Exam 1 CPO2001 Study Guide

Maria constructs a series of hypotheses that might explain why some countries have strong networks of interest groups and civic organizations, whereas other countries do not. Maria then gathers data to test the validity of her hypotheses. This is an example of

deductive reasoning

A full explanation of why a country does or does not have an institutionalized democratic system of governance would include considerations of the country’s history, political culture, economics, and demographics. This exemplifies which difficulty of comparative politics research?

multicausality

Thinkers such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes worked during which period in the study of politics?

They wrote at the turn of the twentieth century, focusing on detailed, almost journalistic descriptions of political systems.

When studying economic development, it can be difficult to disentangle cause and effect. For example, a country with a strong education system might be expected to have higher levels of economic development. But countries with higher levels of economic development are able to spend more on their education systems, thus creating better education systems. This is an example of which difficulty of doing comparative political research?

lack of control over other variables

Which of the following statements best describes the current trend in comparative politics research?

more comparative politics scholars are using a mixed-methods approach to conducting research

Which of the following is an informal institution?

an unwritten rule of politics

What is dependent variable?

the variable that is affected by another variable

Which of the following statements best describes the connection between comparative politics and area studies?

comparativists mostly study single cases. Areas studies is when a comparativist looks at cases clustered in a certain geographic region.

In which of the following ways does quantitative research differ from qualitative research?

It is more likely to have a specific geographic focus.

Which of the following can be said about the concept of a regime?

a regime guides the state regarding individual freedom and collective equality, where power should reside, and how power should be used.

In which of the following ways does a government built primarily on charismatic legitimacy differ from one built on traditional legitimacy?

a government built on charismatic legitimacy increases in power from length of office more than other forms of legitimacy.

Asymmetric federalism refers to a system in which power is divided unevenly between

regional bodies

Recent research suggests that states arose as a form of political organization because

states helped protect people from other violent groups

Which of the following types of legitimacy is most likely to become unstable when the national leader dies?

charismatic legitimacy

Which of the following characteristics is more likely to be seen in a federalist state than a unitary state?

limited local policymaking

Which of the following statements about state capacity and state autonomy is correct?

democracies usually have high state autonomy

A small state government successfully makes a major change to its public education policy out of a belief that it is the best thing for the people, even though the public largely opposes the new policy. At the same time, the state proves largely incapable of maintaining law and order, or providing food and medical care, in a region that is suffering through a drought. In which of the following ways could this state be categorized?

low capacity, high autonomy

States with high capacity and high autonomy are

typically democratic

Why might the term patriotic be problematic in the case of the Palestinian people?

Palestinians lack a formal state, and patriotism refers to pride in one’s state

Social democracy or socialism is best described as

a political ideology

Which of the following statements about ethnicity is accurate?

ethnic solidarity can lessen the willingness to share resources with groups that are ethnically different.

Which of the following is one of the two most important components of national identity?

self-government

Which of the following statements is accurate?

citizenship is likely to be more flexible than ethnic identity.

Which of the following concepts or phenomena was first and most directly connected to state development?

growing ethnic identity

In which of the following ways does national conflict differ from ethnic conflict?

National conflict has an independent state as a core goal; ethnic conflict does not.

Anarchism and liberalism share the ideological belief that

the state is a threat to freedom and equality

Imagine a state with large oil reserves takes ownership of the major oil producers and refiners in order to direct their efforts and benefit from their profits. These oil companies would be examples of

parastatals

Taxes on imported goods are known as ________ while limits on the quantities of foreign goods coming into a country are known as ________.

tariffs; quotas

What is comparative advantage?

the ability for a country to produce a particular good or service relatively more efficiently than other countries.

Which of the following statements about mercantilism is accurate?

mercantilism directs the economy toward certain industries and away from others.

Liberalism is best associated with which of the following?

free trade

Purchasing power parity is a way to measure

the buying power of income across countries.

The Human Development Index includes measures of a country’s

education, life expectancy, and income.

