Comp Gov Final
Which of the following statements pertaining to the British constitution is true?
It consists of laws, customs, and conventions.
In relations with the European Union, the two British parties that have had the most uniformly stable and favorable attitudes are
Liberal Democrats and Scottish Nationalists
Which of the following is true of political systems in Mexico and Iran?
While Mexico's use of a federal system allows greater autonomy among the various regions, Iran's unitary system gives greater power to the central government.
What is the most substantial cause of the weak judiciary in Russia?
The executive branch, which appoints judges, uses the courts to target opposition.
Which of the following is an important cleavage common to both Mexico and China?
Urban and rural populations
Which of the following statements best characterizes Nigerian society?
Religious diversity, ethnic diversity, linguistic diversity
1) Describe one similarity in the procedure for selecting the President in Iran and in Nigeria. 2) Describe two differences in the procedure for selecting the President in Iran and in Nigeria. 3) Explain why the Nigerian President has more power than the Iranian President.
1. both directly elected 2. Nigeria (Plurality + at least 25% in 24 states) but Iran (simple majority), Nigeria (anyone can run) but Iran (Guardian Council stops some candidates) 3. Nigerian prez is more powerful because the Iranian prez has to answer to the Supreme Leader
Which of the following best explains why regional identities have led to independence movements in the United Kingdom but not in Mexico?
A history of the regions' existence as separate states in the United Kingdom.
Which of the following best describes Iran?
A rentier state
Which of the following is a core principle of the present-day Islamist regime in Iran?
Accommodation of Islam to a constitutional framework
Describe one way in which the Iranian government discriminates against women. Describe one way in which the Iranian government treats men and women equally. Explain how gender discrimination undermines democratic principles.
Against women: they must cover there hair, the Guardian Council won't let them run for pres. Equal: Both men and women can vote, and drive. Undermining: in true democracy, everyone can participate in gov. Thus unequal doesn't follow democratic values.
Which of the following is an implication of gender inequality in Mexico?
Although gender inequality still exists, gender quotas in the party list system have helped to increase female representation.
What statement accurately describes control of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in China?
Although the constitution formally establishes a chain of command through the National People's Congress, the Communist Party has retained significant influence over the armed forces.
Based on your knowledge of comparative government and politics and the table above, what statement is accurate? (Table talks about Freedom on the Internet)
Authoritarian states monitor and restrict citizens access to the internet.
Which is the most common selection method for members of the United Kingdom's House of Lords?
Being nominated by the prime minister and approved by the monarch
Compare the preservation of executive power as it is exemplified by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in their respective nation-states.
Both charismatic legitimacy (Putin - Russian Orthodox Church, Xi - idea that he is China and CCP). Changing term limits (Putin - changed from 2 term limits to none and also lengthened the term limit from 4 to 6 yrs. Xi - Ran for and won 3rd term despite 2 term limit). Limited civil society (Putin - harsh restrictions of civil society, Xi - civil society must be connected to the CCP)
Which of the following is a similarity between the political systems of Mexico and Iran?
Both countries have popularly elected presidents.
Which of the following best explains why both Nigeria and the United Kingdom have two major political parties?
Both countries' electoral systems use single-member districts with first-past-the-post rules, which tend to favor catch-all parties.
Which of the following is an accurate description of why Great Britain's conflict in Northern Ireland has diminished since 1998?
Britain supported a power-sharing agreement between Protestant and Roman Catholic leaders in Northern Ireland.
Many outside observers express concern that Russia's political system has become more authoritarian during the presidency of Vladimir Putin. Explain three changes made during Putin's presidency that are evidence that the Russian political system has become more authoritarian.
Changing Duma elections - changed from a mixed system (some through plurality systems and others through proportional system) when he was elected in 2001, but he knew that an entirely proportional system would benefit him, so he switched it to that. Then changed back to mixed. Clamping down on civil society - Making NGOs register, tax investigations, income research, police harassment. Creating federal districts - Created 8 federal districts that have more power than the Republics and the various other regions so that he can have more direct oversight and make local politics more centralized.
Short answer: How has Putin used religion to retain power in Russia?
Co-opted Orthodox Christianity - unites Russians under the values promoted by the Russian Orthodox Church, lending Putin authority. Arrests people for religious hatred and extremism - could claim his dissidents were going against religion as well as himself and have the dissidents arrested.
The Green Movement in Iran in 2009 was a result of which of the following?
Corruption in presidential election
Which of the following is an implication of the data for regime type? (Corruption Perceptions Index)
Corruption is a problem in both democratic and authoritarian regimes.
