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






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






3. 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






4. A government with a one house legislature.






5. 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






6. Also known as interpersonal trust & tolerance






7. 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.






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






9. 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)






10. 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.






11. 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






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






13. The making of collectively binding decisions






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






15. 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.






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






17. Political parties - Interest groups - Social movements






18. Traditionally measured as capacity and autonomy






19. Efficiency vs. representativeness


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






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






22. Basically - density and quality of civil society






23. Shared sets of meanings






24. 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






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






26. 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






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






28. 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






29. Concentration vs. dispersal of power


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






31. how many seats are allotted to each electoral district






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






33. 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






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






35. 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






36. Use of method of inference to create generalizeable explanations






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






38. Charismatic - Rational-legal - Traditional/patrimonial






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






40. 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






41. 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






42. 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






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






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






45. 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






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






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






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






49. 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'






50. All voluntary associations/all secondary associations