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






2. 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'






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






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






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






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






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






8. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district






9. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






15. 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






16. monopoly over the legitimate use of force






17. 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?






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






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






20. 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.






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






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






23. Political parties - Interest groups - Social movements






24. 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






25. 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






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






27. 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






28. Shared sets of meanings






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






30. 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






31. The opportunity to choose among alternative candidates and positions






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






33. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






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






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






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






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






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






39. 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






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






41. 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






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






43. 19th - in the United States and Western Europe.






44. Concentration vs. dispersal of power

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


45. The making of collectively binding decisions






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






47. 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






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






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






50. 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.