Unit 3 MCQ Topic Questions
An illiberal democracy is also known as which of the following?
A competitive authoritarian regime
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 statements accurately describes a cleavage in Iran?
A religious cleavage exists between the Shi'a Muslims and the minority Iranian Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians.
Which of the following accurately compares civil liberties in authoritarian and democratic regimes?
Authoritarian regimes limit citizen control of the media, while in democratic regimes media is largely in the hands of private citizens.
Which of the following accurately compares the nature of social cleavages in both Nigeria and Mexico?
Both countries feature regional differences divided along socioeconomic lines.
Which of the following do Great Britain and Nigeria have in common?
Both countries have ethnic diversity and strong regional identities
Which of the following correctly compares agents of socialization within China and Iran?
Both regimes apply pressure to socialize their citizens around conforming beliefs, which results in legitimization of their rule.
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.
Which of the following practices is more common in authoritarian political systems than in democratic political systems?
Censorship of citizens' use of the Internet and social media
In which of the following pairs of countries does the government exercise significant state control of the media?
China and Russia
Which of the following is the best indicator that a political regime is legitimate?
Citizens follow laws because they believe in the government's right to rule.
Which of the following describes civil society in Russia and Iran?
Civil society groups in Russia and Iran are either prohibited or severely limited.
Which of the following is found in illiberal democracies?
Elections
Which of the following describes a difference between fascism and populism?
Fascism is an extreme nationalist ideology that favors authoritarian rule and the rights of the ethnic majority over that of ethnic minorities, and populism is the belief in rights of the common people over elites.
Which of the following best describes the difference between fascism and communism?
Fascism is the belief in a nationalist ideology favoring authoritarian rule, and communism is the belief in the removal of private property and government control over the economy.
Which of the following is an accurate description of the difference between fascism and individualism?
Fascism is the belief in an extreme nationalist ideology, and individualism is the belief that preserving individual freedom is more important than collective goals.
Which of the following statements best demonstrates that a healthy civil society exists in the United Kingdom?
Freedom of assembly allows groups to express their discontent with the government by protesting.
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 statements most accurately explains socialization in two course countries?
In Iran, Islam plays an important role in citizens' socialization, which has led to the election of conservative candidates, while in the United Kingdom the Anglican Church plays little role in citizens' socialization and choice of political candidates.
Which of the following indicates a major difference in how political culture affects institutions?
In Iran, the 1979 revolution led to a theocratic system, whereas in the United Kingdom, a history of limited government has led to a democratic system.
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 describes a contrasting political value?
In Mexico, the government is limited to the same rules as its citizens, whereas in Russia the government uses the law to reinforce the authority of the state.
Which of the following statements accurately describes politically relevant cleavages in two countries?
In Mexico, there are ethnic divisions between the Amerindian population and whites and mestizos, while in Russia there are divisions between the ethnic Russian population and minority groups such as the Chechens in the Caucasus region.
Which of the following principles did President Mohammad Khatami put at the center of his domestic agenda in his first term?
Increased freedom of the press
Which of the following best describes civil society?
Individuals organizing and expressing their interests
Which of the following two governments have most significantly limited citizens' media access to maintain political control?
Iran and Russia
Which of the following is an accurate description of a hybrid regime?
It holds regular elections for public offices.
Which of the following is true of the bureaucracy in Mexico?
It is a major source of employment within Mexico.
Which of the following is the best description of Great Britain's Fixed-Term Parliaments Act of 2011 ?
It mandates that parliamentary elections must occur every five years starting in 2015.
Which of the following best describes Iranian political culture?
It values the community's welfare above individual rights.
Which of the following caused the British government to establish a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009 ?
It was determined that a permanent legal body be established with jurisdiction to resolve disputes relating to devolution in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Mexican political culture differs from Nigerian political culture in which of the following ways?
Mexicans have a strong sense of national identity, while Nigerians identify more strongly with their individual ethnic group.