Which of the following best explains how Tony Blair's perspective relates to political beliefs? (PM Tony Blair's speech to the Labour Party Conference)
Decentralizing governmental power should help the longevity of the United Kingdom's government.
Define referendum. Describe one referendum that took place in Great Britain in the last twenty years. Describe one political consequence of the referendum result.
Define: everyone can vote on policy One example: Brexit referendum Consequence: a bunch of PMs quit, the UKIP dissolved, Scotland wants to leave,
Nigeria has significantly increased its importance as a regional power through its leadership in which of the following organizations?
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
Which of the following best explains a demographic consequence of economic policies in Mexico?
Economic liberalization policies influenced job creation in northern Mexico, prompting migration from the south to the north.
What is found in an illiberal democracy?
Elections
What supranational organizations is Russia currently a member nation?
Eurasian Economic Union
What is a negative consequence of executive term limits?
Executive term limits can force effective executives out of office.
What is an advantage of executive term limits?
Executive term limits can prevent executives from consolidating power.
In a rentier system, public policy is less responsive to citizens because of which of the following factors?
Government revenues are derived from foreign purchases of a particular resource.
Describe a large protest that the Chinese government has dealt with in the past fifty years. Identify the motivation behind the protest, explain the Chinese government's response, and provide a brief description of the current state of the issue.
Hans and Uyghurs, started by the Shaoguan incident but there have been ethnic issues for long time. Government responded by clamping down on religious freedoms, putting people in camps. There have been a lot of international protests, but there have also been some support. Question of genocide.
Why are middle class citizens often times important component for democratization?
Have enough money, education (so they know what they want), and time (so they can fight for what they want).
Title of a person who embodies goal of regime and are often largely symbolic.
Head of State
Which of the following describes sources of political legitimacy in China and Iran?
Ideology and economic performance in China, and religious authority in Iran
Which of the following policies would a government be likely to undertake to address gender equity in a political system?
Implementing gender quotas in legislative elections and improving access to education
Which of the following is an accurate comparison of sources of legitimacy in Iran and Mexico?
In Iran, the regime primarily derives its legitimacy from religion, while in Mexico, the primary source of legitimacy is the constitution.
Which of the following accurately compares social movements in AP Comparative Government and Politics course countries?
In Nigeria, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) protested unjust methods of extraction and distribution of oil, while Iran's Green Movement protested electoral corruption.
Which of the following legislative functions is similar in Iran and Russia?
In both countries, the legislature reviews and oversees the budget.
Which of the following most accurately compares the national legislatures of Iran and the United Kingdom?
In both countries, the legislatures approve legislation and oversee the budget.
In comparing the legislatures of the United Kingdom and Mexico, which of the following statements is true?
In both countries, the lower house is popularly elected.
Which of the following statements is an accurate comparison of the 2009 presidential election in Iran and the 2006 presidential election in Mexico?
In both elections, allegations of fraud were brought by the losing party.
Which of the following sets of contrasts is true for all parliamentary and presidential systems?
In parliamentary systems, the legislative and executive branches are fused, while in presidential systems they are separate.
Which of the following is a potential implication of the "flood the system" strategy discussed by the authors in the passage for Iran's legislative system? (Candidate screening, applications to run for office)
It has the potential to elect more reformers to political office.
Based on the table below, and considering there are a total of 650 seats, which political party in the United Kingdom would gain the most seats from a change to proportional representation?
Liberal Democrat
Which of the following assertions is used by the author to support the claim in the passage? (Lopez Obrador is Dismantling Democracy in Mexico)
López Obrador is attempting to control judicial decision making.
The institution in Iran that makes laws related to civil liberties is the
Majles
Which of the following best explains the trend in the data between 2005 and 2016? (Mexico support for Democracy)
Mexicans' support for democracy gradually declined as Mexico's problems continued under governments run by different parties.
Which of the following best explains a characteristic of elections in Mexico and Nigeria?
Mexico and Nigeria both have independent electoral commissions to reduce the impact of corrupt practices upon election results.
Which of the following statements accurately describes how Mexico and Russia have responded to market forces regarding ownership of their oil and natural gas industry?
Mexico has privatized some of its oil and natural gas industry, while Russia has renationalized its oil and natural gas industry.
In which of the following sets do all three countries have governments that would be classified as federalist systems?
Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia
What is a consequence of one-party rule in China?
Minor parties have limited influence on policy making in China.
Rank the levels of the society pyramid from most to least institutionalized.
