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POS 2041 MIDTERM EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS 2025
Representative Democracy - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = is
a type of democracy founded on the principle of
elected officials representing a group of people, as
opposed to direct democracy.
Government - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = the institutions
and procedures through which a land and its people are
ruled
Instituions - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = the rules and
procedures that provide incentives for political behavior,
thereby shaping politics
*4 subjects of institutions:*
1) jurisdiction - what you have authority over/to do
2) agenda & veto power
3) decisiveness
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4) delegation
Autocracy - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = single individual is
ruler
-often a 'cult of personality'
EX: North Korea and Kim Jong II or Muhammar
Quadaffi in Libya before he was killed in the Arab
Spring
Oligarchy - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = Small groups run
government (military, landowners, merchants, etc.)
EX: some latin american governments
(a form of government in which a small group of
landowners, military officers, or wealthy merchants
controls most of the governing decisions.)
Totalitarianism - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = Difference
between authoritative, totalitarian seeks to control every
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aspect of their lives (i.e. what they see on tv, to what
they wear, symbol, etc.)
EX: Nazi Germany
(a system of rule in which the government recognizes no
formal limits on its power and seeks to absorb or
eliminate other social institutions that might challenge it)
Public goods - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = all those things in
which everyone is entitled too
-a good that, first, may be enjoyed by anyone if it is
provided and, second, may not be denied to anyone
once it has been provided
Free-riding - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = even if i do not
participate in means to achieve the public goods (i.e.
voting, etc.) I can still benefit from there
(enjoying the benefits of some good or action while
letting others bear the costs)
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Collective action - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = refers to
action taken together by a group of people whose goal
is to enhance their status and achieve a common
objective.
-It is enacted by a representative of the group.
(what politics is)
Collective Action issues - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ -the
problem of "free-riding" and public goods, and tragedy
of the commons
(describes the situation in which multiple individuals
would all benefit from a certain action, but has an
associated cost making it implausible that any individual
can or will undertake and solve it alone)
Overcoming issues of free-riding - ....ANSWER ....✔✔
*Selective benefits*: Certain benefits that groups give to
their members to keep them involved and also use to
persuade other people to join and contribute to the
cause.
POS 2041 MIDTERM EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS 2025
Representative Democracy - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = is
a type of democracy founded on the principle of
elected officials representing a group of people, as
opposed to direct democracy.
Government - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = the institutions
and procedures through which a land and its people are
ruled
Instituions - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = the rules and
procedures that provide incentives for political behavior,
thereby shaping politics
*4 subjects of institutions:*
1) jurisdiction - what you have authority over/to do
2) agenda & veto power
3) decisiveness
,2|Page
4) delegation
Autocracy - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = single individual is
ruler
-often a 'cult of personality'
EX: North Korea and Kim Jong II or Muhammar
Quadaffi in Libya before he was killed in the Arab
Spring
Oligarchy - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = Small groups run
government (military, landowners, merchants, etc.)
EX: some latin american governments
(a form of government in which a small group of
landowners, military officers, or wealthy merchants
controls most of the governing decisions.)
Totalitarianism - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = Difference
between authoritative, totalitarian seeks to control every
,3|Page
aspect of their lives (i.e. what they see on tv, to what
they wear, symbol, etc.)
EX: Nazi Germany
(a system of rule in which the government recognizes no
formal limits on its power and seeks to absorb or
eliminate other social institutions that might challenge it)
Public goods - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = all those things in
which everyone is entitled too
-a good that, first, may be enjoyed by anyone if it is
provided and, second, may not be denied to anyone
once it has been provided
Free-riding - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = even if i do not
participate in means to achieve the public goods (i.e.
voting, etc.) I can still benefit from there
(enjoying the benefits of some good or action while
letting others bear the costs)
, 4|Page
Collective action - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ = refers to
action taken together by a group of people whose goal
is to enhance their status and achieve a common
objective.
-It is enacted by a representative of the group.
(what politics is)
Collective Action issues - ....ANSWER ....✔✔ -the
problem of "free-riding" and public goods, and tragedy
of the commons
(describes the situation in which multiple individuals
would all benefit from a certain action, but has an
associated cost making it implausible that any individual
can or will undertake and solve it alone)
Overcoming issues of free-riding - ....ANSWER ....✔✔
*Selective benefits*: Certain benefits that groups give to
their members to keep them involved and also use to
persuade other people to join and contribute to the
cause.
