Introduction to Political Science Test Bank
Course Introduction
Introduction to Political Science provides students with a foundational understanding of the key concepts, themes, and analytical tools used to study political systems and behavior. The course explores the origins and development of political science as a discipline, examines major theories and approaches, and investigates concepts such as power, authority, legitimacy, and governance. Students will analyze different types of political institutions, political ideologies, the roles of citizens and states, and the comparative features of governmental systems worldwide. Through a combination of theoretical exploration and practical case studies, the course encourages critical thinking about the impact of politics at local, national, and global levels.
Recommended Textbook
The Struggle for Democracy 9th Edition by Edward S. Greenberg
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4836 Verified Questions
4836 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Democracy and American Politics
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210 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Greek roots of the term democracy mean rule by the people.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Provide three examples of actors and influences associated with the political linkages level.
Answer: Actors/influences for the political linkage-level include interest groups, elections, the mass media, political parties, and social movements.
Q3) Actors, institutions, and processes located within each of the four categories in the analytical framework used in Struggle for Democracy interact with each other.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) A representative democracy always includes free elections.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) Each branch of government has power, but none is able to exercise all of its powers on its own. This feature of American government is known as ________.
Answer: checks and balances
Q2) Which of the following was NOT a problem resulting from the weakness of the central government under the Articles of Confederation?
A) The central government had no way of raising money to finance its activities.
B) The central government could not prevent the outbreak of civil war among the states over the issue of slavery.
C) States could coin their own money, making trade between states inefficient.
D) The state governments under the confederation were too strong.
E) The national government had no way to put down such insurgencies like Shays's Rebellion.
Answer: B
Q3) Those opposing ratification of the U.S. Constitution were known as Federalists.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 3: Federalism States and Nations
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Sample Questions
Q1) The original Constitution allowed states to determine who could vote for the House of Representatives.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Critique the argument that state and local governments are close to the people and therefore ought to have substantial range to govern.
Answer: Americans are actually better informed about the national government than about state and local governments. The people may actually be "closer" to the national government in terms of popular control because of the media attention it receives.
Q3) The ________ clause of the Fourteenth Amendment eventually became the vehicle by which the Supreme Court ruled that many civil liberties in the Bill of Rights were also protected against the states.
Answer: due process
Q4) The oldest and most important argument in favor of federalism is that, in a large and ________ country, needs and wants and conditions differ from one place to another.
Answer: diverse
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Chapter 4: Structural Foundations of the American Government
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is meant by the phrase the "angry middle class"?
Q2) Which of the following relates extensive material inequality to democracy?
A) Extensive material inequality may undermine the possibilities for political equality because those with financial resources have greater access to public officials.
B) Material inequality may increase the possibilities for political equality by creating incentives for political participation.
C) Material inequality leads to public unrest, which will lead to social movements and improve democracy over the long-run.
D) The degree of material inequality has no relationship to democracy in the United States.
E) Democracy in the United States is founded upon the principles of equality, regardless of material inequality.
Q3) Even though the number of manufacturing jobs has been declining in the United States in recent years, actual manufacturing output has been growing.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In what way is "free enterprise" part of the American political culture?
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Chapter 5: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) In recent years, there has been a decline in the proportion of people who identify with either one of the two major political parties.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Figure 5.1 shows that
A) Republicans tend to lose support as education level increases.
B) Democrats tend to gain support as education level increases.
C) those with a post-graduate degree are most likely to be independent.
D) Republicans tend to gain support as education level increases.
E) those with less than a high school education are equally weighted between the Democratic and Republican parties.
Q3) The instruments by which beliefs and attitudes are conveyed to individuals in society are known as
A) agents of socialization.
B) political attitudes.
C) political knowledge.
D) social knowledge.
E) political socialization.
Q4) How do most opinion polls get a representative sample?
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Chapter 6: News Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) The heavy reliance on official sources means that government officials may often be able to control
A) what advertisers will pay for on television.
B) what journalists report and how they report it.
C) what news wire service a corporation utilizes.
D) the bureaucracy.
E) whether a story will be reported in newspapers or on television.
Q2) In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court denied President Nixon's request and A) ruled in favor of the doctrine of "prior restraint."
B) ruled in favor of the newspapers that published the Pentagon Papers.
C) ruled in favor of President Nixon's position that publication of the Pentagon Papers was a threat to national security.
D) remanded the case back to the Circuit Court of Appeal.
E) ruled the executive privilege was nearly absolute, especially in regards to the press.
