Deck 13: South Africa

Question 1

The most powerful house of the South African legislature is called the:

A)National Council of Provinces.
B)Executive Chamber.
C)African National Congress.
D)Tribal Authority.
E)National Assembly.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Which of the following was an action taken by President F. W. de Klerk that hastened the transition to democracy and the end of apartheid?

A)passing the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act
B)legalizing the ANC
C)jailing prominent apartheid proponents
D)forcing the transition to proportional representation
E)dismantling the PAC

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following was a result of the investigation of the ANC by President Mbeki's Directorate of Special Operations?

A)a turf war between the Scorpions and the Directorate
B)a growth in government corruption
C)the rapid strengthening of opposition parties like COPE
D)the effective disbanding of the Directorate of Special Operations
E)the fall of President Mbeki himself

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The National Party took power in 1948 after:

A)a Dutch invasion.
B)a military coup.
C)a long war with blacks.
D)a bloody battle with the English.
E)an election victory.

Question 5

The Great Trek was:

A)an Afrikaner migration to the interior of South Africa to escape the British, which later gained mythical status.
B)a long march by Bantu kingdoms to escape European colonization.
C)an epic battle between Afrikaners and the English.
D)a bloody battle between Xhosa and Afrikaners.
E)the legendary Dutch voyage from Europe to Africa.

Question 6

How does public policy of the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), contrast with that of the African National Congress?

A)The DA has sought more state ownership of industry in order to guarantee nonwhite employment.
B)The DA favors a smaller role for the central government.
C)The DA has embraced stronger property rights for nonwhites.
D)The DA wants to take education and economic policy out of the hands of local government.
E)The DA has not made fighting corruption a strong component of their governing platform.

Question 7

Which of the following statements about formal powers and rules of the National Assembly is accurate?

A)National Assembly members serve for single six-year terms and are not allowed to stand for re-election.
B)The National Assembly is in part charged with validating the results of popular election of the president by the people.
C)ANC dominance of the National Assembly has had a big influence on the failure of the legislature to demonstrate much policy independence from the president.
D)The upper-house National Council typically takes the policy lead on matters of national interest.
E)The National Assembly can override National Council decisions with a plurality vote.

Question 8

Approximately what proportion of South Africa is black?

A)one-quarter
B)one-half
C)three-quarters
D)one-third
E)almost 95 percent

Question 9

South Africa currently uses which electoral system?

A)single-member district with two-round voting
B)single-member district with plurality
C)pure proportional representation
D)mixed single-member district and proportional representation
E)single transferable vote

Question 10

South Africa's strongest opposition party is the:

A)African National Congress.
B)National Party.
C)Democratic Alliance.
D)Inkatha Freedom Party.
E)Congress of the People.

Question 11

The Population Registration Act of 1950:

A)divided South Africans into four racial categories.
B)allowed interracial marriages for the first time.
C)gave blacks the right to vote.
D)required racial integration of neighborhoods.
E)ended all racial discrimination.

Question 12

South Africa's largest ethnic group is:

A)Zulu.
B)Tswana.
C)Afrikaner.
D)Xhosa.
E)Venda.

Question 13

Which of the following statements about the ANC's policies and actions toward alleviating poverty and inequality in the wake of democratization is accurate?

A)The ANC has recently abandoned its support of land reform and basic health care to focus more fully on containing inflation.
B)The ANC has sought to open up trade and take a noninterventionist role in the economy to satisfy foreign investors, but it has increased the number of SOEs in the last two decades.
C)The ANC pursued a model of liberal economic structuring after a costly two years of big investments in direct provision of basic needs to the poor.
D)The ANC pursued a strongly statist model of economic stewardship in its first decade of rule as a means of rapidly changing the economic-racial divide.
E)ANC policies have trended liberal and have brought limited but uneven growth, with several long periods of declining GDP.

Question 14

Under apartheid, Bantustans were:

A)internationally recognized black states.
B)"independent" black states created by South Africa but not recognized by any other country.
C)squatter settlements of blacks within major South African cities.
D)banning orders, which prevented some South Africans from voting.
E)traditional African houses.

