Gov't Chapter 2
Democracy
"rule by the people"
According to the text, in the past few years, there has been ________ in the number of democracies around the world.
A slight decline.
All of the following are principles of procedural democracy except a. minority rights. b. universal participation. c. majority rule. d. government responsiveness to public opinion. e. political equality.
A.
Studies of the congressional agenda demonstrate that it is characterized by
An emphasis on business related legislation.
Why do most democracies give power to representatives rather than directly to citizens
Bringing large numbers of citizens together for discussions and votes is difficult, decisions may require specialized knowledge not possessed by the average citizen, and discussion of political issues consumes more time than most people are willing to spend.
The basic standard of substantive democracy is that government must guarantee
Civil rights and liberties
The Greek word demos, which is the root of the term democracy, means
Common people
A politician who appeals to and often deceives the masses by manipulating their emotions and prejudices is a(n)
Demagogue
Members of which of the following groups would be most likely to support immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship?
Democrats
__________ allows a person to acquire information and documents online and also provides a medium to register opinions and complaints to government officials.
E-Government
The text suggests that there are _________ forces that may be pushing authoritarian governments toward democratization
Economic
A referendum is best described as a(n)
Election on a policy issue.
Which of the following can be considered an institutional mechanism in politics
Elections
Suppose that top government jobs for both political parties are filled only from an inner circle of top corporate leaders. This would be evidence for
Elite theory
Americans tend to define democracy in terms of
Freedoms, rights, or liberties
The procedural view of democracy is most concerned with
How government decisions are made
An organized group that seeks to influence government policy is called a(n)
Interest group
Although they are instruments of majoritarian democracy, initiatives are often sponsored by
Interest groups
For some years our two congressional parties have been increasingly polarized, working less together to fashion compromise legislation. This is consistent with the _________ of democracy.
Majoritarian model
Cohesive political parties with well-defined programs contribute to the
Majoritarian model of democracy
Compared with majoritarian thought, the pluralist model of democracy shifts the focus of democratic decision making from __________ to _________.
Mass electorate to organized groups
What rules govern the use of referenda at the federal level?
No provisions exist for the use of referenda at the federal level.
An autocracy is a political system ruled by
One individual
Autocracy
One individual has the power to make all the important decisions
New England town meetings are an example of
Participatory democracy
Whereas majority rule is defined as decision making by 50 percent plus one person, _________ is defined as decision making by most participants.
Plurality Rule
A country abiding by the principle "one man, one vote" is practicing
Political equality
The Greek word kratos, one of the roots of the word democracy, means
Power
According to the ________________ rule of democracy, anti-gay marriage laws are democratic
Procedural
________ theory prescribes that a group should decide to do what the majority of its participant wants to do.
Procedural
A popular election is the primary mechanism for democratic government in which model?
The majoritarian model
The ancient Greeks classified governments as autocracies, oligarchies, or democracies based on
The number of citizens involved in governing
In America, when the wealthy and the rest of the population have differing policy goals
The preference of the wealthy will most often prevail.
The idea that all adults within the boundaries of a political community should be allowed to vote is known as
Universal Participation
Origins of democratic theory lie in
ancient Greek political thought.
In a system of participatory democracy,
citizens govern themselves, without electing representatives.
The text suggests that there are _________ forces that may be pushing authoritarian governments toward democratization. a. philosophical b. moral c. religious d. economic e. ethical
d.
A sign that pluralist democracy might not be working well in the United States is the
fact that the best represented sectors in Washington are business and professional groups
The principal drawback of the pluralist model is that it
favors groups who need help the least.
Oligarchy
puts government power in the hands of an elite.
The Bill of Rights is at the core of our
substantive theories of democracy