Q3) Although freedom of the press is far from perfect in the United States, the news media enjoy greater freedom than their counterparts in other democratic countries.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Interest Groups and Business Corporations
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258 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Service workers are the fastest growing segment in the U.S. economy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which Act of Congress banned soft money contributions in federal elections.
Q3) What is the definition of an interest group?
A)a private organization that tries to shape public policy
B) a private organization that uses its influence to create media interest
C) any of the political parties
D) private groups comprised of members of Congress who have similar characteristics or policy interests
E) members of the federal judiciary involved in shaping policy
Q4) Which type of interest tends to dominate lobbying in Washington, DC?
A) labor
B) business
C) special interests
D) political party interests
E) conservative perspectives
Q5) In his farewell address, George Washington warned of the "mischief of factions."
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Social Movements
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Sample Questions
Q1) What was the main group behind the blocking of the Equal Rights Amendment?
A) Christian conservatives
B) gays and lesbians
C) Hispanic Americans
D) labor
E) the women's movement
Q2) Those social movements that have many supporters, win wide public sympathy, do not challenge the basics of the economic and social order, and wield some clout in the electoral arena
A) are doomed to failure.
B) are likely to achieve a substantial number of their goals.
C) inevitably become splinter political parties.
D) are "adopted" by a large and powerful interest group.
E) none of the above
Q3) Political efficacy is not important to the long-term success of social movements.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Identify and discuss social movements that were repressed.
Q5) What impact have social movements had on American politics?
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Chapter 9: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) What factors stimulated a realignment of parties in the presidential election of 1896?
Q2) Congressional campaign committees help identify quality candidates in competitive districts and states.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Single-issue parties are barely indistinguishable from what?
A) advocacy groups
B) interest groups
C) splinter parties
D) third parties
E) Republican or Democratic parties
Q4) After Andrew Jackson become president Henry Clay helped form the
A) Department of State.
B) Whig Party.
C) modern Democratic Party.
D) Department of Treasury.
E) Republican Party.
Q5) The purpose of a ________ is to conduct the business of the party during the four years between national conventions.
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Chapter 10: Participation Voting, and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) In recent years there have been more ___________ elected president than any other.
A) vice presidents
B) senators
C) governors
D) members of Congress
E) business leaders
Q2) Retrospective voting involves making backward-looking judgments about how well incumbent officials have done while in office.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The theory of responsible-party government predicts that in elections, the political parties will take vague, ambiguous positions.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Discuss money and elections. Does money play too large of a role in electoral politics? How might the role of money in elections be reduced?
Q5) What role do primaries and caucuses play in the nomination of the president?
Q6) Define and then discuss in some detail the concept of a "normal vote."
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) Congressional committees exist to
A) help members of Congress develop expertise and specialization in policy areas.
B) allow policymaking to take place largely in isolation from public attention.
C) make legislators more accountable to their constituents.
D) assist legislators in gaining an audience with the president.
E) give media exposure to selected issues.
Q2) Much evidence shows that party unity has been increasing in Congress of late. Why is this so? Why do members of the same party vote together in the first place? Under what conditions are legislators likely to defect from their party?
Q3) What did the founders create as the center of lawmaking in the U.S. government?
A) Congress
B) the Senate
C) the presidency
D) the judiciary
E) the states
Q4) A bill quietly killed in committee can only reach the floor by a device called a ________, which is rarely successful.
Q5) Rewriting a bill is called ________.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: The President
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Sample Questions
Q1) Who was president during the Mexican-American War?
A) James Polk
B) James Monroe
C) James Madison
D) Andrew Jackson
E) Millard Filmore
Q2) According to Figure 12.1, presidential approval
A) tends to decline over the course of a presidency.
B) tends to increase over the course of a presidency.
C) remains fairly constant for most presidents.
D) has remained fairly constant over time.
E) is typically not responsive to political, social, or economic events.
Q3) Who was president when the Louisiana Purchase was made?
A) Abraham Lincoln
B) John Adams
C) James Madison
D) Thomas Jefferson
E) George Washington
Q4) The president tends to fare better with ________ policy than on domestic policy.
Q5) First identify and then discuss the roles performed by the president's staff.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: The Executive Branch
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Sample Questions
Q1) Usually, when the president nominates someone to fill a top administrative post the Senate
A) blocks the nomination, forcing the president to nominate a new individual.
B) forces him to name, on average, three individuals before they give their consent.
C) confirms the nominee.
D) asks the Supreme Court for its opinion.
E) sends the decision to the House of Representatives.
