Test Bank for American Democracy Now, Essentials, 7th Edition, Brigid

Harrison, Jean Harris Michelle Deardorff

Full chapter at: https://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-
american-democracy-now-essentials-7th-edition-brigid-harrison-jean-
harris-michelle-deardorff/
Student name:__________
MULTIPLE CHOICE - Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or
answers the question.
1) Electoral politics in the United States was much the same in 1990 as it had been in 1890.
The advent of which technologies transformed electoral politics?

A) computers, rapid air transit, and satellite television

B) cellular tech, satellite television, and the Internet
C) personal computers, cellular tech, and the Internet
D) cellular tech, PDAs, and satellite radio
E) rapid air transit, personal computers, and PDAs

2) Which decade saw a marked decline in American attitudes toward government?

A) 1950s
B) 1960s
C) 1970s
D) 1980s
E) 1990s

3) Efficacy is citizens' belief that

Version 1 1
 A) they have the power to achieve something desirable, and that the government will
listen to them.
B) government should be run efficiently and effectively by a small group of bureaucrats.
C) government exists for the maintenance of individual and general welfare.
D) government policies should be based on the protection of individual rights and
freedoms.
E) government can and should work to benefit all sectors of society.

4) Despite lingering media characterizations of a cynical, nonparticipatory youth electorate,

evidence indicates that many young voters are participating in which manner of civic
engagement?

A) Internet activism
B) volunteerism
C) community action
D) consumer participation
E) All of these answers are correct.

5) In which presidential election was voter turnout by 18- to 29-year-olds the highest?

A) 2016
B) 2004
C) 2008
D) 2012
E) Voter turnout for 18- to 24-year-olds was essentially the same in all four elections.

6) Which age group had the highest turnout rate in recent presidential elections?

Version 1 2
 A) 18-29
B) 30-44
C) 45-59
D) 60+
E) Voter turnout for the various age groups was essentially the same in recent elections.

7) Which of the following are actions practiced by individuals who engage in civic life and
public experience?

A) active communication with policymakers and others

B) advocating for one's own and others' self-interest
C) holding public officials accountable for their actions and decisions
D) accumulation of knowledge about public issues
E) All of these answers are correct.

8) Political engagement can be defined as

A) citizen actions intended to solve public problems through political means.

B) citizen actions intended to address ideological differences through public interaction.
C) individual and collective actions designed to identify issues of public concern.
D) individual and collective efforts to describe political actions and outcomes.
E) citizen actions intended to generate public awareness of the country's problems.

9) Buycotting is

Version 1 3
 A) buying items produced by companies whose practices you agree with.
B) refusing to buy items produced by companies whose policies you disagree with.
C) buying items from companies who contribute donations to political parties you
support.
D) buying items from companies whose products you like.
E) All of these answers are correct.

10) Which of the following terms matches this description? "A quality conferred on
government by citizens who believe that its exercise of power is right and proper."

A) authenticity
B) legitimacy
C) veracity
D) populism
E) right of exercise

11) What is the foundation of the legal structure of the United States?

A) the Supreme Court

B) the federal Constitution
C) state constitutions
D) local constitutions
E) the federal court system

12) Which of the following is NOT a function of most governments?

Version 1 4
 A) to protect their sovereign territory
B) to preserve order and stability
C) to establish a legal system
D) to arrest all opponents
E) None of these answers is correct, as all are functions of the government.

13) A(n) ________ is when a member of a royal family has absolute authority over a territory
and its government.

A) plutocracy
B) oligarchy
C) royalocracy
D) democracy
E) monarchy

14) All of the following would be considered public goods in the United States EXCEPT

A) health insurance.
B) roads and highways.
C) bridges.
D) clean air and water.
E) access to air transportation.

15) Which of the following is true of the role and ideology of progressivism in the United
States today?

Version 1 5
 A) Progressives have lost some sway recently in the Democratic Party.
B) Progressives tend to emphasis political equality but not economic equality.
C) The Green New Deal and Medicare for All are popular initiatives among progressives.
D) Progressivism is roughly equivalent to socialism on the political spectrum.
E) Progressives in 2020 tended to support Joe Biden in the Democratic primary.

16) Which of the following is NOT a commodity tax?

A) sales tax
B) property tax
C) income tax
D) sin tax
E) luxury tax

17) How many factors influence the way social scientists classify modern world
governments?

