Government and Politics
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course offers an in-depth exploration of the fundamental principles, structures, and processes that define government and politics at local, national, and international levels. Students will examine the origins and evolution of political systems, the roles of institutions and actors within governmental frameworks, and the ways in which power and policy are distributed and exercised. Key topics include political ideologies, the function of constitutions, electoral systems, the relationship between citizens and state, and contemporary issues affecting governance worldwide. By engaging with both theoretical perspectives and real-world case studies, students will develop a critical understanding of how governments operate and shape societies.
Recommended Textbook
Cases in Comparative Politics Sixth Edition by Patrick H. ONeil
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14 Chapters
420 Verified Questions
420 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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Sample Questions
Q1) In which of the following ways do multimember districts differ from single-member districts?
A) Multimember districts are considered a less democratic method of representation.
B) Multimember districts are more likely to favor two dominant political parties.
C) Multimember districts are less well-suited to proportional representation systems.
D) Multimember districts are more likely to grant small political parties seats in the legislature.
Answer: D
Q2) The apartheid regime in South Africa was an example of a democratic but ________ regime,a regime that retains the basic structures of democracy but does not protect civil liberties.
A) illiberal
B) liberal
C) authoritarian
D) populist
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: United Kingdom
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Q1) In which of the following ways does the British democracy differ from most other parliamentary democracies in Europe?
A) The British system has a written constitution that is vastly more comprehensive and explicit than others.
B) The majority party can enact policies with almost no checks from other branches of government.
C) The minority party in Parliament has abnormally strong abilities to stop the work of government if it disapproves of policy choices.
D) The head of government is not elected to a fixed term of office.
Answer: B
Q2) The current mayor of London,notable for being the first nonwhite and Muslim mayor of a major Western capital,is
A) Sadiq Khan.
B) Boris Johnson.
C) Ken Livingstone.
D) Nigel Farage.
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: United States
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Sample Questions
Q1) Neoliberal policies that endorsed cutting back on social spending began under President
A) George H.W.Bush.
B) George W.Bush.
C) Bill Clinton.
D) Ronald Reagan.
Answer: D
Q2) Which of the following statements about the United States is true relative to other advanced democracies?
A) The United States has a high voter turnout but a weak civil society.
B) The United States has traditionally been dominated by two strong and disciplined political parties.
C) The United States has a relatively weak state with high political legitimacy.
D) The United States has a strong state with little respect for the rule of law.
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: France
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Q1) Which of the following statements about France's legislative system is accurate?
A) The legislature can only block a motion of confidence from becoming a law by passing a motion of censure against the government.
B) The legislature can sometimes govern directly through the use of ordinances.
C) Only about half of all legislation originates within the legislature itself; the executive proposes the other half.
D) Most legislative power rests with committees,which operate under loose,self-imposed rules because they are not regulated by the constitution.
Q2) The Common Agricultural Policy is a key part of France's membership in the
A) World Trade Organization.
B) World Bank.
C) European Union.
D) European Free Trade Agreement.
Q3) Which term best describes the legislative-executive relations in France?
A) parliamentary
B) presidential
C) constitutional monarchy
D) semi-presidential
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Chapter 5: Germany
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Sample Questions
Q1) What are the consequences of Germany's mixed electoral system for the political makeup of parliament and the legislative process?
Q2) The German policy of codetermination refers to
A) consulting both East and West Germans before implementing major policies.
B) coordinating EU policies and German national policies.
C) requiring union leaders comprise half of all seats on the corporate boards of private firms.
D) devolving authority for economic policies from the federal level to state policy makers.
Q3) Describe the core principles of the Basic Law.How was it designed to mitigate the weaknesses and failures of past governments? How well has it succeeded?
Q4) The Weimar Republic
A) collapsed in the face of rising Nazism in the 1930s.
B) sponsored German reunification in the 1990s.
C) fostered German industrialization in the 1890s.
