Comparative Politics (U.S. Focus)
Exam Review
Course Introduction
Comparative Politics (U.S. Focus) examines the fundamental concepts, structures, and processes of political systems around the world, with special emphasis on comparing these with the political system of the United States. The course explores key themes such as democracy and authoritarianism, political institutions, party systems, policy development, and political culture through a comparative lens. Students will analyze how governmental frameworks, political behaviors, and policy outcomes in the United States converge with and diverge from those in other countries. Through case studies and theoretical frameworks, the course aims to deepen understanding of the U.S. within a global political context, fostering critical thinking about the strengths and challenges of different political models.
Recommended Textbook
American Government 14th Edition by Stephen Ansolabehere
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17 Chapters
2281 Verified Questions
2281 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Five Principles of Politics
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128 Verified Questions
128 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Elected officials' support of a party "brand name" is an example of a tragedy of the commons.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Which of these is a principal-agent relationship?
A)client-attorney
B)two students on a date
C)inmate-prison guard
D)U.S.ambassador-King of Sweden
E)horse-jockey
Answer: A
Q3) What is the dark side of principal-agent relationships?
A)Agents are often not rational.
B)Institutions sometimes force principal-agent relationships underground.
C)Principals often force agents to do things against their will.
D)The interests of the agent and the principal may not be well aligned.
E)The principals usually do not know what they are doing.
Answer: D
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Constructing a Government: the Founding and the Constitution
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145 Verified Questions
145 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which amendment or set of amendments provides important safeguards against the arbitrary exercise of governmental power, especially within the judicial branch?
A)First
B)Ninth and Tenth
C)Second, Third, and Fourth
D)Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth
E)Second and Eleventh
Answer: D
Q2) The framers intended an active and powerful government, so they included language to ensure that Congress could take any step to achieve its enumerated responsibilities.This elastic clause is most commonly known as the
A)necessary and proper clause.
B)separation of powers clause.
C)national supremacy clause.
D)privileges and immunities clause.
E)federal caveat.
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Federalism and the Separation of Powers
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134 Verified Questions
134 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The doctrine that allowed the national government to increase the scope of its authority considerably through the Supreme Court's expansive interpretation of delegated powers was based on the __________ clause.
A)ex post facto
B)advise and consent
C)full faith and credit
D)necessary and proper
E)reserved powers
Answer: D
Q2) Grant programs in which state and local governments submit proposals to federal agencies and for which funding is provided on a competitive basis are known as __________ grants.
A)contest
B)formula
C)project
D)community redevelopment
E)tax remuneration
Answer: C
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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122 Verified Questions
122 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The exclusionary rule generally prevents prosecutors from using evidence collected without a legal search warrant in a court of law.
A)True
B)False
Q2) List and discuss the rights of the criminally accused.Identify which of these rights are most important for the protection of society and explain why.
Q3) Describe how the Fourteenth Amendment and its application to the Bill of Rights altered the nature of federalism in the United States.
Q4) Although James Madison was initially opposed to the addition of a bill of rights to the Constitution, why did he subsequently support the proposal?
A)because of his pragmatic recognition of political realities
B)because of his unwavering adherence to political principles
C)because of his selfish devotion to the accumulation of his own wealth
D)because of his distrust that the system of checks and balances would actually work
E)because of his close friendship with Alexander Hamilton, who desperately wanted the Bill of Rights
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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107 Verified Questions
107 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Plessy v.Ferguson was a civil rights case involving the
A)privileges and immunities clause in Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution.
B)reserved powers clause of the Tenth Amendment.
C)right to bear arms clause of the Second Amendment.
D)freedom of assembly clause of the First Amendment.
E)equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Q2) Which term describes behavior that is motivated by and directed toward some purpose or objective?
A)instrumental behavior
B)altruistic behavior
C)experiential behavior
D)self-interested behavior
E)irrational behavior
Q3) A possible problem with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is that the complaining party has to show that deliberate discrimination was the cause of the failure to get a job or a training opportunity.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Should affirmative action be continued? Why or why not?
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Chapter 6: Congress: the First Branch
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154 Verified Questions
154 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Members of Congress avoid recommending spending that benefits their home district, focusing instead on spending that benefits the country as a whole.
A)True
B)False
Q2) When the Committee on Agriculture focused on legislation supported by farm advocates instead of focusing on the desires of its parent chamber, the House, it exemplified the problem of
A)plenary abuse.
B)pork-barrel spending.
C)agency loss.
D)the discharge petition.
E)agency oversight.
Q3) What is one of the most important powers of House majority party leaders?
A)nominating judges for the Supreme Court and other federal judgeships
B)screening and editing press releases by members of their congressional party delegations
C)selecting legislation for consideration in the House chamber
D)choosing which members will go on international fact-finding missions
E)distributing the patronage jobs controlled by the House and Speaker's office
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Page 8
Chapter 7: The Presidency As an Institution
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160 Verified Questions
160 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The president is the dominant actor in American foreign and defense policy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Delegated powers are those powers that are specifically granted to the president in the text of the Constitution.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following is a reason the presidency was relatively weak during the legislative epoch (1800-1933)?
A)The individuals elected to presidential office were unskilled and not capable of attaining greatness.
B)There were few important national, political, or social forces to which presidents could have linked themselves.
C)The national government had very expansive powers.
D)Presidents were so busy managing the federal bureaucracy that they had no time to invest in legislative policy making or party politics.
E)Nationalized media outlets and rapid communication made it difficult for presidents to form a supportive coalition.
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Chapter 8: The Executive Branch: Bureaucracy in a Democracy
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139 Verified Questions
139 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the U.S.House of Representatives, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence reviews the performance of the Central Intelligence Agency in helping prevent international terrorism.What is this review known as?
