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






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






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






4. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






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






6. Any identity that significantly shapes our political decisions






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






8. Traditionally measured as capacity and autonomy






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






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






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






12. 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






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






14. 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'






15. Basically - density and quality of civil society






16. 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.






17. 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






18. 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






19. Political parties - Interest groups - Social movements






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






21. Force + Legitimacy






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






23. 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






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






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






26. 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






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






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






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






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. The opportunity to choose among alternative candidates and positions






32. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district






33. 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






34. 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






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






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






37. Shared sets of meanings






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






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






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






41. 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.






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






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






44. 19th - in the United States and Western Europe.






45. 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?






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






47. All voluntary associations/all secondary associations






48. Concentration vs. dispersal of power

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49. 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






50. 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