D) replaced Nazi rule in the 1950s.
Q5) Has reunification succeeded in Germany? Identify the primary political,social,and economic challenges that remain.
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Chapter 6: Japan
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Q1) Discuss the consequences of Japan's historical division of labor between political rulers (shogun,Meiji oligarchs,MacArthur,bureaucrats) and those who reign (emperor,parliament) for the autonomy and capacity of the Japanese state.
Q2) Which of the following best describes the majority of current Japanese attitudes toward foreign policy?
A) isolationist
B) militarist
C) pacifist
D) integrationist (favoring an EU-like model for Asia)
Q3) Describe Japan's industrial policy.How did government guidance and support lead to decades of booming growth,and what were the structural problems that became apparent in the 1990s?
Q4) The shogun was the title for feudal Japan's
A) dominant lords.
B) largest castles.
C) lowly peasant class.
D) Chinese mercenaries.
Q5) Explain Japan's "one-and-a-half" party system.Why was that system so stable and why did that stability fracture in 2007?
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Chapter 7: Russia
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Q1) How has the Communist Party developed in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union? How is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation different from other postcommunist parties in Eastern Europe?
Q2) Which of the following statements about the Russian Constitutional Court is accurate?
A) Its members are subject to 20-year term limits.
B) It does not serve as a court of last appeal for criminal cases.
C) Its members are nominated by the Duma.
D) It has the power of concrete review but lacks the power of abstract review.
Q3) The Commonwealth of Independent States is
A) a body used by Russia to retain influence over former Soviet republics.
B) the post-Soviet military alliance of Russia,Cuba,North Korea,and Vietnam.
C) the coordinating body that manages relations between the European Union and Russia.
D) the name for the European Union before it took in Russia as a full member.
Q4) A key institution in Russia's religious and political culture is
A) Roman Catholicism.
B) Orthodox Christianity.
C) animism.
D) Protestantism.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: China
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Q1) What did Mao intend to accomplish with the Great Leap Forward,and what was its actual result? How did Mao respond to the results of the Great Leap Forward?
Q2) How has the current Xi Jinping government addressed the problem of corruption in China?
A) His government has targeted only those business leaders who are not associated with the CCP.
B) His government has targeted both high- and low-ranking officials and arrested huge numbers.
C) His government has targeted only those officials and business leaders with deep ties to the West.
D) His government has sought to use corruption reform as a cloak with which to punish only Tibetan leaders.
Q3) Discuss the relationship between the Chinese state and the Chinese Communist Party.Can they be separated and assessed as separate institutions?
Q4) How has the political culture changed in China from pre-communist times to present day? How has China blended Confucian and Maoist (communist) ideology? What obstacles exist for studying political culture in China?
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Chapter 9: India
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Q1) Which prime minister declared emergency rule in 1975?
A) Mohandas K.Gandhi
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) Indira Gandhi
D) Manmohan Singh
Q2) How does a representative get elected to the House of the People?
A) winning the plurality of the vote on the first ballot in an SMD
B) winning a required majority of the vote on the first ballot in an SMD
C) winning a plurality of the vote on the first ballot and a majority on the second in an SMD
D) being on the party ballot that wins a high enough proportion of the vote in an MMD
Q3) How did Rajiv Gandhi's policies differ from those of his mother,Indira Gandhi?
A) He proved more committed to economic liberalization.
B) He proved more willing to declare martial law in the face of public protest.
C) He demonstrated a greater affinity-and success-for tackling India's ethnic and social tensions.
D) He associated himself more with the poorer classes through populist campaigns.
Q4) Identify and discuss three primary obstacles to economic development in India.
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Iran
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Q1) Describe the three events in 1979 that turned public protest against the shah into a revolution.What was the United States' role in these events?
Q2) In which of the following ways did the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad differ from that of Mohammad Khatami?
A) It took on a more populist political approach.
B) It placed a greater emphasis on secular government.
