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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. Force + Legitimacy






2. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district






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






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






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






6. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






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






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






9. 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






10. Concentration vs. dispersal of power

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11. Hypotheses based on what has been observed.






12. Charismatic - Rational-legal - Traditional/patrimonial






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






14. monopoly over the legitimate use of force






15. 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






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






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






18. A government with a one house legislature.






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






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






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






22. Use of method of inference to create generalizeable explanations






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






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






25. 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






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






27. The opportunity to choose among alternative candidates and positions






28. Efficiency vs. representativeness

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29. 19th - in the United States and Western Europe.






30. 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






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






32. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






40. 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






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






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






43. 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






44. 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.






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






46. 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






47. Political parties - Interest groups - Social movements






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






49. 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?






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