Deck 15: Ideology and Religion in Modern Politics

Question 1

Which of the following characteristics is not typically considered a key and definitional feature of modernization processes?

A) Societies come to pursue sustained economic growth.
B) States develop.
C) Religion becomes more important.
D) Religion's role in public life often changes.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following is not typically considered a major modern ideology?

A) Fascism
B) Christianity
C) Socialism
D) Liberalism

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is not true of ideologies?

A) Ideologies are explicitly political in their orientation.
B) Ideologies just like religions and are apolitical.
C) Ideologies are part of political culture.
D) Ideologies are beliefs.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is an example of ideology?

A) A person's opinions on music
B) A person's religious beliefs
C) A person's systematically elaborated political opinions
D) All of the above

Question 5

Which of the following is not typically considered a major political ideology in and of itself?

A) Secularism
B) Socialism
C) Fascism
D) Liberalism

Question 6

Which of the following is the best substantive definition of religion, as it relates to politics?

A) Religions are systems of belief that give prominence to some transcendent force or good.
B) Religions are systems of belief that give prominence to God.
C) Religions are systems of belief that create a sense of order through history and cosmogonical myths.
D) Religions are systems of belief that motivate collective action among those who share common beliefs.

Question 7

What is the process through which societies become less religious as they become more modern?

A) Atheization
B) Institutionalization
C) Secularization
D) Ratiocination

Question 8

Which region would likely be considered the most "secular" among the following?

A) Northern Africa
B) Central America
C) Southeast Asia
D) Western Europe

Question 9

What might explain a future increase in global religiosity?

A) The Mayan Calendar predicted the end of the world is coming.
B) Societies with the highest birthrates tend to be more religious.
C) There has been an increase in theocratic states.
D) Global religiosity is decreasing.

Question 10

Which of the following countries has privatized religion most fully?

A) Saudi Arabia
B) France
C) Iran
D) Italy

Question 11

What is the name for the ideology that emphasizes individual freedoms, representative democracy, and the market economy?

A) Keynesianism
B) Capitalism
C) Social Democracy
D) Liberalism

Question 12

Which of the following is not a key part of classical liberal ideology?

A) Individuals are more important than groups.
B) Individuals' relationships with the state should be organized through democratic citizenship.
C) State-controlled markets are the most natural way of organizing the economy.
D) A democratic political system should be representative.

Question 13

Which country was the birthplace of both orthodox liberalism and Keynesianism?

A) France
B) United States
C) United Kingdom
D) Canada

Question 14

Where was fascism not prominent in the twentieth century?

A) Finland
B) Italy
C) Germany
D) Spain

Question 15

How does fascism differ from liberalism?

A) Fascism values the state above the individual.
B) Fascism values individual rights less than liberalism.
C) Fascism is decidedly militaristic.
D) All of the above

Question 16

Who is generally considered the most influential socialist?

A) Francisco Franco
B) Groucho Marx
C) Benito Mussolini
D) Karl Marx

Question 17

Which of the following is the most direct goal of socialist ideology?

A) Economic growth
B) Economic equality
C) Political representation
D) Political transparency

Question 18

Which country(s) developed the most important socialist regime of the twentieth century?

A) Russia
B) China
C) Vietnam
D) Both a and b

Question 19

Which of the following societies is most often identified as a "lay state" or associated with the idea of laïcité?

A) France
B) Iran
C) The United States
D) Due to the global tide of fundamentalism, there are no more "lay states."

Question 20

Which of the following states is not a laicist state?

A) United States
B) Cuba after Castro
C) France
D) Iran

Question 21

What is the name for religions that are granted official status and support by the state?

A) Institutionalized religions
B) Polity religions
C) Established religions
D) Formal religions

Question 22

Which of the following is true of what is referred to in the text as a "lay" or "laicist" state?

A) A lay state has one religious organization within civil society.
B) A lay state has an official religion.
C) A lay state seeks complete privatization of religion.
D) A lay state has no separation between church and state.

Question 23

Which of the following is not a belief of José Casanova?