"Opposition parties joined in Parliament tonight to introduce a motion . . . that is believed likely to bring down the Labor Party government of Prime Minister James Callaghan and force a national election here by the beginning of May. Callaghan made a desperate attempt to win more time by proposing first to the House of Commons and then to the nation on television this evening that a crucial parliamentary vote on limited home rule for Scotland, which Callaghan was almost certain to lose, be postponed for several weeks to discuss alternatives. . . . Callaghan had been trying to delay the election until October, near the end of the Labor government's full five years in office, because union strife during the winter has left Labor well behind the Conservatives in public opinion polls... The prime minister, who has used a variety of delaying tactics and favors for some of the minority parties to stay in power this long, can count only on the 305 Labor members of Parliament plus a dwindling number of the contested Welsh and "Ulster votes". From The Washington Post. © 1979 The Washington Post. All rights reserved Which of the following would have been the most effective way to prevent the Callaghan government from falling in a vote of no confidence? If Mr. Downie's prediction was accurate, which of the following would have been likely to occur? Which of the following is an implication of the author's argument?
Mr. Callaghan could have worked closer with members of the Labour Party and minor parties to earn support. A vote of no confidence would have been staged and James Callaghan would have been removed from office. Passing laws on policy may be more efficient in parliamentary governments because the legislative and executive branches are fused.
Which of the following accurately compares political ideologies ?
Neoliberalism is the belief in limited governmental intervention in the economy and society, supports privatization, free trade and deregulation.
Which of the following accurately compares neoliberalism and communism?
Neoliberalism is the belief that free enterprise is the best solution for economic growth, and communism is the belief that private property should be abolished.
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 statements accurately describes the effects of political cleavages in two AP course countries?
Nigerian and Russian governments both grapple with a Christian-Muslim cleavage that has led to acts of political violence in both countries.
Which of the following accurately compares the status of civil liberties and civil rights in democratic and authoritarian regimes?
Only democratic regimes encourage citizen control of the political agenda by granting civil liberties.
Which of the following examples best illustrates a challenge to political socialization in the United Kingdom and Nigeria?
People are socialized in both countries partly through the media, and there are several news sources that print influential stories that are biased.
Which of the following accurately compares populism and fascism?
Populism is the belief in the rights of the common people over those of the elites, while fascism is the belief in the rights of the ethnic majority over those of ethnic minorities.
Latin America's two biggest economies are in their first 100 days under new management. During the presidential campaigns in Brazil and Mexico, democracy's champions worried most about Brazil, given Jair Bolsonaro's nostalgia for military rule. Yet today it is Mexico's democracy that is under greater threat: President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, is systematically concentrating power in an already strong executive. From the start, AMLO has undermined democratic norms and checks and balances. Despite controlling a constitutional majority in Mexico's Chamber of Deputies and sizable majority in its Senate, he has often chosen to work outside the formal legislative process. Instead he has relied on dubious public "referendums," sampling small and politically skewed groups to set agricultural policy, boost pensions, authorize infrastructure projects and create scholarships. He has attacked and stacked the courts. He quickly moved to cut judges' salaries and take control of court officials' evaluations and promotions. His first nominations to the highest bench include the wife of a favored contractor and party loyalists. Source: Shannon K. O'Neil, "López Obrador is Dismantling Democracy in Mexico," Bloomberg Opinion, March 11, 2019 López Obrador's actions best reflect which of the following ideologies?
Populism, because of López Obrador's use of referenda.
The [Chinese Communist Party or CCP] itself is well aware of its dependence on popular legitimacy. In the post-Tiananmen period, the CCP has gradually repositioned itself as a "governing party" responding to social demands instead of a "ruling party" reshaping social demands. Former party general secretary Jiang Zemin's dramatic rewardrobing of the CCP from a transformative party representing the proletariat into a populist party representing "the fundamental interests of the vast majority of the Chinese people" in his Theory of the Three Represents (announced in 2001 and incorporated into the Party constitution in 2002) reflects the CCP's recognition that its survival today depends mainly on whether it is legitimate. When Khrushchev declared that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) would become a "party of all the people" in 1961, it was stridently denounced by the CCP as revisionist, "a massive backward step" in the words of the official critique. Forty years later, theorists in China admit that this is exactly what the CCP has done with the Three Represents. In 2004, the CCP acknowledged for the first time that the 1949 revolution no longer served as a durable basis of legitimacy, an admission widely cited in current discussions about legitimation strategies: "The CCP's ruling status is by no means a natural result of the Party's founding, and will not remain forever if the Party does nothing to safeguard it," reads the preamble to a party decision on governing capacity. Source: Bruce Gilley, "Legitimacy and Institutional Change: The Case of China," Comparative Political Studies 41:259-284, 2008. Which of the following is an implication for legitimacy and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ? According to the author, which of the following best explains why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has changed strategies? Which of the following best describes the author's claim in the passage?
