Political Institutions
Practice Exam
Course Introduction
This course provides an in-depth exploration of political institutions, examining their structures, functions, and roles within different political systems. Through comparative analysis, students will study how institutions such as legislatures, executives, judiciaries, and political parties shape policymaking, influence representation, and impact the stability and effectiveness of governance. The course also considers the historical development of these institutions, their adaptation to changing environments, and their interaction with social, economic, and cultural forces. By the end of the course, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which political institutions contribute to the functioning and evolution of modern states.
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) Which of the following is true of citizenship for much of the past half century in the United States?
A)Citizenship overall has come to be in a precarious state.
B)Citizens' involvement in the life of their communities has dwindled.
C)Voter turnout is well below that of other advanced democracies.
D)The level of trust between citizens and elected national leaders has decreased.
E)All of these answers are correct.
Answer: E
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3
Chapter 2: The Constitution: the Foundation of Citizens Rights
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Q1) What is the fundamental concept behind federalism?
A)Some powers belong to state governments; others belong to the national government.
B)States retain their sovereignty and use the national government only as an arbiter.
C)The federal government is sovereign and the states have no power except what the federal government grants them.
D)There is one single system of national law, drafted by the federal government and administered by the states.
E)Although the national government may make law, the state governments decide whether or not to follow it.
Answer: A
Q2) Which was the first state to ratify the Constitution?
A)Rhode Island
B)Delaware
C)Virginia
D)New York
E)Massachusetts
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Federalism: Citizenship and the Dispersal of Power
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Q1) During which of the following presidents' administrations did the federal government's power, especially with regard to the economy, increase the MOST?
A)Theodore Roosevelt
B)Woodrow Wilson
C)Andrew Jackson
D)Franklin Roosevelt
E)Ronald Reagan
Answer: D
Q2) Which of the following presidents was the strongest advocate of devolution?
A)Ronald Reagan
B)Franklin Roosevelt
C)Woodrow Wilson
D)Theodore Roosevelt
E)Richard Nixon
Answer: A
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Civil Liberties: Citizens Rights Versus Security
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Q1) Most of the founders of the American republic probably had accommodationist views regarding the relationship between church and state, meaning that they believed that
A)a strict wall of separation must be maintained between the two institutions.
B)a single national religion should be established.
C)Christianity and the Christian Bible should serve as the basis for American laws.
D)the government should be permitted to support religion generally but not a particular religion specifically.
E)while private citizens could worship or not worship as they chose, federal officials should be required to swear oaths of religious affirmation before taking office.
Q2) In 2008, the U.S.Supreme Court dramatically changed the meaning of the Second Amendment with its decision in which of the following cases?
A)District of Columbia v.Heller
B)Roe v.Wade
C)Roth v.U.S.
D)Miller v.California
E)Plessy v.Ferguson
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights: Toward a More Equal Citizenry
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Q1) Describe the development of the modern women's rights movement.What are its historical precursors? What are its most pressing concerns today? What unique circumstances have women had to face in their struggle for equality?
Q2) Members of which ethnic group benefited MOST when Texas and California implemented race-blind admissions to their public universities in the 1990s?
A)Asian Americans
B)white Americans
C)African Americans
D)Hispanic Americans
E)Native Americans
Q3) Discuss the impact of the various civil rights movements.Have these movements succeeded in broadly expanding civil rights and equal opportunity? Does the struggle for civil rights need to progress further or has it already gone too far? Did the civil rights struggles bring the nation together or divide it into separate identity groups? Do measures designed to overcome historic discrimination become forms of "reverse discrimination"?
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion
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Q1) Among the various agents of political socialization, which one usually has the MOST significant and lasting impact on individual citizens?
A)churches
B)families
C)peer groups
D)the media
E)schools
Q2) A form of polling that includes discussions of a particular issue over several days and along with presentation of carefully balanced briefing materials is called
A)exit polling.
B)deliberative polling.
C)tracking polling.
D)issue polling.
E)candidate polling.
Q3) What are the major agents of political socialization and how do they affect political views? Which one overall is most important? Why?
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Chapter 7: Political Participation: Equal Opportunities and Unequal Voices
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Q1) According to the rational actor theory,
A)calculating the costs of political participation is important, but calculating the benefits is not.
B)calculating the benefits of political participation is important, but calculating the costs is not.
C)a rational actor will not engage in any type of political participation.
D)a rational actor would likely decide not to vote in a presidential race.
E)a rational actor will do everything possible to counteract free riders.
Q2) Voting is a hallmark of a democratic society, yet not everyone votes.Which groups are most likely to vote? Which groups are least likely? Some industrial democracies have mandatory voting laws.Is this a good idea? How might one reconcile mandatory voting and a free society? Would mandatory voting work in the United States?
Q3) A person with this characteristic is more likely to vote Democrat than Republican:
A)attends church regularly.
B)lower income level.
C)white male.
D)married female.
E)high income level.
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Chapter 8: Interest Groups in America
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Q1) What did a survey by the Congressional Management Foundation find about individuals' contact with their House members or senators in the previous five years?
A)About half of those that contacted lawmakers had been prompted to do so by a third party.
B)The vast majority of those that contacted lawmakers had been prompted to do so by a third party, mostly PACs, and through direct contact from major parties.
C)Only about a quarter of Americans had been in contact with their House members or senators.
