Government and Public Policy Exam Review
Course Introduction
This course explores the structures, functions, and processes of government and the formulation and implementation of public policy. Students will examine the roles played by various institutions, including executive, legislative, and judicial branches, in shaping policy decisions. The course covers key concepts in public administration, policy analysis, and the policy-making cycle, with an emphasis on how social, economic, and political factors influence government responses to public issues. Through case studies and current examples, students will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and complexities involved in policy development at the local, national, and global levels.
Recommended Textbook
AM GOV 2015 2016 4th Edition by Joseph Losco
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Chapter 1: Citizenship in Our Changing Democracy
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Q1) The bonds of trust and reciprocity between citizens that form the glue holding modern societies together is referred to as
A)social capital.
B)sense of community.
C)political culture.
D)belief systems.
E)None of these answers is correct.
Answer: A
Q2) Approximately what percentage of the American public currently lives in suburbs?
A)85 percent
B)75 percent
C)55 percent
D)35 percent
E)20 percent
Answer: C
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Page 3
Chapter 2: The Constitution: the Foundation of Citizens Rights
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Q1) Which article of the Constitution includes the supremacy clause?
A)Article I
B)Article IV
C)Article V
D)Article VI
E)Article VII
Answer: D
Q2) This system is intended to prevent the arbitrary use of power and to give leaders sufficient time to forge consensus on divisive issues.
A)separation of powers system
B)checks and balances system
C)spoils system
D)civil service system
E)None of these answers is correct.
Answer: B
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Federalism: Citizenship and the Dispersal of Power
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Q1) Which of the following styles of federalism characterized the immediate pre-Civil War era?
A)creative federalism
B)dual federalism
C)new federalism
D)devolution
E)cooperative federalism
Answer: B
Q2) The term devolution refers to the
A)shifting of power from the national government to the states and local governments.
B)tendency of all republics to degenerate into dictatorships.
C)inability of the people to maintain the virtue that a healthy democracy requires.
D)process by which national governments, over time, consolidate more and more powers that had previously been reserved to states.
E)squabbles between different levels of government that are inevitable in a federal system.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties: Citizens Rights Versus Security
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Q1) Which of the following statements about religious freedom in the United States today is LEAST accurate?
A)In recent years, Congress has been more willing than the Supreme Court to support individuals' freedom of religious expression.
B)Congress can ban unpopular religious practices as long as it directs that ban against a specific religious group.
C)Congress can prohibit religious practices the general public finds offensive or that threaten public order.
D)Congress can prohibit religious practices that pose a threat to the safety of the general public.
E)The U.S.government has traditionally distinguished between religious beliefs, which are inviolable, and religious actions, which may be circumscribed.
Q2) What percentage of criminal cases nationwide ends in a plea bargain?
A)95 percent
B)80 percent
C)65 percent
D)50 percent
E)35 percent
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights: Toward a More Equal Citizenry
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Q1) In the case of Korematsu v.United States, the Supreme Court decided that A)because the internment of Japanese Americans was based solely on race, it was unconstitutional.
B)while the government had the right to send Japanese immigrants to internment camps, their native-born children, as American citizens, must be freed.
C)although Congress might have had the power to order the internment of Japanese Americans, the president could not constitutionally do so by executive order.
D)in times of war, American citizens have no civil rights the government is obligated to respect.
E)the internment of Japanese Americans was a constitutional measure.
Q2) The largest number of Hispanic Americans are of ___________ origin.
A)Honduran
B)Nicaraguan
C)Cuban
D)Mexican
E)Puerto Rican
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion
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Q1) Which of the following statements about trust and confidence among Americans is MOST accurate?
A)Young Americans show a stronger degree of trust in their fellow countrymen than any generation since the 1950s.
B)The current level of political cynicism in the United States is unique among industrialized nations.
C)In the 1980s and 1990s, American trust in government returned to its pre-1960s levels.
D)Declines in trust and confidence in government seem to have contributed to a decline in volunteerism.