Recognizing the changing social demands means the CCP will have to find an alternative basis of legitimacy. The CCP's basis of legitimacy has shifted from its commitment to communist ideology to its capacity to meet the demands of the Chinese people. Under Jiang Zemin, the CCP became more populist to appeal to a broader segment of the Chinese population.
Which of the following refers to a vote by the public on a particular policy issue?
Referendum
Which of the following statements best characterizes Nigerian society?
Religious diversity, ethnic diversity, linguistic diversity
Since the 1970s, which civil society groups in the United Kingdom have increased and which have decreased their representation in Parliament?
Representation of environmental groups has increased, while representation of the Anglican church and trade unions has decreased.
Which of the following describes politically relevant cleavages in two AP Comparative Government and Politics course countries?
Russia has an ethnic cleavage consisting of a majority of ethnic Russians and a non-Russian population, and the United Kingdom has ethnic differences between people in different regions.
Which of the following political blocs would be most likely to favor nationalization of large industrial enterprises?
Socialists
Which of the following explains how corruption influences the media in Nigeria?
Some journalists are paid to write positive stories about government officials or to stop negatives stories from being published.
Political participation in authoritarian regimes differs from that in democratic regimes in which of the following ways?
State organized participation is more likely to occur in authoritarian regimes than in democratic regimes.
Which of the following statements about the role and function of executives in each country is most accurate?
The Chinese president and the Nigerian president are both commanders in chief of the armed forces.
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 statements accurately describes Muslim populations in two AP Comparative Government and Politics course countries?
The Muslim population in the United Kingdom lives mostly in London and other urban areas, while in China most Muslims live in western provinces.
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 compares government regulation of civil society in Russia with that of the United Kingdom?
The Russian government monitors civil society groups much more closely than does the government of the United Kingdom.
"Vladimir Putin perfectly understood the power of the media that helped propel his famously unpopular predecessor Boris Yeltsin into power in 1996. So the first thing he did after assuming the presidency in 2000 was to force all the major TV channels—still the most powerful medium in the country—to submit to his will. Oligarch owners were either co-opted, jailed or exiled, and by 2006 most major Russian media were either directly or indirectly under Putin's administration's control. "Today, the three major Russian TV channels are either directly owned by the state, operating as state enterprises . . . or owned by a subsidiary of one of Russia's largest oil and gas companies. . . . "Members of Putin's administration . . . control the political coverage and decide both what foreign and domestic policies are to be covered, and how and, more importantly, what is not to be covered. "The editors-in-chief of all the major media in Russia attend regular 'strategy meetings' with Putin's staffers. ". . . Today, the Russian state employs both hard and soft power to further its grip on the country's media. New restrictive laws are passed with dispiriting predictability: foreign media franchise owners are forced out of their stakes in international brands . . . fines and other penalties are introduced for not covering controversial subjects such as terrorism and drug abuse in terms that 'do not explicitly discourage the behaviour.' Independent outlets are threatened into self-censorship and choked of the things they need to survive—such as cable services or access to print shops—if they don't comply. "And this in turn opens up more possibilities to manipulate coverage through more conventional means, such as access bias. "Putin's office has become expert at manipulating the agenda. Bits of trivial information are spoonfed to reporters through 'informed sources familiar with the matter'—and even critical outlets end up promoting the Kremlin's line by reporting what is essentially non-news." Copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2019 Which of the following best describes the author's perspective? Which of the following best describes the author's claim in the passage? According to the passage, which of the following describes a way that the Putin government influences independent outlets?
The Russian media lacks the independence it needs to hold President Putin accountable. Members of the Putin administration decide what foreign and domestic policies will be covered by the media. The Russian government imposes fines and penalties for not covering controversial subjects correctly.
Which of the following correctly describes sources of legitimacy in two AP course countries?
The United Kingdom and Nigeria both rely heavily on elections as a source of legitimacy.
Which of the following best explains why, despite the intervention of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), there are still problems with strengthening civil society in Nigeria?
The country is large, and there are multiple societal cleavages and divisions.
With regard to human rights in Iran, the Iranian government has acted in which of following ways?
The government targets and imprisons political opponents.