Most - State, Middle - Regime, Least - Government
Which of the following best explains the increase in GDP in 2016 ? (Graph of Iran GDP)
Most UN sanctions and sanctions by the United States and Europe were lifted in early 2016.
Which best explains why Islam plays a larger role in the political culture of Iran than that of Nigeria, despite Muslims making up a majority of the population in both countries?
Muslims in Nigeria make up the majority in only some of the states of the country, so different regions have different religious influences upon political culture, unlike Iran where Shia Muslims are a majority throughout the country.
Which of the following best explains the GDP growth patterns in Mexico between 1994 and 2010? (Mexico's leading economic indicators)
New policies led to economic restructuring, which caused the economy to expand and contract.
Which of the following explains how civil society interacts with politics in both Nigeria and Mexico?
Nigeria and Mexico both benefit from an increasingly active civil society, much of which focuses on reducing corruption.
Which of the following organizations was most recently created in an attempt to oversee profits from exported oil?
Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority
Which of the following is an implication of the chart? (Nigerians Have Doubts about their Political System)
Nigerian citizens are critical of Nigerian politicians and have low levels of political trust.
Which of the following is the best explanation of how natural resources have affected political development in Nigeria?
Oil extraction in Nigeria has motivated political elites to seek government control of these resources, deepening corruption and impeding democratic consolidation.
Which of the following best describes internal migration in Mexico since 2010?
People from the south often move to the north to work in maquiladora zones.
Which of the following best explains an implication of the author's argument as it relates to the Mexican state? The politics in Mexico: The Democratic Consolidation
Pluralism in Mexico will promote competition among groups not linked to the state.
Explain how the abundance of a natural resource, such as oil, could be a barrier to democratization.
Provide the elites enough wealth that they could rule the country without taxes. Also could lead a nation to build their economy around only one resource, preventing them from developing a modern economic system, thus stunting the middle class. These create the resource curse.
3 things that make a Liberal Democracy
Public participation, competition, liberty
What is most likely to cause a regime change?
Revolution
Which of the following pairs of countries has a bicameral national legislature?
Russia and Britain
What occurred in Russia and most likely caused the change in data from 2012 to 2014?
Russian nationalism increased due to relations with neighboring countries.
Which of the following is true of federalism in Mexico?
Since the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) no longer dominates electoral politics like a one-party system, governors have become more willing to exercise their formal powers.
Which electoral system is most likely to create a legislature that is dominated by two parties.
Single Member Districts
Which of the following best explains why, between general elections, the British prime minister is more likely than the president of Mexico to be replaced between general elections?
The British prime minister can be removed by members of Parliament (MPs), while the Mexican president can be removed only by the impeachment process.
What accurately explains an effect of economic liberalization policies in China? (all that apply)
The CCP broadened their party lines by including workers, peasants, and private entrepreneurs, thus creating red capitalists. Job growth on the east coast caused a large migration of people from rural areas in the west to urban areas in the east.
Which of the following explains the effect the Guardian Council's powers have on presidential candidates in Iran?
The Guardian Council restricts the number of reform-minded presidential candidates limiting the number of candidates.
Which institution has responsibility for organizing federal elections in Mexico?
The Institute of National Elections (INE)
Which of the following describes an accurate difference between executive term limits in Iran and in Mexico?
The Iranian president is limited to two terms, whereas the Mexican president is limited to one term.
Which of the following is supported by the main idea of the passage? (Protests in Iran that began in 1999 and still continues)
The Iranian state could meet the demonstrators' demands and end the uprisings but probably will not.
Which of the following are the two most powerful policy-making institutions in Iran?
The Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles) and the Guardian Council
Which of the following best describes how the president is removed in Nigeria?
The Nigerian president is removed through impeachment proceedings in the legislature.
Which of the following statements best characterizes the varying geographic distribution of the electoral support received by the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the National Action Party (PAN) in Mexico since 2000?
The PAN receives significantly more support in northern Mexico than the PRD does.
Which of the following is an accurate comparison of population growth in two AP Comparative Government and Politics countries?
The cost of maintaining the United Kingdom's nationalized health program increases as its older population grows proportionally larger, and China has reduced governmental restrictions on family planning in an effort to address unequal gender ratios.
Which of the following is a consequence of the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009?
The doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty remains intact, which means the Supreme Court has limited powers and cannot overturn parliamentary legislation.
Which of the following best explains why the policy-making process in the United Kingdom is usually more efficient than in Mexico?
The fusion of executive and legislative power in the United Kingdom leads to fewer institutional obstacles to enacting policy, whereas the divided branch powers in Mexico make it more difficult.
With regard to human rights in Iran, the Iranian government has acted in which of following ways?
