Comparative Government (U.S. focus)
Practice Exam
Course Introduction
This course offers an in-depth examination of different systems of government with a primary focus on the United States in comparative perspective. Students will explore the structures, functions, and processes of the U.S. government, analyzing how they contrast with political systems in other countries. Key topics include the separation of powers, federalism, political parties, electoral systems, and policy-making. By engaging with case studies and theoretical frameworks, students will develop a nuanced understanding of how the United States' governmental institutions and political culture align with or differ from those found in other democracies and authoritarian regimes around the world.
Recommended Textbook
Politics in America 2014 Elections and Updates Edition 10th Edition by Thomas R. Dye
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18 Chapters
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1885 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Politics: Who Gets What,When and How 1
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Sample Questions
Q1) A limited __________ government is one that is itself restrained by law.
Answer: constitutional
Q2) Participants in politics are best defined as __________.
A)anyone taking part at any level
B)anyone working in Washington,D.C.
C)lobbyists
D)politicians
Answer: A
Q3) If you agree to abide by the laws of your government in exchange for that government's protection,which of the following have you tacitly signed?
A)a governmental agreement
B)a social contract
C)a writ of mandamus
D)the Declaration of Independence
Answer: B
Q4) To promote general welfare,governments use __________ transfers from taxpayers to people who are regarded as deserving.
Answer: income
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Chapter 2: Political Culture: Ideas in Conflict
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following best describes the ability of a citizen to change his or her income or status?
A)class conflict
B)downward mobility
C)geographic mobility
D)social mobility
Answer: D
Q2) How does the text define subcultures?
A)Subcultures are created when political conflict arises.
B)Subcultures are groups that form outside of the public limelight.
C)Subcultures are expressions of the American Dream.
D)Subcultures are variations on the prevailing values and beliefs in a society.
Answer: D
Q3) __________ is an economic system asserting an individual's right to own private property and to buy,sell,rent,and trade that property in a free market.
Answer: Capitalism
Q4) __________ is a consistent and integrated system of ideas,values,and beliefs.
Answer: Ideology
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4
Chapter 3: The Constitution: Limiting Governmental Power
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Constitution divides power between the national government and state governments.This is a key tenet of __________.
A)confederation
B)federalism
C)pure democracy
D)oligarchy
Answer: B
Q2) The New Jersey Plan proposed a powerful central government with three branches.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Which of the following advocates for limited government that is based on popular consent,but protects against majority tyranny?
A)democracy
B)republicanism
C)libertarianism
D)federalism
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Federalism: Dividing Governmental Power
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Sample Questions
Q1) The assumption behind the doctrine of __________ is that states can protect their citizens from unconstitutional laws because citizens are simultaneously citizens of states and of the United States.
A)secession
B)dual federalism
C)the compact theory of union
D)interposition
Q2) Which clause of the U.S.Constitution did the Supreme Court interpret in McCulloch v.Maryland?
A)Commerce
B)Necessary and proper
C)Due process
D)Equal protection
Q3) Article VI of the U.S.Constitution establishes that federal law is __________ in conflicts between federal and state law.
A)irrelevant
B)persuasive authority
C)secondary
D)supreme
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Page 6
Chapter 5: Opinion and Participation: Thinking and Acting in Politics
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105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the 2012 presidential election,about what percentage of votes were cast by nonwhites?
A)about 10 percent
B)more than 25 percent
C)nearly 40 percent
D)over half
Q2) How do African American perceptions of the criminal justice system compare with those of whites?
A)Most whites and African Americans believe the criminal justice system is fundamentally unfair.
B)When the victim is black,whites and African Americas attribute police brutality to individual malfeasance by officers,not as racism.
C)Whites see the disproportionate percentages of African Americans in prison as discrimination,whereas African Americans see it as a product of greater criminality among African Americans.
D)Most whites believe the criminal justice system is fundamentally fair; most African Americans do not.
Q3) __________ is the aggregate of preferences and opinions of individuals on significant issues.
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Chapter 6: Mass Media: Setting the Political Agenda
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105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Lightweight entertainment is more prevalent than serious programming in which form of media in particular?
A)radio
B)magazines
C)television
D)newspapers
Q2) People with opposing political ideologies are tending to get their news from different sources.This is known as media __________.
A)socialization
B)interpretation
C)polarization
D)muckraking
Q3) Generalized feelings of distrust,cynicism,and powerlessness stemming from television's emphasis on the negative aspects of American life have been labeled
Q4) False writings that are intended to damage an individual are examples of
Q5) Public awareness of a candidate is often referred to as __________ recognition.
