question

Political scientists today see federalism as:

answer

A partnership between the national and state governments in which the federal government is the dominant partner

question

Federal funds provided to states for a broad purpose and unrestricted by detailed requirements are called:

answer

Black grants

question

Federalism in the United States:

answer

Was a compromise for how power should be distributed between the national and state governments

question

The initiative, referendum, and recall are methods used:

answer

In some state governments to allow citizens to participate more directly in government

question

Which of the following is not a disadvantage of federalism?

answer

It enables the states serve as policy laboratories.

question

According to the Don't Be Fooled by the Op-Ed Pages feature in Chapter 4, you should ask all of the following questions about the op-ed section of the newspaper EXCEPT:

answer

Does the author of the piece agree with you?

question

The Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to:

answer

Strike down racial segregation in the states

question

The amendment process for the Constitutions:

answer

Was designed to allow growth and change but not to be too easy

question

In Federalist No. 78, Hamilton argued that the judiciary would be the least threatening branch of government because:

answer

It does not control the military or the budget of the nation.

question

Congress has been reluctant to use block grants to achieve policy goals because:

answer

They allow states to pursue their own goals rather than the federal government's goals.

question

The theory that defines the state and national governments as essentially separate from each other and carrying out independent functions is:

answer

Dual federalism

question

The major difference between a republic and a democracy is that:

answer

In a republic elected individuals, rather than citizens themselves, have the direct power to make most governmental decisions.

question

The Constitution has been amended through the formal amendment process and through:

answer

Judicial review

question

The trend of Supreme Court's rulings in favor of devolution ended:

answer

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001

question

In Federalist No. 51, James Madison predicted that no single branch of government would become too powerful and oppress citizens, because:

answer

The ethics of American political leaders would prevent power grabs.

question

The founders created the _______ as an intermediate body to elect the president.

answer

Electoral College

question

The constitutional safeguard that places legislative, executive, and judicial powers in different hands is called:

answer

Separation of powers

question

The national government's rapid growth has resulted in:

answer

A debate between liberals and conservatives over the proper role for the national government

question

What is the key difference between categorical grants and block grants?

answer

Block grants provide states with more leverage and power over how to spend grants-in-aid than do categorical grants. State

question

The ways that the national government tries to influence the states include:

answer

No influence combined with no funding on an issue Categorical grants Block grants Unfunded mandates

question

Both the states and the national government may exercise all of the following powers

answer

Borrowing and spending money for the general welfare Establishing highways Taking private property for public purposes Chartering and regulating banks and charter corporations

question

The congressional abilities specifically listed in Article I, Section 8, are called the:

answer

Enumerated powers

question

The founders established the Electoral College to choose the president for all of the following reasons

answer

Provide for an alternative method to allowing Congress to choose the president Provide for an alternative method to direct election by the people Create an informed set of electors to choose the president Provide a mechanism for changing the president without using force or giving presidents lifetime tenure in office

question

The powers of the president consist of

answer

The president is commander in chief of the armed forces. The president appoints, with confirmation by the Senate, members of the judiciary. The president negotiates treaties. The president can call Congress into session under extraordinary circumstances.

question

What are the consequences of federalism?

answer

It creates greater flexibility at local levels of government. It leads to increased access to government for citizens. It creates a tendency for states to engage in smokestack chasing. It creates a tendency for states to cut social benefits to better compete with each other.

question

The New Deal increased the scope of both national and state powers by:

answer

Redefining the purpose of American government to include solving nationwide economic and social problems

question

It is difficult to know when to apply the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because:

answer

The definitions of cruel and unusual are difficult to establish.

question

It attempting to decide when speech can be prohibited, the Supreme Court has:

answer

Made it harder for the government to suppress speech

question

According to the textbook, conflicts of rights often come down to conflicts:

answer

Of power

question

The source of authority cited by the Supreme Court for applying the Bill of Rights to the states is:

answer

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution

question

The Supreme Court has most recently ruled that the Second Amendment:

answer

Establishes an individual right to bear arms

question

The current status of the exclusionary rule is that:

answer

Unconstitutionally gathered evidence may be used in court as long as the police did not violate the Constitution deliberately; however, the burden is on the police to show they acted in good faith.