Which of the following accurately describes the Chinese government's imposition of restrictions on civil society groups?
The government's actions contradict guarantees of civil liberties in its constitution.
Which of the following challenges to the state have tended to strengthen democracy?
The growing independence of civil society
Followers of both socialism and communism are most likely to favor which of the following policy programs?
The reduction of economic inequality
Which of the following statements accurately describes changes in the Chinese media in the past twenty years?
There has been an increase in investigative reporting.
Which of the following best explains the status of media freedom in Iran?
There is some media censorship, but the government allows independent news sources as a way to maintain legitimacy.
Which of the following best explains why the Chinese government allows some political protests?
To act as a release valve for the public
Which of the following is the purpose of the Great Firewall in China?
To limit political criticism on social media
Which of the following has the Nigerian state done to alleviate cleavage-based problems?
Used ethnic quotas in government hiring
Civil societies require which of the following?
Voluntary associations
The Communist Youth League (CYL), All-China Federation of Trade Unions, and All-China Women's Federation are significant because they
are mass organizations that have served as channels of political education and participation under Chinese Communist Party rule
Cleavages that split a society into different groups with regard to different issues are referred to as
crosscutting
The United Kingdom has used a referendum in the past ten years to
decide whether to leave the European Union
Both Russia and China have responded to ethnic political movements that seemed to threaten national integration by
deploying troops to quell demonstrations and protests for greater ethnic autonomy
In its effort to reduce the problem of ethnonationalism, the 1999 Nigerian Constitution
established the National Youth Service Corps
One major contrast between the Yeltsin and Putin presidential administrations in terms of domestic policies lies in the
extensive media freedom under Yeltsin and the significant decrease in media freedom under Putin
All of the following are policies that Russia has pursued in its relations with neighboring states since 2000 EXCEPT
increased sharing of nuclear technology with all former Soviet republics
Which of the following accurately compares political ideologies?
individualism is the belief in individual civil liberties and freedom over government restrictions, while populism is a political philosophy that supports the interests and rights of the common people over that of the elites.
One difference between the parliamentary and presidential forms of government is that the presidential form
makes the executive electorally independent of other branches of government
The two largest ethnic groups in Mexico are
mestizo and indigenous
The process by which basic political attitudes and beliefs are developed is known as
political socialization
Emphasizing values such as gender equality and environmental protection rather than concern with traditional economic priorities is known as
postmaterialism
Divided government is possible in Mexico because it is a
presidential system
Citizens of nondemocratic regimes may be allowed to participate in elections in order to
provide legitimacy to the ruling regime
In addition to its basic lawmaking function, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation also has the power to
ratify treaties and approve troop deployments
The most persistent political challenge facing Nigeria since independence has been
regional and ethno-religious cleavages
[W]e distinguish two theories of what constitutes the goals of the Chinese regime as implemented in their censorship program, each reflecting a different perspective on what threatens the stability of the regime. First is a state critique theory, which posits that the goal of the Chinese leadership is to suppress dissent, and to prune human expression that finds fault with elements of the Chinese state, its policies, or its leaders. . . . Second is what we call the theory of collective action potential: the target of censorship is people who join together to express themselves collectively, stimulated by someone other than the government, and seem to have the potential to generate collective action. In this view, collective expressions—many people communicating on social media on the same subject—regarding actual collective actions, such as protests, as well as those about events that seem likely to generate collective actions but have not yet done so, are likely to be censored. . . . The evidence suggests that when the leadership allowed social media to flourish in the country, they also allowed the full range of expression of negative and positive comments about the state, its policies, and its leaders. As a result, government policies sometimes look as bad, and leaders can be as embarrassed, as is often the case with elected politicians in democratic countries, but, as they seem to recognize, looking bad does not threaten their hold on power so long as they manage to eliminate discussions associated with events that have collective action potential. . . . With respect to this type of speech, the Chinese people are individually free but collectively in chains. Source: Gary King, Jennifer Pan, and Margaret E. Roberts, "How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression," American Political Science Review 107 (2): 326-43. According to the passage, which of the following best describes why China engages in censorship? What is the authors' central claim in the passage? According to the passage, what is the theory of collective action potential?
to preserve control China's leaders use censorship to block efforts to organize ordinary people against the regime. It suggests that censorship targets people who join together to express their grievances collectively.
