Political Regimes (Democracy, Autocracy, Measurement)
According to Dahl's theory of democracy, which two dimensions determine regime type?
A) Elections and voting rights
B) Contestation and inclusion
C) Freedom and equality
D) Legislature and executive
B) Contestation and inclusion
Which electoral system uses single-member districts where the candidate with the most votes wins, even without a majority?
A) First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)
B) Two-Round System
C) Proportional Representation
D) Ranked Choice Voting
A) First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)
In game theory, a Nash equilibrium occurs when:
A) All players cooperate to achieve the best collective outcome
B) No player can improve their payoff by unilaterally changing their strategy
C) Players move sequentially and anticipate each other's moves
D) The game reaches a solution that maximizes total social welfare
B) No player can improve their payoff by unilaterally changing their strategy
In a scatter plot showing the relationship between two variables, a negative correlation is indicated by:
A) Points forming a random cloud
B) Points sloping upward from left to right
C) Points sloping downward from left to right
D) Points forming a perfect circle
C) Points sloping downward from left to right
According to Mudde's definition, populism is a thin ideology that divides society into:
A) The rich and the poor
B) The pure people and the corrupt elite
C) The left and the right
D) The urban and the rural
B) The pure people and the corrupt elite
Which of the following is NOT one of the four conditions required for a regime to be classified as democratic by the Democracy-Dictatorship (DD) Index?
A) Chief executive is elected
B) Legislature is elected
C) Universal suffrage for all citizens
D) Peaceful alternation of power
C) Universal suffrage for all citizens (This is not one of the four DD conditions)
In a parliamentary system, how can the government be removed from power?
A) Only through impeachment by the judiciary
B) By losing a confidence vote in the legislature
C) Only at the end of its fixed term
D) By a direct vote of the people
B) By losing a confidence vote in the legislature
According to the Iron Law of Oligarchy, proposed by Robert Michels:
A) All organizations eventually become dominated by a small elite
B) Political parties are essential for democracy
C) Voters are always rational in their choices
D) Interest groups have more influence than voters
A) All organizations eventually become dominated by a small elite
What does R² (coefficient of determination) measure in regression analysis?
A) Whether the relationship is statistically significant
B) The proportion of variation in the dependent variable explained by the independent variable(s)C) The strength of the causal relationship between X and Y
D) The standard error of the coefficient estimate
B) The proportion of variation in the dependent variable explained by the independent variable(s)
Which of the following best describes affective polarization?
A) Differences in policy preferences between left and right
B) Emotional hostility toward members of the opposing political party
C) The tendency for parties to move toward the ideological center
D) Differences in voting behavior between urban and rural areas
B) Emotional hostility toward members of the opposing political party
(True or False)
According to selectorate theory, dictatorships have large winning coalitions that require the provision of public goods to maintain power.
FALSE — Dictatorships have small winning coalitions and provide private benefits; democracies have large coalitions and provide public goods.
(True or False)
In a federal system, regional governments derive their authority from the central government, which can revoke it at any time.
FALSE — In a federal system, regions/states have constitutional authority that cannot be taken away by the central government. This describes devolution.
What are the three major influences on voter behavior according to political science research?
Emotions (affective polarization), Identity (class, religion, ethnicity, region), Rational Choice (policy proposals, past performance, competence)
(True or False)
A p-value of 0.003 means there is a 99.7% probability that the relationship observed in the data is true.
FALSE — A p-value is the probability of observing the result (or more extreme) if the null hypothesis is true. It does NOT give the probability that the relationship is true.
What are the two main theories linking democracy and development? What is the causal direction of each?
· Modernisation Theory: Development → Democracy (as economies grow, they democratize)
· Institutional Theory: Democracy → Development (institutions constrain leaders, reassure investors, promote growth)
Explain the difference between the substantive and procedural approaches to classifying political regimes. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Substantive (Outcome-based): Focuses on results like equality, welfare, social justice
Problems: Normative bias, hard to measure, circular reasoning
Procedural (Institution-based): Focuses on rules and institutions like elections, voting rights, parties, civil liberties
Advantages: More objective, allows empirical study
What are the political effects of majoritarian electoral systems compared to proportional representation systems?
Majoritarian: Fewer parties (often two-party), clear accountability, strong governments, underrepresentation of small parties
Proportional representation: More parties, coalition governments, better minority representation, more proportional outcomes, potentially less stable governments
Explain the difference between the delegate model and the trustee model of political representation.
Delegate Model: Politicians follow voters' preferences directly
Trustee Model: Politicians use their own judgment to make decisions on behalf of constituents
What are the three comparative methods developed by John Stuart Mill? Briefly describe each.
Method of Agreement: Compare cases with same outcome; common factors are likely causes (necessary conditions)
Method of Difference: Compare similar cases with different outcomes; differing factors are likely causes (sufficient conditions)
Method of Concomitant Variation: Variables move together suggests causal relationship
Explain the feedback loop between polarization and populism. How does each contribute to the other?
Polarization → Populism: Grievances + distrust + gridlock create demand for populists who claim "the system is broken"
Populism → Polarization: Moral division + hostile rhetoric intensify divisions; supporters dislike others more; opponents strongly reject populists
Result: Self-reinforcing cycle that can lead to democratic instability
According to selectorate theory, what are the three groups in any political system, and how does the size of the winning coalition affect policy outcomes?
Population: Everyone in the country
Selectorate: People who choose the leader
Winning Coalition: People whose support keeps the leader in power
Policy implication: Small coalition → private benefits (dictatorship); Large coalition → public goods (democracy)
Explain the difference between a dependent (compensatory) mixed electoral system and an independent (parallel) mixed system. Which country uses each?
Dependent (Compensatory): PR seats correct distortions from majoritarian seats; total seats may change; used in Germany
Independent (Parallel): Majoritarian and proportional results do NOT affect each other; simply combines both systems; used in Turkey (1987-1994)
In the sequential game between citizens and state (Constraining the Leviathan), walk through the backward induction logic and explain why citizens end up choosing loyalty when outside options are weak.
Step 1 (final choice): Citizens compare Loyalty vs Exit; if Exit is bad → choose Loyalty
Step 2 (State decision): State prefers Loyalty over Exit of citizens; if ignoring leads to Loyalty, State prefers Ignore
Step 3 (initial decision): Citizens anticipate Voice → ignored → still Loyalty; Voice is costly and useless
Result: Citizens choose Loyalty immediately; State extracts rents successfully
In process tracing, what are the four types of tests? Explain what each test tells us about a theory.
Straw in the Wind: Weak evidence; suggests hypothesis is plausible but does NOT confirm
Hoop Test: Necessary condition; if failed → reject theory; if passed → theory still possible
Smoking Gun: Strong evidence; if present → supports theory strongly
Doubly Decisive: Confirms one theory AND rejects others; very rare
What are the three hypotheses explaining elite dominance in legislatures? Which hypothesis is supported by evidence of political dynasties in the Philippines, Germany, and the US?
Selection Hypothesis: Voters prefer economically successful candidates → NOT supported (experiments show voters slightly prefer working-class candidates)
Self-Selection Hypothesis: Working-class citizens lack political ambition → plausible but mixed evidence
Elite Self-Perpetuation Hypothesis: Existing elites recruit and support candidates who resemble themselves → SUPPORTED by evidence of political dynasties