question

The ability of one person to cause another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions.

answer

Power

question

Power when used to determine who will hold government office and how government will behave

answer

Political Power

question

The right to exercise political power

answer

Authority

question

The widely-shared perception that something or someone should be obeyed

answer

Legitimacy

question

Conferring political power on those selected by the voters in competitive elections

answer

Representative democracy

question

Term for the Greek city-state

answer

polis

question

An identifiable group of people with a disproportionate share of political power

answer

Elite

question

A relatively small political unit within which classical democracy was practiced.

answer

City-state

question

A political system in which the choices of the political leaders are closely constrained by the preferences of the people

answer

Majoritarian politics

question

A philosopher who defined democracy as the "rule of the many"

answer

Aristotle

question

A sociologist who presented the idea of a mostly nongovernmental power elite

answer

Mills

question

A theory that government is merely a reflection of underlying economic forces

answer

Marxist theory

question

Individual who worried the new government he helped to create would be too democratic

answer

Alexander Hamilton

question

A sociologist who emphasized the phenomenon of bureaucracy in explaining political developments

answer

Weber

question

A political system in which local citizens are empowered to govern themselves directly

answer

Community control

question

A political system in which those affected by a governmental program must be permitted to participate in the program's formulation

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Citizen participation

question

A North American approximation of direct or participatory democracy

answer

New England town meeting

question

A theory that no one interest group consistently holds political power

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Pluralist theory

question

Structures of authority organized around expertise and specialization

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Bureaucracy

question

An economist who defined democracy as the competitive struggle by political leaders for the people's vote

answer

Schumpter

question

A theory that appointed civil servants make the key governing decisions

answer

Bureaucratic theory

question

A term used to describe three different political systems in which the people are said to rule, directly or indirectly

answer

Democracy

question

A political system in which all or most citizens participate directly by either holding office or making policy

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Direct or participatory democracy

question

A theory that a few top leaders make the key decisions without reference to popular desires

answer

Elitist theory

question

(T/F) It took the national government many years to implement just a fraction of the bipartisan homeland security policies and programs

answer

True

question

(T/F) Politics exists in part because people differ about who should govern and the ends toward which they work

answer

True

question

(T/F) Federal income taxes were higher in 1935 then they are today

answer

False

question

(T/F) Most people holding political power in the United States today are middle-class, middle-aged, white Protestant males

answer

True

question

(T/F) Constitutional amendments giving rights to African Americans and women passed by large majoriteis

answer

True

question

(T/F) It is easy to discern political power at work

answer

False

question

(T/F) The text suggests that increasingly matters that were once considered "public" become "private," and beyond the scope of governmental action

answer

False

question

(T/F) In the 1950s the federal government would have displayed little or no interest in a university refusing applicants

answer

True

question

(T/F) Much of American political history has been a struggle over what constitutes legitimate authority

answer

True

question

(T/F) Alexander Hamilton worried that the new government would not be democratic enough

answer

False

question

(T/F) Aristotle thought of democracy as the "rule of the many"

answer

True

question

(T/F) Everyone in the ancient Greek city-state was eligible to participate in government

answer

False

question

(T/F) The New England town meeting approximate the aristotelian ideal

answer

True

question

(T/F) Some writer of the Constitution opposed democracy on the grounds that the people would be unable to make wise decisions

answer

True

question

(T/F) Democracy as used in this book refers to the rule of the many

answer

False

question

(T/F) The Framers of the Constitution did not think that the "will of the people" was synonymous with the "public good"

answer

True

question

(T/F) The Framers suspected even highly educated persons could be manipulated by demagogic leaders who played on their fears and prejudices

answer

True

question

(T/F) The Framers hoped to create a representative democracy that would act swiftly and accommodate sweeping changes in policy

answer

False

question

(T/F) People today have unprecedented access to information and consume more political news than ever

answer

False

question

(T/F) Majoritarian politics probably influence relatively few issues in this country

answer

True

question

(T/F) Marxist theory sees society as divided into two classes: capitalists and workers

answer

True

question

(T/F) C. Wright Mills included corporate, governmental, and labor officials in his power elite

answer

False

question

(T/F) Today, some would add major communications media chiefs to Mills' power elite

answer

True

question

(T/F) Weber assigned a significant amount of power to appointed officials in the bureaucracies of modern governments

answer

True

question

(T/F) Weber felt that bureaucrats merely implemented public policies that are made by elected officials

answer

False

question

(T/F) Pluralists deny the existence of elites

answer

False

question

(T/F) The bureaucratic view does the most to reassure one that America has been, and continues to be, a democracy in more than name only

answer

False

question

(T/F) A policy can be good or bad independent of the motives of the person who decided it

answer

True

question

(T/F) The self-interest of individuals is often an incomplete guide to their actions.

