Deck 12: Interest Groups and Civic and Political Engagement

Question 1

The French traveler Alexis de Tocqueville found __________ to be a strong antidote to European-style tyranny in the political life of Americans in the early 1830s.

A) social relationships
B) the freedom of association
C) ethnic clubs
D) partisanship

Answer 1

the freedom of association

Question 2

Two basic kinds of groups form in a "do something" political culture, one seeks to change __________ and the other seeks to __________.

A) voting patterns; prevent them
B) the status quo; preserve it
C) the system; bring it down
D) the leaders; support them

Answer 2

the status quo; preserve it

Question 3

Which of the following is a doctrine of equality that ignores differences in social status, wealth, and privilege?

A) consensus
B) collective action
C) egalitarianism
D) totalitarianism

Answer 3

egalitarianism

Question 4

A multi-issue group typically seeks to __________.

A) cover as many issues as it can to attract a broad membership
B) address a range of problems and issues that concern a central theme
C) expand one issue into many related ones
D) grow a broad membership of groups that have various concerns that best represent the diversity of this country

Question 5

In 1989, the Tiananmen Square protests illustrated __________ in regard to collective action.

A) the Chinese people's intolerance of protesters
B) the difference between totalitarian and democratic societies
C) the dilemma that exists
D) the excess of public authorities

Question 6

__________ serve to compel governments to focus on problems that they might otherwise neglect.

A) Political scientists
B) Public interests
C) Organized interests
D) Private interests

Question 7

What is the central problem of government when, for example, investors want to build a fast-food restaurant and a community group fears an increase in traffic and trash?

A) making investors happy
B) how to tax the investors
C) balancing competing desires
D) encouraging business and jobs

Question 8

How would an environmentally minded farmer exercise the First Amendment guarantee of free assembly to discourage landowners from exercising their mineral rights?

A) write letters to her legislator
B) phone in her disapproval to a talk radio show and reach its wider audience
C) picket on her neighbor's property with her husband and children
D) form a citizen's action committee for her neighbors and other stakeholders

Question 9

Interest groups have three important characteristics: they are voluntary, they share common beliefs, and they seek to __________.

A) influence government
B) influence the desired political party
C) hold elected officials responsible
D) build a single interest

Question 10

Although multi-issue interest groups pursue various agendas, what factor most distinguishes them from other groups?

A) a central theme
B) the common demographics of their membership
C) fundraising resources
D) their greater impact on politicians

Question 11

What function are interest groups serving when they run public relations campaigns on little-known issues?

A) acting as government watchdogs
B) providing a means of political participation
C) building agendas
D) representing constituents

Question 12

What is the chief, and fundamental, activity of a think tank?

A) to ponder important problems for the people who hire them.
B) to conduct research on a range of public issues
C) to make the complex simpler and understandable
D) to employ academically minded politicians

Question 13

Your church group, which is dedicated to banning assault weapons, has asked the imam of the local Sufi mosque if he or any of his fellow Muslims would like to join you in a candlelight march. What are you trying to bridge?

A) a racial divide
B) common differences
C) a religious cleavage
D) ethnic division

Question 14

If you were from London, why would an American environmental group bringing pressure on a municipal government to recycle more types of plastic containers strike you as odd?

A) Your country would more likely rely on the central government to address this issue.
B) Recycling plastic in the United Kingdom is comprehensive.
C) Americans would get better results from calling in the U.S. EPA.
D) Such groups could never legally exist in the United Kingdom.

Question 15

__________ represents individuals in one occupational category that typically requires an advance degree.

A) A think tank
B) A public interest group
C) An ideological lobby
D) A professional association

Question 16

What is the largest public interest group in the United States in terms of membership?

A) the Brookings Institute
B) National Rifle Association
C) AARP
D) American Medical Association

Question 17

Common Cause, an organization that pushes for openness and fairness in government, is an example of __________.

A) a federal interest group
B) an economic group
C) a think tank
D) a public interest group

Question 18

The Brookings Institution is __________, a nonprofit institution that conducts research and often engages in advocacy on issues of public interest.

A) a public interest group
B) an economic group
C) a think tank
D) a federal interest group

Question 19

What is the primary motivator for David Truman's disturbance theory of interest group formation?

A) radical leadership
B) threat perception
C) social tension
D) poverty

Question 20

What role does the Environmental Protection Agency play when it hires the Sierra Club to provide consulting services on logging practices?

A) patron
B) partner
C) preferred interest group
D) favoritism

Question 21

According to one theory for the growth of interest groups, what might take place with the implementation of universal health care in the United States?

A) One or more patient advocate groups would have no reason to exist.
B) Interest groups would only oppose it.
C) User groups will cede their authority to these new bureaucracies.
D) New groups would form to influence the bureaucracies created or charged to administer this program.

