Deck 6: Liberal Democracy

Question 1

Which of the following is not an operative ideal of liberal democracy?

A) popular government
B) rights-respecting government
C) government by a wise elite
D) constitutional government

Answer 1

government by a wise elite

Question 2

Which of the following ideas was a contribution to liberal democracy by the Protestant Reformation?

A) equality under God
B) expanded citizenship
C) freedom of individuals to find God on their own
D) belief that rulers must follow a higher law

Answer 2

freedom of individuals to find God on their own

Question 3

What was the world's first large modern republic?

A) the United States
B) Great Britain
C) France
D) Italy

Answer 3

the United States

Question 4

Which ideological group generally tends to favor government intervention in economic affairs?

A) anarchists
B) conservatives
C) populists
D) libertarians

Question 5

Which two groups promote laissez-faire economies?

A) conservatives and liberals
B) conservatives and libertarians
C) libertarians and populists
D) populists and liberals

Question 6

This 2001 legislative act raised significant constitutional questions with regard to issues such as executive power and surveillance of citizens.

A) The National Security Act
B) The Boland Amendment
C) The USA PATRIOT Act
D) None of these

Question 7

The belief that there should be minimal government interference in the economy is known as ______.

A) liberalism
B) pluralism
C) laissez-faire
Capitalism

Question 8

A strong sense of cultural belonging and group loyalty generally used to achieve political, economic, and social freedom is known as ______.

A) republicanism
B) nationalism
C) conservatism
D) patriotism

Question 9

Which operative ideal of liberal democracy establishes the rules of what the government can and cannot do?

A) rights-respecting government
B) constitutional government
C) representative government
D) responsible government

Question 10

Which of the following is not a primary concern of liberals?

A) low participation in the modern democratic state
B) an exploitive economic and social system
C) lack of genuine concern for those that are the least free
D) the loss of individual moral character

Question 11

Conservative critics of liberal democracy claim which of the following?

A) Liberal democracy has fostered an underdeveloped bureaucracy.
B) Liberal democracy has too many governmental controls.
C) Liberal democracy does not foster participatory government.
D) Liberal democracy fosters inequality, racism, and sexism.

Question 12

Drawing on the work of Edmund Burke, British philosopher Michael Oakeshott and American philosopher John Kekes lay out several characteristics of conservative politics. Which of the following does not belong?

A) Tradition and custom are vital to any healthy society.
B) Conservatism is, at a very basic level, incredibly optimistic about the perfectibility of society.
C) There is no such thing as progress. Societies are not progressing anywhere. Societies exist and keep on existing.
D) Human beings are fallible people. We are prone to making mistakes.

Question 13

The most influential school of liberal democratic thought in contemporary America is the __________________ school, which maintains that the balance between individual freedom and the common good is best achieved by the mix of representative government, skillful leaders, and political parties.

Question 14

It was the ______________ that popularized democratic ideas throughout the European continent.

Question 15

____________, written by Adam Smith, became the inspiration for the nineteenth-century liberal policy restricting government interference in economic matters.

Question 16

The new twentieth-century liberalism fully emerged with the advent of the __________________, a program initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to fight the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Question 17

_____________________ is a system of governance where citizens vote directly on matters of public policy.

Question 18

The legal theory that holds that, with regard to foreign affairs and national security, the president has decisive power is known as the ____________.

Question 19

In your judgment, which of the sources of liberal democracy has made the most significant contribution to the development of liberal democracy? Why?

Question 20

What are some of the significant changes that liberalism underwent between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?

Question 21

Write an essay that discusses the relationship between democracy and capitalism.

Question 22

The political right has criticized liberal democracy on a number of counts. Are these criticisms fair? Why or why not?

Question 23

The political left has criticized liberal democracy on a number of counts. Are these criticisms fair? Why or why not?

Question 24

Discuss liberalism with regard to the belief that it is too timid in dealing with the problems facing the world.

Question 25

Does liberalism have a deficient empirical understanding of how politics works?