Democracy and Its Challenges
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Course Introduction
This course explores the foundations, evolution, and contemporary challenges facing democratic systems around the world. Students will examine core concepts and historical developments in democratic theory, analyze case studies of both established and emerging democracies, and evaluate issues such as populism, polarization, political participation, institutional trust, and the impact of globalization. Through critical discussion and engagement with scholarly literature, the course aims to foster a deeper understanding of how democracies function, the threats they face, and potential pathways for reform and resilience.
Recommended Textbook Struggle for Democracy 11th Edition by Benjamin I. Page
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Democracy and American Politics
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Sample Questions
Q1) How does majority tyranny threaten political liberty? What is a recent example?
Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Discuss how the majority has the potential to tyrannize the rights of the minority. This was a concern of James Madison and other Founders.
2. Provide a recent example, such as Americans being hostile towards Muslims after 9/11or the disapproval of immigrants by Americans who believe these individuals are taking away jobs.
Q2) What constitutes government action?
A) public officials that have formal, legal responsibility in making policy
B) political actors that do not hold official public office
C) institutions that transmit preferences to elected officials
D) what issues become important in politics and government
E) what government does
Answer: E
Q3) If __________ are to be useful as a way to keep government leaders responsive and responsible, they must be conducted in a fashion that is free and fair.
Answer: elections
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3
Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The colonists rebelled against the unilateral imposition by the British government of which of the following?
A) a military draft
B) curfews
C) health care
D) religious laws
E) taxes
Answer: E
Q2) The purpose of "stay acts" was to __________.
A) block tariffs between states
B) delegitimize British rule
C) halt formation of militia
D) protect fledgling banks
E) stop farm foreclosures
Answer: E
Q3) The __________ of powers is a key feature of the government established by the Constitution.
Answer: separation
Q4) The __________ Amendment protects freedom of assembly.
Answer: First
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Federalism: States and Nation
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Sample Questions
Q1) How do we know that the U.S. Constitution is federalist? Cite specific clauses or articles.
Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Explain that the word "federalism" does not appear anywhere in the Constitution.
2. Explain that federalism is embodied in the Constitution through its enumeration of powers for the federal government, the Supremacy Clause, the Privileges and Immunities Clause, and the description of the role of the states in electing the members of the federal government.
Q2) The __________ Clause guarantees that the citizens of each state are afforded the same rights as citizens of other states.
Answer: Privileges and Immunities
Q3) In the United States, the __________ defines duties, obligations, and powers of both the national and state governments.
Answer: Constitution
Q4) The power to regulate commerce within a state belongs to the __________ government(s).
Answer: state
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Chapter 4: The Structural Foundations of American
Government and Politics
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Sample Questions
Q1) In recent decades, Southern states usually have given their votes for president to
A) Democrats
B) Greens
C) Independents
D) Libertarians
E) Republicans
Q2) What is sourcing?
A) government regulations relating to trade with Japan
B) reducing the fringe benefits offered to American workers
C) subcontracting jobs to foreign companies
D) subcontracting jobs to other American companies
E) using new technology to redesign a product
Q3) What is the business cycle? Describe what happened in the Great Recession of 2008-2009 in terms of the business cycle.
Q4) On the eve of the presidential campaign in 2011, polls showed strong support for the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street agendas, especially from middle-class, middle-aged men.
A)True B)False
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Chapter 5: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Although multilateralists believe that the protection of American interests requires continuous engagement in the world, they that think that the United States has the resources to accomplish its ends without the cooperation of other nations.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Under what conditions is public opinion less likely to play a role in shaping government policy?
A) when an issue is highly visible
B) when an issue is buried in complexity and obscurity
C) when people have reliable and understandable information about an issue
D) when an issue affects the lives of people directly
E) when people sense they are being misled
Q3) How is public opinion in the South different from public opinion in the rest of the country?
Q4) "Open-ended" or "forced-choice" questions are essentially the same thing. A)True
B)False
Q5) __________ ensures that each member of a population has an equal chance of being selected.
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Chapter 6: The News Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) The press is the main avenue of public interpretation of government action.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following is most likely to be the original source of a national news story printed in a small town newspaper?
A) the newspaper's beat reporter
B) Newsweek
C) The Chicago Tribune
D) MSNBC
E) The Associated Press
Q3) Framing provides a context for ___________ stories.
Q4) If you were an operative on a political campaign, what would you do to make stories about your campaign and candidate newsworthy?
Q5) If the media report gross malfeasance in how Medicare pays doctors, the media are acting as watchdogs.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Define "media framing." How does media framing of poverty affect American attitudes about its cause?