A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five
E) six

18) Which of these types of government sees power held in the hands of an elite few?

Version 1 6
 A) monarchy
B) oligarchy
C) democracy
D) autocracy
E) tyranny

19) Which of these types of government places the supreme power of governance in the
hands of citizens?

A) tyranny
B) oligarchy
C) democracy
D) monarchy
E) autocracy

20) Which of these types of governmental structure essentially controls every aspect of
citizens' lives?

A) totalitarian
B) authoritarian
C) constitutional
D) libertarian
E) anarchic

21) Which of these countries is considered an authoritarian state system?

Version 1 7
 A) the United States
B) North Korea
C) Canada
D) Japan
E) China

22) Which of these countries is considered a totalitarian state system?

A) the United States

B) North Korea
C) Canada
D) Japan
E) China

23) Which of the following best describes the form of government of the United States?

A) oligarchy
B) authoritarian democracy
C) constitutional democracy
D) constitutional monarchy
E) directed democracy

24) Which of these types of governmental structure is limited, or restricted in its actions, so
that citizens' rights are protected?

Version 1 8
 A) totalitarian
B) authoritarian
C) constitutional
D) libertarian
E) anarchic

25) What does the Greek term demokratia translate to mean?

A) democracy
B) people power
C) people's will
D) liberty
E) freedom

26) Who was the chief advocate of the divine right of kings, or the idea that monarchs and
emperors ruled according to God's will?

A) Jean-Jacques Rousseau
B) Baron de Montesquieu
C) Jacques-Benigne Bossuet
D) John Locke
E) Thomas Hobbes

27) A social contract can be defined as an agreement between people and their leaders in
which

Version 1 9
 A) the leaders agree to surrender some powers in exchange for popular support.
B) the people agree to give up some liberties in exchange for the protection of their other
liberties.
C) the people agree to give up most of their liberties in exchange for security and
protection.
D) the leaders agree to surrender most of their powers to popular political structures.
E) the people agree to surrender all their liberties in exchange for security and protection.

28) Why did Martin Luther's actions spark the Reformation?

A) He called for a social contract between religious leaders and the faithful.
B) He campaigned to be pope but was rejected.
C) He denounced the concept of the divine right of kings.
D) He openly criticized harmful practices of the Catholic Church.
E) He wanted the powers of Catholic priests to be increased.

29) Who of the following constructed the concept of natural law, which asserts that standards
that govern human behavior are derived from human nature and can be universally applied?

A) Sir Isaac Newton

B) Baron de Montesquieu
C) Jacques-Benigne Bossuet
D) John Locke
E) Thomas Hobbes

30) According to ________, without the rule of a strong monarch, people would lead lives
that were "…solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short."

Version 1 10
 A) Jean-Jacques Rousseau
B) Martin Luther
C) Isaac Newton
D) Thomas Jefferson
E) Thomas Hobbes

31) Who wrote Two Treatises on Civil Government in 1689, arguing against divine right
monarchy and proposing the existence of unalienable individual rights?

A) Sir Isaac Newton

B) Baron de Montesquieu
C) Jacques-Benigne Bossuet
D) John Locke
E) Thomas Hobbes

32) According to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, government that is created by the people is

dependent on the authority of the people to rule, which is otherwise known as

A) legitimacy.
B) the divine right.
C) natural law.
D) social contract theory.
E) popular sovereignty.

33) What structure of government, in which citizens decide policy through majority rule, was
formed by the colonists in New England who fled religious persecution in England?

Version 1 11
 A) indirect democracy
B) representative democracy
C) direct democracy
D) oligarchy
E) constitutional democracy

34) What is another name for indirect democracy, where citizens elect representatives who
decide policies on their behalf?

A) representative democracy
B) guided democracy
C) limited democracy
D) directed democracy
E) constitutional democracy

35) Political culture can be defined as the

A) different political parties and ideologies that are formed within societies.
B) groups and industries within our society that concern themselves with political issues.
C) individual beliefs and opinions of citizens within large communities and societies.
D) people's collective beliefs and attitudes about government and the political process.
E) people's collective support or dislike of different political parties and governmental
institutions.

36) Which of the following values is the most essential quality of American democracy?

