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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 5: The Constitution and the Political Culture
1. A constitution:
a) Has to be a single written document
b) Has to be a set of unwritten conventions
c) Can be a mix of both
2. Constitutions:
a) Are confined to democratic political systems
b) Are confined to undemocratic political systems
c) Can exist in both democracies and non-democracies
3. Walter Bagehot distinguished between:
a) The secret and visible constitution
b) The dignified and efficient constitution
c) The written and the unwritten constitution
4. Dicey's view was that:
a) Parliament is bound by judge-made law
b) That it can make or unmake any law whatsoever
c) That it can make or unmake most but not all laws
5. 'Collective Ministerial Responsibility' is:
a) A law that all members of the Cabinet must obey
b) A rule that is mostly ignored
c) A convention whose observance is variable
6. 'Common law' refers to:
a) The accumulated decisions of judges and the courts
b) Law governing the operation of the House of Commons
c) Law that applies to everyone in common
7. The doctrine of 'Ultra vires':
a) Empowers the Executive in Britain to suspend laws in an emergency
b) Prescribes that the Executive cannot enforce a policy if the courts decide that the legal power of enforcement has been exceeded
c) Empowers the House of Commons to suspend some civil liberties in an emergency
8. The maximum span of a term for the Westminster House of Commons is:
a) Five years
b) Six years
c) Seven years
9. Surveys suggest that politicians are:
a) Among the most trusted groups in the country
b) Among the least trusted groups in the country
c) Command about an average amount of trust
10. Media reporting of the private life of the Royal Family:
a) Has grown in the last fifty years
b) Has diminished in the last fifty years
c) Has remained about the same in the last fifty years
11. The Human Rights Act was passed in:
a) 1689
b) 1998
c) 2001
12. 'Codification' of the Constitution has:
a) Increased in the last two decades
b) Decreased in the last two decades
c) Remained about the same in the last two decades
13. The Committee on Standards in Public Life was established in:
a) 1984
b) 1994
c) 2004
14. The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act was passed in:
a) 1994
b) 1997
c) 2000
15. 'Deference' has:
a) Probably declined in the last generation
b) Certainly declined in the last generation
c) Probably grown in the last generation
