Deck 8: Governments and Bureaucracies

Question 1

Into what type of government did cabinet governments typically transform?

A) In prime-ministerial as well as in ministerial governments.
B) In ministerial governments.
C) In prime ministerial governments.
D) They did not transform at all. Classical cabinet governments are still prevalent.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What was the main reason for the decline of the classical cabinet government?

A) The gradual increase of government tasks.
B) The lack of accountability of the ministers.
C) The necessity of a strong and charismatic prime minister in order to win elections.
D) The declining role of monarchs in policy-making.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Whats the ideal type of party-government relationship that comes closest to the subsequent real-world example.

Answer 3

a. Dominance = China
b. Autonomy = USA
c. Fusion = UK
d. Independence = No viable type of party-government relationship.

Question 4

Is a ministerial government within a coalition regime thinkable?

A) Theoretically yes, but it never occurs in reality.
B) No, the two are theoretically exclusive.
C) Yes, the two categories are largely independent from each other.
D) Ministerial government and coalition regime are the same.

Question 5

What is true for a spoils system? Please select all that apply.

A) The victorious party appoints large layers of the administration.
B) A spoils system is supposed to minimize dissent shirking.
C) Formal spoils systems are in fact often covered merit systems.
D) New public management is one possible approach to compensate for the disadvantages of spoils systems.

Question 6

What phenomena are described by 'presidentialization'? Please select all that apply.

A) Individual executive leaders tend to gain weight relative to the parties.
B) Individual executive leaders tend to gain weight relative to the executive.
C) A more leadership-oriented electoral process.
D) The trend from parliamentary to presidential systems.

Question 7

Which factors can explain the survival of minority governments? Please select all that apply.

A) Minority governments are often successful in dividing the opposition.
B) Minority governments are often perceived as being policy-seeking.
C) Minority governments do not survive at all. They are in fact very unstable.
D) Minority governments are often successful in occupying a specific ideological position.

Question 8

What is the main proposition of Niskanen's theory of bureaucracy?

A) Bureaucrats are not selfless agents of the public interest but pursue their own private interests.
B) Bureaucracies have an inherent tendency to grow.
C) If bureaucrats have different preferences compared to their principals, this may result in dissent-shirking.
D) If bureaucrats have different preferences compared to their principals, this may result in political sabotage.

Question 9

The term government is most often used for the country's central political ________.

Question 10

Is the executive in presidential regimes never accountable?

A) Yes, in most presidential regimes there is no accountability of the executive.
B) No, in most presidential regimes the executive is politically accountable to the legislature.
C) No, in most presidential regimes the executive is accountable for judicial offences.
D) No, in most presidential regimes the executive is accountable to the supreme court.