Political Science Test :3

What is Politics?

Competition for authority

Why is political science scientific?

It uses the scientific method

What is a theory

causal explanation

What is democracy?

rule by the people

what is authoritarian government

absolute or total power over all aspects of life

according to the mussolini documentary what are the elements of the dictators playbook that mussolini used. How were they used? give specific examples.

Built a gang — the Blackshirts
Took power forcefully — became prime minister through insurrection
he made an enemy — condemned communism
Weakened democracy — used Blackshirts to rig voting
Mass indoctrination — reshaped education around him
Used war — to keep people distracted; he gained Ethiopia as a territory

how did mussolini use violence? what effect did that violence have?

Mussolini used violence by creating the Blackshirts and sending them to the journal he used to run to make a statement and to make people scared of him; then he did an insurrection against the king and demanded to be prime minister, and then he rigged voting by beating up people who didn’t vote for him. That violence made people fear him, made them scared to go against him, and destroyed democracy

which of the following are elements of democracy identified in the class discussion and assigned reading?

Procedural = Elections, which is a check on powers

high political contestation

expansive individual freedom

effective participation

equality in voting

inclusion

fundamental rights

In one word, what is the defining feature of american national political culture

individualism

the united states is a ____ democracy and most european countries are _____ democracies; this difference is largely caused by a difference in political culture

presidential, parliamentary

why is holding elections considered a minimal element of democracy? Why do you need other elements?

Elections don’t guarantee a free or fair society because maybe not everyone who lives there can vote. You need other elements because democracy is defined as rule by the people, and without checks on power and political competition, you might just end up like Russia, where no one can compete with the current politician… and there isn’t really a choice.

Before the US Constitution what was the highest governing document of the United States? ,

articles of confederation

All democracies in the world are some form of ____ democracies, there are no direct democracies in the world.

Representative

Why was Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 important for the development of the racial caste system in the United States?

because the rich white elite ended up dividing the poor white slaves and poor black slaves so they would have less chance to rebel — this made whiteness a social status

Name and describe the types of unprotected speech from the assigned reading.

imminent lawless action — speech intended to provoke unlawful action

true threats — speaker intends to commit acts of violence

defamation (libel or slander) — false statements made to damage their reputation

This quote is from which Amendment? “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech...”

first amendment

What are civil rights? What are civil liberties?

protection by gov and protection from gov

What is the Bill of Rights?

the first ten amendments of the constitution

What is the term Michelle Alexander uses to describe the “web of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control those labeled criminals both in and out of prison”?

mass incarceration

What is a racial bribe (from The New Jim Crow

giving special privileges and a sense of superiority to poor white people to prevent them from uniting with black people

What was the ruling Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) as described by Michelle Alexander?

a monumental legal victory that shifted focus of racial justice

What was Nixon’s “southern strategy”?

after democrats started to shift political views, republicans saw this as a way to gain white conservative voters

What did the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Law do

to support the war on drugs by enforcing strict mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses which commonly affected underprivileged black communities

Describe the "imminent lawless action" test for the First Amendment and how it is applied.

the gov cant punish speech unless it is meant to cause an immediate crime, what were the words, what was the context, and connection

What is “strict scrutiny” and how does it apply to the Supreme Court’s approach to First Amendment cases?

strict scrutiny is the highest form of judicial review

it applies to the supreme courts approach to the first amendment cases because it uses restrictions and exceptions for unprotected speech, laws banning speech must pass strict scrutiny which means theres a higher standard for first amendment cases

What are the four main clauses of the 14th Amendment?

citizenship clause
privileges and immunities clause
due process clause
equal protection clause

What is the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and why is it important?

stops state gov from treating people differently its important because it protects civil rights and drove the end of jim crow

The Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects a “zone of privacy,” what are the parameters of that “zone”? In other words, what privacy protections does the Constitution provide (according to the Supreme Court)?

tbd