question

The example provided in the textbook concerning the response to the September 11 attacks demonstrates that:

answer

It may be hard to protect both liberty and security

question

The Supreme Court has most recently ruled that what happens between consenting adults:

answer

Is protected by the right to privacy

question

In reading about the issues discussed in the textbook concerning the right to privacy, one would conclude that most of the controversies over this right involve:

answer

Life and death

question

The Supreme Court has ruled that the right to refuse medical life support:

answer

Is a matter for individuals to decide for themselves

question

The Supreme Court has ruled that prior restraint:

answer

May be upheld only in cases of extreme emergency

question

Written defamation of character is known as:

answer

Libel

question

Which of the following statements does not reflect the Supreme Court's view of freedom of expression?

answer

Associations such as the NAACP can be required to make their membership lists public.

question

Support of capital punishment has been weakening in the United States, mostly due to public concern that:

answer

The system might be executing innocent people.

question

The idea that language shapes behavior and, therefore, should be regulated to control its social effects is known as:

answer

Political correctness

question

The founders' opposition to prior restraint showed their commitment to:

answer

freedom of press

question

Which of the following statements does not describe the Supreme Court's views regarding due process of the law?

answer

The death penalty is racially biased.

question

Separationists differ from accommodationists in that:

answer

Separationist favor a stricter separation of church and state than accommodationists.

question

Individual actions can come into conflict with the collective good of society:

answer

Because individual actions often have important consequences and costs for society

question

The Supreme Court has ruled that the exclusionary rule should:

answer

Apply only when the police conduct an illegal search deliberately; however, the burden is on the police to show they acted in good faith

question

The Lemon test established that:

answer

There shall be no excessive entanglement of government and religion.

question

The test that seems to provide the most protection for free speech is that:

answer

Imminent lawless action test

question

According to John Locke and the Declaration of Independence, our rights are:

answer

Natural

question

Based on Supreme Court rulings, in which of the following situations is the death penalty permissible?

answer

When lethal injection is the method used to impose the death penalty

question

The idea that language shapes behavior and, therefore, should be regulated to control its social effects is known as:

answer

Political correctness

question

All of the following statements concerning incorporation of the Bill of Rights are true EXCEPT:

answer

The Supreme Court began the process of incorporation of the Bill of Rights in the late 1960s.

question

According to the textbook, we value individual rights because they lead to:

answer

Collective benefits

question

According to the textbook, free speech is valuable for all of the following reasons EXCEPT it:

answer

Is good for economic development

question

The right of an accused to be brought before a judge and informed of the charges and evidence against him or her is known as:

answer

Habeas corpus

question

Miranda v. Arizona held that:

answer

Police have to advise people of their constitutional rights prior to questioning.

question

The current status of the right to counsel in criminal trials is:

answer

In many places the right to counsel is complied with on a minimal basis.

question

Written defamation of character is known as:

answer

Libel

question

An interesting result of the obscenity debate has been:

answer

The alliance of conservatives and radical feminists in opposition to obscenity

question

The source of authority cited by the Supreme Court for applying the Bill of Rights to the states is:

answer

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution

question

The national government decides to prosecute a speaker who states at a political rally, The U.S. government's policy toward the Middle East is responsible for the violence in the region, and our leaders should be forced to change their policy. Although the government would most likely be unsuccessful, for what would the government prosecute the speaker?

answer

Sedition

question

The current status of the right to counsel in criminal trials is:

answer

In many places the right to counsel is complied with on a minimal basis.

question

The authors of the text conclude that the question of whether and how the states should regulate abortion:

answer

Is likely to remain a divisive issue in American politics for some time

question

Which of the following statements best describes the constitutional right to privacy?

