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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. 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






2. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






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






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






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






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






7. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district






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






9. 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






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






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






12. 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






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






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






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






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






18. 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






19. 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)






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






21. Basically - density and quality of civil society






22. Efficiency vs. representativeness


23. 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.






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






25. Hypotheses based on what has been observed.






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






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






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






29. monopoly over the legitimate use of force






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






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






32. 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






33. Shared sets of meanings






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






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






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






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






38. 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






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






40. The opportunity to choose among alternative candidates and positions






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






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






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






44. Selective incentives - Small group size - Social (solidary) incentives - Homogeneity - Others? Duty and altruism? Love?






45. 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






46. 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






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






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






49. 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






50. 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