C) It sought an invigoration of Iran's civil society.
D) It made improvements in women's rights a cornerstone of its reform efforts.
Q3) Describe how Iran differs from other Middle Eastern societies in terms of Internet access.Why has this development largely failed to introduce more democratic elements into government?
Q4) Mohammad Khatami's presidency is best known for his A) attempts at political reform.
B) attempts to roll back earlier political reform.
C) leadership during the Iran-Iraq war.
D) role in restarting Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Q5) How did the discovery of oil in Iran affect its economic development,particularly with respect to the top-down mercantilist model? What role have the bonyads played in the Iranian economy?
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Chapter 11: Mexico
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Q1) What encouraged PRI leaders to reverse ISI and adopt free-market policies in the 1980s?
A) desire to enact land reform
B) Mexico's serious debt crisis
C) dramatic rise in oil prices
D) declining levels of inequality
Q2) Mexican presidents are elected for
A) up to 2 four-year terms.
B) up to 2 six-year terms.
C) up to 3 six-year terms.
D) a single six-year term.
Q3) Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa were
A) peasant leaders of the Mexican Revolution.
B) indigenous independence leaders.
C) Spanish conquistadores of Mexico.
D) Texans who sought independence from Mexico.
Q4) Explain the rise of the PRD in the 1988 elections,including the primary issue leading to its splintering from the PRI,its success,and also the factors leading to its decrease in popularity among the Mexican middle class.
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Chapter 12: Brazil
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Q1) Brazil's independence
A) was achieved after a bloody war.
B) was achieved without bloodshed.
C) occurred due to widespread dissatisfaction with Portugal.
D) lasted only two decades before Portugal reasserted control.
Q2) Democratization in Brazil during the 1980s resulted from
A) a gradual,controlled process.
B) a popular uprising.
C) the rapid collapse of the military.
D) foreign intervention.
Q3) Which of the following has resulted from the persistent lack of legislative majorities in Brazil?
A) fewer uses of line-item vetoes
B) more overrides of presidential vetoes
C) presidential legislating by emergency decree
D) reduced use of congressional hearings
Q4) Describe the origins of Brazil's significant social and economic inequality.What was the role of the sugar trade in this development?
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Page 14
Chapter 13: South Africa
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Q1) Under apartheid,Bantustans were
A) internationally recognized black states.
B) squatter settlements of blacks within major South African cities.
C) "independent" black states created by South Africa but not recognized by any other country.
D) banning orders,which prevented some South Africans from voting.
Q2) Why is civil society in South Africa described as "vigorous,effective,and [yet] shallow"? How has civil society developed in South Africa since apartheid? Describe at least two actors in civil society that show promise.
Q3) Which of the following is the kind of action that the African Union is likely to perform more often than its predecessor,the Organization of African Unity,thus highlighting a core difference between the two?
A) mediate a conflict over territorial disputes between two members
B) accept food aid from wealthy industrialized donors in the West
C) send a peacekeeping force to help quell a conflict in neighboring Southeast Asia
D) negotiate an overall increase in external tariffs between member states
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Chapter 14: Nigeria
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Q1) Describe how the abundance of oil in Nigeria has influenced the development of the political-economic system.Identify the economic problems that exist because of Nigeria's oil wealth.
Q2) Some have argued that postcolonial patrimonial leadership,not colonial exploitation,is more to blame for Nigeria's challenges of political and economic modernization.Do you agree? Why or why not?
Q3) Both the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta have sought
A) greater freedom of the press for Nigerian journalists.
B) protection of ethnic groups and a greater share of oil revenues in the Niger Delta.
C) greater political autonomy for Muslims in northern Nigeria.
D) greater African cooperation in trade and development issues.
Q4) Nigeria's derivation formula determines the
A) awarding of contracts to state and private corporations.
B) ethnic distribution of legislative seats.
C) distribution of foreign aid.
D) distribution of oil revenues between national and local governments.
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