INTO TO POLITICAL SCIENCE

Why would a country such as Great Britain not have a formal written constitution?

Great Britain's unique history established customs and legal practices that made a written constitution unnecessary.

What explains how economics have transformed authoritarian regimes in recent decades?

Growing economies have spurred democratic transitions.

What is the most significant way in which television coverage turned public opinion in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1965?

Images of police brutality toward African Americans sparked widespread outrage.

The Laissez-Faire viewpoint recommends ________.

Leaving the economy alone to promote growth.

What is a plausible explanation for the polls' prediction that Dewey would defeat Truman in 1948?

Pollsters had assumed that respondents who said they were undecided would wind up voting in the same ratio as those who had already decided.

The ability to shape other's behavior is known as _____.

Power

The Founding Fathers particularly embraced Locke's idea of the right to _____, which Locke felt was a primary reasons 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

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.

What viewpoint is most consistent with elite political culture?

Running for office is viable and realistic.

What is one reason that distrusting the government can be a good thing?

Skeptical citizens are more likely than trusting citizens to notice and oppose government corruption.

What is an assumption underlying "constitutionalism"?

The people need written laws to prevent violations of their basic freedoms.

In David Easton's Theory of political systems, the idea of "feedback" refers to what?

The public response to government policies, programs, and laws.

What describes "authoritarian capitalism"?

The regime allows markets to function in a mostly free way but retains a monopoly over political power.

What concept did machiavelli contribute to the study of politics?

The role of power in politics

Bailouts for financial giants in the United States deemed "too big to fail" are illustrative of the fact that __________.

even laissez-faire systems adopt other elements

After WW1, Germany and Italy used ______ to build support for another war.

extreme nationalist ideas.

What source of socialization works through the use of parades with flags and soldiers, proclamations of top leaders, and prestigious sporting events such as the Olympics?

government

Lower levels of education, along with corresponding lower incomes, reduce the likelihood that people will __________.

participate in politics

What do authoritarian leaders seek from their citizens?

passivity and obedience

Limits on free speech in the United States usually connect with __________.

national security concerns

In the United States, the press is often referred to as the "fourth branch of government" because __________.

of its key role in keeping government accountable to citizen demands

Suppose two surveys are conducted, one asking people's level of support for "welfare" and the other using the term "assistance to the poor." The former survey finds much lower support than the latter. This discrepancy shows that __________.

pollsters must be careful to word questions in ways that avoid biased responses

Polls designed to influence respondents' opinions are known as __________ polls.

push

In Iraq, governance is complicated and sometimes violent because people from different __________ tend to vote for different parties.

religious groups

Surveys indicate that faith in democracy is __________ in the United States than in other modern democracies, such as France and Germany.

stronger

Politicians with an early lead in the polls tend to get _________.

more campaign contributions and more press coverage

Some scholars, including Robert Putman, argue that watching a lot of television makes people __________ and less interested in civil society.

more passive

Case studies have revealed that the United States is much __________ than other industrial countries.

more religious

What explains why a retired person who refers to herself as conservative expresses strong support for social welfare programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and federal aid for prescription drugs?

A person's self-identification is not always consistent with his or her views on specific issues.

Francis Fukuyama would likely agree with which of the following statements regarding democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq?

America's effort to democratize these countries has been met with very limited success because it essentially skipped over the prerequisites of a strong state and rule of law.

Hegel claimed that _______ hang together and express an underlying Zeitgeist?

Art, Music, and Politics

Argument that campaign contributions are a form of protected speech?

Associations of citizens express their views through monetary donations.

What can be considered an example of direct democracy?

Citizens voting on a ballot referendum

What is a risk inherent in the American concept of judicial review?

Conservative or liberal judges may rule based on their political ideology.

A written document outlining the structure of a political system is a __________.

Constitution.

In recent decades, women were several percentage points more likely than men to vote for a __________ presidential candidate.

Democratic

What does Karl Marx believe explains society and politics?

Economics, Social Class, and History

Classic Liberals and modern liberals generally agree on the benefits of?

Free speech

What is an assumption underlying feminism?

Gender roles and attitudes are socially controlled.

Voting for someone who is charismatic but whose policies might not benefit you would be considered _______ behavior.

Irrational

When people base their political views on beliefs that may not be based in reality, they are behaving ________.

Irrationally

A weakness of the Brazilian constitution?

It confers too many rights for the government to realistically guarantee.

In what way does the U.S. Constitution differ from most other constitutions?

It is shorter and more vague than most other constitutions.

Which of the following lends support to the political generations theory of public opinion?

Many people who lived through the Great Depression are life-long supporters of welfare programs.

What do most political scientists point to as the catalyst of the recent wave of democratization in the Third World?

The correct answer is: economic modernization that allows for the emergence of a middle class

Many Americans find it difficult to grasp the power of ideological motivation because of?

The emphasis on moderation and pragmatism in American culture.

How is the failure of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion an example of the impact dramatic foreign policy events can have on public support of the president?

The event inspired public support for President Kennedy even though it was a failure.

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.

How do classic conservatives address the issue of change?

They believe that change should happen gradually rather than suddenly

T or F: Rousseau had more optimistic view of the "State of Nature" than Locke and Hobbes did?

True

T/F: A modern liberal would most likely support an increase regulations on the banking sector?

True

T/F: China has become more capitalistic economically, but has an authoritarian political structure.

True

How is the United States able to loudly proclaim its democratic values in the face of its history of low voter turnout?

Voter turnout is not an inherently crucial aspect of democratic culture.

Neoconservatives are opposed to?

Welfare Spending

After interviewing a citizen about his support for the new health care bill, a newspaper concludes that there is widespread support for the new legislation in town. This is an example of __________.

anecdotal evidence

What fits the feminist views of the challenges women face in the present-day world?

Women have difficulty gaining economic and political power because men are socialized into leadership roles.

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

The theory of the democratic peace asserts that democracies __________.

do not fight each other

Governments often engage in overt socialization through __________.

education

One benefit of a system with frequent alternation in power is __________.

effective control over corruption

Political scientists use _____ data to look for patterns and eventually form theories

empirical

At the heart of the concept of a federal system is __________.

the existence of component states with some powers that cannot be easily overridden by the central government

The Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller dealt with __________.

the extent of gun rights

What evidence would pluralists most likely cite to support their claims that elites are ultimately accountable?

the millions of dollars that tobacco firms have paid out in lawsuits and settlements

Weak states are characterized by __________.

the penetration of crime into politics

Federal governments cannot always demand policy change in their component states, but they are often able to exert their influence in other ways. What would be an example of this dynamic?

withholding grants from states that refuse to adopt a national policy standard