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Interest Groups and Business Organizations
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Sample Questions
Q1) The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is one of the largest and most influential interest groups in the United States, and it is a staunch foe of the minimum wage.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Distinguish between public interest groups and private groups and provide examples of each.
Q3) An interest group filing an amicus curiae brief is an example of __________.
A) grassroots or outside lobbying
B) how interest groups influence elections
C) lobbying an executive branch agency
D) how groups influence the president
E) lobbying the judicial branch
Q4) One function of __________ is to provide legislators with information about an interest group's position on a specific bill or issue.
Q5) As described in the "Using the Framework" box about Medicare, the Medicare prescription drug benefit was created under the George W. Bush administration.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Social Movements
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Sample Questions
Q1) Mahatma Gandhi, whose beliefs were borrowed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., advocated which tactic used in social movements?
A) sit-down strikes
B) violent demonstrations
C) massive public rallies
D) civil disobedience
E) massive protests
Q2) What event sparked the gay and lesbian movement in the late 1960s?
A) police harassment, which caused a rebellion
B) the jailing of a young lesbian woman, which caused boycotts
C) the passing of anti-gay legislation, which moved gays and lesbians to action
D) the assassination of a prominent gay rights activist, which led to marches
E) police violence, which led to the hospitalization of a gay man
Q3) The Populist movement is most similar to which contemporary movement?
A) women's rights movement
B) gay and lesbian movement
C) Tea Party movement
D) civil rights movement
E) Christian conservative movement
Q4) How people engage in politics-and how often-is in part a function of __________.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Briefly assess why dealignment in the party system has occurred and identify one of the signs in terms of an increase or decrease in party affiliation.
Q2) Which statement best describes what E. E. Schattschneider meant by the claim that "political parties created democracy"?
A) Political parties mobilize majorities for the purpose of taking over government, which is the very definition of democracy.
B) Through party platform creation, political parties give democratic voters a clear idea of the kind of people they are electing to represent them.
C) In nominating candidates, political parties narrow voter choice and thus make an otherwise confusing democratic process understandable.
D) By organizing the election process, political parties make it possible for voters to go to the polls and vote, thereby maintaining democracy.
E) Political parties facilitate voter choice through their campaigns on public issues about which democratic voters would otherwise have no knowledge.
Q3) The __________ coalition began to slowly disintegrate in the 1968 election.
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Chapter 10: Voting, Campaigns, and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) More Americans vote that in other democracies.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The electoral competition model is based on the commonsense notion that elections should present a "real choice. "
A)True
B)False
Q3) A large percentage of __________, more than any other age group, vote in presidential elections.
Q4) Contributions to and spending by candidate and party committees that fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Election Commission are known as __________.
A) soft money
B) hard money
C) discretionary funds
D) matching funds
E) public funds
Q5) If you were a campaign advisor for a presidential candidate who had just won his party's nominating convention, what advice would you give for how to win the general election?
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Chapter 11: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) How is Congress affected by the federal design of the Constitution? What kinds of conflict are inevitable in such a system? Name some specific conflicts of this sort that have required resolution in the Supreme Court. Go on to consider how federalism infuses "localism" into congressional affairs.
Q2) Define reciprocity, as practiced in Congress.
A) deferral by members of Congress to the executive branch
B) deferral by members of Congress to party leaders
C) deferral by members of Congress to subject-matter specialists
D) mutual support for bills by members of the same party
E) supporting an opposing party's bill in exchange for future support
Q3) In the House of Representatives, the __________ decides who will speak on the floor, and rules on points of order.
A) majority leader
B) majority whip
C) minority leader
D) president pro tempore
E) Speaker
Q4) After the Speaker, the next most powerful person in the House is the __________.
Q5) Describe majority-minority districts and explain their purpose(s).
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Chapter 12: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is a veto? Can a veto be overridden?
Q2) Congress has the sole authority to declare war.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The Intelligence Advisory Board provides information and assessments to the president's director of national intelligence and to the president directly.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which vice president is considered to have been the most powerful?
A) Gerald Ford
B) Harry Truman
C) Dick Cheney
D) Al Gore
E) Joe Biden
Q5) Describe the importance of individual presidents. How are they both products of and creators of their times? Provide two examples from history. What factors determine which presidents transform the office of the president? Do you think President Obama will be one of the transformers?
Q6) What makes a great/successful president?
Page 14
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Chapter 13: The Executive Branch
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the main purpose served by government corporations?
