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






2. Individual rationality does not always lead to collective rationality - Walking on the grass - Policy implementation is problematic - Voting; protests; interest groups; etc. are underprovided (Olson's point)






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






4. Utility: self-interest - but what constitutes self-interest? Material self-interest? Economics - Politics. Example: vote maximization - The gospel Failures of rationality - Really incomplete information & satisfaction - Intransitivity and other cogni






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






6. 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






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






8. The identities that can become political are those formed very early in life or perhaps vaguely racial/genetic. Struggles to explain (rapid) cultural change - or which identities become politicized






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






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






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






12. Charismatic - Rational-legal - Traditional/patrimonial






13. 19th - in the United States and Western Europe.






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






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






16. The making of collectively binding decisions






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






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






19. Force + Legitimacy






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






21. A government with a one house legislature.






22. Efficiency vs. representativeness

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23. Situation where all fully qualified citizens have an equal say






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






25. The rules about making the rules - often embodied in a constitution.






26. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district






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






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






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






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






31. 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.






32. 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






33. Basically - density and quality of civil society






34. 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.






35. 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






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






37. 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






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






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






40. 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'






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






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






43. 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






44. 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.






45. Shared sets of meanings






46. All voluntary associations/all secondary associations






47. Traditionally measured as capacity and autonomy






48. A consciously derived - coherent set of beliefs that offers a comprehensive political program






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






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