The government targets and imprisons political opponents.
What is an effect of fused executive and legislative branches in parliamentary systems?
The legislature can remove the executive without an impeachment proceeding.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the military in both China and Iran?
The military has been used to suppress public demonstrations.
A party in a parliamentary democracy has a plurality but not a majority. What might they do to decide who the next Prime Minister will be and who will have roles in the PM's cabinet?
The plurality party will form a coalition with another party that has enough seats to get them a majority. The small party will vote for the PM of the plurality party while the bigger party will in turn give some cabinet seats to the small party.
Which of the following is a correct explanation of the limited power of the Iranian Majles?
The power of the Majles is limited because the Iranian Constitution created a theocratic state with democratic characteristics, with religious leaders having more power in the system.
What describes the main point of the passage? (About China investment in Africa)
The scale of borrowing by African countries increases the likelihood of future debt problems.
Which of the following correctly describes the relationship between the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice and other political institutions in Mexico?
The president has the power to appoint or nominate members to the National Supreme Court of Justice.
Which of the following describes how the Mexican president is elected?
The president is chosen using a plurality formula, where the candidate who wins the most votes in a single round is elected president.
Which policy was a governmental priority for Russian reformers in the early 1990's?
The rapid transition toward a market economy.
What are some examples of co-optation?
The state approves a limited number of civil society groups. A friend of the government will be given preferential contracts that are state funded.
Which of the following best describes how members of Iran's Guardian Council are selected?
The supreme leader selects six members and the judiciary selects the other six members with Majles approval.
Define theocracy. Identify two national-level institutions in Iran for which members are directly elected by citizens.
Theocracy: Gov by God, so laws and leader are religious. In Iran, the president and the majlies are directly elected.
Which of the following is an empirically based statement about politics in Nigeria?
There are many major ethnic groups in Nigeria.
Which of the following is an outcome of the oil curse discussed in the passage? (oil, revenues, iran, etc)
There is a lack of economic diversification.
In a data table about the seat distribution in the Russian Duma, what describes the trend?
There was a decline in the number of parties in the Russian parliament between 1993 and 2016 and a shift to a dominant party.
Which of the following has the Nigerian state done to alleviate cleavage-based problems?
Used ethnic quotas in government hiring
Explain China's "one country, two systems" policy.
Used in Hong Kong and Macau, allows the 2 territories to maintain their own economic and governmental systems. They are independent from mainland China while still being a part of China. In practice, mainland China uses it to exert more and more control over the territory until it has lost all semblance of independence.
There are similarities and differences in the sources of authority for leaders in China and Iran. (a) Describe two formal powers of Iran's supreme leader. (b) Identify two official positions that China's head of state typically holds today. (c) Describe one similarity in the sources of authority of Iran's supreme leader and of China's head of state. (d) Describe one difference in the sources of authority of Iran's supreme leader and of China's head of state.
a. appoint 6 members to guardian council and the chief justice (who appoints the other six) b. President of the People's Republic of China, General Secretary of the CCP (the Chinese Communist Party), and Chairman of the Central Military Commission c. Both attach their power to something else - charismatic authority d. Difference is the Iran is Islam, China is patriotism in China. Also China has economic authority, Iran doesn't
In Iran, the head of the judiciary is
appointed by the Supreme Leader
Khamenei's remarks are evidence of his belief that (Khamenei's endorsement, 2017)
authoritarian regimes can use elections as a source of authority
In the twentieth century, the greatest social cleavage manifested in British politics was
class
A theocracy is best described as a political system based on
clerical (religious) authority
Unitary systems differ from federal systems in that unitary systems
guarantee no constitutional authority to subnational governments
In Great Britain, the House of Lords has the power to
delay the enactment of legislation
The primary purpose of the Question Hour (PMQs) in the British Parliament is to
hold government ministers accountable for their actions
An important change in China in the post-Mao era has been the...
encouragement of greater foreign investment in the national economy.
One similarity between the Prime Minister of Russia and the Prime Minister of Great Britain is that both
may be removed as a result of votes of no confidence in the lower house of the legislature
In Nigeria, Sharia law is part of the legal system in the
northern region
In a comparison of authoritarian and democratic regimes, it is accurate to say authoritarian regimes
probably lack well-established rule of law.
Nigeria's democratization process is best described as a
process interrupted by frequent military intervention
The "first-past-the-post" electoral system in Great Britain is based on
single-member districts
The power of the Russian prime minister is more limited than the power of the prime minister in the United Kingdom because
the Russian prime minister is limited by a much more powerful head of state
