27. In countries using single-member districts and plurality vote:
a. political parties can win a majority of seats in the legislature even though they do not
win a majority of citizens’ votes.
b. candidates for office must win elections by a majority.
c. there is a runoff election between the top two vote winners if no candidate wins a
majority of votes.
d. candidates must have a specified minimum percentage of votes to win.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concept
28. Advocates of proportional representation say it is not preferable to alternative electoral
systems because:
a. it tends to offer voters a clear choice between two candidates.
b. it tends to offer voters a broad range of candidates.
c. it leads to better representation of the range of opinions in a country.
d. it allows candidates from smaller parties to win office.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
29. Single-member districts in which winners are selected by plurality tend to produce:
a. multiparty systems.
b. fragmented party systems.
c. competitive party systems.
d. two-party systems.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
182
30. Countries and U.S. states that use double-ballot elections include:
a. Britain and New York.
b. Britain and California.
c. Germany and Iowa.
d. France and Georgia.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
31. In a country that has two large political parties and one smaller party, elections using
single-member districts and plurality vote could theoretically result in:
a. one party winning all the seats in the legislature with 45 percent of the vote.
b. a party not winning a single seat in the legislature with 45 percent of the vote.
c. the smaller party winning 23 percent of the vote and winning only 9 percent of the
seats.
d. one of the larger parties winning 29 percent of the votes and 40 percent of the seats.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
32. People who want a higher proportion of women legislators should favor:
a. two-party, plurality voting systems.
b. two party, double-ballot voting systems.
c. multiparty, proportional representation systems.
d. two-party, proportional representation systems.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
33. Party discipline is greatest with:
a. proportional representation.
b. plurality voting systems.
c. competitive party systems.
d. fragmented party systems.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
183
34. Why is economic growth not a good indicator of how well a nation performs?
a. Economic growth standards differ from one country to the next.
b. Economic growth varies too much.
c. Economic growth has a disproportional impact on all citizens.
d. Economic growth has a proportional impact on all citizens.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concept
35. Those who argue that authoritarian political systems in less-developed countries produce
faster economic growth than democracies say that authoritarian systems:
a. are more likely to invest in low-yield projects.
b. are less likely to invest for the long term.
c. are better at controlling ethnic conflicts that can disrupt economic growth.
d. create less stable investment climates for local investors.
outperform their authoritarian rivals.
Topic: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Economic Development
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
36. Those who argue that democracies produce faster economic growth than authoritarian
systems also argue that democracies do not have:
a. rule of law, which creates a predictable investment climate.
b. debate and access to information, which enables them to correct policy mistakes more
quickly.
c. the ability to make decisions faster.
d. that political freedom encourages economic innovation.
outperform their authoritarian rivals.
Topic: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Economic Development
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
184
37. The problem with using democratic India and authoritarian China as evidence that
authoritarian regimes have better economic performance than democratic ones is that:
a. evidence from just two countries is not sufficient to make broad generalizations about
all authoritarian and democratic regimes.
b. there are multiple differences between the two that might explain the different
economic outcomes.
c. there are several different kinds of authoritarian regimes and China represents only
one of the kinds.
d. if a comparison is made between two countries, they should be as identical as
possible except for differences on the independent and dependent variable.
e. All of the above.
outperform their authoritarian rivals.
Topic: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Economic Development
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
38. The evidence in the debate over whether authoritarian political systems have faster
growth than democracies suggests that:
a. democracies have a better record overall.
b. democracies have a better record in less-developed countries.
c. authoritarian systems have a better record overall.
d. neither has a clear advantage in promoting economic growth.
outperform their authoritarian rivals.
Topic: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Economic Development
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
39. Which test does not apply to the hypothesis that democracies have a better record of
enhancing physical well-being than authoritarian political systems?
a. use infant mortality as their dependent variable and degree of democracy as the
independent variable.
b. use infant mortality as their independent variable and degree of democracy as the
dependent variable.
c. operationally define degree of democracy using Polity IV data.
d. operationally define physical well-being using infant mortality rates.
states according to the standards of the good society.