Version 1 12
 A) equality
B) collectivism
C) liberty
D) security
E) self-government

37) The debate about whether government agencies should be permitted to collect private
communication data is most closely related to the American value of

A) equality.
B) capitalism.
C) consent of the governed.
D) liberty.
E) emphasis on individual, family, and community.

38) Which centuries saw the evolution of the modern concept of equality?

A) sixteenth and seventeenth

B) seventeenth and eighteenth
C) eighteenth and nineteenth
D) nineteenth and twentieth
E) twentieth and twenty-first

39) In the early years of the American republic, the right to vote was

Version 1 13
 A) available to white men only.
B) available to white men and women only.
C) available to white and black men only.
D) available to women and men of all races, but not immigrants.
E) available to women and men of all races, including immigrants.

40) Debates about whether the government should tax the wealthy more than other classes
embody the concept of

A) political ideology.
B) legal equality.
C) liberty.
D) economic equality.
E) political culture.

41) Property is defined as

A) land.
B) material possessions.
C) liquid or transferable capital assets.
D) property, firms, or businesses.
E) anything that can be owned.

42) In a democracy, the idea of the consent of the governed argues that government power

Version 1 14
 A) derives from the people's consent.
B) derives from its inherent right to promote law and order.
C) is justified and necessary.
D) derives from its security apparatus, particularly the army and the police force.
E) is acceptable as long as individual rights are recognized.

43) Which of the following statements about majority rule is NOT true?

A) Only policies with a vote of 50 percent plus one are enacted.

B) It is often paired with the concept of the protection of minority rights.
C) Political candidates in all democracies must win a majority of votes.
D) Governments based on this rule believe in the right of self-governance.
E) It is implicit within the concept of consent of the governed.

44) Which of the liberties protected by the Constitution illustrates the intimate relationship
between individual and community life favored by the Constitution's framers?

A) freedom of speech
B) protection from search and seizure
C) freedom of assembly
D) freedom of religion
E) right to bear arms

45) Political ideology provides a framework for which of the following?

Version 1 15
 A) thinking about politics
B) thinking about policy issues
C) considering the role of government in society
D) thinking about political structures
E) thinking about politics, thinking about policy issues, and considering the role of
government in society

46) Which of the following was NOT one of the key tenets of classical liberalism?

A) unfettered market economy

B) freedom of thought
C) strong governmental authority
D) rule of law
E) consent of the governed

47) Modern liberalism advocates which of the following principles?

A) separation of church and state

B) minimal government authority
C) unfettered market economy
D) government ownership of the means of production
E) maintenance of the status quo

48) Which ideology places the greatest emphasis on traditional values?

Version 1 16
 A) liberalism
B) conservatism
C) socialism
D) libertarianism
E) populism

49) Conservatism advocates which of the following principles?

A) separation of church and state

B) no prayer in public schools
C) the importance of civil liberties
D) limited role of government in public well-being
E) government-provided safety net

50) Which ideology places the greatest emphasis on economic equality?

A) liberalism
B) conservatism
C) socialism
D) libertarianism
E) populism

51) Which ideology, in its pure theoretical form, places the greatest emphasis on government
control of the economy?

Version 1 17
 A) liberalism
B) conservatism
C) socialism
D) libertarianism
E) populism

52) Libertarianism advocates which of the following principles?

A) government-provided safety net

B) socialist economy
C) "hands-on" government approach
D) strong support for the rights of property owners
E) All of these answers are correct.

53) Which ideology places the greatest emphasis onlaissez-faire capitalism?

A) liberalism
B) conservatism
C) socialism
D) libertarianism
E) populism

54) Which of the following is true of the role of socialism in the United States today?

Version 1 18
 A) It still plays a very minor role in American politics today.
B) Bernie Sanders, though sympathetic to socialism, refused to use the word to describe
himself during his 2020 campaign.
C) Even true socialists advocate against government ownership of the means of
production.
D) Socialists in the United States have had the most electoral success in the early 21st
century.
E) No socialist has ever been elected to a prominent office in the United States.

55) Which of the following changes has occurred in U.S. families over recent decades?

A) Since 2000, the proportion of people living in nonfamily households has doubled.
B) The proportion of male householders without spouses has decreased slightly in the
past two decades.
C) About 5 percent of married-couple families currently have a stay-at-home father, a
dramatic increase over 20th century numbers.
D) Single female-headed households increased heavily from 1970 to 2000 but have held
steady in the past 20 years.
E) The traditional nuclear family reached its highest proportion of American families in
2010.

