Deck 10: Institutions and States

Question 1

What are the main features of a political institution? Please select all that apply.

A) Regular patterns of collective behaviour.
B) Formalized rules of membership.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Political institutions cause policy outcomes: true or false? (For example, do first-past-the-post systems cause majority governments?)

Answer 2

False

Question 3

President Kim Jong Il of North Korea is an institution.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Is the state an abstract or a concrete term for political authority?

A) Abstract.
B) Concrete.
C) Both abstract and concrete.

Question 5

The European state spread around the world because of its moral superiority.

Question 6

Japan and Turkey adopted European forms of state organization because they were colonized.

Question 7

According to Finer, which of the following innovations in government can be attributed to the American Revolution? Please select all that apply.

A) Using a convention to formulate a new form of government.
B) A written constitution.
C) A bill of rights.
D) Separation of powers.
E) Division of powers between national and state governments.
F) Declaration of Natural Rights of Man based upon the General Will.
G) Nationalism.
H) Citizen armies.
I) Neo-absolutism.

Question 8

Which are the main features of the Westphalian system of international relations? Please select all that apply.

A) Sovereignty of states.
B) Equality between states.
C) States have the right to intervene in the affairs of others to save human life.

Question 9

Borders were unimportant to traditional rulers in Africa and Asia.

Question 10

The modern state is exclusively concerned with promoting the public interest.

Question 11

If the state operates primarily as a tool in the hands of some group or groups in society at large, it reinforces authoritarianism.

Question 12

According to Rotberg, a modern state is expected to do more than just provide its citizens with human security, a predictable system of dispute settlement, clear laws, and the freedom to participate in politics.

Question 13

Which of the following regions are mainly populated by 'weak' states? Select all that apply.

A) Sub-Saharan Africa.
B) Middle East.
C) Eastern Europe.

Question 14

Somalia is a weak state under which there is no central authority.

Question 15

In the textbook, Somalia is given as the example of a failed state. Pick one of the states listed on page 251 (from the list provided by Fund for Peace) and assess whether or not they meet the criteria for a failed state.