Introduction to Political Science Review Sheet

• You are responsible for the lecture notes and chapters 5, 6, 7, and 9.
• You will have 100 multiple-choice questions on the exam. Each question is worth one point.
• Bring a scantron number 882-ES. Bring a number 2 pencil.

Areas of Emphasis:

1. Max Weber, Karl Marx and the definition of class
2. What type of evidence/critique would undermine the elite approach?
3. Characteristics of democratic and authoritarian systems.
4. Characteristics of federal, confederal, and unitary political systems with examples
5. Structure of presidential systems of government
6. Structure of parliamentary systems of government
7. The political system in France
8. What is participatory democracy?
9. Head of government vs. head of state
10. In which political system is policy gridlock more likely?
11. The meaning of the “two-gun-fighter” analogy
12. Types and characteristics of party systems with examples
13. The Japanese constitution
14. Effects of proportional representation and WTA-SMD-P electoral systems
15. What does the executive refer to in a parliamentary vs. a presidential system?
16. What does the term “first among equals” mean?
17. Characteristics of a parliamentary system vs. a presidential system
18. How to form a coalition government based on the distribution of seats between parties in parliament?
19. Who can a legislator represent?
20. What are the functions of the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches of government?
21. What is judicial review?
22. Who is head of state and who is head of government in presidential vs. parliamentary systems.
23. Federal/unitary governments and types of parliaments
24. Examples of charismatic leaders
25. Legitimacy vs. use of force and accumulation vs. distribution
26. Criticism of David Easton’s political systems approach
27. Name the approaches that explain how political systems translate inputs into policy outputs.
28. What is the legislative function of oversight?
29. Definition of state and nation with examples of nations. Where do nations reside?
30. The radical view of the state
31. The major cause for dividing the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan
32. What does territorial integrity and sovereignty mean?
33. How does a state improve its legitimacy?
34. Public choice approach to decision making
35. Components of David Easton’s political systems approach
36. Assumptions of the group approach
37. Main aim of religious fundamentalism
38. Names of classical and modern elite theorists
39. Names of pluralist/group theorists and the books they wrote
40. Who are the power elites according to C. Wright Mills?
41. Thomas Hobbes
42. Critique of the group approach
43. “Political formula,” “derivations,” and “general ethical principles.”
44. Free rider
45. Case of metal houses in New Haven, Connecticut.
46. What is a mode of production?
47. Marx’s stages of history theory
48. Types of groups with examples
49. How do elites maintain their rule in society?
50. Size of interest groups and their effectiveness
51. Assumptions of the elite approach
52. Source of elite power according to the three classical elite theorists
53. The assumptions of Marxist theory
54. The “iron law of oligarchy.”
55. Who benefits from productivity under capitalism?
56. What is political stratification?
57. The masses in the elite and class approach
58. Role of the state in pluralist theory vs. Marxist and elite theory.