Introduction to Political Science
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Course Introduction
Introduction to Political Science is a foundational course that explores the key concepts, theories, and methods used to analyze political systems, behavior, and institutions globally. Students will examine the structure and function of governments, political ideologies, public policy, political participation, and the relationship between citizens and states. By comparing different political systems and examining contemporary issues, the course provides a comprehensive overview of how power and governance shape societies, equipping students with the analytical tools necessary to understand political dynamics in both historical and modern contexts.
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Government in America 2014 Elections and Updates 16th Edition by by
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Page 2
George C. Edwards III
Chapter 1: Introducing Government in America
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Q1) The media usually focus on the substance of politics and government.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Hyperpluralism maintains that who holds office in Washington is of marginal consequence; the corporate giants always have the power.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) What is democracy?
A) a system that ensures freedom, justice, and peace to all citizens
B) a system that perpetuates the status quo and upholds the values of the party in power
C) a system that selects policymakers and organizes government so that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences
D) a system that grants a status of privilege to the most active and informed voters
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Q1) The Federalists preferred __________ than did the Anti-Federalists.
A) stronger state governments
B) a stronger national government
C) stronger protections of individual liberties
D) shorter terms of office
Answer: B
Q2) Which of the following were most likely to oppose the proposed Constitution?
A) lawyers
B) merchants
C) small farmers
D) large landowners
Answer: C
Q3) The body whose delegates signed the Declaration of Independence was the
Answer: Continental Congress
Q4) The three-fifths compromise specified that only three-fifths of slaves could vote.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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Q1) What model of federalism is sometimes described metaphorically as a marble cake?
A) cooperative federalism
B) dual federalism
C) progressive federalism
D) new federalism
Answer: A
Q2) The supremacy clause establishes that state laws will prevail over conflicting federal laws.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) The __________ clause guarantees that the citizens of each state are afforded the same rights as citizens of other states.
Answer: privileges and immunities
Q4) The case of __________ established that the federal government could create a central bank.
Answer: McCulloch v. Maryland
Q5) In a(n)__________ system,two or more levels of government share power. Answer: federal
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties and Public Policy
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Q1) In Barron v. Baltimore,the Supreme Court held that the Bill of Rights limits __________,not __________,activity.
A) federal; state
B) state; federal
C) commercial; noncommercial
D) noncommercial; commercial
Q2) The 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allow government officials to use broad warrants for surveillance of which of the following?
A) text messages on employer-paid devices
B) locations of automobiles
C) the communications of foreign suspects
D) the hard drives of personal computers and laptops
Q3) Explain the evolution of the incorporation doctrine.
Q4) According to Roe v. Wade,what could a state do if it wanted to limit a woman's right to an abortion during her first trimester?
A) The state could do very little to limit a woman's right to an abortion.
B) The state could regulate it if the mother's life were in danger.
C) The state could ban the abortion unless the mother's life was in danger.
D) The state could ban it.
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights and Public Policy
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Q1) Which of the following situations would most likely be a violation of Title IX?
A) an election jurisdiction that does not provide bilingual ballots when there is a large bilingual community
B) a legal prohibition on hiring women for positions that are known to be hazardous to women's reproductive health
C) a college that spends significantly more on sports programs for men than for women
D) an employer who systematically pays women less than men for doing comparable work
Q2) What did the Supreme Court decide in Korematsu v. United States (1944)regarding the internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry living in the United States?
A) It was permissible.
B) It was unconstitutional, and Japanese Americans must be duly compensated.
C) It did not pass the strict scrutiny test, and the internment was promptly terminated.
D) It was unconstitutional, but it was too late to do anything about it.
Q3) What has the Supreme Court said about which kind of affirmative action programs for admissions to public universities are acceptable and which are not?
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Action
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Q1) Citizens with above-average levels of political knowledge are more likely to have stable and consistent opinions on policy issues and to vote.
A)True
B)False
Q2) When do blacks participate more in politics than whites?
A) when their levels of education are equal to those of whites
B) when their levels of income are less than those of whites
C) when they are heads of households
D) when they live in the South
Q3) Albert is a 55-year-old high school science teacher and a father of three. Evaluate whether he is more or less likely to vote than his 22-year-old,college-educated daughter.
Q4) Officeholders are likely to ignore the preferences of citizens who do not participate in politics.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is the gender gap in public opinion? Why does it exist?
Q6) Perhaps surprisingly,no __________ gap is evident on the issue of abortion.