Q6) How does political polarization of the media impact our political system?
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Chapter 7: Political Parties: Organizing Politics
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105 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following caused a number of southern states to leave the New Deal coalition that had emerged in the 1930s?
A)the election of Bill Clinton as president in 1992
B)John Kennedy's "New Frontier" proposals
C)Harry Truman's "Fair Deal" program
D)the signing of the Civil Rights Act by Lyndon Johnson in 1964
Q2) This early political party eventually morphed into today's Democratic Party.
A)Constitutional Union Party
B)Whigs Party
C)Democratic-Republican Party
D)Federalist Party
Q3) The years 1860-1928 saw the ascendency of which party?
A)Democratic-Republicans
B)Republicans
C)Federalists
D)Democrats
Q4) Assess whether dealignment in the American party system has actually occurred.
Q5) The creation of third parties has always accompanied major protest movements.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Campaigns and Elections: Deciding Who
Governs
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105 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) __________ voting is based on which party or candidate offers the best promises for the future.
Q2) Politics is increasingly characterized by __________.
A)professionalism
B)institutionalism
C)apprenticeship
D)legalism
Q3) What kinds of campaign finance receive little or no scrutiny?
Q4) Name recognition is one of the resources of office enjoyed by incumbents.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Considering the media attention focused on the New Hampshire primary and the Iowa caucuses,why do you think states have moved their primary dates earlier in the election year?
Q6) Voters go to precincts and straw vote for the presidential nominee in which caucus state?
A)New Hampshire
B)Iowa
C)Florida
D)Texas Page 10
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Chapter 9: Interest Groups: Getting Their Share and More
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Sample Questions
Q1) Members of Congress who receive contributions from political action committees (PACs)__________.
A)always vote in favor of the groups' policy positions
B)avoid voting on matters of concern to PACs so as not to appear biased
C)generally try to grant the PACs access to the members and their staff
D)typically receive negative publicity for accepting PAC money
Q2) __________ groups are organizations that seek to influence public policy.
Q3) You are the leader of a consumer rights group that has been unable to get a meeting with your elected representative in Congress.How could you get the attention of your legislator on the issues your group cares about?
A)Organize a demonstration in the representative's district and invite the media.
B)File an amicus curiae brief.
C)Draft a bill and introduce it in Congress.
D)Contact the Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Q4) The National Rifle Association is an example of a trade association.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Are interest groups beneficial or harmful to the functioning of democracy?
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Chapter 10: Congress: Politics on Capitol Hill
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104 Verified Questions
104 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) This congressional rule of ethics refers to the fact that members cannot accept fees for speeches or personal appearances.
A)Campaign funding
B)Financial disclosure
C)Gifts
D)Honoraria
Q2) Although the Constitution allows states to create their own legislative boundaries,gerrymandering in favor of any partisan or racial group is expressly forbidden by law.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The House of Representatives has the sole authority to bring charges of impeachment,by a simple majority vote.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Leadership in the Senate is less hierarchical than in the House.
A)True
B)False
Q5) After the Speaker,the next most powerful person in the House is the __________.
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Chapter 11: The President: White House Politics
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104 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which is true about modern presidents and institutional power?
A)Presidents are delegating too many constitutional powers to Congress,thus weakening their own institutional powers.
B)Presidents get the "last-mover" advantage,which increases their institutional power.
C)Presidents are increasingly institutionally powerful because they have more legal ability to act unilaterally.
D)Presidents' recent uses of executive orders and agreements have been ruled unconstitutional,decreasing the institutional power of presidents.
Q2) Historically,presidents begin their terms of office with higher approval ratings and tend to lose popularity over time.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In 1957,Dwight Eisenhower used military force in domestic affairs to enforce a federal court's __________ order.
Q4) If the president takes no action to veto a bill passed by Congress for __________ days,the bill will become law without the president's signature.
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Page 14
Chapter 12: The Bureaucracy: Bureaucratic Politics
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is one way that the president can exercise control over the federal bureaucracy?
A)conducting oversight hearings
B)confirming appointments of agency heads and subheads
C)appointing or removing policymaking officials
D)creating or abolishing agencies
Q2) Special interest groups provide oversight of bureaucracy by focusing their attention on the departments or agencies that function in their chosen policy field.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Why is privatization/outsourcing seen as an attractive option for the delivery of public services?
A)Private companies may deliver services more efficiently.