Q2) Most Americans pay little attention to bureaucratic agencies as such.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In general, top-level political appointees tend to remain at their jobs through the president's tenure in office.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What was the impact of the Pendleton Act of 1883?
Q5) How much discretion do executive branch agencies have to execute the law?
Q6) A ________ is a bureaucrat who reports abuses of power, corruption, financial management, or other official malfeasance.
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Chapter 14: The Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which individual serves as the representative of the US government before the Supreme Court
A) the Chief Justice
B) the executive branch prosecutor
C) the attorney general
D) the chief of staff
E) the solicitor general
Q2) In 1937, the Supreme Court decided to
A) oppose the New Deal, signaling the Court's isolation from political forces.
B) support of the New Deal, signaling the Court's isolation from political forces.
C) oppose the New Deal, signaling the Court's concession to political forces.
D) support the New Deal, signaling the Court's concession to political forces.
E) oppose the New Deal on the grounds of judicial independence.
Q3) Nine justices has been the established number since
A) the framing of the Constitution.
B) Justice Marshall retired before the Civil War.
C) 1869.
D) 1896.
E) 1936.
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Freedom: the Struggle for Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Roberts Court has tried to balance national security and civil liberties by ruling that
A) detainees are covered by the Geneva Convention.
B) both foreigners and American citizens can be held indefinitely by calling them enemy combatants.
C) detainees have no right to legal representation.
D) the government can hold closed door deportation hearings.
E) citizens accused of terrorism must be detained at Guantanamo Bay.
Q2) In ________, Chief Justice Taney claimed that the founders believed that blacks were so inferior to whites that they intended blacks never to be citizens nor even to possess rights that whites must respect.
Q3) Five of the ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights concern protections for individuals suspected, accused, or convicted of a crime.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Give several examples of how Supreme Court decisions have affected free speech.
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Chapter 16: Civil Rights: the Struggle for Political Equality
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Sample Questions
Q1) What was rendered meaningless by the Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)?
A) The privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
B) The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
C) The legal status of "separate but equal."
D) The state-sponsored discrimination promoted in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
E) The laws against slavery as outlined in the Thirteenth Amendment.
Q2) Which of the following barred federal money to colleges and universities that deny military recruiters the same campus access as other private and public employers.
A) The Civil Rights Act of 1964
B) The Defense of Marriage Act
C) The Don't Ask Don't Tell Act of 1993
D) The Solomon Amendment
E) The Helms Amendment
Q3) What prohibits discrimination against women at federally funded institutions
A) The Nineteenth Amendment
B) Title IX
C) Title XI
D) The Voting Rights Act of 1964
E) The Civil Rights Act of 1957
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Page 18
Chapter 17: The Budget and Economic Policies
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Sample Questions
Q1) An example of regulatory policy is
A) monetary policy.
B) drug safety.
C) tax cut policy.
D) national defense.
E) social insurance policy.
Q2) The federal budget deficit is the
A) total of what government owes to individuals and institutions.
B) annual shortfall between what the government spends and what it takes in.
C) rate of interest that government must pay on short-term financial obligations.
D) measure of efficiency and fairness that is built into the tax code.
E) None of the above
Q3) What is the single largest source of tax revenues for the national government?
A) Income taxes
B) Property taxes
C) Sales taxes
D) Excise taxes
E) Sin taxes (cigarettes, alcohol, etc.)
Q4) ________ policy focuses on the economy as a whole.
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Chapter 18: Social Safety Nets
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Sample Questions
Q1) In what ways does business restrict the social welfare state in the United States?
Q2) Almost without exception, the business community in America has ________ the creation of a welfare state along European lines. A) supported B) opposed C) created D) advocated E) ignored
Q3) Many Americans worry that Social Security funds will run out before they can begin collecting benefits.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The American welfare system is much more redistributive than other systems.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Social Security is a means-tested federal program.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Define a social welfare state.
Page 20
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Chapter 19: Foreign Policy and National Defense
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Sample Questions
Q1) The ________ is the president's chief arm for carrying out diplomatic activity.
Q2) President Bush's aspirations to improve the world by spreading American values, such as democracy and free enterprise, echo the goals of
A) Thomas Jefferson.
B) Woodrow Wilson.
C) Franklin Roosevelt.
D) John F. Kennedy.
E) All of the above
Q3) At the control of the military is the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The United States is the only nation strong enough militarily and economically to project its power into any area of the globe.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Iran is part of the axis of evil.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Discuss the history and structure of the United States as a superpower.
Page 21
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