E)While Americans have lost confidence in the Supreme Court and the presidency, their confidence in Congress has remained strong.
Q2) On average, women are more likely to favor _________ than men are.
A)building more nuclear power plants
B)the death penalty
C)offshore drilling for oil
D)more government spending on health care
E)more permissive gun laws
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Chapter 7: Political Participation: Equal Opportunities and Unequal Voices
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Q1) Candidates' views on the issues are MOST important in determining voting choice for this type of voter:
A)strongly committed Republican.
B)moderately committed Republican.
C)independent.
D)strongly committed Democrat.
E)moderately committed Democrat.
Q2) What are the four dimensions or elements of political engagement?
A)political efficacy, political mobilization, political information, and strength of party identification
B)direct mobilization, political mobilization, political interest, and political information
C)political interest, political efficacy, political information, and strength of party identification
D)political mobilization, political interest, political efficacy, and political information
E)direct mobilization, political mobilization, political interest, and political efficacy
Q3) What are the various factors that influence how a voter will vote?
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Chapter 8: Interest Groups in America
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Q1) Which of the following examples BEST illustrates the principle of political disadvantage theory?
A)Small interest groups cannot affect policy because they cannot gain direct access to members of Congress.
B)Unpopular industries, unable to sway public opinion, try to win concessions through the courts.
C)Although attacking lobbyists and interest groups makes for a good stump speech, lawmakers who try to function without those groups find they can get little done.
D)As the power of a few interest groups increases, it will become increasingly difficult for new interest groups to gain influence in Congress.
E)If interest groups contribute money to both parties, their influence with the winning side declines, but if they contribute to only one party, their access might be closed completely.
Q2) Discuss the history of voluntary associations in the United States.How widespread have interest groups been? What events and developments have led to their formation? When has their influence been strongest, and when has it waned? Are interest groups more or less prevalent today than they have been in the past?
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Chapter 9: Parties and Political Campaigns
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Q1) The defining characteristic of a splinter party is
A)its small size.
B)that it attracts new citizens who previously had rarely voted.
C)that it breaks away from an existing party.
D)that it forms in response to a crisis.
E)that it forms around a single idea or candidate.
Q2) The fourth party era was marked by the dominance of the A)Federalist Party.
B)Populist Party.
C)Republican Party.
D)Democratic Party.
E)Whig Party.
Q3) Which of the following accurately describes part of the demographic change that the Democratic Party has undergone in recent years?
A)The party has done better among white Catholics.
B)The party has made inroads into middle-income and blue-collar voters.
C)The party has done better in recent years among professionals with higher incomes and education.
D)The party has made inroads into union members.
E)The party has increased in popularity among housewives.
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Chapter 10: Media: Tuning in or Tuning Out
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Q1) Which of the following statements about exit polls is LEAST accurate?
A)News outlets, eager to be the first to report a presidential winner, often rely on exit polls to predict the outcome of an election.
B)The media's exploitation of exit polls is a relatively recent phenomenon.
C)In 2000, all the broadcast networks relied on the same firm to provide them with exit poll data.
D)Announcing winners based on exit polls may lead to lower voter turnout in the far western states.
E)Exit polls exhibited impressive accuracy in predicting the winners of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Q2) Americans, on average, are MOST likely to get their national and international news from
A)television.
B)newspapers.
C)magazines.
D)radio.
E)the Internet.
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Congress: Doing the Peoples Business
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Q1) Why is the Speaker of the House such a powerful person? What powers does the Speaker have? Why is there no analogous position in the Senate?
Q2) In order to secure ratification of a treaty, the president must gain the approval of
A)two-thirds of the Senate.
B)two-thirds of the House.
C)two-thirds of both chambers of Congress.
D)a simple majority of senators.
E)a simple majority of members of both chambers.
Q3) Who is generally the MOST influential person in the Senate?
A)president of the Senate (that is, the U.S.vice president)
B)president pro tempore
C)majority leader
D)minority leader
E)chairman of the Committee on Rules
Q4) Discuss the role committees play in Congress.What are the various types of committees? How are committee seats awarded? What powers do committees possess? Is the committee system a positive good or a necessary evil?
