20. Which of the following is a characteristic of a corporatist interest group system?
a. There are a large number of interest groups.
b. Nonmembers cannot easily be sanctioned.
c. Participation in a group is easily avoided.
d. Groups are organized hierarchically.
corporatist interest group systems.
Topic: Interest Groups
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
21. When it comes to promoting the capabilities of all citizens:
a. there is very little difference between pluralist and corporatist interest groups.
b. pluralist interest group systems tend to do a better job because their competition with
each other causes them to reach out to all parts of society.
c. corporatist interest group systems tend to do a better job because they appeal to and
unify broader interests.
d. corporatist interest group systems do worse because they are too large and inefficient.
corporatist interest group systems.
Topic: Interest Groups
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
22. Social movements differ from both interest groups and political parties in that social
movements:
a. are more formally organized and hierarchical.
b. are more ideological and contentious.
c. are uninterested in public policy.
d. are less demanding on their members.
Topic: Social Movements
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
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23. The main thing you would need to know to decide whether the Tea Party that emerged in
the United States in 2010 is a political party or a social movement is whether it:
a. campaigns to influence public policy.
b. nominates candidates for public office.
c. has local organizations.
d. mobilizes voters at election time.
Topic: Social Movements
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
24. Which is an example of a new social movement?
a. the Democratic Party
b. the industrial workers’ movement
c. the environmental movement
d. the farmers’ movement
Topic: Social Movements
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
25. Which is an example of an older social movement?
a. the gay rights movement
b. the women’s movement
c. the civil rights movement
d. the labor movement
Topic: Social Movements
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
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26. Which of the following is true of patron-client relationships?
a. Patron-client relationships are between people of equal social and economic status.
b. Patron-client relationships are more likely to occur in wealthy countries than poor
ones.
c. Patron-client relationships are based on the expectation that both groups will do
favors for one another.
d. Patron-client relationships benefit the clients far more than the patrons.
inequalities they perpetuate.
Topic: Patron-Client Relations
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
27. The practice in which political parties provide or withhold benefits to voters in exchange
for their support is known as:
a. pluralism.
b. corporatism.
c. clientelism.
d. reciprocity.
they perpetuate.
Topic: Patron-Client Relations
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
28. Patron-client relationships would be most likely in poor countries that:
a. have effective government programs to insure subsistence for all.
b. insure that most people are safe from violence and crime.
c. have disciplined, programmatic political parties that appeal to a broad coalition of
voters.
d. give targeted economic relief to poor people.
they perpetuate.
Topic: Patron-Client Relations
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
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29. In Making Democracy Work, Robert Putnam concludes that in Italy:
a. income per capita explains differences in performance among regional governments.
b. the level of civic trust and engagement explains differences in performance among
regional governments.
c. regional government performance causes differences in civic trust and engagement
among regions.
d. regional government performance causes differences in the number of voluntary
associations among regions.
they perpetuate.
Topic: Patron-Client Relations
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
30. Despite the election of a new government in March 2010, the Iraqi state faces an
uncertain future because:
a. the new government is not technically democratic.
b. very few Iraqis were allowed to vote in the election.
c. social conflicts may be more than electoral institutions can handle.
d. only the Sunni minority was allowed to vote in the elections.
participation, describe why they emerged, and analyze the emergence of different types of
party systems.
Topic: Political Parties
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Short Answer Questions
31. Early voting studies found that voters with high education and high income were more likely
to vote than those with little education and low incomes. More recent studies found that
institutions also have an effect on who turns out to vote. Give two examples of how
institutions can be designed to increase voting among lower-education and lower-income
voters and why they do so.
Learning Objective: LO 3.2: Describe the different forms political participation takes and
analyze why groups select different modes of political expression.
Topic: Political Participation
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
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32. Explain why winner-take-all electoral laws tend to produce two-party systems while
proportional-representation electoral laws tend to produce multiparty systems. Which type of
laws would supporters of a Green Party in Europe or the United States tend to prefer?
Learning Objective: LO 3.2: Describe the different forms political participation takes and
analyze why groups select different modes of political expression.
