Political Science 100
Which doctrine allows detainees to argue their innocence before a judge?
Habeas Corpus
The states' rights questions that led to the American Civil War were primarily __________ in nature.
Ideological
Woodrow Wilson won the U.S. presidency in 1912 only because __________.
Theodore Roosevelt split the republican party
How does the United States differ from most other countries in terms of its treatment of freedom of expression?
Restriction of freedom of the press
Which thinker gave us the concept of the social contract?
Rousseau
The State Duma is the legislature in what country?
Russia
Which of these is an assumption underlying "constitutionalism"?
The people need written laws to prevent violations of their basic freedoms
Political institutions represent established and durable patterns of __________ in a country.
authority
What kind of research findings did Max Weber think should be discarded?
findings that support the researcher's own opinion
Another way of describing single-member districts with plurality win is to use the phrase __________.
first past the post
The "clear and present danger" doctrine was an early interpretation of the limits on __________.
freedom of speech
Which of the following approaches to political analysis might consider the degree to which people are tolerant of other ideas and religions?
one focused on culture
The Founding Fathers particularly embraced Locke's idea of the right to __________, which Locke felt was a primary reason why humans created civil society.
private property
The famous Milgram study that asked subjects to administer electrical shocks is associated with what kind of power?
psychological
Compared to FPTP, proportional representation means that the country's legislature more accurately reflects __________.
public opinion and party strength
Which of the following is often the basis for center-periphery tensions?
regionalism
Politics could be considered the master science because it...
relates to other sciences
Which of the following concepts did Machiavelli contribute to the study of politics?
role of power in politics
Reason and theory pertain to which of the following?
scholarship
If you were interested in designing a country with moderate, centrist, and pragmatic politics, what feature would you be most likely to support?
single-member districts
Given the history of legal disputes over the First Amendment, what is the most likely fate of First Amendment issues in the future?
Free speech controversies are likely to continue, especially given the openness of the Internet.
Political scientists __________ data, as scientists do in the natural sciences.
quantify
Gitlow v. New York and Scales v. the United States both __________.
upheld limits on free speech when the government is under threat
Imagine a country that has new leadership and is committed to transitioning to a welfare state similar to Sweden or Denmark. What is a likely policy action that would allow this?
raising tax rates significantly
Milton Friedman's ideas contributed to the development of __________.
modern conservatism
Japan's constitution was drafted by the United States in __________.
1946
Which of these figures is one of the founders of classic conservatism?
Edmund Burke
What does Barrington Moore's observation "No bourgeoisie, no democracy" imply about the requirements for stable democracy?
A stable democracy can only take hold in a society with a large and educated middle class.
The statement "Man is by nature a political animal" is attributed to __________.
Aristotle
Which of the following statements about Hitler's rise to power would best reflect the views of German philosopher Hegel, who lived hundreds of years earlier?
Certain conditions in Germany led to Hitler's popularity
Which of these is a risk inherent in the American concept of judicial review?
Conservative or liberal judges may rule based on their political ideology
The Supreme Court rulings in District of Columbia v. Heller and Miller v. the United States show that __________.
Constitutions are subject to reinterpretation over time.
Which statement represents a pluralist explanation for increases in defense spending?
Defense spending increases when the public demands greater attention be paid to national security threats.
The "end of ideology" argument was developed by __________.
Francis Fukuyama
George Washington retired after two terms. No other president tried to serve longer, until __________.
Franklin Roosevelt
Which statement describes "authoritarian capitalism"?
Free market with control over politics
How did the UN General Assembly react to Nazi and Japanese actions during World War II?
It adopted universal declaration of human rights
Which of these is a weakness of the Brazilian constitution?
It confers too many rights for the government to realistically guarantee.
Why was Titoism ultimately unsuccessful in Yugoslavia?
It created an unstable system centered on the charisma of a single leader.
Which of these was central to Lenin's vision of the Russian socialist party?
It had to be centrally organized
What did the magna carta do?
It limited the power of the British monarchy.
Which statement, if true, undermines the arguments of Daniel Bell and Francis Fukuyama?
Many nations continue to practice variants of socialism with some success.
Which of the following examples most clearly illustrates an application of anthropology to political science?
Many ruling families maintained power by passing down their authority from one generation to the next.
Which statement describes the difference between Maoism and Titoism?
Maoism was a more radical form of communism than Titoism.
How did Irving Kristol conceptualize the relationship between neoconservatism and liberalism?
Neoconservatism recognized what he perceived to be the naiveté of liberalism.
What is the main difference between totalitarianism and authoritarianism?
State control is less significant under authoritarianism than under totalitarianism.
Which of these was the first to establish judicial review?
The US
Which of the following would demonstrate institutionalized power?
The US supreme court striking down a law as unconstitutional
The Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller dealt with __________.
The extent of gun rights
Which of these statements adheres most closely to the ideas of Thomas Hill Green?
