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Students Zone - Self test questions
Use these questions both to test your detailed knowledge of each chapter. Make a note of your answers and then consult the answers page on this website. If you score less than 12 correct answers for any chapter, you probably need to spend more time re-reading and revising its contents.
CHAPTER 1: Why Politics Matters and Why British Politics Matters?
1. Politics occurs:
a) In all social institutions
b) Only in the state
c) Only in institutions other than the state
2. Politics makes:
a) No difference to people's lives
b) Is the only influence shaping people's lives
c) Makes a critical difference to people's lives.
3. Politics is:
a) A more common leisure activity than dress making
b) About as popular as dressmaking
c) Less common than dressmaking.
4.The modern state system originated at the Treaty of Westphalia signed in:
a) 1715
b) 1648
c) 1820
5. 'Monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force' is a defining feature of the state according to:
a) Max Weber
b) Karl Marx
c) Robert Dahl
6. 'Authority' is based on:
a) Coercion
b) Legitimacy
c) Bribery
7. 'Legitimacy' refers to:
a) A moral right to exercise power
b) A legally verified right to exercise power
c) A recognised line of historical succession.
8. 'Charismatic' authority is based on:
a) Laws passed by Parliament
b) A legally binding contract
c) Recognition of a god given right to rule
9. The most important kind of authority in modern Britain is:
a) Charisma
b) Tradition
c) Rational Legal Authority.
10. In Britain, democracy means
b) Rule by governments that are victorious in General Elections
c) Direct rule by all the people
11. In Britain, the rule of law:
a) Has no written basis whatsoever
b) Is enshrined in a written constitution
c) Is based on a mixture of unwritten conventions and legislation.
12.'Sovereignty' means:
a) A state commands supreme authority in its territory
b) Rule by a Monarch
c) A single centre of power in a territory
13. Britain is:
a) A very rich country by global standards
b) A very poor country by global standards
c) A middle income country by global standards.
14. In the Industrial Revolution Britain:
a) Was a pioneer
b) Was a 'late industrialiser'
c) Was one of a group of countries who industrialised at the same moment.
15. Over the last century the scale of government in Britain
a) Has shrunk
b) Has remained about constant
c) Has grown.
