36. The following scatter diagram shows:
a. a tendency for homicide rates to decline as ethnic diversity increases.
b. a strong tendency for homicide rates to increase as ethnic diversity decreases.
c. that countries with identical degrees of ethnic diversity can have very different
homicide rates.
d. ten countries as outliers in homicide rates.
independent and dependent variables in a scatter diagram, and summarize the findings.
Topic: Safety
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
105
37. The following scatter diagram shows:
a. a tendency for the level of democracy to increase as ethnic diversity increases.
b. little association between the level of ethnic diversity and the level of democracy.
c. that only countries with low levels of ethnic diversity can achieve a high level of
democracy.
d. that ethnic diversity explains a great deal of the variation in democracy scores.
independent and dependent variables in a scatter diagram, and summarize the findings.
Topic: Political Culture, Identity, and the Good Society
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
38. In the Comparative Political Analysis box, the authors conclude that:
a. ethnic diversity is a root cause of civil wars.
b. state weakness is a root cause of civil wars.
c. religious diversity is a root cause of civil wars.
d. nationalist conflict within states is a root cause of civil wars.
approaches to explain how identity can lead to violent conflict.
Topic: Explaining Why Identity Leads to Violence
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
106
39. If you wanted to test the hypothesis that extreme poverty is a root cause of civil wars in
less-developed countries, you could operationally define your independent variable by
using:
a. conflicts within states with at least 1,000 deaths.
b. conflicts within states with a yearly average death toll of at least 100.
c. GDP.
d. the percentage of persons living in extreme poverty.
independent and dependent variables in a scatter diagram, and summarize the findings.
Topic: Political Culture, Identity, and the Good Society
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
40. Ninety-five percent of people in Egypt say that religion is very important in their lives.
This is an example of a country:
a. that emerged as a nation because of a shared religion.
b. on the brink of civil war.
c. with strong self-expression values.
d. with strong traditional values.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: Traditional Values
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Short Answer Questions
41. Define the concept of political culture, discuss two traps one can fall into when using it, and
explain how to avoid the traps.
Learning Objective: LO 4.2: Define political culture and state the basic assumption of those
using the concept to study politics.
Topic: Political Culture
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
42. Distinguish between the major assumptions of the civic culture and social capital approaches
to the study of political culture and discuss one strength and limitation of each.
Learning Objective: LO 4.3: Compare and contrast the civic culture and self-expression
approaches to political culture.
Topic: Two Approaches to Political Culture
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
107
43. Define ethnicity, explain why ethnic identity is not inherently political, and discuss three
reasons why ethnic politics has become more important in advanced democracies in recent
decades.
Learning Objective: LO 4.5: Describe three identities that can become the basis of identity
politics.
Topic: Politics of Identity
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
44. Distinguish between primordialist and constructivist explanations of identity-based violence
and discuss one advantage and limitation of each.
Learning Objective: LO 4.6: Apply primordial, instrumental, and constructivist approaches to
explain how identity can lead to violent conflict.
Topic: Explaining Why Identity Leads to Violence
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
45. Explain why societies like Egypt that hold traditional values are less likely to be democratic
than those like Sweden that hold secular values.
Learning Objective: LO 4.6: Apply primordial, instrumental, and constructivist approaches to
explain how identity can lead to violent conflict.
Topic: Contentious Identity Politics
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Essay Questions
46. Some skeptics argue that neither culture nor political culture really adds much to our
understanding of differences in institutions or political behavior among countries. Explain
how supporters of the civic culture and self-expression approaches would answer this
criticism, giving a specific example of institutional or behavioral differences their approach
helps explain.
Learning Objective: LO 4.4: Compare and contrast the civic culture and self-expression
approaches to political culture.
Topic: Social Capital
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
108
47. How would the self-expression approach explain why Sweden has a much more responsive
and effective democracy than Pakistan, and why the United States ranks high on self-
expression values but below China and Russia on secular values?
Learning Objective: LO 4.3: Compare and contrast the civic culture and self-expression
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Self-Expression Approach
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
48. Political scientist Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations argues that “religion is the most
important element defining a civilization” and that “it is human to hate. For self-definition
and motivation, people need enemies.” Which approach to political culture does this
represent, and how would supporters of the other two approaches evaluate Huntington’s
claims?
Learning Objective: LO 4.6: Apply primordial, instrumental, and constructivist approaches to
explain how identity can lead to violent conflict.
Topic: Explaining Why Identity Leads to Violence
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
49. Differentiate among the major assumptions of the civic culture, self-expression, and social
capital approaches to the study of political culture, and discuss one strength and limitation of
each approach.
Learning Objective: LO 4.3: Compare and contrast the civic culture and self-expression
approaches to political culture.
Topic: Political Culture, Identity, and the Good Society
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
50. In The Civic Culture, Almond and Verba suggest that democratic stability does not require
that all citizens be extremely well-informed and active in politics. Inglehart and Welzel
argue, in contrast, that high levels of self-expression values are essential for healthy
democracy. Evaluate which set of authors has a better case.
Learning Objective: LO 4.3: Compare and contrast the civic culture and self-expression
approaches to political culture.
Topic: Two Approaches to Political Culture
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
51. Discuss the three main concepts used by the social capital approach and explain how each
contributes to our understanding of different levels of capabilities among countries. Social
capital can be one of the three concepts.
Learning Objective: LO 4.4: Apply the concept of social capital to explain why some
democracies do a better job than others of promoting citizens’ capabilities.
Topic: Social Capital
109
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
52. Define the concepts of ethnic, religious, and national identity and use them to explain why
Muslim immigration into European democracies in recent decades has resulted in political
difficulties between the immigrants and many native-born Europeans.
Learning Objective: LO 4.5: Describe three identities that can become the basis of identity
politics.
Topic: Ethnicity
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
53. Explain why many political scientists believe that the social constructivist approach provides
a better explanation of ethnic and religious violence than the primordialist or instrumentalist
approaches.
Learning Objective: LO 4.6: Apply primordial, instrumental, and constructivist approaches to
explain how identity can lead to violent conflict.
Topic: Explaining Why Identity Leads to Violence
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
54. Explain why James Fearon and David Laitin reject the hypothesis that ethnic diversity is the
root cause of civil war, and outline their alternative explanation for civil war. If they are
correct, what would be one of the most effective ways of preventing civil wars?
Learning Objective: LO 4.6: Apply primordial, instrumental, and constructivist approaches to
explain how identity can lead to violent conflict.
Topic: Explaining Why Identity Leads to Violence
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
110
55. Explain how the degree of social trust in a country can either weaken or improve citizens’
capabilities, and set up a hypothesis to test the link between the level of social trust and one
of the four capabilities. Describe how you would operationally define the independent and
dependent variables, and explain why you would use a bar chart or a scatter diagram to
display your results.
Learning Objective: LO 4.7: Explain the advantages of using scatter diagrams, identify the
independent and dependent variables in a scatter diagram, and summarize the findings.
Topic: Political Culture, Identity, and the Good Society
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
111