Deck 13: Legislatures

Question 1

Which of the following terms identifies a primary danger to multiparty systems?

A)Ombudsman
B)Gridlock
C)Stalemate
D)Immobilism

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which systems demonstrate the clearest separation of power between the executive and legislative branches?

A)Parliamentary
B)Presidential
C)Monarchies
D)Ministerial

Answer 2

B

Question 3

How often does the cabinet change in a parliamentary system?

A)Every four years
B)Every six years
C)Every eight years
D)When the cabinet is voted out or resigns

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The English Civil War erupted between which two political forces?

A)Monarchists and democrats
B)Democrats and parliamentarians
C)Parliamentarians and royalists
D)Loyalists and separatists

Question 5

Which British monarch famously broke the nation's ties with the Roman Catholic Church?

A)George IV
B)James I
C)Charles II
D)Henry VIII

Question 6

According to theorists, what happens to political institutions as they become more modern?

A)Their infrastructures crumble under labyrinthine bureaucracy.
B)They become more specialized, complex, and differentiated.
C)They grow broader in scope and focus.
D)They establish a militaristic presence and harsh economic policies.

Question 7

Countries with limits on government have usually had feudal pasts, which suggests what about the dispersion of power?

A)Equal distribution of power is the only effective political structure.
B)Power must be distributed by the working class.
C)Power should be concentrated among the lower classes.
D)Dispersion of power is good and concentration of power is bad.

Question 8

Which of the following is a possible advantage of parliamentary systems as compared to presidential systems?

A)Parliamentary cabinets are held directly accountable to voters, and thus work closely with the legislature.
B)Because the prime minister is held directly accountable to voters via approval ratings, parliamentary systems are more likely to pass legislature quickly and effectively.
C)Presidents often become involved in scandals, trapping their administrations in bureaucratic quagmire and slowing legislature.
D)Parliamentary cabinets can be quickly overturned, and thus, such systems can avoid the paralysis experienced in many presidential systems.

Question 9

In a parliamentary system, voters directly elect __________.

A)members of parliament and the prime minister
B)members of parliament and the ministerial cabinet
C)members of parliament only
D)the prime minister only

Question 10

Often at war, ambitious European monarchs desperately needed revenues.Some of them started calling assemblies of notables to levy taxes.In return for their "power of the purse," these assemblies received a modest input into royal policies.Such were the beginnings of the __________.

A)American Congress
B)French Estates General
C)British Parliament
D)Swedish Riksdag

Question 11

English philosopher John Locke extolled the power of which governing branch as the most basic and important?

A)Executive
B)Judicial
C)Legislative
D)Parliamentary

Question 12

Which of the following terms is defined as the post-feudal concentration of power in a monarch?

A)Absolutism
B)Totalitarianism
C)Teetotalism
D)Monarchy

Question 13

By the seventeenth century, Parliament considered itself coequal with the monarch and even supreme in what area of rule?

A)Taxes
B)War
C)Law
D)Welfare

Question 14

Which of the following statements best defines feudalism?

A)A political structure in which power is dispersed evenly.
B)A system of political power dispersed among layers.
C)A political structure in which power rests with church leaders.
D)A system of political power distributed to the working class.

Question 15

In Europe, a cabinet is equivalent to a U.S.__________.

A)administration
B)congress
C)president
D)legislature

Question 16

Interpret the reason behind the swift passage of laws between Britain's cabinet and the House of Commons.

A)New laws move between the House of Commons and the House of Lords without electoral delay.
B)The House of Commons consists only of the cabinet's party, which is always loyal to the prime minister.
C)The cabinet passes new laws to the House of Commons, where the prime minister's party holds a majority.
D)The prime minister uses "whip" tactics to maintain party coherence in the House of Commons.

Question 17

Why do the responsibilities of legislative and executive powers often overlap?

A)Separation of powers is rarely clear-cut.
B)Separation of powers is rare among industrialized nations.
C)Separation of powers is absolute.
D)Separation of powers grants obtuse levels of power to the executive branch.