Q7) Explain the relationship between social class and political participation.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: The Mass Media and the Political Agenda
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Q1) While there is little evidence that the media directly affect how citizens vote,there is considerable evidence that the media shape what citizens think about.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Television,radio,and the Internet are __________ media; newspapers and magazines are __________ media.
A) electronic; print
B) public; private
C) private; public
D) liberal; conservative
Q3) Most people describe government and election news coverage as superficial,narrow,and limited. Explain what factors contribute to these tendencies in news coverage in the United States. Whom do government officials and candidates blame for the nature of news coverage? Whom do journalists blame?
Q4) Many political scientists believe that investigative journalism contributes to public cynicism and negativity about politics.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Political Parties
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Q1) Members of Congress often vote as their district prefers rather than as their party prefers.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The __________ includes all those who consider themselves to be members of a political party.
Q3) The __________ is the official statement of a political party's policy alternatives.
A) articles of incorporation
B) party constitution
C) platform
D) gavel
Q4) Party realignments are initiated by __________.
A) caucuses
B) censures
C) critical elections
D) unsuccessful election bids
Q5) Define political realignment and describe it using one particular period to illustrate your response.
Q6) What is party image? How does it influence elections?
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Campaigns and Voting Behavior
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Q1) Thomas Patterson's observation that "today's presidential campaign is essentially a mass media campaign" suggests that __________.
A) voters have very little understanding of the campaign apart from what they see and hear in the media
B) the media exercise considerable influence over a vast number of citizens' votes
C) campaigns are for the masses and are mediated by political elites
D) the media control electoral outcomes
Q2) How is the president selected if there is no majority in the Electoral College? If you were managing a presidential campaign and the results on election night indicated that no candidate would win a majority of the Electoral College vote,what would you direct your campaign to do in order to get your candidate to the White House?
Q3) Primaries emerged through reform efforts that sought to take nominations out of the hands of party bosses.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The __________ law allows citizens to register to vote when they apply for or renew their driver's license.
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Chapter 10: Interest Groups
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Q1) Which of the following is an example of a single-issue interest group?
A) the 21st Century Virginia Coalition
B) the Chamber of Commerce
C) Common Cause
D) the National Beer Wholesalers Association
Q2) One service that lobbyists perform is to provide legislators with __________ that helps them to better understand the policy issue.
Q3) What is an iron triangle?
A) a joining together of interest groups or individuals to achieve common goals
B) a form of subgovernment composed of leaders of interest groups, government agencies, and congressional committees
C) a nonprofit, tax-free policy planning organization that concentrates on policy development
D) an organization that solicits and receives campaign contributions from corporations, unions, trade associations, and other groups
Q4) Lobbying is a way that groups make their interests known to government officials.
A)True
B)False
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Congress
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Q1) The House tends to be more influential in foreign affairs,while the Senate tends to be more influential in budget matters.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The __________ is the only House official mandated by the Constitution.
A) majority leader
B) majority whip
C) Sergeant-at-Arms
D) Speaker of the House
Q3) In the House of Representatives,a bill goes to the Rules Committee __________.
A) after it goes to a conference committee
B) after it is approved by its full committee
C) after it is debated in the full House
D) before it is amended or rewritten in its full committee
Q4) Logrolling is when at least sixty senators vote to halt a filibuster.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Contrast the responsibilities and power structures of the House and the Senate.
Q6) What strategies do politicians use in credit claiming? Which are most effective,and why?
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Chapter 12: The Presidency
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Q1) What situations was the Twenty-fifth Amendment enacted to address?
Q2) Which of the following is a collection of executive branch officials who assist the president,but who also fulfill duties required by law and are therefore limited in the extent of their loyalty to the president?
A) the White House staff
B) the Executive Office of the President
C) the chiefs of staff
D) the Court of Executive Assistants
Q3) A __________ occurs when Congress passes a bill within the last 10 days of its session and the president does not sign or veto it.
Q4) Congress has the sole authority to declare war.
A)True
B)False
Q5) As a result of the __________ scandal,Richard Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment and a Senate trial.
Q6) According to the Constitution,__________ is reserved for "treason,bribery,and other high crimes and misdemeanors," not for political conflicts.
Q7) Compare the White House staff and the cabinet.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: The Budget: the Politics of Taxing and Spending
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Q1) What is incrementalism?
A) the tendency for budgets to increase modestly from year to year
B) income tax rates that increase in increments as income increases
C) congressional resolutions that prohibit spending increases except in times of emergency
D) the tendency for the national debt to increase in large increments every year
Q2) __________ suggests that next year's budget for each government program will be a little more than the current year's budget.
