Cases in Comparative Politics
FOURTH EDITION
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Organizations that maintain a monopoly of violence over a
territory are called:
a. nations
b. regimes
c. governments
d. states
e. enforcement schemes
ANS: D REF: Page 3 TOP: 1 MSC: Factual DIF: Easy
2. The leadership or elite that administers the state is called a:
a. nation
b. regime
c. government
d. state
e. cohort
ANS: C REF: Page 4 TOP: 1 MSC: Factual DIF: Easy
3. When the authority of states is regarded as right and proper,
we say that the state has:
a. power
b. legitimacy
c. democracy
d. effectiveness
, e. stateness
ANS: B REF: Page 5 TOP: 1 MSC: Factual DIF: Moderate
4. South Sudan is an example of a(n):
a. old state
b. failed state
c. nuclear state
d. new state
e. illegitimate state
ANS: D REF: Page 6 TOP: 1 MSC: Applied DIF: Difficult
5. States that divide power between the central state and
regional or local authorities are called:
a. unitary
b. devolutionary
c. weak
d. federal
e. democratic
ANS: D REF: Page 8 TOP: 1 MSC: Factual DIF: Easy
6. Political scientists use which term to describe the rules of the
game governing the exercise of political power?
a. power structure
b. regime
c. constitution
d. government
e. federation
ANS: B REF: Page 9 TOP: 1 MSC: Factual DIF: Moderate
7. Regimes that limit the role of public decision making and
often deny citizens’ basic rights are called:
a. totalitarian
, b. democratic
c. authoritarian
d. liberal
e. socialist
ANS: C REF: Page 9 TOP: 2 MSC: Factual DIF: Moderate
8. The symbol of the people, their formal representative in the
international community, is called the:
a. head of state
b. head of government
c. ambassador
d. legislature
e. prime minister
ANS: A REF: Page 10 TOP: 3 MSC: Factual DIF: Moderate
9. Courts with the power to decide questions that do not arise
from legal cases, sometimes even before legislation has
been enacted, have the power of:
a. due process
b. judicial review
c. abstract review
d. constitutional veto
e. the head of state
ANS: C REF: Page 11 TOP: 3 MSC: Factual DIF: Moderate
10.When an executive head of government is elected from
within the legislature, we usually refer to the legislative-
executive system as:
a. presidential
b. authoritarian
c. vote of no confidence
, d. semi-presidential
e. parliamentary
ANS: E REF: Page 11 TOP: 3 MSC: Factual DIF: Moderate
11.As a rule of thumb, in most democratic regimes the most
representative and powerful political institution is usually:
a. the judiciary
b. the upper house of the legislature
c. the lower house of the legislature
d. the head of state
e. regional governments
ANS: C REF: Page 11 TOP: 3 MSC: Applied DIF: Moderate
12.Electoral systems in which voters cast their ballots for a list
of party candidates and the percentage of the votes a party
receives in a district determines how many of that district’s
seats it wins are called:
a. single-member districts
b. vote of no confidence
c. plurality systems
d. first past the post
e. proportional representation
ANS: E REF: Page 13 TOP: 3 MSC: Factual DIF: Moderate
13.Regimes, like contemporary Russia, that retain the basic
structures of democracy but do not protect civil liberties are
called:
a. totalitarian
b. liberal
c. illiberal
d. populist