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






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






3. Charismatic - Rational-legal - Traditional/patrimonial






4. 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






5. 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






6. 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






7. A government with a one house legislature.






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






9. 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






10. 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.






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






12. 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?






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






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






15. Compiling a body of data based on direct observation that can be utilized both to explain what has been observed and to form valid generalizations.






16. 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






17. Process or moment of changing from one regime type to another Ex: Arab Springs (Causes: cultural or economice - or military culture) - (int'l factors: U.S. foreign policy - Soviet foreign policy - Changes to Catholic doctrine - EU accession - Globali






18. 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






19. 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






20. The making of collectively binding decisions






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






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






23. 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






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






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






26. 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






27. A non-meritocratic system in which jobs and contracts are distributed according to partisan support - (The U.S. 'spoils system' of the 19th century')






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






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






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






31. 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






32. 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






33. Efficiency vs. representativeness


34. Any identity that significantly shapes our political decisions






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






36. All voluntary associations/all secondary associations






37. Use of method of inference to create generalizeable explanations






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






45. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district






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






47. Hypotheses based on what has been observed.






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






49. Regime where the rulers are accountable to the ruled.






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