POLS 200 Exam 1 complete with
Questions and correct Answers
What is politics? - correct answer-✅"The study of politics is the study of influence and the influential"
(Lasswell 1936:13)
A collective activity-within and between groups
Social classes - correct answer-✅Class: "A major social group of similar function, status, and outlook"
(Lasswell 1936:13)
Aristocracy, Plutocracy, Middle class, manual labor
Politics and Power - correct answer-✅Who gets what, when, and how - power is unequal
The ability to get your way or keep issues off the table
Lukes (2005): 3 Dimensions of Power - correct answer-✅How to measure the power of a group and if its
1 group is more powerful than another
1st dimension- who's views prevail when actors have conflicting views
2nd dimension- power to keep issues off of the policy agenda
3rd dimension- who shares preferences
Authority - correct answer-✅"Power is the capacity to act, authority is the acknowledged right to do so"
(Hague and Harrop 2013:12)
1. Tradition
2. Charisma
3. Legal-rational
The state and use of force - correct answer-✅State: "An organization with a combative advantage in
violence, extending over a geographical area whose boundaries are determined by its power to tax its
constituents" (North 1981)
Both democratic and authoritarian states do
States can't enforce total compliance with the law
Why do people need the state? - correct answer-✅A way to make group decisions
A way to get people to go along with these decisions
To protect ourselves from each other
Different views of the state - correct answer-✅Contractarian
Predatory
political participation - correct answer-✅"Any of the ways in which people seek to influence the
compositions or politics of their government" (Hague and Harrop 2013:130)
Conventional
Unconventional
Regimented
, Why do people participate? - correct answer-✅Monitoring and Participation
Note: Not all people have the same resources for monitoring and sanctioning
A lack of resources will affect who monitors and whohas incentives to monitor
Imagine that the government adopts a new policy (or changes an existing policy) and you don't like it.
What can you do? - correct answer-✅Exit
Voice
Loyalty
How can we model how citizens and the state interact as a game? - correct answer-✅Because it is a
strategic situation
A rational player "does what she believes in and is in her best interest given what she knows at the time
of choosing" (Clark, Golder and Golder)
When will the state respond positively to the citizen? (Clark, Golder and Golder) - correct answer-✅1.
The citizen has a credible exit threat (E > O)
2. The state depends on the citizen (E.G. Taxes) (L > 1)
Both conditions are necessary:
E= Citizens exit payoff
1= Value of benefit taken from the citizen by the state
L= state's value from having a legal citizen does not exist
C= Cost of using voice
Do all Types of political actors have equal influence? - correct answer-✅Lots of influence if (1) exit
option is credible and (2) the state body needs the actor. Then the state will work to keep the actor
happy
Result: That actor won't have to use voice
Who participates in liberal democracies? - correct answer-✅Bias toward privileged social groups
Conventional participation - more common in middle age
Protest - more common for younger people
Is it rational for a poor person to vote? - correct answer-✅yes, in a clientelistic system
Typology of types of participants (Milbrath and Goel 1977) - correct answer-✅Gladiators
Spectators
Apathetics
What % of people vote? - correct answer-✅Turnout Varies a lot
low of 18% in Haiti, 28% in Egypt
High of 98% in Laos, 99.9% in Somalia
65% in United states
Social movements as political participation - correct answer-✅"Groups emerging from society to pursue
non-establishment goals through unorthodox means" (Hague and Harrop 2013:137)
Often with diffuse goals - cultural change more than a change in legislation
Participation and representation (verba et al. 1993) - correct answer-✅Government officials "Are more
likely to be aware of, and pay attention to, the needs and preferences of those who are active"
conclusion: implications for the democratic principle of equal protection of interests
Questions and correct Answers
What is politics? - correct answer-✅"The study of politics is the study of influence and the influential"
(Lasswell 1936:13)
A collective activity-within and between groups
Social classes - correct answer-✅Class: "A major social group of similar function, status, and outlook"
(Lasswell 1936:13)
Aristocracy, Plutocracy, Middle class, manual labor
Politics and Power - correct answer-✅Who gets what, when, and how - power is unequal
The ability to get your way or keep issues off the table
Lukes (2005): 3 Dimensions of Power - correct answer-✅How to measure the power of a group and if its
1 group is more powerful than another
1st dimension- who's views prevail when actors have conflicting views
2nd dimension- power to keep issues off of the policy agenda
3rd dimension- who shares preferences
Authority - correct answer-✅"Power is the capacity to act, authority is the acknowledged right to do so"
(Hague and Harrop 2013:12)
1. Tradition
2. Charisma
3. Legal-rational
The state and use of force - correct answer-✅State: "An organization with a combative advantage in
violence, extending over a geographical area whose boundaries are determined by its power to tax its
constituents" (North 1981)
Both democratic and authoritarian states do
States can't enforce total compliance with the law
Why do people need the state? - correct answer-✅A way to make group decisions
A way to get people to go along with these decisions
To protect ourselves from each other
Different views of the state - correct answer-✅Contractarian
Predatory
political participation - correct answer-✅"Any of the ways in which people seek to influence the
compositions or politics of their government" (Hague and Harrop 2013:130)
Conventional
Unconventional
Regimented
, Why do people participate? - correct answer-✅Monitoring and Participation
Note: Not all people have the same resources for monitoring and sanctioning
A lack of resources will affect who monitors and whohas incentives to monitor
Imagine that the government adopts a new policy (or changes an existing policy) and you don't like it.
What can you do? - correct answer-✅Exit
Voice
Loyalty
How can we model how citizens and the state interact as a game? - correct answer-✅Because it is a
strategic situation
A rational player "does what she believes in and is in her best interest given what she knows at the time
of choosing" (Clark, Golder and Golder)
When will the state respond positively to the citizen? (Clark, Golder and Golder) - correct answer-✅1.
The citizen has a credible exit threat (E > O)
2. The state depends on the citizen (E.G. Taxes) (L > 1)
Both conditions are necessary:
E= Citizens exit payoff
1= Value of benefit taken from the citizen by the state
L= state's value from having a legal citizen does not exist
C= Cost of using voice
Do all Types of political actors have equal influence? - correct answer-✅Lots of influence if (1) exit
option is credible and (2) the state body needs the actor. Then the state will work to keep the actor
happy
Result: That actor won't have to use voice
Who participates in liberal democracies? - correct answer-✅Bias toward privileged social groups
Conventional participation - more common in middle age
Protest - more common for younger people
Is it rational for a poor person to vote? - correct answer-✅yes, in a clientelistic system
Typology of types of participants (Milbrath and Goel 1977) - correct answer-✅Gladiators
Spectators
Apathetics
What % of people vote? - correct answer-✅Turnout Varies a lot
low of 18% in Haiti, 28% in Egypt
High of 98% in Laos, 99.9% in Somalia
65% in United states
Social movements as political participation - correct answer-✅"Groups emerging from society to pursue
non-establishment goals through unorthodox means" (Hague and Harrop 2013:137)
Often with diffuse goals - cultural change more than a change in legislation
Participation and representation (verba et al. 1993) - correct answer-✅Government officials "Are more
likely to be aware of, and pay attention to, the needs and preferences of those who are active"
conclusion: implications for the democratic principle of equal protection of interests
