INTRO TO POLITICAL SCIENCE EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Politics - answer- the process by which a community selects rulers and empowers
them to make decisions, takes action to attain common goals, and reconciles
conflicts within the community
Power - answer- the capacity to influence or control the behavior of persons and
institutions, whether by persuasion or coercion
Authority - answer- command of the obedience of society's members by a
government
Legitimacy - answer- the exercise of political power in a community in a way that is
voluntarily accepted by the members of that community
Legitimate Authority - answer- the legal and moral right of a government to rule over
a specific population and control a specific territory
Order - answer- in a political context, refers to an existing or desired arrangement of
institutions based on certain principles such as liberty, equality, prosperity, and
security
Society - answer- an aggregation of individuals who share a common identity
Social Contract - answer- a concept in political theory most often associated with
Hobbes, Rousseau, and Locke, the social contract is an implicit agreement among
individuals to form a civil society and accept certain moral and political obligations
essential to its preservation
Government - answer- the persons and institutions that make and enforce laws and
rules for the larger community
Republic - answer- a form of government in which sovereignty resides in the people
of that country, rather than with the rulers; vast majority of republics today are
democratic or representative republics, meaning that sovereign power is exercised
by elected representatives who are responsible to the citizenry
State - answer- in its sovereign form, an independent political-administrative unit that
successfully claims the allegiance of a given population, exercises a monopoly on
the legitimate use of coercive force, and controls the territory inhabited by its citizens
or subjects; in its other common form, a state is the major political-administrative
subdivision of a federal system
Sovereignty - answer- a government's capacity to assert supreme power
successfully in a political state
, Country - answer- as a political term, it refers loosely to a sovereign state and is
roughly equivalent to "nation" or "nation-state"
Nation - answer- often interchangeable with state or country; in common usage, this
term actually denotes a specific people with a distinct language and culture or a
major ethnic group
Nation-State - answer- a geographically defined community administered by a
government
Stateless Nation - answer- people (or nations) who are scattered over the territory of
several states or dispersed widely and who have no autonomous, independent, or
sovereign governing body of their own; examples include the Kurds, Palestinians,
and Tibetans
Justice - answer- fairness; the distribution of rewards and burdens in society in
accordance with what is deserved
Nation-Building - answer- the process of forming a common identity based on the
notion of belonging to a political community separate and distinct from all others;
often the concept of "nation" is based on common ethnolinguistic roots
Political Literacy - answer- the ability to think and speak intelligently about politics
Methodology - answer- the way scientists and scholars set about exploring,
explaining, proving, or disproving propositions in different academic disciplines; the
precise methods vary according to the discipline and the object, event, process, or
phenomenon under investigation
Positivism - answer- a philosophy of science that stresses observable, scientific facts
as the sole basis of proof and truth; a skeptical view of ideas or beliefs based on
religion or metaphysics
Behaviorism - answer- an approach to the study of politics that emphasizes fact-
based evaluations of action
Normativism - answer- an approach to the study of politics that emphasizes the key
role of intentional human behavior based on values, principles, and reason as
opposed to instincts, impulses, and deterministic forces- "ought" versus "is";
normative theory focuses on fundamental and enduring questions
Rational Choice - answer- the role of reason over emotion in human behavior;
political behavior, in this view, follows logical and even predictable patterns so long
as we understand the key role of self-interest
Political Realism - answer- the philosophy that power is the key variable in all
political relationships and should be used pragmatically and prudently to advance the
national interest; policies are judged good or bad on the basis of their effect on
national interests, not on their level of morality
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Politics - answer- the process by which a community selects rulers and empowers
them to make decisions, takes action to attain common goals, and reconciles
conflicts within the community
Power - answer- the capacity to influence or control the behavior of persons and
institutions, whether by persuasion or coercion
Authority - answer- command of the obedience of society's members by a
government
Legitimacy - answer- the exercise of political power in a community in a way that is
voluntarily accepted by the members of that community
Legitimate Authority - answer- the legal and moral right of a government to rule over
a specific population and control a specific territory
Order - answer- in a political context, refers to an existing or desired arrangement of
institutions based on certain principles such as liberty, equality, prosperity, and
security
Society - answer- an aggregation of individuals who share a common identity
Social Contract - answer- a concept in political theory most often associated with
Hobbes, Rousseau, and Locke, the social contract is an implicit agreement among
individuals to form a civil society and accept certain moral and political obligations
essential to its preservation
Government - answer- the persons and institutions that make and enforce laws and
rules for the larger community
Republic - answer- a form of government in which sovereignty resides in the people
of that country, rather than with the rulers; vast majority of republics today are
democratic or representative republics, meaning that sovereign power is exercised
by elected representatives who are responsible to the citizenry
State - answer- in its sovereign form, an independent political-administrative unit that
successfully claims the allegiance of a given population, exercises a monopoly on
the legitimate use of coercive force, and controls the territory inhabited by its citizens
or subjects; in its other common form, a state is the major political-administrative
subdivision of a federal system
Sovereignty - answer- a government's capacity to assert supreme power
successfully in a political state
, Country - answer- as a political term, it refers loosely to a sovereign state and is
roughly equivalent to "nation" or "nation-state"
Nation - answer- often interchangeable with state or country; in common usage, this
term actually denotes a specific people with a distinct language and culture or a
major ethnic group
Nation-State - answer- a geographically defined community administered by a
government
Stateless Nation - answer- people (or nations) who are scattered over the territory of
several states or dispersed widely and who have no autonomous, independent, or
sovereign governing body of their own; examples include the Kurds, Palestinians,
and Tibetans
Justice - answer- fairness; the distribution of rewards and burdens in society in
accordance with what is deserved
Nation-Building - answer- the process of forming a common identity based on the
notion of belonging to a political community separate and distinct from all others;
often the concept of "nation" is based on common ethnolinguistic roots
Political Literacy - answer- the ability to think and speak intelligently about politics
Methodology - answer- the way scientists and scholars set about exploring,
explaining, proving, or disproving propositions in different academic disciplines; the
precise methods vary according to the discipline and the object, event, process, or
phenomenon under investigation
Positivism - answer- a philosophy of science that stresses observable, scientific facts
as the sole basis of proof and truth; a skeptical view of ideas or beliefs based on
religion or metaphysics
Behaviorism - answer- an approach to the study of politics that emphasizes fact-
based evaluations of action
Normativism - answer- an approach to the study of politics that emphasizes the key
role of intentional human behavior based on values, principles, and reason as
opposed to instincts, impulses, and deterministic forces- "ought" versus "is";
normative theory focuses on fundamental and enduring questions
Rational Choice - answer- the role of reason over emotion in human behavior;
political behavior, in this view, follows logical and even predictable patterns so long
as we understand the key role of self-interest
Political Realism - answer- the philosophy that power is the key variable in all
political relationships and should be used pragmatically and prudently to advance the
national interest; policies are judged good or bad on the basis of their effect on
national interests, not on their level of morality