The minimum wage is necessary to prevent employers from taking advantage of workers
What do England, Germany, and India have in common?
They each have a federal system
How would the framers of the U.S. Constitution most likely react to the structure of government outlined in the Russian constitution?
They would criticize it for giving too much power to the executive
It is dangerous for a country to keep introducing new constitutions because this __________.
Undermines the legitimacy of government and the rule of law
A constituent assembly is
a legislature convened to draft a new constitution
An ideology consists of
a set of plans to improve society
The Pentagon Papers case is generally seen as a victory for those who support __________.
an activist press
The right to vote is usually viewed as a __________ right.
civil
A political scientist who studies the politics of several Eastern European countries following the fall of the Soviet Union would, most specifically, be considered an expert in the subfield of __________.
comparative politics
The subfield of international relations most directly includes the study of __________.
conflict and international law
In most European countries, __________ is an illegal form of speech.
denying the holocaust
What is one common feature of the Japanese and U.S. constitutions?
difficult for constitutional amendments to be passed.
Giuseppe Mazzini's concept of freedom asserts that __________.
individuals gain meaning through subordination of their will to the national will
According to Karl Marx, a communist system is one where the government __________.
is rendered unnecessary
Which of the following is true of Japan's assembly?
it's unicameral
Federalism is the balancing of power between a nation's central government and __________.
its autonomous subdivisions
Which of the following would you expect to have the most direct influence on a country's political culture?
its dominant religious beliefs
The ability of courts to decide if laws are constitutional is called __________.
judicial review
The Founding Fathers created a separation of powers system in the U.S. Constitution because they wanted to __________.
limit the power of the government
Max Weber would most likely advocate which of the following approaches?
limiting bias when conducting research
The fact that the Soviet Union ceased to exist by the end of 1991 is indicative of __________.
the collapse of communism as a system
Many Americans find it difficult to grasp the power of ideological motivation because of __________.
the emphasis on pragmatism and moderation in American culture.
If the politics of glasnost in Russia were applied, in a similar manner and with similar results, to the communist dictatorship of North Korea, what would be the outcome?
the end of communism and a rocky transition to federalism
Some political scientists have inferred totalitarian themes in Rousseau's idea of __________.
the general will
State capitalism in China or Russia means that __________.
the government is essentially the number one capitalist
Political scientists build __________ by making connections among empirical data.
theories
Description of political phenomena often lacks...
theory
Imagine that you are looking at a country's main political institutions to find out whether they meet a standard of good, effective governance. Which of the following characteristics would signify that they fail to meet this standard?
they are inflexible and have not evolved
Algerians in France and Pakistanis in Great Britain have what in common?
they are pressured to conform to the dominant culture
Which of the following is true of most political scientists?
they are skeptical of power and see long term consequences
Which statement best describes how the Japanese constitution differs from the U.S. constitution?
Japan's constitution is shorter but more specific about individual rights
Which of these is true to Adam Smith's Legacy?
He influenced the development of the classical liberal ideology.
Which philosopher claimed that art, music, and politics hang together and express an underlying Zeitgeist?
Hegel
Which best explains the differences between historians and political scientists?
Historians are somewhat more reluctant to generalize, while political scientists look for generalizations
Which thinker had a dark view of human nature, believing that humanity without a civil society would be "war of all against all"?
Hobbes
Which philosopher discussed the difference between concepts and percepts?
Kant
In what way does the U.S. Constitution differ from most other constitutions?
It is shorter and more vague than most other constitutions.
Why was it significant that the Bush administration deemed suspected terrorists as "unlawful enemy combatants"?
It made it intentionally unclear how the suspects would be treated
Suppose that a law had been passed in the United States that made English the sole official language of the entire nation. Which statement accurately describes how such a law would relate to the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
The law violates the Declaration's assertion that minorities have the right to preserve their cultures.
Lasswell's question, "Who gets what?" applies best to the social science of __________.
economics
Political scientists use __________ data to look for patterns and eventually form theories.
empirical
A supporter of an authoritarian capitalist state would most likely justify this type of regime as a means of __________.
ensuring a rise in living standards
Most FPTP systems are also called majoritarian systems because they __________.
give a clear parliamentary majority to one party
Single-member districts produce winners on the basis of __________.
plurality
The observation that politicians tend to think practically and political scientists think abstractly is indicative of which of the following?
political scientists study politicians
The subfield of __________studies major thinkers and attempts to define the good polity.
political theory
The fact that the United States has different tax rates for different levels of income relates to which of the following phrases?
politics is the study of who gets what
Which of the following reforms would move a regime from a totalitarian system to an authoritarian system?
power shifted from one leader to a small group
Although they seized __________, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan lacked __________.
power, legitimacy
It can be said that "almost all nations have constitutions" because __________.
they operate according to some set of rules