Deck 3: Political Power, Authority, and the State

Question 1

'Authority can be defined as ___ power'.

Answer 1

legitimate

Question 2

'Where coercion creates obedience at a high cost in manpower and equipment, __________ can control both the minds and the behaviour of individuals at a very low cost'.

Answer 2

authority

Question 3

What is charismatic authority?

A) Authority derived from the personality traits of an individual.
B) Authority derived from the holding of a constitutional office.
C) Authority derived from traditional customs and values.
D) Authority derived from gender.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

'Every exercise of power involves the imposition of someone's ________ upon another'

Question 5

The decision-making approach to power is exercised when…

A) 'A has power over B to the extent that they can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do'
B) 'A devotes his energies to creating or reinforcing social and political values and institutional practices that limit the scope of the political process to ensure public consideration of only those issues which are comparatively innocuous to A'
C) 'A exercises power over B by influencing, shaping, or determining B's preferences'
D) Decision makers exercise power

Question 6

The advantage of the decision-making approach is that…
Please select all that apply.

A) It is eminently researchable
B) It is likely to generate pluralist conclusions
C) It considers the preferences of those groups involved in decision making
D) It can identify non-decision making

Question 7

Which political theorist identified three different 'faces of power'?

A) Robert Dahl
B) Steven Lukes
C) Bachrach and Baratz
D) Brian Barry

Question 8

Which political scientist argues that business has a privileged position in the decision making arena?

A) Robert Dahl
B) Nelson Polsby
C) Charles Lindblom
D) Charles Lindbergh

Question 9

Matthew Crenson's study of air pollution politics in the United States is an example of which of the following? Please select all that apply.

A) Democracy in action
B) Non-decision making
C) Ideological control
D) Pluralism

Question 10

Is it not the most insidious exercise of power to prevent people, to whatever degree, from having grievances by shaping their perceptions, cognitions, and preferences in such a way that they accept their role in the existing order of things, either because they can see or imagine no __________ to it, or because they see it as natural or unchangeable, or because they value it as divinely ordained and beneficial?

Question 11

Complete the following quote from Karl Marx: 'The ideas of the ______________ are in every epoch the ruling ideas'.

Question 12

From a Marxist perspective, power is visible only through its consequences: they are the first and the final proof of the existence of power. The continuing _______ of wealth, income, and welfare that divide the population are ... the most visible manifestations of the division of power in a society such as Britain.

Question 13

The Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), (from whom Lukes borrows extensively), emphasized the ability of the ruling class to manipulate the proletariat ideologically through their___________, and regarded the role of intellectuals as crucial in challenging this domination (1971).

Question 14

Which of the following political thinkers were Marxists? Please select all that apply.

A) Ralph Miliband
B) Antonio Gramsci
C) Nicos Poulantzas
D) Robert Michels

Question 15

Which Marxist thinker uses the concept of the 'relative autonomy of the state'?

A) Robert Dahl
B) Nelson Polsby
C) Ralph Miliband
D) Nicos Poulantzas