Political Science Questions and Answers
Political Science
Characteristics Of A State
People have tried to define a state going at least as far back as the days of Plato. In 1933, representatives from a number of countries gathered in Uruguay to define what makes a state, in what...
Political Science
Who has more power in the British government, the Queen or the Prime Minister?
In the Constitutional system as it has evolved over the centuries, the monarch has come to have no actual "power." The Queen now (or King when there is one in future) is the head of state, but this...
Political Science
What are some of the similarities and differences between a parliamentary and presidential democracy?
There are substantial differences within as well as between the systems of parliamentary democracy and presidential democracy. To take two specific examples as patterns, some of the differences and...
Political Science
How are interest groups and political parties similar or different?
The main similarity between political parties and interest groups is that they both seek to achieve certain policy objectives. These can be a broad range of policy objectives or only a relative...
Political Science
What is the different between horizontal and vertical policy-making?
Horizontal policy-making focuses on collaboration and cooperation to make the best possible decisions. There is a decreased focus on a traditional hierarchy of those with decision-making powers and...
Political Science
What are some positive and negative aspects of interest groups?
Interest groups play an important role as the “voice” of the people to advocate for their rights and push forward their agenda. Thus, without some interest groups or pressure groups, the voice and...
Political Science
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having so many levels of subnational governments in the United States?...
One advantage of so many local and state (i.e., subnational) governments in the United States of America is often attached to freedom. When the Founding Fathers were thinking about how to organize...
Political Science
What role has technology played increasing the power and reach of presidents?
Technology has allowed the president to instantly reach hundreds of millions of people with a simple Tweet. It has also allowed the media, which operates across television, the radio, and the...
Political Science
What is the difference between a single-member district election and an at-large system?
At the federal level, single-member elections are how congressional representatives in the House of Representatives are elected. Each state is divided into districts, and each district has the...
Political Science
What is a voting cue?
A voting cue is something that helps someone know how they should vote on a particular issue. It is often used with regard to members of legislatures, but can also refer to the voting behavior of...
Political Science
Why Is Government Necessary
Government is necessary because human beings aren't angels. Almost everyone is a mixture of good and bad, and, one could argue, it's the bad side of human nature that needs to be restrained by the...
Political Science
How do political parties influence policy making?
Political parties influence public policy precisely because that is why they exist: to influence public policy. Political parties are large groupings of like-minded individuals who collectively...
Political Science
What are some of the criticisms of interest groups?
Interest groups are often criticized for being "single issue." This means they will support whichever political candidate promises to champion their one issue. The political candidate could have a...
Political Science
What is the nature and scope of political science?
Political science, by nature, is a social science that deals with humans and their interactions. As a branch of sociology, it essentially deals with the large-scale actions of humans, and group...
Political Science
Why does a bill has to pass both houses of Congress to reach the president's desk?
A bill has to pass through both houses of Congress to make it to the president because the Framers of the Constitution wanted to make sure that it was hard for the government to oppress us and...
Political Science
Similarities Between House And Senate
The House has a reputation of being much more contentious and impulsive when it comes to legislation. By comparison, it is fairly easy to be elected to the House, which means you have won a...
Political Science
What are the characteristics of a social movement?
Social movements are varied, but they do have a few shared characteristics. Generally speaking, social movements are geared toward creating, perpetuating, or stopping social or political change....
Political Science
What are the advantages of elections?
The primary advantage of elections is that, when fairly conducted, they provide the best expression of the electorate's political preferences. As the alternative to elections is autocratic, or...
Political Science
Compare and contrast the Mexican government with the United States' government.
The similarities between the nations' governments are practically all surrounding how the government is run and how it was established. The nations are both democracies, established as federations...
Political Science
What do Democrats and Republicans have in common? How are they different?
What these parties have in common is a belief in the basics of the American system. Both believe in a capitalist economy and a democratic goverment with free electionss and civil rights and civil...
Political Science
What is a political cue?
The term "political cue" is one that has a different meaning for political professionals than members of the voting public. To the former, it refers to any signal that reveals to a legislator what...
Political Science
Why is it necessary for a bill to go through so many steps to become a law?
There are, in theory, ten potential steps a bill can go through before it becomes law. Although a president, a member of cabinet or head of a federal agency may propose a bill, only a member of...
Political Science
What are the major differences between realism, liberalism, and constructivism as theories of international relations?
The main difference between the three theories is how each of them perceive international relations. The realist views each state as being out for itself and power between states as a zero-sum...
Political Science
Identify some advantages to the nation that might follow when one party controls the House, the Senate, and the...
One advantage that could occur when one party controls both the Congress and the presidency is that is could be easier to get laws passed and signed. If one party has a majority in both the House...
Political Science
How are citizens involved in the three branches of our federal government?
Public participation is very important especially in running a democratic government and this does not stop after elections. The public is responsible for most of the actions and decisions that the...
Political Science
Importance Of Freedom
The importance of freedom is that it allows us to develop our morality and our consciences. If we lack freedom, we cannot truly become mature human beings. When we are forced to do things or not...
