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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. Any identity that significantly shapes our political decisions






3. 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






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






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






6. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






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






8. 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)






9. 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






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. Situation where all fully qualified citizens have an equal say






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






13. Use of method of inference to create generalizeable explanations






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






15. Basically - density and quality of civil society






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






17. Traditionally measured as capacity and autonomy






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






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






20. 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






21. 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






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






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






24. 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






25. Hypotheses based on what has been observed.






26. Charismatic - Rational-legal - Traditional/patrimonial






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






28. The opportunity to choose among alternative candidates and positions






29. The making of collectively binding decisions






30. 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






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






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






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






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






35. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district






36. All voluntary associations/all secondary associations






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






38. Political parties - Interest groups - Social movements






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






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






41. 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






42. 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






43. Shared sets of meanings






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






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






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






47. A government with a one house legislature.






48. 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.






49. 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.






50. monopoly over the legitimate use of force