D)About half of those that contacted lawmakers did so through personal choice, without any prompting.
E)The vast majority of those that contacted lawmakers had been prompted to do so by a third party, mostly lobbying and advocacy groups.
Q2) Discuss how interest groups build support for favored candidates.What organizations are they allowed to create in order to influence elections? What limits have Congress and the courts placed on these organizations? Are these limits effective? Should there be limitations on how much money individuals and groups can donate to a cause, or do such caps violate First Amendment rights?
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Parties and Political Campaigns
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Q1) Of the following generations, which has the highest percentage of political independents?
A)silent generation
B)boomer generation
C)gen X
D)millennials
E)All four generations have roughly the same percentages.
Q2) ________ is specifically a practice of exchanging votes for jobs.
A)The political machine
B)Civil service
C)Patronage
D)Job sharing
E)Bureaucracy
Q3) Which of the following groups was NOT a member of the New Deal Coalition?
A)southern whites
B)northern industrial workers
C)northeastern businessmen
D)Catholics
E)blacks
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Media: Tuning in or Tuning Out
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Q1) Which of the following statements about bloggers is LEAST accurate?
A)Many bloggers are average citizens who have no formal education in the field of journalism.
B)Bloggers are generally not held to the same journalistic standards as is the traditional press.
C)The influence of bloggers has increased over the past decade.
D)Many traditional journalists disparage bloggers for their lack of professional qualifications.
E)Although bloggers can amplify an already-reported story, they have not yet shown the capacity to break major news stories.
Q2) Which president enjoyed the longest honeymoon period with the press?
A)Abraham Lincoln
B)Theodore Roosevelt
C)Woodrow Wilson
D)Franklin Roosevelt
E)Ronald Reagan
Q3) Discuss the rise of political blogs.What impact do they have on political discourse? In what ways are they similar to and different from traditional media outlets?
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12
Chapter 11: Congress: Doing the Peoples Business
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Q1) Which of the following statements about the committee staffers who assist members of Congress is LEAST accurate?
A)Committee staffers tend to be older and more experienced than a congressperson's personal staffers.
B)Appointments to a committee staff are split equally between the majority and minority parties in Congress.
C)The average size of a Senate committee staff is about 50; that of a House committee staff, about 65.
D)Committee staffers provide valuable expertise that helps members of Congress make better-informed decisions.
E)Though they are not elected officials, committee staffers nonetheless sometimes take an active hand in drafting federal legislation.
Q2) Powers the Constitution explicitly grants to Congress are known as
A)enumerated powers.
B)delegated powers.
C)reserved powers.
D)elastic powers.
E)executive powers.
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Chapter 12: The Presidency: Power and Paradox
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Q1) Which part of the Constitution lays out the powers and duties of the president?
A)Article I
B)Article II
C)Article III
D)Article IV
E)Article V
Q2) The major difference in fundraising in the 2012 presidential election came from
A)contributions of less than $200 from individuals.
B)the national party organizations.
C)the state party organizations.
D)ordinary PACs.
E)super PACs.
Q3) The MOST severe limit on presidential power is
A)congressional power to overturn presidential vetoes.
B)Senate approval power over presidential appointments.
C)impeachment and removal from office.
D)the growing power of the vice president.
E)the two-term limit.
Q4) 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) Under the Student Loan Fairness Act of 2013,
A)interest rates on student loans would never rise above 4.0 percent.
B)undergraduates and graduate students would pay the same rates on student loans.
C)interest rates on student loans could easily climb over time.
D)students who complete their degrees will have all loan interest amounts waived.
E)FFEL loans were reinstated with the backing of the federal government.
Q2) All of the following are examples of government corporations EXCEPT
A)the FBI.
B)the TVA.
C)Amtrak.
D)the EX-IM Bank.
E)the FDIC.
Q3) What is the largest government corporation?
A)Post Office
B)TVA
C)Amtrak
D)EX-IM Bank
E)FDIC
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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) An opinion written by a justice who agrees with the decision of the majority, but not with its reasoning, is known as a A)majority opinion.
B)plurality opinion.
C)dissenting opinion.
D)concurring opinion.
E)per curiam opinion.
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) Which of the following statements about America's federal monetary policy is LEAST accurate?
A)The officials most responsible for determining America's monetary policy are neither elected by the people nor directly accountable to them.
B)Every bank chartered by the federal government or by a state must belong to the Federal Reserve System.
C)Banks that join the Federal Reserve receive access to a number of benefits, including the right to borrow money at attractive rates.
D)The Federal Reserve controls the supply of money in the American economy, increasing it to combat recession, shrinking it in response to inflationary trends.
E)The Federal Reserve System has a complex structure that includes a seven-member Board of Governors and twelve regional banks.
Q2) 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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17
Chapter 16: Foreign and Defense Policy: Protecting
American Interests in the World
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Q1) The world today, in terms of power and domination, is best described as a(n)
A)bipolar world.
B)tripolar world.
C)non-polar world.
D)unipolar world.
E)multipolar world.
Q2) Presidents Wilson and Carter are primarily associated with which school of foreign policy?
A)realism
B)neoconservatism
C)liberalism
D)idealism
E)cooperationism
Q3) Current members of the "nuclear club" include all of the following EXCEPT
A)France.
B)Iran.
C)China.
D)Pakistan.
E)India.
Page 18
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