56) The key difference among modern liberals, conservatives, and libertarians is their view of

A) political culture.
B) representative democracy.
C) the capitalist economy.
D) fundamental human rights.
E) the role of government.

Version 1 19
57) What type of ideological scale have social scientists developed to attempt to accurately
represent people's ideologies?

A) one-dimensional
B) two-dimensional
C) multidimensional
D) linear spectrum
E) circular chart

58) By 2020, the population of the United States reached about

A) 134 million.
B) 230 million.
C) 281 million.
D) 332 million.
E) 353 million.

59) Projections of the U.S. population indicate that, by 2050,

A) the proportion of older Americans will have increased.

B) the proportion of older Americans will be about the same.
C) the proportion of middle-aged Americans will have increased.
D) total population numbers will be lower than they are now.
E) total population numbers will have leveled off.

60) Which regions of the United States are seeing increased elderly populations, as younger
people leave these regions and seek opportunities elsewhere?

Version 1 20
 A) West and Northeast
B) South and Southwest
C) Midwest and Plains
D) Southwest and Northeast
E) Southeast and Northeast

61) Between 1990 and 2000,

A) both the Hispanic and white percentages of the population increased.

B) both the Hispanic and black percentages of the population decreased.
C) the Hispanic percentage of the population increased, while the white percentage of the
population decreased.
D) the black percentage of the population decreased, while the Asian percentage of the
population increased.
E) whites dropped below 50 percent of the total population.

62) Older Americans live in greater numbers in which state?

A) Texas
B) Florida
C) Arizona
D) California
E) Alaska

63) Which of the following are effects of changes in the U.S. population's ethnic makeup?

Version 1 21
 A) changes in national political culture
B) changes in people's political attitudes
C) changes in terms of who governs
D) changes in political campaigns and outreach
E) All of these answers are correct.

64) Which of the following is true of the current political context in the United States?

A) Russian interference in U.S. elections and Russian power projection have increased
uncertainty and instability in the global context, and thus in U.S. political context.
B) The Trump administration has proved unpredictable, but it has not changed the
fundamental image or context of the traditional institution of the presidency.
C) Republican and Democratic parties have felt less pressure from their more ideological
members, which have fled to third-parties and niche causes.
D) Debate over the role of government took a backseat in 2020 to issues of finance and
economic policy.
E) While cultural issues have become more volatile, globalization have harmonized trade
relations between the United States and its major foreign trading partners like China.

ESSAY. Write your answer in the space provided or on a separate sheet of paper.
65) Outline how technology has transformed politics since the mid-twentieth century.

Version 1 22
66) Discuss the key trends and developments in political involvement in the United States
since the 1970s.

67) Identify and explain the key functions of the United States government.

68) Outline the key features of monarchies, oligarchies, and democracies.

69) Explain the difference between an authoritarian government and a totalitarian one, and
identify examples of each.

Version 1 23
70) Outline the historical events that led to the evolution and appearance of modern
American democracy.

71) Compare and contrast the political philosophies of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes.

72) Discuss and identify key features of the political culture of the United States.

Version 1 24
73) Describe key beliefs and ideologies present in the United States today.

74) Identify and explain the significance of the demographic changes occurring in the United
States during the twenty-first century.