Topic: Political Participation
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
33. Explain how new social movements differ from their predecessors and whether Occupy Wall
Street should be considered a new social movement.
Learning Objective: LO 3.5: Illustrate the unique properties of social movements.
Topic: Social Movements
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
34. Define patron-client relations and explain why political parties based on patron-client
relations do little to improve clients’ capabilities.
Learning Objective: LO 3.6: Describe patron-client relations and analyze the inequalities
they perpetuate.
Topic: Patron-Client Relations
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Essay Questions
35. Explain what political opportunity structure means and use the concept to explain why Green
political parties are common and relatively successful in Europe but not in the United States,
while environmental interest groups are more common and relatively successful in the United
States but not in Europe.
Learning Objective LO 3.2: Describe the different forms political participation takes and
analyze why groups select different modes of political expression.
Topic: Political Participation
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
36. Early voting studies focused on income and education as the main determinants of voter
turnout. What did these studies discover? Why do subsequent studies argue that information
about voters’ income and education is insufficient to explain why some wealthy democracies
have higher voting turnout among voters with low education and income than the United
States?
Learning Objective LO 3.2: Describe the different forms political participation takes and
analyze why groups select different modes of political expression.
Topic: Political Participation
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
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37. Political scientist Peter Evans suggests that for less-privileged individuals, attaining their full
potential requires them to act collectively. Interest groups and political parties provide the
institutional means to do so. Explain which types of political parties (weak or strong) and
interest groups (pluralist or corporatist) are likely to be most effective in helping less-
privileged individuals develop their capabilities.
Learning Objective LO 3.4: Define interest groups and distinguish between pluralist and
corporatist interest group systems.
Topic: Interest Groups
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
38. The Founders of the American Republic viewed political parties with contempt and believed
they were a threat to liberty. Many people continue to be critical of political parties. List four
main criticisms of political parties and evaluate whether the Founders and contemporary
critics are correct in making such criticisms. Could modern democracies do without political
parties?
Learning Objective: LO 3.3: Distinguish political parties from other forms of political
participation, describe why they emerged, and analyze the emergence of different types of
party systems.
Topic: Political Parties
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
39. Explain what is meant by the free-rider problem, and use the concept to explain why it is not
easy to get individuals concerned about the environment to join organizations committed to
protecting the environment. Discuss two means such organizations can use to overcome the
free-rider problem.
Learning Objective: LO 3.4: Define interest groups and distinguish between pluralist and
corporatist interest group systems.
Topic: Interest Groups
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
40. Distinguish between pluralist and corporatist interest groups and explain four reasons why
corporatist interest groups tend to be more effective than pluralist interest groups at
promoting the capabilities of citizens who want to develop their capabilities.
Learning Objective: LO 3.4: Define interest groups and distinguish between pluralist and
corporatist interest group systems.
Topic: Interest Groups
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
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41. Explain three ways in which social movements differ from interest groups, how democracy
helps social movements develop, and distinguish between the two main types of claims made
by social movements, using a specific social movement as an example of each type of claim.
Learning Objective: LO 3.5: Illustrate the unique properties of social movements.
Topic: Social Movements
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
42. Describe what is meant by patron-client relations, explain why they are more common in
some countries than others, and explain why patronage-based political parties perpetuate
poverty.
Learning Objective: LO 3.6: Describe patron-client relations and analyze the inequalities
they perpetuate.
Topic: Patron-Client Relations
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
43. Describe how interest groups and social movements use technologies to achieve their goals
and how these new technologies affect the ability of the less fortunate to achieve their
capabilities.
Learning Objective: LO 3.5: Illustrate the unique properties of social movements.
Topic: Social Movements
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
44. Describe how the different forms of political participation—political parties, interest groups,
social movements, and patron-client relations—affect levels of civic engagement in a society.
Explain why some forms of political participation would be more likely than others to
contribute to good government as defined by the capabilities approach.
Learning Objective: LO 3.6: Describe patron-client relations and analyze the inequalities
they perpetuate.
Topic: Patron-Client Relations
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
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