Q3) Which of the following budgetary process actors does the president oversee?
A) House and Ways Committee
B) Joint Committee on Taxation
C) Congressional Budget Office
D) Office of Management and Budget
Q4) A(n)__________ is an act of Congress that establishes or changes a government program.
A) authorization bill
B) appropriations bill
C) continuing resolution
D) budget resolution
Q5) The __________ Amendment,adopted in 1913,permits Congress to levy an income tax.
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Chapter 14: The Federal Bureaucracy
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Q1) Do standard operating procedures improve the performance of the federal bureaucracy?
Q2) Implementation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was aided by __________.
A) federal registrars dispatched to Southern counties
B) the support of Southern governors
C) the spoils system
D) the use of incentive systems
Q3) When the U.S. Department of Transportation stipulates how many hours truck drivers can be on the road per week,the department is employing a(n)__________ policy.
Q4) Which of the following grants bureaucracies the authority to issue regulations?
A) the General Accounting Office
B) Congress
C) the president
D) the Internal Revenue Service
Q5) Which of the following agencies is most removed from presidential control?
A) the Department of Defense
B) the Department of Justice
C) the Environmental Protection Agency
D) the Federal Reserve Board
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Chapter 15: The Federal Courts
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Q1) Which of the following must plaintiffs have in order to sustain a lawsuit in court?
A) a serious injury
B) money
C) standing to sue
D) an attorney
Q2) The Constitution sets the terms of district court judges at 10 years and court of appeals judges at 20 years.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Courts can only decide cases that present __________ controversies-not hypothetical ones.
Q4) The __________ decided to sue the school board of Topeka,Kansas,on behalf of Linda Brown.
Q5) Which of the following is a way that interest groups attempt to influence the Supreme Court's decisions?
A) claiming disputes are justiciable
B) filing standing to sue briefs
C) lobbying legislators
D) filing amicus curiae briefs
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Chapter 16: Economic and Social Welfare Policymaking
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Q1) What portion of the federal government is responsible for monetary policy,and how does it affect the economy?
Q2) If you support laissez-faire economic policies,you would generally favor
A) a reduction in the amount of economic regulation by the federal government
B) an increase in the level of taxes assessed by state governments
C) an increase in the amount of economic regulation by the state governments
D) an increase in the tariffs assessed on goods imported into the United States
Q3) According to laissez-faire economic theory,what should the government do during an economic downturn?
A) raise taxes
B) increase government spending on infrastructure projects
C) bail out failing industries that are at the core of our economy
D) nothing
Q4) Most economists classify the most recent economic crisis as a depression. A)True B)False
Q5) The official poverty counts tend to overestimate poverty in America. A)True B)False
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Chapter 17: Policymaking for Health Care, the Environment, and Energy
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Q1) The Children's Health Insurance Program targets which of the following groups?
A) Children whose families are currently enrolled in Medicare.
B) Children whose families cannot afford private insurance but cannot qualify for Medicaid.
C) Children whose families are currently enrolled in an HMO.
D) Children whose families do not make enough money to receive Medicaid.
Q2) Why are some people concerned about the long-term sustainability of Medicare? What do you think could be done to address this issue?
Q3) The higher a family's income,the more likely it is that its members are insured.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Describe the use of coal and nuclear power for generating electricity in the United States. Choose one and explain why it is the better source of energy for meeting America's electricity needs.
Q5) Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the Medicaid program.
Q6) The United States has a lower infant mortality rate than Japan.
A)True
B)False
Page 19
Q7) How are the policy areas of health care,the environment,and energy similar?
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Chapter 18: National Security Policymaking
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Q1) Which of the following is an example of foreign aid?
A) the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
B) the International Monetary Fund
C) the North American Free Trade Agreement
D) the Marshall Plan
Q2) What is diplomacy? Under what circumstances is the president's foreign policy most likely to rely on diplomacy? Under what circumstances is the president most likely to rely on military action instead of diplomacy? Give an example of when the United States has relied on diplomacy and when it has relied on military action. What role does diplomacy play in the war on terror? What forms might it take?
Q3) Compare and contrast the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. How successful was the United States in these conflicts?
Q4) What was the foreign policy of containment designed to prevent?
A) nuclear proliferation
B) the spread of Soviet influence
C) terrorism
D) the Cold War
Q5) What was the U.S. foreign policy of containment? Explain when and why it developed and how it led to the Vietnam War.
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