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5. In general, stronger, more efficient states perform much better than weaker,
failing ones.
6. Countries with the weakest states were the deadliest, most violent of all.
G. Democracy
1. The quality of the state also seems to be correlated with the form of
government, the extent to which countries have democratic or authoritarian
political systems.
2. The strongest states were the most democratic.
VII. CONCLUSION
A. The state is the supreme sovereign authority within a country.
B. The government, which controls the political institutions of the state, sets
priorities and organizes society’s resources in support of them.
C. The modern state emerged in response to the insecurity of the international
system.
D. States come in a variety of shapes and forms, as laid out in their constitutions.
2. Federal, in which subnational levels of the state can raise their own revenue
and make their own policies
E. States also differ in how they arrange their essential building blocks, the
legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
1. Some have a strong legislature with strong committee systems, while in others
the legislature is weak and only rubber stamps what the core executive
submits to it.
2. Some have a core executive able to command the bureaucracy and military,
while in others the bureaucracy and military are able to thwart the will of the
core executive.
3. Some have an independent judiciary with the authority to overturn laws
approved by the legislative and executive branches. In others, the judiciary is
subordinate to the executive.
4. The manner in which power is divided within states is not neutral.
a. Some groups win and others lose depending upon the division of power.
b. The balance of power among the state’s different levels and branches is
constantly challenged.
c. Political actors try to shape how power is distributed within the state
because their success in influencing policy depends on it.
F. Finally, states differ in their effectiveness, their ability to actually govern.
a. Some states can process demands and implement policies, but others have
trouble making their rules stick.
b. Strong states are more conducive to developing citizens’ capabilities than
weak states. Infant mortality rates are lower, literacy rates are higher,
people are safer, and political systems are more democratic in strong
rather than weak states.
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REVEL Assets
2.3 Define the state.
Case Study: State Sovereignty and the “Responsibility to Protect”
Video: Barclays Bank urged to suspend decision to shut down Somali cash transfer accounts
2.5 Compare the different ways states are organized.
Activity: Comparing Federal and Unitary Systems
Activity: Comparing Legislatures
Video: Egyptian military coup
2.6 Evaluate the performance of strong and weak states according to the standards of the
good society.
Video: Shoppers snap up milk powder supplies in Hong Kong
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The introduction to Chapter 2 uses the example of scientific forestry to make the point
that:
a. state efforts to plan and administer forests and society are almost always destructive.
b. state efforts to plan and administer forests and society are usually productive.
c. state efforts to plan and administer forests and society lead to more bureaucracy and
higher inefficiency.
d. state efforts to plan and administer forests and society can both develop people’s
capabilities or impede them, just as they can manage forests in ways that destroy their
ecology or contribute to them.
Topic: States
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
2. Rules that compel people to behave in orderly and predictable ways:
a. prevent individuals from being free to live the lives they want to lead.
b. make social life together possible.
c. are found only in authoritarian countries such as China.
d. are not compatible with democratic politics.
and political forms it takes.
Topic: Institutions and Power
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
36
3. To say that institutions are the ground of both our freedoms and unfreedoms means that:
a. institutions are by necessity authoritarian.
b. democratic institutions guarantee freedom, while authoritarian institutions suppress
freedom.
c. some institutions, such as private property, help ensure freedoms, while others, such
as governments, threaten it.
d. to have freedoms, such as the freedom to express unpopular thoughts, there must be
restraints on how others respond to such thoughts.
and political forms it takes.
Topic: Institutions and Power
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
4. Which of the following is an example of an institution?
a. families
b. food
c. freedom
d. famous leaders who have served for years
and political forms it takes.
Topic: Institution
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
5. Power takes three forms:
a. cultural, social, and economic.
b. cultural, economic, and political.
c. cultural, executive, and judicial.
d. legislative, political, and economic.
and political forms it takes.
Topic: Power
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
37
6. The main difference between power and authority is that:
a. authority is a form of power that is accepted as right and proper.
b. power is a form of authority that is accepted as right and proper.
c. power enables someone to get others to do things they would not have done on their
own while authority does not.
d. power is used openly while authority is not.
and political forms it takes.
Topic: Authority
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
7. Which of the following is a good example of the use of economic power?
a. a student buying textbooks more cheaply from Amazon than the campus bookstore
b. a factory owner who replaces a broken machine with a less expensive model
c. a landlord repainting the walls of an apartment before renting it out again
d. a dog trainer using treats to teach a puppy how to sit
and political forms it takes.
