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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. 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






2. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






3. Efficiency vs. representativeness


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






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






6. The making of collectively binding decisions






7. Political parties - Interest groups - Social movements






8. 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.






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






10. monopoly over the legitimate use of force






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






12. Charismatic - Rational-legal - Traditional/patrimonial






13. 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






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






15. Concentration vs. dispersal of power


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






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






18. 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






19. 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






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






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






22. 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.






23. 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






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






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






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






27. 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






28. Shared sets of meanings






29. 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






30. Force + Legitimacy






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






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






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






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






35. A government with a one house legislature.






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






37. 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)






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






39. 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






40. Basically - density and quality of civil society






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






42. All voluntary associations/all secondary associations






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






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






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






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






47. 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






48. 19th - in the United States and Western Europe.






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. 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