A)grandstanding
B)regulation
C)invigilation
D)superintendence
E)oversight
Q2) In 2013, President Obama nominated Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense to lead the Defense Department.There was substantial controversy in the Senate regarding some of Hagel's policy positions, and a number of senators attempted to block Hagel's confirmation as secretary, although he was eventually approved by a vote of 58-41.This attempt to block Hagel's confirmation is an example of which type of control to address the principal-agent problem?
A)a before-the-fact control mechanism
B)a procedural control
C)an after-the-fact control mechanism
D)a control against coalitional drift
E)oversight control
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Chapter 9: The Federal Courts
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150 Verified Questions
150 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Besides the justices who staff the Court, the individual who has the greatest immediate influence on the work of the Supreme Court is the A)president.
B)vice president.
C)solicitor general.
D)attorney general.
E)White House counsel.
Q2) The U.S.Supreme Court operates primarily as a trial court.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Procedural requirements in state courts tend to be stricter than federal procedural requirements.
A)True
B)False
Q4) To what extent can the president and Congress constrain the Supreme Court and the decisions they make?
Q5) In the United States, how do the courts work as political institutions?
Q6) Explain the various stages in the decision-making process of the Supreme Court.
Q7) Describe the process and politics surrounding the appointment of federal judges.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Public Opinion
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126 Verified Questions
126 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Surveys often seek to evaluate support for public policies.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which political group seeks to expand liberty above all other principles and wishes to minimize government intervention in the economy and the society?
A)liberals.
B)libertarians.
C)progressives.
D)conservatives.
E)Jacobins.
Q3) Politicians typically make little to no use of public opinion polls, except during election season.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Is the U.S.government responsive to public opinion? Should it be?
Q5) Abundant evidence makes it clear that the citizens of the United States are rather polarized in their political views.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: Elections
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147 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) An electoral system in which the candidate who gets the most votes wins the election is called a majority rule system.
A)True
B)False
Q2) At the beginning of the nineteenth century, America was an unusually democratic country.
A)True B)False
Q3) The type of electoral system in which victory goes to the individual who gets more votes than any other candidate is called a A)caucus.
B)plurality system.
C)majority system.
D)proportional representation system.
E)Borda count system.
Q4) Most Americans identify more or less strongly with one or the other of the two major political parties.
A)True B)False
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Chapter 12: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Since it began focusing on abortion and other social issues in the 1970s, the Republican Party has increased its share of voters from which group that once leaned heavily toward the Democratic Party?
A)females
B)Catholics
C)Unitarians
D)African Americans
E)Protestants
Q2) The committee system of both houses of Congress is organized by
A)the Electoral College.
B)the parties.
C)the executive bureaucracy.
D)Article I, Section 9, of the U.S.Constitution.
E)Joint Congressional Rule 5.
Q3) Today parties serve no meaningful roles for candidates.
A)True
B)False
Q4) American party coalitions look much like European party coalitions.
A)True
B)False
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Groups and Interests
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Sample Questions
Q1) In order to attract members, most interest groups appeal to potential members not only by advertising their political goals but also by
A)offering jobs to all members in their Washington, D.C., offices.
B)threatening the livelihood of people who refuse to join.
C)providing direct economic and social benefits to group members.
D)lobbying state legislatures to make group membership mandatory for affected citizens.
E)advertising their organizers' personal ambitions.
Q2) Interest groups work primarily by trying to get candidates elected.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Lobbyists serve a useful purpose in the legislative and administrative process by providing valuable information.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A political system in which interest groups predominate is a politics with a distinctly upper-class bias.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 14: The Media
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129 Verified Questions
129 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Most radio stations devote about half of their time to news coverage.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In order to cater to their audience, media outlets tend to cover labor activities, religious affairs, and veterans' interest items.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In the United States, the government owns and controls the communications networks, but it does not regulate the content and ownership of the broadcast media.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Most of the programs on talk radio are liberal in opinion.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Individuals who are personally attacked on a broadcast program must be given the opportunity to respond.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What are the sources of media power?
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Economic Policy
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133 Verified Questions
133 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of the goods and services produced in the economy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A devastating form of market failure that occurs when speculative buying drives up the price of goods is called an explosion.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The modern system of central banks that facilitates exchanges of cash, checks, and credit is called the
A)Bank of the United States.
B)Central Banking Administration.
C)Federal Reserve System.
D)Washington Mutual Bank.
E)Department of the Treasury.
Q4) In the nineteenth century, the federal government received most of its revenue from tariffs.
A)True B)False
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Chapter 16: Social Policy
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118 Verified Questions
118 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The federal government defines poverty as which of the following?
A)the lack of goods and services most people take for granted
B)entitlement programs
C)goods and services provided to needy individuals and families by the federal government
D)the process of periodically adjusting social benefits to account for increases in the cost of living
E)a moral hazard
Q2) Government social programs make up about what percentage of the U.S.economy (gross domestic product)?
A)5
B)10
C)20
D)30
E)50
Q3) The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food assistance to the needy, is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Foreign Policy
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124 Verified Questions
124 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Monroe Doctrine is based on which of the following principles?
A)appeasement
B)isolationism
C)deterrence
D)prevention
E)preemption
Q2) The term for a political entity consisting of people with some common cultural experience, a common political authority, and recognition by other sovereignties is
A)sovereignty.
B)vassal.
C)nation.
D)province.
E)nation-state.
Q3) The World Trade Organization grew out of which trade agreement?
A)General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
B)North American Free Trade Agreement
C)North Atlantic Treaty Organization
D)Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
E)Association of Southeast Asian Nations
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