Deck 1: Introduction

Question 1

Identify the individual discussed in chapter 1 whom you would most like to meet and talk with about politics.Explain your answer by logically addressing: (a) what you find most interesting about the individual you selected, and( b) how the experiences of the person you selected differ most explicitly from your experiences.

Answer 1

Answers may vary.

Question 2

Political decisions affect life expectancies.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

As recently as the 1960s, in some places in the United States, it was illegal for African-Americans and whites to get married to each other.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Political scientist Harold Laswell taught that

A) political decisions include making rules over the use of resources.
B) politics rarely involves change.
C) politics primarily concerns private life, not common life.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 5

According to the United Nations, by the early months of 2013, the number of Syrian refugees had climbed to 1 million.

Question 6

Art works by artists like Renee Cox

A) have been supported by conservatives but not by liberals.
B) have elicited opposition from political groups and, thus, have illustrated that politics appears to be connected to questions of artistic taste.
C) were praised by David Easton.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 7

It can be argued that the world of politics is a world of ceaseless change, a world of rule-making over life and death questions of access to resources, and a world of decision making about common life.Explain and give one example of each of these three aspects of politics.

Question 8

The City of the Dead is indicative of a trend showing

A) movement away from cities and into rural areas as the year 2030 approaches.
B) a sharp decline in the number of slums in the twenty-first century.
C) both A and B.
D) none of the above.

Question 9

Identify and discuss five issues concerning U.S.citizens at the turn of the last century.Are these concerns relevant today? Explain

Question 10

According to Aristotle,

A) humans have little or no need for politics.
B) humans are essentially political creatures.
C) authoritarianism is the best form of government.
D) change occurs in private life, but not in public (political) life.

Question 11

While comedians like Stephen Colbert speak extensively about politics, political scientists have found that programs like The Colbert Report have virtually no political impact and can basically be ignored by political candidates and political party leaders.

Question 12

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

A) was recently elected as Liberia's first woman president.
B) is the first woman to be elected president of Chile.
C) was the first woman court-martialed for refusing to serve in the Iraq war.
D) has been a leader in the movement to abolish the provisions allowing poor countries to seek assistance under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative.

Question 13

The term smog was coined in the 1970s by the Environmental Protection Agency.