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Chapter 12: The Presidency: Power and Paradox
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Q1) When President Bush responded to the September 11, 2001 attacks by unilaterally authorizing CIA agents to assassinate terrorist targets, he was exercising
A)an express power.
B)a delegated power.
C)a discretionary power.
D)an emergency power.
E)an executive privilege.
Q2) The Monroe Doctrine, issued by President Monroe in 1823, asserted the intention of the U.S.to
A)support free people who are resisting subjugation anywhere in the world.
B)resist any attempt by a European power to interfere in the affairs of any Western hemisphere country not already a colony.
C)act as the Western hemisphere's policeman if needed to protect neighbor nations.
D)resist any attempt by the Chinese to dominate Asian countries.
E)All of these answers are correct.
Q3) What are the key characteristics of President Obama's management style? How do they serve him well? In what ways do they cause him problems?
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Chapter 13: Bureaucracy: Citizens As Owners and Consumers
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Q1) German sociologist Max Weber developed the five principles of a competent and efficient bureaucracy.What are these five principles and how do they contribute to a competent and efficient bureaucracy?
Q2) Describe the general characteristics of a bureaucracy.What are the strengths and weaknesses of a bureaucratic structure? What are the pathologies to which bureaucracies are prone? Is there a feasible way to avoid these pathologies, or are they intrinsic to the nature of bureaucracies?
Q3) Whereas the merit system begun by the Pendleton Act initially only affected 10 percent of federal executive branch employees, it now covers _____ percent.
A)60
B)70
C)80
D)90
E)100
Q4) Discuss the people who work within federal bureaucracies.What distinguishes civil servants from political appointees? What are the respective duties of these two types of federal workers? Who has the most influence and power, civil servants or political appointees?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: The Courts: Judicial Power in a Democratic Setting
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Q1) How many justices voted in favor of the government in the 2012 case of Independent Business et al.v.Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services that upheld the constitutionality of President Obama's signature health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordability Act?
A)5
B)6
C)7
D)8
E)9
Q2) Which federal office is known as the "tenth justice" because of the Supreme Court's high receptivity to its petitions?
A)attorney general
B)President of the United States
C)solicitor general
D)Speaker of the House
E)Secretary of Justice
Q3) What is the relationship between the citizenry and the judicial system? How much access does the average citizen have to the courts? What factors have helped to expand this access in recent years?
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Public Policy: Responding to Citizens
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Q1) The Troubled Asset Relief Program was designed to
A)purchase large amounts of foreclosed homes on behalf of owners that could not pay adjustable-rate mortgages.
B)purchase large insurance companies deemed "too big to fail."
C)stabilize interest rates.
D)put money into the hands of homeowners in threat of foreclosure.
E)infuse money to help stabilize the banking system.
Q2) What is the last step in the policymaking process?
A)policy formation
B)agenda setting
C)policy implementation
D)policy adoption
E)policy evaluation
Q3) Use the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to illustrate the different steps of the policymaking process.First describe the spill itself, and then describe the specific steps taken by President Obama and Congress to deal with the disaster.
Q4) What steps have been taken at the national and international level to address the threat of climate change? What are the political difficulties faced by policymakers in this struggle?
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Chapter 16: Foreign and Defense Policy: Protecting
American Interests in the World
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Q1) By 2020, the world's second largest economy will belong to A)Japan.
B)Britain.
C)China.
D)the United States.
E)India.
Q2) Foreign policy is generally guided by the assumption that nation-states act in a world that is somewhat A)anarchic.
B)controlled.
C)peaceful.
D)idealistic.
E)None of these answers is correct.
Q3) Alexis de Tocqueville, writing in the early nineteenth century about America, noted that America's prosperity rests on its
A)geographic isolation only.
B)defensible borders only.
C)absence of passion for war only.
D)geographic isolation, defensible borders, and absence of passion for war.
E)None of these answers is correct.
Page 18
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