answer

A right to privacy is not clearly spelled out in the Constitution, but many people argue the right is implied.

question

The difference between civil rights and civil liberties is:

answer

That civil rights involve government action to secure rights of citizenship, whereas civil liberties involve individual freedoms that limit the power of government

question

In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that:

answer

Segregated schools were inherently unequal, because the very fact of segregation made blacks feel unequal.

question

The rights given to African Americans in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments did not really help African Americans following the Civil War because:

answer

Congress, the president, and souther state governments made little effort to enforce them.

question

The Supreme Court of _______ declared that marriage was a civil right and that banning same-sex marriage violated the state's equal protection and due process clauses.

answer

Massachusetts

question

The civil rights movement of the 1950s-1960s was most successful in eliminating _______ but was far less successful in eliminating _______.

answer

De jure discrimination, de facto discrimination

question

Congressional policy toward Native Americans has historically varied between:

answer

Assimilating Native Americans into a European-based culture and encouraging independence and self-government

question

A suspect classification is one that:

answer

Treats people differently because of a classification such as a race; laws that include suspect classifications are subject to strict scrutiny

question

Which of the following is an example of a procedural policy?

answer

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

question

Attempts by the U.S. government to ensure that blacks enjoyed equal citizenship in fact as well as theory after the Civil War:

answer

Essentially ended by the time Reconstruction was completed and were not reinitiated until the Civil Rights era

question

The Lilly Ledbetter Act:

answer

Extended the time period available to a woman claiming gender discrimination in the workplace

question

Native Americans face a particularly difficult task in winning battles in American politics for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

answer

They do not have the right to vote.

question

_______ discrimination is discrimination in fact.

answer

De facto

question

Women are:

answer

The most underrepresented group in Congress and state legislatures

question

The legals methods used to deny African Americans the right to vote, such as literacy tests and poll taxes, were overcome by:

answer

Passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the Constitution

question

All of the following statements concerning discrimination on the basis of race or ethnic identity in the United States are true EXCEPT:

answer

Discrimination has driven most members of all discriminated-against groups to join the Democratic Party.

question

The lack of immigration from Asia during much of the first half of the twentieth century can be attributed most directly to:

answer

Legislation passed by Congress that restricted immigration from China and Japan

question

The candidacy and election of Barack Obama had all of the following effects EXCEPT:

answer

It clearly improved the candidacies of blacks in future elections.

question

All of the following statements concerning affirmative action are true EXCEPT:

answer

Statistics indicate that blacks are now even with whites on most economic measures.

question

Laws that treat men and women differently are subject to:

answer

An intermediate standard of review

question

In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled that, by law, discrimination against aliens is:

answer

Similar to racial and religious discrimination and requires application of the strict scrutiny test

question

Which of the following statements concerning the status of women in the early nineteenth century America is not true?

answer

They were not permitted to give up their American citizenship if they married a man who was not a citizen.

question

According to the text, the significance of having an African American and two women as major candidates for the presidency or vice presidency is:

answer

Important for the impact they will have on the expectations and attitudes of future generation.

question

All of the following statements concerning pay and price equity are true except:

answer

The wage gap is growing wider.

question

The American government has:

answer

Deprived Native Americans of their ancestral lands, thus destroying their culture, while providing them with very little aid in order to make them independent

question

In Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court ruled that:

answer

State sodomy laws were a violation of the right to privacy

question

The NAACP chose education as the issue over which to fight segregation because:

answer

Segregation education was particularly disastrous for blacks because it limited their potential.

question

All of the following statements concerning Hispanics are true EXCEPT:

answer

Issues surrounding their immigration to the United States are likely to fade in the near future.

question

The candidacy and election of Barack Obama had all of the following effects EXCEPT:

answer

It clearly improved the candidacies of blacks in future elections.

question

Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans both have:

answer

Population diversity

question

The Americans with Disabilities Act was controversial because:

answer

Many of the required changes in physical accommodations are extremely expensive to install.

