Deck 2: Democratic Politics

Question 1

Which of the following statements about rationality as used in political science is FALSE?

A) It assumes that all actors seek to maximise their own personal economic wealth.
B) It assumes that individuals have transitive preferences over a set of outcomes.
C) It assumes individuals strive to attain their most preferred outcome, contingent on what others do.
D) It is best viewed as a subset of human behavior that may help us understand and predict behavioural regularities in certain contexts.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In a spatial model of politics, what is the winset of the status quo?

A) The median voter position.
B) The current policy in place.
C) The actors known as the veto players.
D) The policy alternatives that can beat the status quo.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

What does Condorcet's paradox suggest?

A) We can easily aggregate group preferences to determine social choices.
B) Individuals can never make rational decisions.
C) Just because individuals may hold rational preferences over out-comes, it does not mean that groups of rational individuals must.
D) All electoral systems lead to the same result.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The median voter theorem says that . . .

A) When a set of individuals hold single-peaked preferences over outcomes in a unidimensional policy space, a majority of these individuals will support the policy preference of the median voter.
B) Groups are incapable of majoritarian decisions.
C) When a set of individuals hold single-peaked preferences over outcomes in a unidimensional policy space, there will never exist a fair and consistent voting outcome.
D) All electoral systems lead to the same result.

Question 5

What is the difference between the concepts of congruence and responsiveness?

A) Congruence refers to policy, while responsiveness refers to the position of the median voter.
B) Congruence refers to the overlap between policy and the median voter's position, while responsiveness refers to shifts in policy and position.
C) Congruence is generally regarded as positive, while responsiveness is harmful to a political system.
D) Congruence refers to a system that imposes decisions on voters, while responsiveness refers to a system that listens to the demands of the voters.