Basics of Political Science II Quiz

Answer: International norms

In Weber's view, there were three manners by which a regime may obtain its legitimacy. The first, traditional legitimacy, rests on the notion that a regime rules because it has always ruled. Monarchical dynasties (e.g. the Tudors or the Ptolemy Dynasty) acquire their legitimacy through the traditional form. Charismatic legitimacy derives from the special attributes of an individual who is especially eloquent, imposing and persuasive in personality (or sometimes, even physical looks).

In this category falls Charles De Gaulle and Gandhi (and, unfortunately, some of history's worst dictators, for example Hitler or Mao Zedong).

The basis of rational-legal legitimacy lies in a highly institutionalized system of laws, wherein a leader is selected by a specific set of codified criteria. Most leaders in today's various liberal democracies obtain their legitimacy through rational-legal means.

Answer: Switzerland

Switzerland calls itself the 'Swiss Confederation', as it is comprised of small states called cantons that are endowed with a certain level of sovereignty, and enjoy a high degree of autonomy in regards to decision making. However, over time the power of the central government in Switzerland has grown, and it might be better to use the term 'federal' when describing the country. The newly formed country of Serbia and Montenegro has chosen the confederal form of union, making it perhaps the only truly confederal system in the world as of 2004.

Answer: Rwanda

Ethnicity refers to a special set of attributes, whether they be linguistic, religious or otherwise, that culturally differentiates a certain group of people from another. In Rwanda, the Hutu and Tutsi groupings were initially categorized on the basis of occupational lifestyle, but eventually they developed into what could be considered ethnicities. In 1994, tensions between the minority Tutsis and the majority Hutus led to a genocide that took half a million Tutsi lives in a rather brief period of time.

Answer: Basques

Certain members of the Basque minority have long struggled for a sovereign state in the northeast region of Spain. Like the Basques, the Eritreans also sought independence, and engaged in civil war against the Ethiopian government until achieving sovereignty in 1993. The Chechens are a nationalist group within Russia, while the Tamils operate as a separatist group on Sri Lanka. All of these groups use (or have used) ethnicity as a category by which they rationalize their independence movements.

Answer: Fiji

While Somalia, Japan and Iceland contain largely homogeneous populations, Fiji is almost evenly divided between native Polynesians and Indians (Asian). Fiji's government has been fractured by the struggle between the native Fijians and the relatively late-coming Indians; the former have been trying to exclude the latter politically through various constitutional measures. Japan and Iceland have largely avoided internecine conflict, while Somalia has suffered from a great deal of internal strife, largely clan-based in nature.

Answer: Adam Smith

Adam Smith was a famed Scottish philosopher and economic theoretician from the 18th century who promoted a brand of liberalism that included the concepts of the free market, individual gain and 'the invisible hand'. Lesser known is Smith's concept of 'fellow feeling', which, in short, insisted that men who are active in the market must also make consideration for the well-being of their fellow human beings. Smith considered the marketplace to be the milieu in which societal values were developed; the incubator of civil society, so to speak. Thus, the traditional neo-classical economic view that Smith wholeheartedly would endorse the phrase 'greed is good', should be taken with a grain of salt.

Answer: Sweden

The term social democracy may be likened to socialism. Within a social democracy the traditional liberal concepts of private property and markets are accepted, but with limits imposed by an active government. Government regulations and high taxes in a social democratic system are meant to ensure that wealth is more evenly distributed within society. Though some social democratic states such as Sweden and Denmark have achieved a high degree of economic and social progress, problems have arisen as a result of the cumbersome governmental presence in those countries, especially within the realm of taxation (which has risen to 50% or more of one's annual income in some of the social democratic countries).

Answer: North Korea

Following the dismemberment of the Soviet Union in 1991 only a few countries around the world continued to adhere to communist ideology, among them North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and China. Even in the cases of China and Vietnam, economic reforms have rather enervated the essence of the brand of communist ideology practiced in those regimes, though a strict governmental authoritarianism has been maintained in both places.

Answer: Benedict Anderson

Benedict Anderson's most famous book, a seminal work of modern political science written in 1983, is called 'Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism'. In his work, Anderson describes how modern nation-states were established through the use of mass media to establish nationalistic fervor and an expansion of capitalist production, the two of which worked in tandem to create a sense of togetherness and belonging among otherwise rather disparate groups of people.

Answer: Invention of Tradition

Hobsbawm co-wrote a book in 1983 (a very productive year, apparently!) with T. Ranger that was entitled 'The Invention of Tradition'. Hobsbawm and Ranger take a very dark view of the development of nationalism, suggesting that it is an invention of the elites within each emerging nation-state. National mythologies are developed to deceive the masses into working for the betterment of society, when in reality only the elites benefit from the painstaking labor of the masses. Marx would approve! Thank you for trying this quiz, I hope you enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.