Political Analysis
Mock Exam
Course Introduction
Political Analysis introduces students to the systematic study of political phenomena through the application of analytical tools and methodologies. The course covers foundational concepts in political science, including power, institutions, behavior, and policy-making, while emphasizing the development of critical thinking and research skills. Students will learn to evaluate political arguments, interpret empirical data, and understand the use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. By exploring case studies and engaging in practical exercises, students gain the ability to critically assess political events, governmental processes, and public policies at local, national, and international levels.
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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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following describes electoral systems in which voters cast their ballots for a list of party candidates and the percentage of the votes a party receives in a district determines how many of that district's seats it wins?
A) single-member districts
B) plurality systems
C) first past the post
D) proportional representation
Answer: D
Q2) When an executive head of government is elected from within the legislature,we usually refer to the legislative-executive system as
A) presidential.
B) parliamentary.
C) semi-presidential.
D) authoritarian.
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: United Kingdom
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Sample
Questions
Q1) What factors led to the recent vote in favor of "Brexit" in the United Kingdom? Does Brexit represent a sharp break in UK-EU relations?
Answer: A good answer will note that the European migration crisis and the EU policy of free movement between member states were the two largest factors.However,the Brexit vote was not a sharp break from UK-EU relations,as the United Kingdom has been skeptical of the EU's single currency and agricultural subsidies since joining the EU.
Q2) Which term best describes the United Kingdom's political regime?
A) authoritarian
B) majoritarian
C) oligarchy
D) corporatist
Answer: B
Q3) Local government in the United Kingdom
A) is constitutionally protected.
B) does not exist at any level.
C) is led by appointed rather than elected officials.
D) has formal powers only when granted by the central government.
Answer: D
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4
Chapter 3: United States
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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
Q2) Which of the following was a major result of the Civil War in the United States?
A) greater concentration of power in the federal government
B) greater delegation of power to the states
C) elimination of a standing army until World War I
D) end of all discrimination against African Americans
Answer: A
Q3) Separation of powers refers to the
A) division of power to prevent any branch from dominating the state.
B) basic individual freedoms laid out in the Bill of Rights.
C) delegation of powers to states in the Tenth Amendment.
D) separation between church and state.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: France
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following events may foreshadow the development of a political center in France and the party system's realignment?
A) The National Front losing seats in the 2017 parliamentary election.
B) Corbyn's growing popularity on the left.
C) The electoral success of Emmanuel Macron's REM party in both the presidential and parliamentary 2017 elections.
D) Sarkozy's growing popularity on the right.
Q2) Which term best describes the legislative-executive relations in France?
A) parliamentary
B) presidential
C) constitutional monarchy
D) semi-presidential
Q3) In France,cohabitation refers to when
A) the two houses of the French legislature are controlled by different parties.
B) there is a coalition government made up of several parties.
C) the president and the prime minister come from different parties.
D) local governments are able to overturn legislation by means of referenda.
Q4) How has France's relationship with the European Union evolved? What are the current challenges it faces with regard to the European Union?
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Chapter 5: Germany
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Holy Roman Empire was divided and weakened by A) the Protestant Reformation and Thirty Years' War.
B) the French Revolution.
C) World War I.
D) World War II.
Q2) The reunification of East and West Germany in 1990
A) prompted the establishment of a new regime and constitution.
B) incorporated East Germany into the West German regime.
C) incorporated West Germany into the East German regime.
D) allowed for the continuation of both regimes.
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 lower house of the German parliament is called the A) Bundestag.
B) Bundesrat.
C) Landeshaus.
D) Volkschamber.
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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Sample Questions
Q1) What impact did postwar democratization and Westernization have on the development of civil society in Japan? Does the Japanese bureaucracy limit or facilitate widespread civil society participation in government?
Q2) Article 9 in Japan's postwar constitution
A) severely restricts immigration.
B) renounces war as a sovereign right.
C) renounces the emperor's divinity.
D) separates church and state.
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) Explain Japan's "one-and-a-half" party system.Why was that system so stable and why did that stability fracture in 2007?
Q5) Amakudari,or "descent from heaven," refers to
A) the creation myth legitimizing the divine right of Japan's emperor.
B) the practice of retiring bureaucrats assuming positions in corporations or public office.
C) government loans to Japan's strategic industries.
D) illicit campaign contributions coming from corporations.
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Chapter 7: Russia
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the current state of the "Great Game"?
A) Russia is the only constant actor seeking influence in Central Asia.
B) Russia competes with the United Kingdom over the Middle East.
C) Russia competes with Britain and the United States over the Middle East and Central Asia.
D) The United States is the only constant actor,with Russia having given up influence in Afghanistan.
Q2) What immediately replaced the rule of the last tsar when he was finally forced to step down in 1917?
A) noncommunist republican leadership
B) Lenin's Communist state
C) dictatorship sympathetic to Germany
D) antiwar prime minster and parliament
Q3) Civil society in Russia
A) remains strong as a legacy of Soviet rule.