Question 18

Because of the separation of powers inherent in a presidential system, some scholars think that executive-legislative __________is common in systems like that used in the United States.

A)cooperation
B)stagnation
C)deadlock
D)insolvency

Question 19

What is the effect of "divided" government, such as that used in the United States, on spending and policy formation?

A)It encourages unhealthy spending and foolish policies.
B)It holds down spending and foolish policies.
C)It encourages irresponsible spending because representatives are held accountable for only a short amount of time.
D)It encourages responsible spending, but is slow to implement policy.

Question 20

Voters receive the most direct representation in which system?

A)Parliamentary
B)Presidential
C)Electoral
D)Coalition

Question 21

South Africa once had a three-chambered parliament, including __________.

A)aristocrats, commoners and working-class people
B)indigenous people, whites and immigrants
C)West Africans, sub-Saharan people, and Arabs
D)whites, mixed-race peoples, and East Indians

Question 22

Often lawmakers are so busy with __________ casework that they pay little attention to making laws.

A)constituency
B)environmental
C)congressional
D)commercial

Question 23

Germany's __________ represents the 16 Länder and is coequal to the lower house on constitutional questions.

A)Riksdag
B)Reichstag
C)Bundesrat
D)Bildungsroman

Question 24

Virtually every legislature has a number of standing or permanent committees and may from time to time create special __________ committees to study urgent matters.

A)emergency
B)crisis
C)disaster
D)ad hoc

Question 25

The United States parliament consists of two chambers, the __________ and the __________.

A)executive; legislative
B)Senate; House of Representatives
C)president; Supreme Court
D)president; Congress

Question 26

Examine the power relationship between Britain's House of Commons and the House of Lords.

A)The House of Lords is the upper house and thus determines most of the country's foreign policy. The House of Commons deal with domestic affairs.
B)The House of Commons overrides any objection from the House of Lords with a simple majority vote.
C)The House of Lords is the more powerful branch drafting the majority of legislature and overriding weak legislating by the House of Commons.
D)The House of Commons works with the prime minister, who uses a "whip" system to maintain coherence in the House of Lords.

Question 27

China's National People's Congress uses a __________ parliament.

A)unicameral
B)bicameral
C)tricameral
D)multicameral

Question 28

Compare the parliamentary systems of China and Great Britain.

A)Great Britain's parliament is bicameral while China's is unicameral.
B)Great Britain's parliament is unitary while China's is solitary.
C)China's parliament is bicameral while Britain's is unicameral.
D)China's parliament is three-chambered while Britain's is bicameral.

Question 29

Examine the psychological effect of apartheid legislature on South Africa's racial majority.

A)Black South Africans felt underrepresented, as the drafting legislature included less than 10 black African representatives.
B)Created by a whites-only majority, black South Africans did not feel represented.
C)Black South Africans accepted the laws, feeling powerless to affect change.
D)Because the legislature passed in South Africa's lower house, most black people begrudgingly accepted it.

Question 30

In the United States, the two houses have a total of about __________ subcommittees.

A)150
B)250
C)550
D)1,050

Question 31

Changes in the 1970s weakened the nearly tyrannical powers of American committee chairpersons by __________.

A)making it easier to establish subcommittees
B)restricting the chairpersons' authority
C)establishing specialized "field" committees
D)altering their responsibilities to include international affairs

Question 32

The main purpose of legislative bodies, in theory, is to formulate laws.This, however, varies among political systems and is generally __________.

A)increasing
B)stagnating
C)declining
D)inflating

Question 33

New Zealanders, Danes, and Swedes-all with __________ systems-concluded that their upper houses served no purpose and abolished them in recent decades.

A)two-party
B)unitary
C)bicameral
D)supervisory

Question 34

How did Democratic control of Congress allow the United States legislature to deal with the Iraq War?