Question 22

Which of the following factors was instrumental in the success of the United Farm Workers?

A) the charismatic leadership of César Chávez
B) the support of wealthy patrons
C) the union's effective use of PAC contributions
D) public sympathy for farm workers brought about by the drought during the 1970s

Question 23

One barrier to interest group formation is the absence of __________, or the belief that one person can make a difference.

A) purposive benefits
B) political efficacy
C) union effectiveness
D) charismatic leadership

Question 24

If you live in a "right-to-work" state, a __________ may not require your membership.

A) patron
B) think tank
C) free rider
D) union

Question 25

Clean water, interstate highways, public libraries, and state parks are all examples of __________ used by individuals in the community.

A) advertorials
B) purposive benefits
C) public goods
D) solidary benefits

Question 26

What best describes the key ingredient of effective inside lobbying?

A) effective decision makers
B) testimony
C) bribery
D) personal contact

Question 27

You need to advise a lobbyist for your group that it would be not only inappropriate to pay for your congresswoman to speak, but illegal, too. What do you need to cite?

A) A speaking engagement is considered a form of federal bribery.
B) Members of Congress are duty-bound to speak for free.
C) An honorarium is illegal under the Lobbying Disclosure Act.
D) Such a fee would have to be paid "under the table."

Question 28

Why is grassroots/outside lobbying an effective political tactic?

A) Grassroots lobbying shapes public opinion, and elected officials are known to respond to public opinion.
B) Interest groups rarely engage in grassroots lobbying, so when they use this tactic, elected officials take notice.
C) Grassroots lobbyists collect and bundle together campaign contributions from multiple individuals, which results in one large campaign contribution and thus maximizes the impact of each contributor.
D) Grassroots lobbying depends on building personal connections with elected officials, who are more likely to listen to groups that they know and like.

Question 29

You produce a television spot with a young woman getting ready to dive into a pool then cuts to a Gulf of Mexico dolphin covered with oil. Onscreen the words roll by reading, "Doesn't he have the right to swim in clean water too?" What kind of spot is this?

A) an advertorial
B) infotainment
C) a YouTube movie
D) antibusiness

Question 30

Why should politicians care about interest groups?

A) They can influence elections.
B) Supporting one can enrage others.
C) Interest groups are forbidden from contributing to campaigns.
D) Interest groups can provide candidates with copy for their speeches and campaign literature.

Question 31

__________ refers to communicating with government officials to persuade them to support a particular policy decision.

A) Exposé
B) Think tank
C) Lobbying
D) Disturbance theory

Question 32

One function of __________ is to provide legislators with information about an interest group's position on a specific bill or issue.

A) patrons
B) think tanks
C) mobilization
D) lobbyists

Question 33

An interest group holding a demonstration outside the White House is an example of __________.

A) multi-issue interest groups
B) the free-rider problem
C) grassroots or outside lobbying
D) think tanks

Question 34

What is the difference between grassroots/outside lobbying and lobbying members of Congress directly?

A) Only multi-issue interest groups attempt to lobby members of Congress directly.
B) Grassroots/outside lobbying is a technique that places pressure on elected officials using group members and/or general public opinion.
C) Grassroots lobbying faces key barriers, but direct lobbying does not.
D) These two types of lobbying are essentially the same thing.

Question 35

What is the main role of interest groups in elections?

A) to get as many people registered to vote as possible
B) to advertise their position in the media
C) to get candidates elected who are friendly to their policy positions
D) to keep voters from voting for positions unfavorable to the interest group

Question 36

What is the primary objective of public interest groups?

A) to personally contact fellow citizens to give of their time and energy to a cause
B) to make sure the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 is enforced
C) to represent the interests of particular firms or businesses within an industry
D) to seek collective goods or to provide benefits for society as a whole

Question 37

If your for-profit interest group hires a lobbying firm, what law or laws limit what it can do to promote your cause?

A) The Governmental Process
B) the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995
C) Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
D) the Homestead Act

Question 38

Cliff Landesman of Idealist.org identified eight purposes for which interest groups use the Web. Which of the following includes four of those purposes?

A) public education, communication, volunteer recruitment, and research
B) entertainment, advocacy, service provision, and fundraising
C) publicity, public education, adjudication, and scrutiny
D) publicity, representation, entertainment, and communication

Question 39

Although interest groups are representative of a democracy, the representatives of interest groups often draw their membership from __________ and so reflect their biases.

A) every level of society
B) elite levels of society
C) the government
D) academia

Question 40

Political scientists see what factor as providing interest groups with many advantages and making them more successful?

A) large resources
B) publicity
C) access
D) a powerful message

Question 41

What is the risk that interest groups take in mobilizing the public?

A) being too successful
B) falling off message
C) alienating people
D) attracting the wrong kind of people