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CLEP Political Science

Subjects : clep, political-science
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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  • 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. when you must get a minimum percent of votes to have your votes count or (sometimes) to retain your party registration






2. Warfare and military technology - Economic: development of trade and manufacturing and new financial/fiscal instruments - Cultural: Enlightenment - (There are also Environmental/geographic factors)






3. Hypotheses based on what has been observed.






4. 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






5. Historical origins. A reaction to liberalism - Central assumption: 'The highest good of society [is] the maintenance of ordered community and of common values' (p. 28) One of the 3 big idealogies






6. Traditionally measured as capacity and autonomy






7. 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






8. 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.






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






10. 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?






11. 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






12. The opportunity to choose among alternative candidates and positions






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






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






15. Charismatic - Rational-legal - Traditional/patrimonial






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






17. Number of Parties 2 - Constitutional Review: Parliamentary supremacy - Number of chambers: Unicameral/weak bicameral - Federalism: Unitary






18. 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.






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






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






21. 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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






29. 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'






30. 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)






31. Historical origins. A response to the old feudal order and the rise of modern capitalism - 'The highest good of society [is] the ability of the members of that society to develop their individual capacities to the fullest extent' (p. 26) One of the 3






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






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






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






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






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






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






38. 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






39. Political parties - Interest groups - Social movements






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






41. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






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. Concentration vs. dispersal of power

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






45. 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






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






47. Use of method of inference to create generalizeable explanations






48. 19th - in the United States and Western Europe.






49. You see a puzzle - You come up with a potential explanation (a 'theory') - You test it with evidence (data drawn from the 5 senses) - You share the results with others and get their feedback - Repeat steps 2 through 4 until you publish






50. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district