A)Congress set a timetable for the war's end.
B)Congress cut funding for foreign activities outlined by the executive branch.
C)Congress was able to hold critical hearings.
D)Congress blocked legislation extending executive privilege.

Question 35

Identify three major criticisms both parties have leveled against the Obama administration.

A)Over-spending, bailing out financial institutions, and complex healthcare reform
B)Lax immigration policies, weak drug control, and failed national security policies
C)Strict gun control laws, feeble immigration policies, and harsh healthcare mandates
D)Frail drug policies, a weak handle on the terrorism threat, and ignorance of LGBTQ rights

Question 36

Assess the role of most modern legislators.

A)Due to strict changes in the process, modern legislators focus solely on lawmaking.
B)Because of increased advertising costs, many legislators spend most of their time raising funds for upcoming elections.
C)Modern legislators function as ombudsmen, intervening with government on behalf of constituent complaints.
D)Legislators work on contract, accepting campaign donations on behalf of legal causes.

Question 37

Assess the role of Britain's House of Lords.

A)The primary house in Britain's parliament, they are the architects of most new laws in the United Kingdom.
B)Holding similar weight as the House of Commons, they pass legislature in coordination with one another.
C)A revisionary body, they rewrite laws vetoed by the prime minister.
D)Mostly an elderly debating society, they sometimes catch errors in laws that are passed too quickly.

Question 38

Under the Unites States Constitution, the Senate represents __________ while the House represents __________.

A)the states; the people
B)federal interests; local ones
C)foreign issues; domestic ones
D)the president abroad; his interests at home

Question 39

What sorts of bills do individual legislators create?

A)Individual legislators draft most important legislation, including immigration reform.
B)Most individual legislators focus on major legislation benefiting their party's interests.
C)Individual legislators draft minor legislation, such as tax breaks for constituents.
D)Few individual legislators deal with minor legislation, such as smoking bans.

Question 40

Within a unitary system, how useful is an upper house?

A)The upper house is absolutely necessary.
B)Its utility waxes and wanes according to power distribution.
C)It is less necessary than the lower house.
D)Its usefulness is unclear.

Question 41

Since African Americans vote in considerable numbers, representatives in the U.S.South take care not to offend them.

Question 42

In parliamentary systems, particularly those in Europe, party discipline is strong and legislators obey party whips.

Question 43

The European parliaments really are more rational and efficient than the U.S.Congress, but they are also less powerful and less interesting.Efficiency has led to atrophy.

Question 44

In U.S.House contests, more than __________ of incumbents win.

A)30%
B)50%
C)70%
D)90%

Question 45

Due to its near-feudal dispersion of power with weaker party discipline and its tendency to deadlock, the U.S.legislature is considered highly __________.

A)utilitarian
B)domineering
C)efficacious
D)inefficient

Question 46

Projects that bring improvements to or spend money in a representative's district are called __________.

A)pork barrel
B)log rolling
C)whip projects
D)flood control

Question 47

Britain's House of Lords was reformed in 1999 to keep "life peers" and exclude most hereditary peers.

Question 48

Evaluate the impact of absentee voting in the legislature.

A)It may indicate that the system has grown overly labyrinthine and is in need of change.
B)Absentee voting has little effect on legislative outcomes, as members who miss have no stake in the legislation being voted on.
C)It almost certainly indicates that the legislator is misrepresenting his constituents and misusing taxpayer funds.
D)It may indicate that the legislator is busy doing other important things, but may also indicate just plain laziness.

Question 49

Assignment to the more prestigious of Congressional committees, such as the House Ways and Means Committee or Armed Services Committee, is frequently damaging to representatives' careers, and thus, they tend to avoid these assignments.

Question 50

The United States takes great pride in its fusion of powers.

Question 51

Cabinet and government, terms used interchangeably, are what Americans call an "administration."

Question 52

Which of the following is an effect of Congress's fragmentation into committees and subcommittees?

A)It hastens argumentation.
B)It creates interparty splits.
C)It allows representatives to ignore constituents.
D)It delays agreement.

