes: cultural or economice - or military culture) - (Int'l Factors: U.S. foreign policy - Soviet foreign policy - Changes to Catholic doctrine - EU accession - G






49. monopoly over the legitimate use of force






50. Efficiency vs. representativeness