Download Midterm exam PSCI 100

Exam 1: Introduction to Politics Science
NAME:
Important information:
 The exam is due on May 9, 10am EST
 Please upload the Word document containing your answers to the course website
in the Midterm exam folder (if you really struggle, you can also email it to me,
but do this only as a final resort)
 Make sure you put your name on this document and save it as “Lastname PSCI
100 Midterm; so mine would be Buzas PSCI 100 Midterm)
 It is your responsibility to ensure that you submit your answers on time. Please
take all necessary precautions to do so, otherwise you risk not getting credit for
the midterm.
 Read the questions carefully, follow the instructions closely, and make sure all
your answers are informed by the course material. Good luck!
I. Multiple choice questions (2 points each)-Please use BOLD to indicate the correct
answer.
1. Despite leaders’ frequent admonishments about “playing politics,” politics is ______.
a. an inevitable part of everyday life
b. a dishonest mess we should try to avoid
c. a harmless entertainment for most people
d. an elite game in which average citizens rarely participate
2. Which statement explains how their experience with the wilderness affected the
political views of early American settlers on the frontier?
a. Its rich natural resources led settlers to believe that people could thrive without help
from the government.
b. Its rich natural resources led settlers to focus on wealth accumulation and international
trade.
c. Its dangers encouraged settlers to depend mainly on the church for leadership.
d. Its dangers prompted settlers to advocate for a comprehensive welfare state for all.
3. Escaping politics is impossible as long as ______.
a. wealth and opportunities are unequally shared
b. war is used to solve international disagreements
c. there are nations that do not have democratic systems
d. people decide together the rules that they will live under
4. Political scientists use the "state of nature" to refer to a world where _____.
a. there was no scarcity of resources
b. wealth and power are shared equally by all
c. technology did not interfere with human happiness
d. decisions are not made through political institutions
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5. Which of the following is an example of a normative claim?
a. Marxism is not a popular ideology in the United States today.
b. Modern conservatives and modern liberals share the same historical roots.
c. Citizens of every country should be able to vote in free and fair elections.
d. Somalia is a failed state because its government does not provide even basic services.
6. Suppose a political scientist is studying a protest movement. If she focuses on the way
that the movement's leaders convey their views and how these views impact the way they
organize the movement, she is using a(n) _____ explanatory approach.
a. ideational
b. institutional
c. Marxist
d. rational-material
7. According to one of our news articles, Democrats objected to
a. An emergency infusion of $250 billion for small-business loans without more help for
hospitals, states and cities
b. Republicans’ desire to give hospitals, states, and cities more funds to fight the
pandemic
c. The vast investments Republicans wanted to make into finding a vaccine against the
coronavirus
d. B and C
8. Which of these is an example of an individual participating in civil society?
a. Serve on a jury
b. Enlist in the armed forces
c. Filing an income tax return
d. Leading a Boy Scout troop
9. A political ideology is a(n) _____.
a. belief about how politics should work
b. set of facts that inform what politicians do
c. unconscious understanding of how politicians make decisions
d. analysis of how the public thinks the political system functions
10. Karl Marx’s ideas about the nature and effect of property rights most closely
resemble those of which other philosopher?
a. Locke
b. Machiavelli
c. Rousseau
d. Smith
11. Match the Enlightenment thinker with the variation of rational-material thought most
closely associated with his ideas.
a.
Locke: liberal variation
Rousseau: Marxist variation
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Hobbes: realist variation
b.
Locke: Marxist variation
Rousseau: realist variation
Hobbes: liberal variation
c.
Locke: realist variation
Rousseau: liberal variation
Hobbes: Marxist variation
d.
Locke: liberal variation
Rousseau: realist variation
Hobbes: Marxist variation
12. According to Tocqueville, which American institutions support the maintenance of a
democratic system?
a. A weak federal government and a strong state religion
b. A powerful federal government and a generous welfare state
c. A decentralized federal government and a thriving civil society
d. A diverse federal government and a universal education system
13. Which of these factors has the biggest influence over the development of a person's
ideology?
a. Nationalism
b. Socialization
c. Opinion polls
d. The welfare state
14. A neoconservative would be most likely to agree with which of these statements?
a. Same-sex couples have as much right to marry as heterosexual couples.
b. The government should not be allowed to spy on American citizens.
c. People need material resources in order to be able to enjoy true liberty.
d. The United States has an obligation to spread democracy around the world.