B)Private companies may deliver services more equitably.
C)Privatization increases government's accountability to the public.
D)Privatization ensures higher employment levels.
Q4) The purpose of the __________ was to prohibit federal employees from engaging in partisan political activities.
Q5) The president appoints,but cannot dismiss,officials who serve on __________.
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Chapter 13: Courts Judicial Politics
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Sample Questions
Q1) How many courts of appeals are in the federal system?
A)two
B)six
C)thirteen
D)twelve
Q2) In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court first claim the right of judicial review?
A)Chishom v.Georgia
B)Brown v.Board of Education
C)United States v.Nixon
D)Marbury v.Madison
Q3) Which body or office must confirm all federal judges?
A)House of Representatives
B)Supreme Court
C)Senate
D)president
Q4) The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over cases in which the United States is a party.
A)True
B)False
Page 16
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Chapter 14: Politics and Personal Liberty
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Fourteenth Amendment suggests that the protections in the Bill of Rights could be interpreted as applying to the states.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which test examines whether a particular law constitutes "establishment" of religion and thus violates the 1st Amendment?
A)Orange
B)Lemon
C)Free Exercise
D)Prior Restraint
Q3) Commercial speech is constitutionally protected.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Incorporation makes the protections from the Bill of Rights applicable to the states through which of the following amendments?
A)Fourth
B)Fifth
C)Sixth
D)Fourteenth
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Chapter 15: Politics and Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the feature box,"Who's Getting What? The Stonewall Riots," why was the decision in One,Inc.v.Olesen 355 US 371 (1958)significant?
A)It upheld the right of the post office to refuse material they deemed obscene.
B)It granted homosexuals status as a protected class.
C)It recognized homosexual press rights.
D)It was the first Supreme Court decision that paved the way to the legality of same-sex marriage.
Q2) When did women win the guaranteed right to vote?
A)when the Constitution was adopted
B)during the Civil War
C)immediately after the Civil War
D)decades after black males won the right to vote
Q3) According to the Supreme Court's decisions in the Civil Rights Cases (1883),in which of the following areas could discrimination against African Americans be prohibited?
A)theaters
B)hotels
C)railroads
D)post offices
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Chapter 16: Politics and the Economy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The federal government relies on a ___________ tax to fund the Social Security program.
Q2) A free-market economic system relies on voluntary change through buying,selling,borrowing,contracting,and trading
A)True
B)False
Q3) Discuss the 2008-2009 economic crisis and recession.What happened and why? What steps did Congress take in response? What steps,if any,should the government take to prevent this from happening again,and why?
Q4) The primary purpose of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)was to __________.
A)bail out the auto industry
B)bail out the banking sector
C)reduce the annual budget deficit
D)reduce the public/national debt
Q5) The __________ is the federal government's largest source of revenue.
Q6) When members of Congress talk about the ___________,they are talking about the difference between annual government expenditures and revenues.
Q7) The federal government uses fiscal policy when it raises ___________.
Page 19
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Chapter 17: Politics and Social Welfare
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Sample Questions
Q1) Contributors to health care costs in the United States are an aging population and __________.
A)individual mandates
B)employer mandates
C)chronic disease
D)the number of births
Q2) When considering laying employees off,what aspect of the recent health care reform law would smaller-sized companies and employers be considering when large companies would not be?
A)individual mandate
B)employer mandate
C)Medicaid expansion
D)health insurance exchanges
Q3) Obamacare has no provisions concerning tort reform.Tort reform refers to managing the litigation of what?
A)insurance co-payments
B)medical malpractice
C)birth control
D)retirement benefits
Q4) Medicare is designed to help the __________ population.
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Chapter 18: Politics and National Security
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Sample Questions
Q1) How does the justification for creating the Marshall Plan relate to current U.S.foreign policy toward other countries in the war on terror?
A)The Marshall Plan was focused on rebuilding after a war,as was the occupation in Iraq.
B)The reasoning behind the Marshall Plan was that the United States should help less fortunate countries,which is why today America helps countries at the mercy of terrorists.
C)The Marshall Plan was based on the idea that economically weak nations were susceptible to communism,and today it is believed that social and cultural factors as well as political ones make countries susceptible to terrorism.
D)The Marshall Plan was an implementation of the policy of containment,which is the same policy the United States is using to deal with terrorists.
Q2) Most of the American people oppose the war in Afghanistan and oppose increasing troop levels there,while also saying that they approve of the way President Obama is handling the situation.
A)True
B)False
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