Political Science
Why is "pork barrel" spending important?
Pork barrel spending is spending that is intended for specific projects that benefit donor or constituent groups. Pork barrel spending can make legislation easier to pass because it allows for...
Political Science
What does state sovereignty mean?
Sovereignty refers to the power of a state to make and apply its own laws and to control its affairs without the interference of other states. The United States is a sovereign state, as it can make...
Political Science
Do you agree or disagree with the author in the following source? Defend your argument with an example. "There would...
There is much to like in this statement. When "the people" as a whole make big decisions, they can do so in very short-sighted ways. For example, "the people" in the US today want lots of...
Political Science
Why should the Texas governor have more power?
The governor of Texas is one of the least empowered executives of any state in the country. This is largely by design, as the drafters of the Texas Constitution were worried that a strong state...
Political Science
Compare and contrast three different forms of governments.
There are various forms of government, but political philosophers have often looked at monarchies, oligarchies, and democracies. Neither of the three governments are inherently good or bad. All of...
Political Science
What is an example of casework?
Having worked on many cases on behalf of the constituents of the members of Congress for whom I worked on Capitol Hill, I can provide many examples of casework. My first two employers served on...
Political Science
What is the biggest obstacle for a bill to become a law during the bill-making process?
A bill faces several obstacles to becoming a law, which is why most bills are not, in fact, enacted into legislation. Without tracing the familiar steps by which a bill becomes a law, the biggest...
Political Science
What is an example of "cross-cutting cleavages" in any country, including the United States?
The other two answers define cross-cutting cleavages and provided American examples, so I thought I'd contribute a global case. In India, the north-south divide splits people economically. Southern...
Political Science
What is the difference between the British Parliament and the US Congress?
In the British Parliament, the party that governs is, by convention, the one that can command majority support in the House of Commons. Once that majority is secured, the government is entitled to...
Political Science
Benefits Of War
Wars can be beneficial in all the ways already mentioned. World War II is probably one of the few instances in which both the victors and the losers benefitted from the war -- the victors by...
Political Science
What is the difference between a proportional representation and winner-take all-system? I understand that the P.R is...
The difference between a proportional system and a winner-takes-all system is in the amount of representation the minority gets following a vote. In a winner-takes-all system, the losing party,...
Political Science
What is considered a political process?
Anything can be considered as part of the political process if it is a process through which governmental institutions interact with the people. To understand what this means, look at Greenberg...
Political Science
What qualifications or characteristics do you think a president should have? Which of the recent presidents, if any,...
Like post #4, I place the highest importance on intelligence, but would actually use the word "wisdom" instead. Any leader, but especially the Commander in Chief of the United States, needs to be...
Political Science
Why is money so important in elections Why is money so important in elections? How do candidates reach potential voters?
Money is so important in political campaigns because money reaches the voters. Not only does money pay advertising costs and staffing costs, it pays transportation and lodging and related cost so...
Political Science
What is implied by the saying "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty?"
Although there are several variants of the phrase scattered among different authors, perhaps the best known within the context of the United States is from a speech by Wendell Phillips (1811–1888),...
Political Science
What is the relationship between government and the economy? What is the relationship between the guarantees a...
The economic system of a country often determines how it is governed. For example, the United States moved from the mixed economy of the mid-twentieth century, in which there was both a strong...
Political Science
What is political disintegration?
This term is most commonly used to refer to the situation in which a political entity that has been at least relatively united splits up into smaller parts. This is, for example, something that...
Political Science
What are the differences and similarities between descriptive representation and substantive representation?
There are similarities and differences between descriptive representation and substantive representation. Descriptive representation is when an elected official represents people based on some...
Political Science
In what ways does having a part-time legislative body improve representation?
Part-time legislatures can improve representation by making legislators more in touch with the people they’re elected to represent. If legislators work part-time, so the argument runs, they will...
Political Science
Compare and contrast the theories of pluralism and power elitism.
Both Pluralism and Elitism are political theories that attempt to explain what factions hold the most sway in the democratic process. On one hand, pluralism attempts to explain democracy under...
Political Science
What are the similarities and differences between a democracy and a monarchy?
Government The major similarity between monarchy and democracy is that they are both forms of government. Government is dedicated to establishing hierarchy of authority, rule of law, social order...
Political Science
2) Explain the “incumbency effect” and its effect on members of Congress. How is this effect an advantage or...
The premise of the incumbency effect is that there are advantages to being an incumbent which puts challengers at an automatic disadvantage. The effect suggests that "the incumbent always wins."...
Political Science
What is the difference between liberalism & fascism ? Im doing an ideology essay on liberalism & fascism. We...
Liberalism is predicated on the idea of democratically elected governments, individual freedom, and religious toleration. Under liberalism, every person, at least in theory, has the equal...
Political Science
Does government by committee make the role of individual members of Congress less important?
The best answer to this is “it depends.” Some individuals are clearly made less important by the committee system. However, others are made more important than they otherwise would have been. In...
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