question

Which of the following is not an important fact concerning Hispanic Americans?

answer

They are considered to be an insignificant voting bloc in elections.

question

An effect of casino gambling on reservations mentioned in the text is that:

answer

Native Americans have achieved new financial prosperity by parlaying their status as semisovereign nations into a foundation for economic security.

question

Social and economic statistics tend to show that:

answer

Inequality still pervades the American system.

question

What is politics?

answer

who gets what, when, and how; a process of determining how power and resources are distributed in a society without recourse to violence

question

What is power?

answer

the ability to get other people to do what you want

question

What is social order?

answer

the way we organize and live our collective lives

question

What is accepted as "right" or proper?

answer

legitimate

question

What is government?

answer

a system or organization for excreting authority over a body of people

question

What is the power that is recognized as legitimate?

answer

authority

question

What are rules?

answer

directives that specify how resources will be distributed or what procedures govern collective activity

question

What are organizations in which governmental power is exercised?

answer

institutions

question

What are economics?

answer

production and distribution of a society's material resources and services

question

What economic system has the market determine production, distribution, and price decisions, and where property is privately owned?

answer

capitalist economy

question

What economic system has the market make all the decisions, and the government plays no role?

answer

laisses-faire capitalism

question

What is regulated capitalism?

answer

a market system in which the government intervenes to protect rights and make procedural guarantees

question

What is procedural guarantees?

answer

government assurance that the rules will work smoothly and treat everyone fairly, with no promise of particular outcomes

question

What is a socialist economy?

answer

an economic system in which the state determines production, distribution, and price decisions, and property is government owned

question

What are substantive guarantees?

answer

government assurance of particular outcomes or results

question

What is social democracy?

answer

a hybrid system combining a capitalist economy and a government that supports equality

question

What is an authoritarian governments?

answer

systems in which the state holds all power over the social order

question

What is totalitarian?

answer

a system in which absolute power is exercised over every aspect of life

question

What is an authoritarian capitalism?

answer

a system in which the state allows people economic freedom but maintains stringent social regulations to limit noneconomic behavior

question

What is the absence of government and laws?

answer

anarchy

question

What is a democracy?

answer

government that vests power in the people

question

What is popular sovereignty?

answer

the concept that the citizens are the ultimate source of political power

question

What is elite democracy?

answer

a theory of democracy that limits the citizens' role to choosing among competing leaders

question

What is pluralist democracy?

answer

a theory of democracy that holds the citizen membership in groups is the key to political power

question

What is a participatory democracy?

answer

a theory of democracy that holds citizens should actively and directly control all aspects of their lives

question

What is advanced industrial democracy?

answer

a system in which a democratic government allows citizens a considerable amount of personal freedom and maintains a free market (though still usually regulated) economy

question

What is a communist democracy?

answer

a utopian system in which property is communally owned and all decisions are made democratically

question

What are subjects?

answer

individuals who are obliged to submit to a government authority against which they have no rights

question

What are citizens?

answer

members of a political community with both rights and responsibilites

question

What is the divine right of kings?

answer

the principle that earthly rulers receive their authority from God

question

What is a social contract?

answer

the notion that society is based on an agreement between government and the governed in which people agree to give up some rights in exchange for the protection of others

question

What is naturalization?

answer

the legal process of acquiring citizenship for someone who has not acquired it by birth

question

What is an asylum?

answer

protection or sanctuary, especially from political persecution

question

What are refugees?

answer

individuals who flee an area or a country because of persecution on the basis of race, nationality, religion, group membership, or political opinion

question

What is political culture?

answer

the broad pattern of ideas, beliefs, and values about citizens and government held by a population

question

What are values?

answer

central ideas, principles, or standards that most people agree are important

question

Directives that specify how resources will be distributed or what procedures govern collective activity are known as:

answer

regimes

question

Efforts to gain power, influence power, or bring new players into politics are examples of

answer

politics

Poly Sci 101

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