15. Which of these is an example of a positive liberty?
a. Public education
b. Progressive taxation
c. Unregulated markets
d. Voting qualifications
16. Which of these is a problem that socialism sought to address?
a. The spread of secular legal systems
b. The decline of traditional family values
c. Conflict between workers and employers
d. An erosion of national identity and national pride
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17. Which of the following provides the framework for the modern understanding of
political authority?
a. Empires
b. Ethnicities
c. Parties
d. States
18. Max Weber's definition of a state implies that the state _____.
a. uses violence only as a last resort
b. and the nation are usually but not always the same thing
c. is organized in a way that allows its leaders to operate without significant restraint
d. may sometimes have to compete with other organizations for control over territory
19. Suppose a county government exercises certain types of independent authority. This
indicates that the nation has which type of system?
a. Federal
b. Unitary
d. Jus soli
c. Post-colonial
20. Charismatic legitimacy is a result of _____.
a. illiberal policies
b. individual appeal
c. political traditions
d. institutional effectiveness
21. The second wave of democracy took place soon after _____.
a. World War II
b. Napoleon's surrender
c. the 9/11 terrorist attacks
d. the fall of the Soviet Union
22. According to one of our news articles, the first foreign national that China is
prosecuting in relation to the Hong Kong protests is from
a. India
b. US
c. Brazil
d. Taiwan
23. According to a scholar cited in one of our news articles, when unemployment
becomes sufficiently serious that it is seen as a problem for the entire community, it
a. Decreases turnout
b. Increases turnout
c. Makes no difference for turnout
d. Increases turnout in rural areas, but decreases them in cities
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24. When Trump said “These people love our country,” according to one of our news
articles, he referred to
a. Those that protested the lockdown related to the pandemic
b. Those that spied on China
c. Those that criticized Trump for initially downplaying the severity of the coronavirus
d. Those that criticized Trump for recommending disinfectant to heal coronavirus
infections
25. Who was called Mussolini according to one of our news articles?
a. Paul TenHaken
b. Bill de Blasio
c. Jim Kenney
d. The governor of Washington
II. Short answer questions (5 points each) Please write one strong paragraph of no
more than 200 words. If you write more, I will stop reading when I reach the word
limit.
1. Compare and contrast the state of nature views of Hobbes and Locke. Be sure to
consider how their different views of the state of nature affected their ideas about the
social contract and the purpose of government.
2. Describe the similarities and differences between states and nations and explain how
these relate to the modern nation-state.
3. What is Downs’ paradox?
4. Explain lesson #2 from the Fog of War: Rationality alone will not save us.
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5. Describe the similarities and differences between the traditional conservative, modern
conservative, and neoconservative view on state sovereignty.
III. Essay question (25 points). The length of the essay is entirely at your discretion,
but I typically find that writing less than 500 words often indicates that students
have not addressed the relevant issues in sufficient detail.
Imagine two states, Artena and Zamal. Artena has had over 1 million coronavirus
infection and over 10,000 people died because of the virus. In Zamal, there have been
only 7,000 infections and about 18 people died because of the virus. How would rationalmaterial, institutional, and ideational approaches explain these differences? First describe
the main tenets of these theoretical approaches in detail, comparing and contrasting them
(spend on this about 50 percent of your essay). Make sure you use your own words,
rather than simply copying it from the textbook. Then apply each theory to these
imaginary cases to explain why Artena has suffered more from the coronavirus (spend on
this about 50 percent of the essay). Please make your arguments as precise as you can.
Make sure your essay is clearly organized, and backs up the theoretical arguments with
many specific examples (even if many of these examples are hypothetical, they should
still be specific). You can also use specific examples and facts drawn from the news
article, where it seems helpful, but this is optional.
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