Political Institutions
Chapter Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course offers a comprehensive examination of political institutions, exploring their roles, structures, and functions within different political systems. Students will analyze foundational concepts such as the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the types of political regimes including democracies, authoritarian governments, and hybrid systems. The course also delves into the evolution and variation of legislative bodies, executive branches, judiciaries, and electoral systems across nations, emphasizing the impact of institutions on policy-making, governance, and democratic stability. Through case studies and comparative analysis, students will gain a nuanced understanding of how political institutions shape, and are shaped by, social, economic, and cultural forces.
Recommended Textbook Essentials of Comparative Politics 6th Edition by Patrick H. ONeil
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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Sample Questions
Q1) One big rift within the study of comparative politics is A) poststructuralism versus critical realism.
B) epistemology versus ontology.
C) quantitative versus qualitative research.
D) structural versus agent-centered research.
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following is true of the work of most comparativists?
A) When they expand study outside of a single country, they still tend to limit their scope to a single geographic region.
B) They seek to study countries for which the least amount of established research has been accomplished.
C) They try to choose countries with radically different political systems in order to maximize variability in cases.
D) They tend to limit their focus to a single level of economic development.
Answer: A
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3
Chapter 2: States
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Q1) The modern state eventually supplanted which system of economic organization?
A) city-states focused on trade
B) farming and agricultural model
C) feudalism
D) mercantilism
Answer: C
Q2) Russia is a good example of a state with
A) high capacity but low autonomy.
B) low capacity but high autonomy.
C) high capacity and high autonomy.
D) low capacity and low autonomy.
Answer: B
Q3) Recent research suggests that the rise of political organizations came about in large part because of
A) the rise of monotheistic religions.
B) the extreme violence of pre-state societies.
C) writing as an innovation.
D) the expansion of slavery.
Answer: B
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Nations and Society
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Q1) Ascription occurs when
A) one ethnicity develops negative stereotypes about a rival ethnicity.
B) ethnic conflict enhances ethnic divisions.
C) ethnic identity becomes intertwined with the pursuit of sovereignty.
D) a particular quality or characteristic is assigned at birth.
Answer: D
Q2) Do people in the United States have stronger feelings of nationalism or patriotism? What are the differences between the two?
Answer: A good answer will note stronger feelings of patriotism in the United States than nationalism.In answering the question,the differences between nationalism and patriotism should be clarified.Nationalism typically entails a shared ethnic or national identification and a desire for political autonomy and sovereignty against a state (or greater political autonomy within a state); patriotism entails a pride in one's state and political system and a willingness to defend and promote it.
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5
Chapter 4: Political Economy
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Q1) What is a primary tactic used by central banks to combat inflation?
A) making credit less expensive
B) raising interest rates
C) printing more money
D) setting lending rates very low
Q2) Extremely tight control over the money supply may result in ________,a condition that has plagued Japan since 1998.
A) inflation
B) deflation
C) tariffs
D) hyperinflation
Q3) Over the past two decades,most countries around the world have
A) increased economic liberalization.
B) decreased economic liberalization.
C) increased their social democratic institutions.
D) become more mercantilist.
Q4) What tools do states use in regulating trade with other states? What political-economic systems are most and least likely to impose strict regulations on trade?
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Chapter 5: Democratic Regimes
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Q1) In a presidential system,the president typically serves as A) head of state.
B) head of government.
C) both head of state and head of government.
D) neither head of state nor head of government.
Q2) Which of the following statements about semi-presidential systems is accurate?
A) Prominent semi-presidential systems typically place most of the power with the prime minister.
B) The prime minister is typically the initiator of policy.
C) Constitutional courts are often less powerful as a result of appointment by the president.
D) Semi-presidential systems have gone out of favor and have decreased in number during the last two decades.
Q3) Bicameral systems can be traced back to different representation for A) urban and rural groups.
B) religious groups.
C) regional differences.
D) economic classes.
Q4) Is a presidential system more democratic than a parliamentary system? Why or why not?
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Chapter 6: Nondemocratic Regimes
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Q1) Country X holds regular elections for a legislature,though most of its citizens have little faith in the validity of the results.Its powerful military operates largely outside of the control of the government,but it does not control the actions of the government.The government executive wields enormous power,but there is also a judiciary that occasionally rules on constitutional matters.A number of political parties compete with each other,but the government regularly restricts their campaigning activities.Based on this description,in which category could Country X most reliably be placed?