A) Privatization of religion is absent in some modern societies.
B) Religion can play a part in public life in a modern society.
C) It is possible for the social position of religion to change in a modern society.
D) Secularization is a simple concept long understood by social science.

Question 24

Which of the following states would be the best example of a religious state?

A) France
B) Iran
C) Cuba
D) Italy

Question 25

Which of the following best describes the prevailing relationship between economics and religion's role in politics?

A) An increase in economic development is often associated with a decrease in religious belief.
B) A decrease in economic development is usually caused by a decrease in religious belief.
C) An increase in economic development tends to lead to an increase in religious belief.
D) There is no relationship between economics and religion's role in politics.

Question 26

A society with strong religious denominationalism shares which of these characteristics?

A) Accepts religious pluralism
B) Membership is voluntary
C) Unlike laicist societies, politics is not off-limits
D) All of the above

Question 27

Which scholars argues that distinguishes assertive secularism from passive secularism, and that path dependence helps explain the patterns.

A) Ahmet Kuru
B) Adida and colleagues
C) Casanova
D) Eisenstat

Question 28

Which of the following scholars is associated with the idea of the "End of History" because only Liberalism was left standing after the fall of the Soviet Union?

A) José Casanova
B) Francis Fukuyama
C) Samuel Huntington
D) Rodney Stark

Question 29

Which if the following scholars is most closely associated with the idea of the "Clash of Civilizations"?

A) José Casanova
B) Francis Fukuyama
C) Samuel Huntington
D) Rodney Stark

Question 30

What country is best known for the ideology of "twenty-first-century socialism"?

A) Colombia
B) Argentina
C) Chile
D) Venezuela

Question 31

Which of the following scholars is most closely associated with the idea of "multiple modernities"?

A) José Casanova
B) Francis Fukuyama
C) Samuel Huntington
D) S.M. Eisenstadt

Question 32

To what does the label of "multiple modernities" refer?

A) There are multiple available modernization processes
B) The United States and Western Europe are the models of modernization.
C) Modernity is simply a matter of economic development
D) None of the above

Question 33

Which of the following countries is often considered part of Latin America's more radical left?

A) Cameroon
B) Brazil
C) Bolivia
D) Colombia

Question 34

Why might a comparativist construct a typology?

A) Because it is just fun to sort regimes into categories
B) To help organize cases into patterns that can be explained
C) To create a category is to provide an explanation
D) Political scientists no longer do this.

Question 35

What is the difference between a denominational society and a laicist one?

Question 36

What is the difference between a denominational society and a society with a religious state?

Question 37

What is the difference between a denominational society and a religious state?

Question 38

What is the difference between a lay state and a religious state?

Question 39

Why do scholars in the "religious economies" school think that religious pluralism might increase religiosity?

Question 40

Why do some scholars argue that religious pluralism can be expected to reduce religiosity?

Question 41

Is the question of religious pluralism's relationship with religiosity settled science?

Question 42

Why did some scholars argue that ideology or history had "ended"?

Question 43

What does the idea of "multiple modernities" mean?

Question 44

What is "twenty-first-century socialism" and how, if at all, is it different from earlier forms of socialism?

Question 45

How do the ideas in "End of History" differ from that in the "Clash of Civilizations"?

Question 46

Is religion an ideology? Is ideology a religion?

Question 47

Is social democracy a liberal or a socialist idea? State and defend your position on this question.

Question 48

Which account of contemporary political-cultural differences is more useful, that of Huntington (the "Clash of Civilizations") or that of Eisenstadt ("multiple modernities")? Explain clearly both views and defend your answer.

Question 49

Was Fukuyama right about the "End of History"? Bring two other theories discussed from this chapter into your answer to this question.

Question 50

Analyze the various reasons why modernization theory and the religious economies school have such different accounts of religion's role in contemporary societies. Why and in what respects are these theories so different?

Question 51

Three of the theories we considered about religion's role in society conceptualize very differently the phenomenon they are trying to explain. Analyze these differences and explicate their implications for the theories more generally.

Question 52

Following "Thinking Comparatively" in Chapter 15, analyze the implications of modern populism in the United States. Compare it with Populism in another country. Do you think populism is developing into an ideology in the U.S.? Why or why not?