answer

True

question

(T/F) In the 1920s it was widely assumed that the federal government would play a small role in citizens' lives

answer

True

question

(T/F) Who wields power- that is, who made a difference in the outcome and for what reason- is harder to discover than who did what

answer

True

question

(T/F) Political change is not always accompanied by changes in public laws

answer

True

question

Which statement best describes the performance of the government in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States?

answer

A fraction of the bipartisan homeland security policies and programs were implemented after many years of debate

question

Today, on average, Americans pay ____ percent of their income to federal payroll taxes

answer

21

question

Most national political officeholders are middle-class, middle-aged, white Protestant males. Knowing this, we

answer

still cannot explain many important policies

question

What do the authors define as "the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions"?

answer

Power

question

Which of the following statements concerning power is correct?

answer

Its exercise can sometimes be obvious, it can be exercised in subtle ways, is found in all human relationships and involves a person getting another person to act in accordance with the first person's wishes

question

Which of the following statements about authority is correct?

answer

It is defined as the right to use power

question

A survey of 450 history and political science professors resulted in _______ being listed as the most significant achievement of government since 1950

answer

The rebuilding of Europe

question

Americans seem to agree that the exercise of political power at any level is legitimate only if, in some sense, it is

answer

democratic

question

In Aristotle's view, democracy would consist of

answer

participation by all or most citizens in either holding office or making policy

question

Aristotle's notion of democracy is also referred to as

answer

direct or participatory democracy

question

In the ancient Greek city-state, the right to vote was not extended to

answer

those who did not own property, women, minors and slaves

question

Which of the following is a basic tenet of representative democracy?

answer

Individuals should acquire power through competition for the people's vote

question

Sometimes, representative democracy is disapprovingly referred to as the _____ theory of Democracy

answer

elitist

question

If you fear that people often decide big issues on the basis of fleeting passions and in response to demagogues, you are likely to agree with

answer

many of the framers of the Constitution

question

The text suggests representative democracy is justified by all of the following concerns except that

answer

the people cannot choose among competing leadership groups

question

In sharp contrast to the United States, very few offices in some European democracies are

answer

Elective

question

The text suggest the Founders thought the government should ____ popular view

answer

Mediate

question

The Founders granted that representative democracy would

answer

Prevent sweeping changes in policy and often proceed slowly

question

Issues can be handled in majoritarian fashion if

answer

they are important enough to command the attention of most citizens, they are sufficiently clear to elicit an informed opinion form citizens and they are sufficiently feasible to address so that what citizens want can in fact be done

question

In the Marxist view government is a reflection of underlying ____ forces

answer

economic

question

Marx concluded "modern" societies generally feature a clash of power between

answer

capitalists and workers

question

C. Wright Mills, and American sociologist, suggests politics and government are dominated by

answer

the power elite

question

Which of the following statements is not consistent with Mills' position

answer

Corporate leaders are the primary, dominant nongovernmental influence in policy making

question

Max Weber felt that the dominant social and political reality of modern times was that

answer

All institutions have fallen under the control of large bureaucracies

question

Weber's theory suggests it would be wise for scholars who want to study power to focus on

answer

appointed officials and career government workers

question

The view that money, expertise, prestige, and so forth are widely scattered throughout our society in the hands of a variety of groups is known as the

answer

pluralist view of American society

question

A pluralist would not agree with the following statement

answer

mass opinion and the interests of citizens are irrelevant ot policymaking

question

The text suggests _____ theory "does the most to reassure one that America has been, and continues to be, a democracy in more than name."

answer

Pluralist

question

Ronald Reagan's policy initiatives on social and economic problems sought to

answer

return citizens' assumptions to what they had been before the 1930s

question

American foreign policy, according to the test, tend to alternate between

answer

interventions and isolationism

question

The fact that people have been willing to die over competing view of the public interest suggests that

answer

such views are more than mere window dresssing

question

The kinds of answers that political scientists usually give to the fundamental political questions tend to be

answer

partial, contingent and controversial

question

According to the text, before making judgements about institutions and interests, we must first observe them

answer

on a variety of different issues

question

The logical place to begin the study of how power is distributed in US politics is

answer

the Constitutional Convention and events leading up to it

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