Deck 9: Public Policy, Power, and Decision

Question 1

In the elite approach, the term understructure generally refers to the

A) government.
B) mass.
C) economic system.
D) A and B
E) A, B, and C

Answer 1

government.

Question 2

According to C. Wright Mills, the power elite in the United States consists primarily of

A) top military officials.
B) major industrial leaders.
C) top government officials.
D) A and B
E) A, B, and C

Answer 2

A, B, and C

Question 3

A major factor in the elite approach explanation of policymaking is

A) the effective conspiracies among people who hold power.
B) the apathy of most people regarding policy decisions.
C) the shared interests of the elite and the mass.
D) the fact that the elite is dependent of the mass.
E) the indifference of government officials regarding the policy decisions.

Answer 3

the apathy of most people regarding policy decisions.

Question 4

The class approach differs from the elite approach because it assumes that

A) political stratification is present in all societies.
B) all groups have the potential to exercise significant political power.
C) the government serves the dominant group.
D) B and C but not A
E) All of the above.

Question 5

According to Karl Marx, class distinctions are based primarily on

A) a group's relationship to the factors of production.
B) ethnic identity.
C) traditional hierarchies of authority.
D) possession of significant information.
E) political resources.

Question 6

Pluralism shares with the class approach the assumption that

A) the state is a neutral actor in the policy process.
B) virtually all groups agree that the "rules of the game" are fair.
C) there is an unequal distribution of political resources among groups.
D) B and C but not A
E) None of the above

Question 7

A seminal scholar of the pluralist approach is

A) Karl Marx.
B) Arthur Bentley.
C) C. Wright Mills.
D) Ralf Dahrendorf
E) Robert Dahl.

Question 8

In the pluralist approach, the government is viewed as

A) a neutral arbiter.
B) a compliant understructure.
C) a complex set of political interest groups.
D) a set of actors who dominate the political process.
E) an instrument of the dominant group in society.

Question 9

Critics of the pluralist approach argue that

A) it places too much emphasis on the role of the government.
B) it fails to recognize that an individual can belong to many different groups.
C) it downplays the fact that some groups win almost all the time.
D) it ignores the fact that different groups are active in different policy domains.
E) All of the above

Question 10

Regarding the elite, class, and pluralist approach explanations, political scientists, in general,

A) agree that elite theory now most accurately describes most national political systems.
B) conclude that the group approach characterizes the policy process in most contemporary political systems.
C) have rejected the claim that most societies are characterized by political stratification.
D) would claim that none of the three approaches has much explanatory value.
E) continue to disagree about which of the three approaches is most accurate.

Question 11

Which of the following types of evidence would most seriously undermine the elite approach?

A) The mass accepts nearly all policy decisions by the government.
B) Government bureaucrats sometimes fail to implement the decisions of the elite.
C) Subgroups within the elite compete for benefits.
D) The elite loses on major policy decisions of concern to its members.
E) Some individuals move from the mass to the elite.

Question 12

Which of the following types of evidence would most seriously undermine the class approach?

A) The government bureaucracy is very efficient.
B) The society appears to be peaceful.
C) The government bureaucracy is very inefficient.
D) Welfare benefits for the lower classes are steadily increased.
E) People in the lower classes are passive.

Question 13

Gaetano Mosca's The Ruling Class is most consistent with

A) the group approach.
B) the class approach.
C) the elite approach.
D) an integrative view of society.
E) None of the above

Question 14

The idea that inequality inevitably produces political conflict is most consistent with

A) the group approach.
B) the class approach.
C) the elite approach.
D) an integrative view of society.
E) None of the above

Question 15

The assumption that many different resources can influence policy decisions is crucial to

A) the pluralist approach.
B) the class approach.
C) the elite approach.
D) all three approaches
E) none of the three approaches.

Question 16

Political stratification refers to the segmentation of the------into separate groups that are in strata with higher or lower-------.

A) population, intellect
B) political elite, influence
C) population, power
D) government, authority
E) All of the above

Question 17

The most important shared concept between the elite approach and the class approach is

A) structured inequality.
B) extensive competition.
C) ignorant masses.
D) polarization.
E) angry masses.

Question 18

The term "class" used in the class approach denotes

A) a group of individuals with a similar level of political sophistication.
B) a group of individuals who are similar in their possession of some fundamental value.
C) groups in society who have common life experiences.
D) a group of individuals with similar political views.
E) a set of groups who share the same goals.

Question 19

The analysis of Swaziland in Focus in 9 most closely conforms to the------approach.

A) class
B) bureaucratic
C) developmental state
D) elite
E) pluralist

Question 20

While the class approach sees the masses as-------- ,the elite approach views them as---------.

A) apathetic, competitive
B) satisfied, inactive
C) dynamic, passive
D) educated, ignorant
E) inactive, satisfied

Question 21

A feature that distributive policies and redistributive policies share is that

A) both attempt to transfer values directly from one group to another group.
B) both must be implemented by a strong central government.
C) both are decisions by a governmental authority to allocate a value.
D) both are more common in socialist governments than in communist governments.
E) both limit the actions of some groups.

Question 22

In which stage of the public policy process is the emphasis on the actual delivery of the valued good or service?

A) Implementation
B) Problem definition
C) Evaluation
D) Issue identification
E) Policy selection

Question 23

In which stage of the public policy process is the major emphasis on determining what condition in the environment requires a policy response?

A) Implementation
B) Problem definition
C) Evaluation
D) Policy selection
E) Issue identification

Question 24

In which stage of the public policy process is the emphasis on assessing the impacts of a policy that has been enacted?

A) Policy selection
B) Problem definition
C) Evaluation
D) Issue identification
E) Implementation

Question 25

Compare the central claims of the elite, class, and pluralist explanations of the political decision making process. Which claim of each approach is most compelling? Least persuasive?

Question 26

It could be argued that the elite approach is correct, because every society is run by the elite and most people have little impact on political decisions. Do you agree with this argument? Why or why not?

Question 27

If you were attempting to explain the variations among certain countries (like those in the Compare in 9) in the proportions of their resources allocated to various policy domains, what kinds of evidence and data would you attempt to gather? What do you expect would be your main conclusion(s) for explaining the variations?

Question 28

What might be the relative importance of cognitive knowledge (factual information) and political ideology at each stage of the policy process in certain policy domains that you specify?