Topic: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and the Good Society
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
185
40. Tests of the relationship between level of democracy and capabilities found that:
a. the most democratic countries scored better than the most authoritarian countries on
physical well-being, informed decision-making, and safety.
b. the most democratic countries scored better than the most authoritarian countries on
physical well-being, informed decision-making, but not safety.
c. there was a clear pattern of capabilities improving at each stage from most
authoritarian, to semiauthoritarian, to semidemocracy, to most democratic.
d. there was a clear pattern in which both categories of democracies performed better
than both categories of authoritarian systems on all three capabilities.
states according to the standards of the good society.
Topic: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and the Good Society
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Short Answer Questions
41. Describe when each wave of democracy began and which areas of the world were most
affected by each wave.
conditions that are conducive to its success.
Topic: Transitions to Democracy
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
42. Describe the four main differences between presidential and parliamentary democracy.
democracy and assess their relative advantages.
Topic: Presidential and Parliamentary Democracy
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
43. Explain the differences among plurality vote, double ballot, and proportional representation
electoral systems.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
44. Evaluate whether democracies are more successful at promoting economic development than
authoritarian political systems.
according to the standards of the good society.
Topic: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and the Good Society
Difficulty Level: Moderate
186
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Essay Questions
45. Explain why political scientist Samuel P. Huntington used the image of waves to explain the
spread of democracy, describe when each of the three waves began and when they ended, and
evaluate whether the third wave has come to an end.
conditions that are conducive to its success.
Topic: Transitions to Democracy
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
46. Explain the main domestic variables and international variables social scientists have used to
explain why some countries have succumbed to the appeal of democracy while others have
resisted.
conditions that are conducive to its success.
Topic: Transitions to Democracy
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
47. Explain why the prevailing wisdom that ethnic and religious diversity are major obstacles to
the creation of democratic political systems is possibly mistaken using a case study of
Mauritius and a study of many countries by M. Steven Fish and Robin Brooks.
conditions that are conducive to its success.
Topic: Transitions to Democracy
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
48. Evaluate which model of democracy, presidential or parliamentary, and which choice of
electoral system would be most likely to sustain stable democracy in a middle-income
developing country.
democracy and assess their relative advantages.
Topic: Presidential and Parliamentary Democracy
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
49. Explain why single-member districts coupled with plurality vote tend to produce two-party
systems while multimember districts coupled with proportional representation tend to
produce multiparty systems.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Moderate
187
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
50. Explain why people who define democracy in terms of majority rule tend to prefer single-
member districts and plurality voting while those who define democracy in terms of giving
all views in society representation in politics prefer multimember districts and proportional
representation.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
51. Explain which model of democracy and electoral rules a person who wanted more women in
a country’s legislature would choose, and why these choices are preferable to the alternatives.
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
52. Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the United States’ presidential model of democracy,
single-member districts, and plurality voting in comparison with European countries, which
use parliamentary democracy, multimember districts, and proportional representation. Is
there a way to make a case that one is clearly better than the other?
Topic: Electoral Rules and Party Systems
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
53. Explain why, if democracy is so beneficial, it did not do much better than authoritarian
political systems in enhancing physical well-being, informed decision-making, and safety in
our tests. Are there problems with the ways that these capabilities have been operationally
defined, and does democracy have value in and of itself irrespective of its effects on other
aspects of people’s lives?
according to the standards of the good society.
Topic: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and the Good Society
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
188
54. Belgium experienced the lack of a formal government for a very long time. Describe how
you would align Belgium’s experience with the capabilities approach. Would you classify
Belgium during this time as a democracy, monarchy, authoritarian government, or other type
of government? How was Belgium able to achieve the formation of a stable government after
having no formal government?
democracy.
Topic: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
55. Describe why countries that move from authoritarian-style governments to parliamentary-
style governments experience greater success than counties that move to presidential-style
governments.
according to the standards of the good society.
Topic: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and the Good Society
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
189