A) patrimonial regime
B) corporatist regime
C) clientist regime
D) illiberal regime
Q2) Which of the following statements about one-party rule is accurate?
A) It is often combined with a corporatist regime.
B) It forces party membership on nearly all citizens.
C) It typically prevents the development of extreme forms of rule like totalitarianism.
D) Single-party influence is rarely able to penetrate very far down into society.
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8
Chapter 7: Political Violence
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Q1) In which of the following ways must the study of terrorism necessarily differ from the study of revolutions?
A) There is less focus on outcomes.
B) Ideational explanations are less emphasized.
C) There is greater focus on institutional causes.
D) There is less concentration on individual actors.
Q2) Individual-focused studies of terrorism,noting in part the emphasis on community and purity of cause,have drawn comparisons between terrorist groups and A) folk customs.
B) political campaigns.
C) religious cults.
D) sports teams.
Q3) It has been argued that the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the 2011 Egyptian Revolution are examples of which model of revolution?
A) incipient mobilization model
B) religious-social model
C) relative deprivation model
D) Islamist rebellion model
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Chapter 8: Developed Democracies
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Q1) Which is the better approach to dealing with immigration: multiculturalism or assimilation? Why? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each?
Q2) Which of the following statements about developed democracies is accurate?
A) Widely varying HDI rankings are found among those countries considered to be developed democracies.
B) Industrial production constitutes a relatively large proportion of a developed democracy's GDP.
C) A relatively small agricultural sector is common among developed democracies.
D) Large service sectors and very small welfare states characterize developed democracies.
Q3) The two processes currently bringing the most profound change to developed democracies are
A) autonomy and postrationalism.
B) fragmentation and devolution.
C) integration and autonomy.
D) devolution and integration.
Q4) How should developed democracies address the problem of maintaining social expenditures as their populations grow older? Should benefits be reduced? Should immigration be increased?
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Chapter 9: Communism and Postcommunism
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Q1) Which of the following statements about gender and LGBT rights and equality in former communist or eastern European countries is accurate?
A) Gender inequality is growing in most Eastern European states as a result of postcommunist privatization and the high levels of unemployment that have resulted.
B) Postcommunist countries perform worse on the United Nation's Gender Inequality Index than advanced democracies around the world.
C) While some Central European states allow for same-sex partnerships, discrimination against the LGBT community has actually grown in Russia and Central Asia.
D) Unlike their approach to religion, communist countries considered gender and sexual identity to be compatible with communist ideology and offered no discrimination. That tolerance has continued in transitions from communism.
Q2) Describe the political and economic strategies undertaken by Gorbachev as a means of reforming the Soviet Union.What changes did he propose in the international arena?
Q3) Why was communism able to spread across such a large part of the globe? What explains its attraction?
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Chapter 10: Developing Countries
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Q1) Which of the following statements about the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDG)program is accurate?
A) Lack of proper, comprehensive data collection has left wide disagreement over whether the program has been a success.
B) The program and goals are a prime example of emphasis on allowing civil society to develop organically without heavy international intervention.
C) Compared to villages that received no aid, the Millennium Villages showed impressive progress.
D) Unexpected opposition to international aid by the target state governments dramatically reduced program effectiveness.
Q2) Which of the following is a component of import substitution,an economic strategy followed by many developing countries in the post-World War II era?
A) poor enforcement of intellectual property rights
B) banning parastatal arrangements
C) privatizing nationalized industries
D) ending government business subsidies
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Chapter 11: Globalization and the Future of Comparative
Politics
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Q1) In which of the following ways did the Bretton Woods system differ from the Washington Consensus?
A) It created important, formal international organizations.
B) It placed less emphasis on the promotion of international trade.
C) It increased state control over international markets instead of reducing it.
D) It reduced the pace of globalization instead of advancing it.
Q2) In what way is the Internet unlike a typical international regime?
A) It has no norms that lead to a specific goal.
B) It is not seen as beneficial.
C) It does not link states or individuals together in a meaningful way.
D) It is more easily controlled by sovereign states.
Q3) Some optimists argue that a global cosmopolitanism could pave the way for
A) a global civil society.
B) one world government.
C) "cyber-anarchism."
D) a common world religion.
Q4) Explain how state sovereignty is threatened by an increasingly globalized and interconnected world.Will the state eventually wither away,being overtaken by new forms of political organization?
Q5) Is globalization inevitable? What evidence suggests that it could be reversed?
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