Version 1 25
Answer Key

Test name: Democracy 1

1) C

2) C

3) A

4) E

5) C

6) D

7) E

8) A

9) A

10) B

11) B

12) D

Version 1 26
13) E

14) A

15) C

16) C

17) A

18) B

19) C

20) A

21) E

22) B

23) C

24) C

25) B

26) C

Version 1 27
27) B

28) D

29) A

30) E

31) D

32) E

33) C

34) A

35) D

36) C

37) D

38) D

39) A

40) D

Version 1 28
41) E

42) A

43) C

44) C

45) E

46) C

47) A

48) B

49) D

50) C

51) C

52) D

53) D

54) A

Version 1 29
55) D

56) E

57) C

58) D

59) A

60) C

61) C

62) B

63) E

64) A

Version 1 30
65) It is difficult to overstate the impact of technology on politics since
the 1950s. Many different technologies, such as television, computers,
the Internet, and mobile technologies have changed the ways parties
communicate with voters and supporters, and how elections are
conducted. Electoral politics specifically had not changed much since
through 1990, but technology has had a big impact since then.
Computing speed, the Internet, micro-targeting, and social media have
been particularly influential on electoral processes. In short, technology
has fundamentally transformed American politics in the twenty-first
century.
66) In the early 1970s, as a result of the Vietnam War's unpopularity and
the scandals of the Nixon administration, American attitudes toward
government dropped considerably and have remained so. Current levels
of trust in government and belief in its efficacy are at all-time lows.
Distrust, political apathy, and lack of efficacy are common among young
people--despite upticks in certain elections, young people (18-29)
consistently have the lowest voter turnout rates.
67) Government is defined as an institution that creates and implements
policies and laws that guide the conduct of a nation and its citizens.
Among the functions of the United States government are: protecting its
sovereign territory and providing national defense; preserving order and
stability; establishing and maintaining a legal system; providing
services; raising and spending money; and socializing new generations.

Version 1 31
68) Three types of government are mentioned. In a monarchy, a member
of a royal family has absolute governmental authority. In a constitutional
monarchy, monarchs play ceremonial roles but exercise little real power.
In an oligarchy, an elite few hold power, and some are dictatorships, in
which a small group supports a dictator. In a democracy, governmental
power lies in the hands of citizens, and most are republics, or
representative democracies.
69) An authoritarian government holds strong powers, but they are
checked by other forces in society. China and Cuba are examples of
authoritarian states because their leaders are restrained by other powerful
forces, such as the military. In a totalitarian state, governments have far
greater power and basically control every aspect of their citizens' lives.
North Korea is a modern-day example of a totalitarian regime.
70) American democracy has roots that stretch all the way back to the
poleis, the Greek city-states who first developed democracy as a concept
and political structure. In the last 500 years, it has evolved out of
protests against established authority, such as the Protestant
Reformation; natural law theory, developed by Isaac Newton and others;
and the ideas of modern philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean-
Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke. Beginning in colonies like New
England, early colonists formed political structures based on direct
democracy. Both direct and indirect democracies at the colonial level
heavily influenced the formation of the United States' representative
democracy.

Version 1 32
71) Hobbes argued for absolute monarchy. He believed that the strong
would always oppress the weak and that, through a social contract,
individuals who relinquished their rights could enjoy the sovereign's
protection. Without the social contract, Hobbes believed, anarchy would
prevail. In contrast, Locke rejected the notion of divine-right monarchy.
Locke believed that individuals possessed certain unalienable rights,
such as life, liberty, and property that superseded governmental
authority. Locke believed in the concept of social contract in which
people agree to accept the government's authority with the
understanding that the government would protect their natural rights. If
the government failed to do so, however, Locke believed the people had
a right to rebel.
72) Political culture is defined as the people's collective beliefs and
attitudes about government and the political process. In the United
States, several key features of this culture stand out over time: liberty, or
the idea of individual freedom and protection from government
interference; equality, or equality of opportunity for all, which has
evolved slowly over the history of the United States; capitalism, or
support for a free-market economic system; consent of the governed,
including majority rule; emphasis on the individual; and the importance
of family and community.
73) Political ideology is an integrated system of ideas or beliefs about
political values in general and the role of government in particular.
Several ideologies are common, to various degrees, in the contemporary
United States. The two most prevalent are modern liberalism, associated
with ideas of liberty and political equality, and conservatism, which
supports preservation of tradition. Less dominant are socialism, which
supports wealth redistribution; and libertarianism, which advocates a
"hands-off" governmental approach.

Version 1 33
74) Several key demographic trends are discernable in the twenty-first
century United States. First, the population continues to grow—between
1960 and the 2017 Population Estimates, it increased by more than 50
percent. Second, it is more mobile, with large movement into the South
and West, and in general to the country's biggest cities. The population
is also aging, and the migration of younger people out of the Midwest
and Plains has left a higher proportion of older Americans there.
Ethnically, the United States is also changing rapidly—with minority
groups such as Hispanics increasing in size; they have become the
nation's largest minority group. By 2044, half of all Americans are
projected to be part of a minority group. Families have also changed; the
proportion of single-parent households has increased significantly since
1960. These changes are significant because they will affect voting
patterns, national culture, and political leadership patterns as the century
continues.

Version 1 34