A country is considering changes to its constitutional court and its power of judicial review. Some members of the legislature want to give the court the power of ________ review to decide whether a proposed law would be constitutional or not. Other members want to give the court the power of ________ review so that only specific court cases would trigger review.

abstract; concrete

How did the rapid economic development of many Asian countries in the 1970s effect the study of democracy?

it helped to discredit the modernization theory

In which of the following ways does a proportional representation (PR) system differ from a single-member district (SMD) system?

in a PR system, voters are typically more willing to vote for smaller parties.

Which of the following is an example of a first past the post electoral system?

the legislature is divided into districts; whoever receives the most votes in each district wins the election.

In which mode of democracy is the executive—as a whole—most accountable to the public?

parliamentary

Which of the following statements about semi-presidential systems is accurate?

the prime minister is typically the initiator of policy

Single-member district systems are

electoral systems in which a candidate must win an absolute majority of the vote in a district to win the seat

In which of the following ways does a parliamentary system differ from a presidential system?

prime ministers must command a majority to stay in office while presidents do not

How does the international community affect democratization?

foreign investment and globalization may push countries toward democratizing.

Civil rights typically refers to the promotion of

equality

Which of the following is an example of a totalitarian regime?

a regime that works to transform the society and economy into its own ideological image.

Which of the following statements is consistent with the resource curse theory?

abundant natural resources often free those in power from accountability to the people; with no need to tax the people, their wishes can be ignored.

Bureaucratic authoritarianism typically relies on the close cooperation of which groups?

the military and the state bureaucracy

Which of the following statements about populism is accurate?

populism draws much of its power from an anti-institutional approach.

A system in which states co-opt members of the public by providing specific benefits to the people in return for public support is

clientelism.

Which of the following would be an example of rent seeking?

providing cash payments to influential industry leaders in return for political support

Which of the following characteristics does an illiberal regime have in common with a democratic regime?

the executive, legislature, and judiciary are established and have their respective arenas of authority.

Which of the following statements regarding nondemocratic rule and legitimacy is accurate?

nondemocratic regimes may enjoy the same level of institutionalization as democratic regimes.

There is speculation that nondemocratic regimes persist because those in power fear economic and political loss if a regime democratizes. This is most consistent with which set of explanations for the origins and persistence of nondemocratic regimes?

elites

Communist countries are examples of which form of authoritarianism?

one-party rule

Which of the following would most widely be considered a public good in the United States?

primary school education

In which of the following ways do both communism and mercantilism differ from liberalism?

they both involve more state ownership of industries.

Why is persistent deflation a bad thing for the economy?

lowering prices leads to unemployment, less spending, and even more deflation

What is a primary tactic used by central banks to combat inflation?

raising interest rates

In which of the following ways does using purchasing power parity to calculate GDP differ from the sole use of GDP in measuring a country’s economic development?

it typically elevates measured income for less-developed countries.

Which of the following would be an example of a nontariff regulatory barrier?

a single company owning all of the computer manufacturing plants in a given country

The Gini index is one way that social scientists measure

the amount of economic inequality in a society

Which of the following statements about legislative structures is accurate?

the majority of liberal democracies have bicameral systems

In a particular voting district, an elected representative formed an especially close bond with her constituents, and during her past term she voted against the will of her party to better represent the people in her district. Using this observed relationship, a political scientist would most likely argue

that single-member district systems are more representative than proportional representation systems.

A country holds regular elections for a legislature, though most of its citizens have little faith in the validity of the results. Its powerful military operates largely outside of the control of the government, but it does not control the actions of the government. The government executive wields enormous power, but there is also a judiciary that occasionally rules on constitutional matters. A number of political parties compete with each other, but the government regularly restricts their campaigning activities. Based on this description, in which category could this country most reliably be placed?

illiberal regime

How can modernization sometimes lead to nondemocratic rule?

modernization can be destabilizing, leading to unemployment and dissatisfaction that sets the table for nondemocratic rule

What is the most common relationship between nondemocracies and civil society?

civil society is often absent in many authoritarian regimes

In which of the following ways does clientelism differ from corporatism?

clientelism relies on individual patronage, rather than on large organizations.

Which of the following statements about one-party rule is accurate?

it is often combined with a corporatist regime