Question 53

During the Age of Enlightenment, French philosopher René DesCartes declared that liberty could be secured only if government were divided into four distinct branches, with the ability to check and balance each other.

Question 54

Contrary to Locke's expectations, nineteenth-century legislatures __________.

A)lost power to the executive
B)gained power over the executive
C)stripped power from the executive
D)maintained a cooperative relationship with the executive

Question 55

The French Estates General, with three houses (for nobles, clerics, and commoners), was the first successful example of parliamentary checks and balances.

Question 56

The U.S.pork barrel takes second place to the __________, whose legislators are famous for delivering massive (and often unneeded) public-works projects to their districts and shielding farmers from competition.

A)French
B)Australians
C)Japanese
D)Vietnamese

Question 57

Most parliaments use a unicameral system, with fewer parliaments worldwide implementing bicameral systems.

Question 58

Assess Vladimir Putin's handling of the deadlock between the Russian Duma and the executive branch under Boris Yeltsin.

A)Under the auspices of the Unity Party, Putin seized power and now rules Russia under a one-party system.
B)Putin spearheaded reforms under the National Party of the Left, which allowed parties in the Duma to more swiftly compromise.
C)Putin founded his own party, which controls two-thirds of the Duma, but Russia is no longer a democracy.
D)Putin led the ouster of Yeltsin's administration, making way for faster legislation and a more democratic Russia.

Question 59

The average annual number of filibusters in the U.S.Senate has __________ since 1981.

A)greatly increased
B)slightly increased
C)greatly decreased
D)fluctuated widely

Question 60

The U.S.Senate rules allow a member to declare a __________ to block legislation, which can be ended only with a vote of "cloture" (closure) by three-fifths of the Senate.

A)debate
B)filibuster
C)bind
D)tie-up

Question 61

Examine the origins of parliaments by comparing feudalism and absolutism.How did one develop into the other and what effect has that system had on today's separation of powers?

Question 62

Within parliamentary systems, if no one party has a majority of seats, two or more parties must form a __________.

Question 63

Members of Parliament with no executive responsibilities sit behind the cabinets and are called __________.

Question 64

__________ systems most clearly show the separation of power between the executive and legislative branches.

Question 65

Analyze the decline of parliamentary power.

Question 66

The United States Founding Fathers insisted on "checks and balances," otherwise known as ___________.

Question 67

Differentiate between presidential and parliamentary systems.

Question 68

In Britain, Sweden, and some other European countries, legislatures slowly grew in power and were able to resist monarchs' __________ demands.

Question 69

Examine the committee system.How do committees function to create laws? What other roles do committees play in the process of legislative representation? Assess the advantages and disadvantages of these roles.

Question 70

In Britain, the __________ allows members of Parliament to grill ministers, sometimes with devastating results.

Question 71

Evaluate the work of today's legislators.To what extent are they responsible for creating laws?

Question 72

In Democratic parliaments, once a bill reports favorably out of committee it goes to __________, where it needs a majority vote to pass.

Question 73

Compare and contrast presidential and parliamentary systems.How are they similar? In what ways are they disparate? Evaluate each system using specific examples.

Question 74

Describe the benefits and pitfalls of bicameral and unicameral legislatures.

Question 75

Investigate the decline of legislatures from the late nineteenth century to the present.How has legislative power declined and where is that power currently centralized? What changes, social or otherwise, influenced that shift? Does this shift enforce or disrupt the balance of powers?

Question 76

Explain the development of feudalism and the "balance of powers."

Question 77

One good way to study something is to see how it changes over time, or a __________ study.

Question 78

Differentiate between bicameral and unicameral systems, evaluating the benefits and detriments to each.Overall, which seems like the most effective legislative system? Provide examples from your text.

Question 79

For better or worse, a __________ age has shifted power away from legislatures.

Question 80

Like some two-thirds of parliaments around the world, the French __________ maintains a bicameral legislature.