Question 1

Which of the following statements about rationality as used in political science is FALSE?&#10;A) It assumes that all actors seek to maximise their own personal economic wealth.&#10;B) It assumes that individuals have transitive preferences over a set of outcomes.&#10;C) It assumes individuals strive to attain their most preferred outcome, contingent on what others do.&#10;D) It is best viewed as a subset of human behavior that may help us understand and predict behavioural regularities in certain contexts.

Accepted Answer

Rationality in political science does not solely assume that all actors seek to maximize their own personal economic wealth; it encompasses a broader understanding that actors aim to maximize their utility, which can include a variety of goals beyond economic wealth, such as power, security, or ideological satisfaction.

Question 2

In a spatial model of politics, what is the winset of the status quo?&#10;A) The median voter position.&#10;B) The current policy in place.&#10;C) The actors known as the veto players.&#10;D) The policy alternatives that can beat the status quo.

Accepted Answer

The winset of the status quo in a spatial model of politics refers to the set of all policy alternatives that can defeat or are preferred over the current policy (status quo) under the decision-making rules of the system.

Question 3

What does Condorcet's paradox suggest?&#10;A) We can easily aggregate group preferences to determine social choices.&#10;B) Individuals can never make rational decisions.&#10;C) Just because individuals may hold rational preferences over out-comes, it does not mean that groups of rational individuals must.&#10;D) All electoral systems lead to the same result.

Accepted Answer

Condorcet's paradox suggests that even if all individuals in a group have rational preferences, the group as a whole may not have a rational set of preferences when those individual preferences are aggregated. This can lead to situations where there is no clear or consistent group preference, illustrating a challenge in social choice theory.

Question 4

The median voter theorem says that . . .&#10;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.&#10;B) Groups are incapable of majoritarian decisions.&#10;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.&#10;D) All electoral systems lead to the same result.

Accepted Answer

The median voter theorem posits that in a political system where voters have single-peaked preferences on a unidimensional policy issue, the preference of the median voter will win against any alternative in a majority rule vote. This is because the median voter's position is in the middle of the political spectrum, making it the most stable and representative outcome in a majority voting scenario.

Question 5

What is the difference between the concepts of congruence and responsiveness?&#10;A) Congruence refers to policy, while responsiveness refers to the position of the median voter.&#10;B) Congruence refers to the overlap between policy and the median voter's position, while responsiveness refers to shifts in policy and position.&#10;C) Congruence is generally regarded as positive, while responsiveness is harmful to a political system.&#10;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.

Accepted Answer

Congruence in political science often refers to the degree to which government policies reflect the preferences of the citizens, particularly the median voter's position. Responsiveness, on the other hand, describes how quickly and to what extent policies or political positions change in reaction to shifts in public opinion or preferences.

Deck 2: Democratic Politics