Question 15

The most important antiapartheid organization was the:

A)Pan Africanist Congress.
B)National Party.
C)African National Congress.
D)South African Communist Party.
E)Congress of the People.

Question 16

The Boer Wars:

A)pitted the French against the Dutch.
B)ended in defeat for the British.
C)ended in defeat for the Afrikaners.
D)ended in defeat for the Xhosa tribes.
E)ended in victory for the Xhosa tribes.

Question 17

Which of the following is the kind of action that the African Union is likely to perform more often than its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, thus highlighting a core difference between the two?

A)send a peacekeeping force to help quell a conflict in neighboring Southeast Asia
B)negotiate an overall increase in external tariffs between member states
C)mediate a conflict over territorial disputes between two members
D)accept food aid from wealthy industrialized donors in the West
E)plan and support an increase in the welfare states of its members

Question 18

South Africa's legislative-executive system is:

A)presidential, though the legislature is referred to as a parliament.
B)parliamentary, though a president serves as head of government.
C)semi-presidential.
D)a monarchy.
E)a traditional parliamentary model.

Question 19

Which of the following statements best describes South Africa's political system during apartheid?

A)It was sharply authoritarian; a single party kept control of government through electoral fraud.
B)It was a parliamentary democracy that excluded Indians from citizenship and voting.
C)It was democratic for whites, resembling a parliamentary democracy, but excluded most other South Africans.
D)It was an illiberal democracy in which black Africans could only vote if they owned property.
E)It granted electoral access to all black Africans but deeply restricted the freedom of the press and judiciary.

Question 20

The controversial South African who became president after the 2009 elections is:

A)Desmond Tutu.
B)Helen Zille.
C)Nelson Mandela.
D)Kgalema Motlanthe.
E)Jacob Zuma.

Question 21

Describe the logic and workings of apartheid. How did its supporters justify white rule? How was it able to survive for so long?

Question 22

Which of the following best describes the economic strategy adopted by the ANC in 1996?

A)a purely statist model with a near-total reliance on command and control planning
B)liberal market policies domestically, but with high tariff barriers and a rejection of international investment
C)strongly socialist policies with an expanding welfare state
D)mildly mercantilist, with a focus on import substitution industrialization
E)liberal macroeconomic structural adjustment with greater limits to the role of the state

Question 23

On balance, has the African National Congress's tenure in power been a success or a failure? Describe some of its achievements and some of its shortcomings.

Question 24

A large majority of South Africans identify themselves as:

A)Christian.
B)Dutch Reformed.
C)Muslim.
D)atheist.
E)Catholic.

Question 25

To what degree has South Africa developed a political party system and a political culture that is independent of the history of apartheid? What level of influence do the current social and economic divisions have on the current makeup of political parties?

Question 26

In which of the following ways does the South African president differ from typical prime ministers in advanced democracies?

A)It is more difficult for the legislature to remove the South African president.
B)The South African president has less ceremonial and symbolic power.
C)The South African president can choose his cabinet.
D)The South African president exerts more influence over legislative policy.
E)It is relatively common for a South African president to be removed by a vote of no confidence.

Question 27

Describe the state of crime and corruption in modern South Africa. What steps, if any, have recent ANC governments taken to address these problems, and how successful have they been?

Question 28

Which of the following was a controversial policy of President Thabo Mbeki?

A)his bitter opposition to Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe
B)his attempt to create regional integration and cooperation
C)his policy regarding HIV/AIDS
D)his attempt to ban opposition political parties
E)his involvement in African peacekeeping

Question 29

Which of the following statements about the role of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in South Africa is accurate?

A)COSATU is one of the rare components of South African civil society that has not been tied to the effort to end apartheid.
B)COSATU's overall influence weakened dramatically when it failed to mobilize strikes in demand for higher wages.
C)COSATU severed its relations with the ANC in response to the ANC's failure to criticize the Mugabe regime.
D)COSATU has lost most of its actual power to defend trade unions, but remains an influential lobby in education policy.
E)COSATU has consistently opposed the ANC's economic liberalization policies.

Question 30

How did South African electoral processes change in the transition from apartheid to the current system? Why was the British model abandoned, and what effect has it had on fair representation?