Topic: Power
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
8. Which of the following is one of the four parts of the definition of a state?
a. judicialization
b. legitimacy
c. sovereignty
d. modernization
Topic: State
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
38
9. Which of the following is a state as the concept is defined in Chapter 2?
a. Ohio
b. Antarctica
c. London
d. Indonesia
Topic: State
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
10. A government is:
a. the group of leaders in charge of directing the state.
b. the group of leaders directed by the state.
c. another term for a state.
d. a larger organization than a state.
Topic: Government
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
11. The main hypothesis in the In-Depth section on Somalia is that:
a. the weaker the state, the more individual freedom people have.
b. weak states are unable to develop citizens’ capabilities effectively.
c. strong states are desirable.
d. capabilities have deteriorated in Somalis.
Topic: State
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
12. The In-Depth study of Somalia:
a. illustrates how states evolve from lawlessness.
b. hypothesizes that weak states will never become strong states.
c. suggests that anarchy is preferable to democracy in Somalia.
d. argues that Somalia lacks the criteria for being a state.
Topic: State
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
39
13. The only speck of land that is not claimed by some state is:
a. the north pole.
b. Tibet.
c. Antarctica.
d. the Aleutian Islands.
Topic: The Origins of States
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
14. The assertion that wars made states is most likely to be made by someone using:
a. a Marxist explanation of state origins.
b. a realist explanation of state origins.
c. a modernization explanation of state origins.
d. a functionalist explanation of state origins.
Topic: Origins of States
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
15. The assertion that states evolve in response to the need for the coordination of complex
societies would be made by:
a. someone who is a realist.
b. someone who is a modernization theorist.
c. someone who is a Marxist.
d. someone who is a functionalist.
Topic: Modernization Theory
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
16. Constitutions:
a. are “power maps” describing the internal distribution of power within a state.
b. accurately describe the internal distribution of power within states.
c. include all important political organizations in a country.
d. define clearly where the power of the state stops and citizens’ rights begin.
Topic: Constitutions
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
40
17. In unitary systems of government, power is:
a. distributed among local units of government evenly.
b. concentrated at the national level.
c. distributed among the population evenly.
d. concentrated at the local level.
Topic: Unitary Systems
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
18. Which country is an example of a federal government?
a. France
b. Germany
c. China
d. Japan
Topic: Federal Systems
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
19. Which of the following are examples of legislatures?
a. bureaucracies
b. departments
c. national assemblies
d. cabinets
Topic: Legislatures
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
20. A federal system of government would be LEAST likely to be chosen by leaders of:
a. a large country with a large population spread out over the land mass.
b. a small country with regionally based ethnic differences.
c. a small country with regionally based linguistic differences.
d. a small country with regionally based economic differences.
Topic: Federal Systems
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
41
21. Most countries choose unicameral legislatures, but some choose bicameral legislatures
because bicameral legislatures:
a. can better represent populations in large countries with many diverse interests.
b. are more efficient in making decisions.
c. fit better with unitary systems of government.
d. restrict the number of career politicians.
Topic: Bicameral Legislatures
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
22. One clear advantage of a unicameral legislature is that:
a. the executive is less likely to veto bills.
b. there is no second chamber to delay, veto, or amend bills passed by the first chamber.
c. they tend to be less partisan.
d. they create laws that are less likely to be overturned by judicial review.
Topic: Unicameral Legislature
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
23. Which of these issues is a legislature MOST likely to be able to influence?
a. health care
b. foreign policy
c. economic policy
d. international nuclear policy
Topic: Legislatures
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
24. The reason the United States Congress is one of the most powerful legislatures in the
world is because of:
a. the number of members it has.
b. its strong committee system.
c. its bicameral structure.
d. the media coverage it receives.
Topic: Legislatures
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
42
25. Based on what you have learned in Chapter 2, what kind of constitution would probably
work best for a big country that had areas of dense and sparse population and several
regionally based ethnic groups?
a. unitary state structure with unitary legislature
b. federal state structure with unitary legislature
c. unitary state structure with bicameral legislature
d. federal state structure with bicameral legislature
Topic: Political Institutions
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
26. The three distinct parts of the executive branch are:
a. the president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense.
b. the ruling government, the bureaucracy, and the military.
c. the president, the president’s personal advisers, and cabinet.
d. the president, cabinet, and senior civil servants.
Topic: The Executive
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
27. Which of the following is a reason executive power has increased relative to legislative
power in recent decades?
a. the increasing significance of foreign policy
b. executives having longer terms in office than legislators
c. redistribution of power to subnational levels of states
d. judicial systems have created laws to give the executive branch more power
Topic: Political Institutions
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
43