B) has been repressed under Putin.
C) was weak under Soviet rule but has grown dramatically since then.
D) has built and supports a vibrant and diverse media.
Q4) What were the central factors that allowed for the 1917 revolution?
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Chapter 8: China
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Q1) Why does the process of political succession pose such a challenge to the dominance of the CCP? How have leaders sought to deal with the issue of political succession in China?
Q2) Coastal capitalist enclaves established during the late 1970s as part of reform and opening were known as A) special economic zones. B) duty-free districts. C) kaifa.
D) entrepôts.
Q3) The Chinese leader responsible for initiating China's post-Mao program of reform and opening was A) Hu Jintao.
B) Deng Xiaoping.
C) Wen Jiabao.
D) Xi Jinping.
Q4) Discuss the relationship between the Chinese state and the Chinese Communist Party.Can they be separated and assessed as separate institutions?
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Chapter 9: India
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about recent Indian foreign policy is accurate?
A) India's request for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council has prompted vocal opposition from both the United States and China.
B) Pakistani-Indian relations have improved over the last decade after Pakistan renounced the use of terrorist groups to fight as proxies in the dispute over Kashmir.
C) India signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2008 at the request of the United States.
D) Economic and nuclear cooperation between India and the United States has increased dramatically over the last two decades.
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) Identify and discuss three primary obstacles to economic development in India.
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Chapter 10: Iran
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is true of the Azeri in Iran?
A) The collapse of the Soviet Union indirectly helped foster a stronger ethnic identity among Iranian Azeris.
B) Improving relations between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan have helped the position of the Azeri in Iran.
C) Azeris have historically played almost no role in the major facets of Iranian life.
D) They are Iran's smallest,most persecuted minority.
Q2) Some note that Shiism resembles Christianity in its
A) belief that baptism can cleanse a person of past sins.
B) belief in a religious figure that will return to the world and restore faith and justice.
C) inherently political nature.
D) veneration of Jesus and Mary.
Q3) The term ayatollah refers to
A) a member of a powerful higher clergy within Shiism's religious leadership.
B) the belief in the role of the Koran as the final word of God.
C) the Safavid and Qajar-era monarchs.
D) Jews and Christians who are respected in Islam as "people of the Book."
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Mexico
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is true of the power of presidents in Mexico?
A) Their control over the economy has increased during the last decade.
B) Mexican presidents currently have extensive power to appoint and remove judges.
C) Constitutional checks on presidential power have become more effective in recent years.
D) Current presidential candidates are most often selected through a handpicking process by their predecessor.
Q2) A major tool used by the PRI to maintain its decades-long hold on power was
A) patron-client relationships.
B) imprisoning the political opposition.
C) banning opposition parties.
D) suspending elections.
Q3) The dominant political party in twentieth-century Mexico was the
A) Partido Acción Nacional (PAN).
B) Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
C) Partido de la Revolucíon Democrática (PRD).
D) Mexican Green Party (PVEM).
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Brazil
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Sample Questions
Q1) What has been the most controversial aspect of affirmative action in Brazil?
A) racial quotas at public universities
B) racial quotas in the state bureaucracy
C) affirmative action in the diplomatic corps
D) cash payments for indigenous workers who have lost jobs
Q2) Compared with Spanish America,Brazil's relatively peaceful history can be attributed to
A) a reasonably progressive monarchy.
B) the absence of a military in Brazil.
C) very low levels of inequality.
D) Brazil's immense wealth.
Q3) Brazil's political party system
A) is a two-party system like that of the United States.
B) is a three-party system similar to that of the United Kingdom.
C) lacks any clearly defined political parties.
D) is badly fragmented,with numerous undisciplined parties.
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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14
Chapter 13: South Africa
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Sample Questions
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) The controversial South African who became president after the 2009 elections is
A) Desmond Tutu.
B) Helen Zille.
C) Jacob Zuma.
D) Kgalema Motlanthe.
Q3) How does public policy of the main opposition party,the Democratic Alliance (DA),contrast with that of the African National Congress?
A) The DA has embraced stronger property rights for nonwhites.
B) The DA favors a smaller role for the central government.
C) The DA wants to take education and economic policy out of the hands of local governments.
D) The DA has not made fighting corruption a strong component of their governing platform.
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Nigeria
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Sample Questions
Q1) Nigerian ethnic groups that are predominantly Muslim include the A) Igbo and Yoruba.
B) Zulu and Inkatha.
C) Ijaw and Oyo.
D) Hausa and Fulani.
Q2) Nigeria's Muslims reside predominantly in which region?
A) the south
B) the west
C) the east
D) the north
Q3) Which of the following statements about the transition to democracy in Nigeria is accurate?
A) It has resulted in a large decline in the income inequality between the north and the south.
B) It has lowered the number of Nigerians who support democracy as a government system to below 50 percent.
C) Political elites have begun to reduce their use of ethnic conflict as an avenue of political support.
D) It has resulted in a rise in ethnic violence with economic dimensions.
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Page 16