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






2. Any identity that significantly shapes our political decisions






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






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






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






6. 19th - in the United States and Western Europe.






7. monopoly over the legitimate use of force






8. 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






9. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






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






11. 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






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






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






14. Basically - density and quality of civil society






15. 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)






16. 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






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






18. A basic plan that outlines the structure and functions of the national government. Clearly rooted in Western political thought - it sets limits on government and protects both property and individual rights.






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






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






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






22. 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






23. 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'






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






25. Hypotheses based on what has been observed.






26. 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.






27. 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






28. Use of method of inference to create generalizeable explanations






29. A government with a one house legislature.






30. The opportunity to choose among alternative candidates and positions






31. 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






32. 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?






33. 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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






44. 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






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






46. Concentration vs. dispersal of power


47. 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.






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






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






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