A) generating profit for the federal government
B) providing services not fully trusted to the private sector
C) breaking up monopolies
D) expanding international trade
E) regulating sectors of the economy
Q2) The concept of popular sovereignty means elected officials have a weak control of the bureaucracy.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Independent regulatory commissions differ from independent agencies in that they are less subject to presidential control.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The Social Security Administration rendering a decision about whether an individual was wrongly denied disability payments illustrates the __________ function of the federal bureaucracy.
Q5) According to the __________ Act, federal agencies must solicit public comments before issuing new rules and regulations.
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Chapter 14: The Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Supreme Court justices tend to form relatively stable voting blocs over time, with __________increasingly the most important factor.
Q2) Article III specifies the powers of the Supreme Court.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Congress has not reorganized the federal courts since the Judiciary Act of 1789.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What do presidents look for in selecting a Supreme Court justice?
Q5) Which of the following was at issue in Grove City College v. Bell?
A) Title IX of the Federal Education Act
B) Title VI of the Fair Housing Act
C) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
D) Title IV of the Affordable Care Act.
E) Title III of the National Higher Education Act
Q6) __________ confers authority to bring legal action because one is directly affected by the issues at hand.
Q7) A lawyer's spoken presentation to the Supreme Court of the legal reasons that his or her client should win is called the __________.
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Civil Liberties: the Struggle for Freedom
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Sample Questions
Q1) Miranda rights include the right to which of the following?
A) a phone call
B) due process
C) a jury trial
D) be free from search and seizure
E) counsel
Q2) What kind of speech is by its very utterance intended to inflict injury or incite an immediate breach of peace?
A) hate speech
B) symbolic speech
C) political speech
D) fighting words
E) obscenity
Q3) The USA Patriot Act enhances the government's ability to do which of the following?
A) examine private records
B) take personal property
C) imprison citizens without trial
D) indict foreign enemies
E) control public schooling
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Page 17
Chapter 16: Civil Rights: the Struggle for Political Equality
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is true of the U.S. Constitution?
A) It pays little attention to guarantees of equality, and even includes provisions sustaining the institution of slavery and the noncitizen status of Native Americans.
B) It declares that all men are created equal and have rights, but the framers meant men and not women, since they believed a woman's place is in the home.
C) It pays little attention to guarantees of rights, but does include provisions about equality that have led civil rights leaders to declare that equal people should have equal rights.
D) It pays little attention to guarantees of equality, but does include provisions condemning slavery and promoting citizen status for Native Americans.
E) It declares that all men are created equal and have rights, but leaves out any mention of slaves, women, and Native Americans.
Q2) The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has ruled that it is contrary to law to create a work environment that is __________, and the courts have used this standard in deciding sexual harassment cases.
Q3) Jim Crow laws required __________ of African Americans and whites.
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Domestic Policies
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Sample Questions
Q1) What portion of the federal government is responsible for monetary policy, and how does it affect the economy?
Q2) How does the Affordable Care Act change health care in the United States?
A) It establishes a "single-payer" system in which the government contracts with private firms to provide medical services, equipment, and drugs on behalf of the general public.
B) It fills in the Medicare prescription drug "donut hole" so that many of the elderly need no longer be faced with a choice of buying needed drugs or paying other expenses.
C) It forces states to expand the number of people who are covered by Medicaid, including poor adults without children.
D) It includes a "public option"-government insurance plans-to compete with private insurance companies within the state insurance pools.
E) It requires small businesses to offer health insurance coverage to their employees.
Q3) The primary purpose of deregulation is to ___________ the amount of government activity in the economy.
Q4) Medicare is designed to help the __________ population.
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Chapter 18: Foreign Policy and National Defense
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is unilateralism? How was it apparent in U.S. foreign policy making in regard to the war in Iraq? How have unilateral actions prompted anti-Americanism around the globe?
Q2) What is the role of the national security advisor?
A) to consult with academics and others with foreign policy expertise
B) to provide the president with information that reinforces the president's foreign policy positions
C) to act as a liaison between the Department of Defense and the military
D) to lead the Department of Homeland Security
E) to give the president independent advice about foreign and military policy
Q3) Under George W. Bush's Millennium Challenge Account initiative, how should U.S. foreign aid be doled out?
A) to all countries across-the-board
B) to all developed countries
C) to those countries that have improved in areas essential for democracy
D) to those countries that are geographically closest to the United States
E) to those countries that use English as a primary or secondary language
Q4) The belief that free trade is especially important in a global economy was the impetus for the __________ among the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
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