Chapter 11 Interest Groups Social Movements Test Bank Docx - Complete Test Bank | American Gov Stories of a Nation 2e by Scott F. Abernathy. DOCX document preview.
Chapter 11: Interest Groups and Social Movements: Collective Action, Power, and Representation
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Why was the bailout that finally passed in late 2008 significantly larger than the initial proposal of $500 million?
a. to react to the Congressional Budget Office’s revised estimates about how much money was needed
b. to peel off enough of the no votes in the House so that the bill could proceed to the Senate
c. to ensure that President Bush would to sign the finalized bill
d. to compensate all the banks’ lobbyists for their hard and diligent work in crafting the bill
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Bailout
Difficulty Level: Medium
2. Groups and communities that join with each other in pursuit of collective interests and common goals are known as ______.
a. voluntary associations
b. special interests
c. political action committees
d. citizen counsels
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
3. Voluntary associations of people that come together with an agreed-upon set of political and policy objectives and who attempt to pull the levers of political power in the service of these defined goals are known as ______.
a. citizen counsels
b. political action committees
c. social movements
d. interest groups
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
4. Associations of individuals that come together to change things or to keep things from changing by calling attention to a set of perceived injustices or wrongs in order to get policy makers to act and/or to educate the people are best described as ______.
a. citizen counsels
b. political action committees
c. social movements
d. interest groups
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
5. Which of the following, because of its efforts to right a perceived social wrong, would be considered an interest group that spawned a social movement?
a. the American Banking Association
b. the American Association of Retired Persons
c. the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
d. the American Federation of Teachers
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
6. Which of the following is an example of a free rider?
a. a man who gets a union wage without joining the AFL-CIO
b. a woman who joins AAA but never uses the free roadside assistance
c. a man who joins the NRA but sells all his guns immediately afterward
d. a woman who joins AARP but returns the free monthly magazines
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Hard
7. The danger in interest groups and social movements is always one of ______.
a. factions that trample on the rights of others
b. societal changes that occurs too rapidly
c. competing interests that cause conflict and strife
d. expanding communities that change the will of the majority
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
8. A problem with mortgage-backed securities was that ______.
a. they were too mathematically complicated for the average banker to understand
b. the relationship between the borrower and the holder of the loan was totally disconnected
c. average citizens were basing their home mortgages on complicated financial products
d. they became too popular as a tool for financing high-valued properties
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Roots of the Crisis: Financial Engineering
Difficulty Level: Medium
9. The roots of the financial crisis in the first decade of the 21st century were in the ______ market.
a. housing
b. stock
c. commodities
d. bond
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Roots of the Crisis: Financial Engineering
Difficulty Level: Medium
10. Why does an interest group engage in Astroturf lobbying?
a. to augment their successful inside lobbying
b. to make an issue’s public support appear larger than it is
c. to encourage the Supreme Court to rule in a specific manner
d. to push bureaucrats to pass a bill without amendment
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Grassroots Lobbying and Political Protesters Act from “Outside” to Influence Policy
Difficulty Level: Medium
11. Because banks could not produce enough loans to supply the mortgage-backed securities market, they began to ______.
a. take bigger and bigger risks
b. forge mortgage documents
c. decline mortgage customers
d. approve loans only for the wealthy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Roots of the Crisis: Financial Engineering
Difficulty Level: Medium
12. In order for mortgage-backed securities to provide a return to their customers, ______.
a. home prices had to go down
b. interest rates had to go up
c. home prices had to go up
d. interest rates had to go down
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Roots of the Crisis: Financial Engineering
Difficulty Level: Medium
13. By the end of what year did the American housing market crash, when nine major banks were teetering on the brink of ruin?
a. 2001
b. 2004
c. 2008
d. 2012
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Roots of the Crisis: Financial Engineering
Difficulty Level: Easy
14. What policy decision did banks want the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department to make?
a. a large national bailout
b. lower interest rates
c. higher interest rates
d. tighter money policies
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Lobbyists’ Pressure Play Begins
Difficulty Level: Easy
15. Voluntary associations share common traits in that they ______.
a. operate under Congressional and federal authority
b. tend to form naturally and without any logical reason
c. are granted articles of incorporation by the state
d. get their rights to organize from the 1st Amendment
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Americans Face Challenges in Acting Collectively in a Representative Democracy
Difficulty Level: Medium
16. James Madison addressed the problem of factions in ______.
a. Federalist No. 7
b. Federalist No. 10
c. Federalist No. 11
d. Federalist No. 15
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Americans Face Challenges in Acting Collectively in a Representative Democracy
Difficulty Level: Medium
17. Which of the following describes the paradox of factions?
a. While they are dangerous, they are also easy to legislate through laws at the federal and state levels.
b. They may be potentially dangerous, but the Constitution virtually guarantees their formation.
c. Factions are inevitable, but they can be legally prohibited through applying the Constitution.
d. Democracies require factions in order to operate efficiently and effectively at a national level.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Americans Face Challenges in Acting Collectively in a Representative Democracy
Difficulty Level: Medium
18. James Madison realized that to eliminate factions, a republic must also ______.
a. highly restrict the liberties of its citizens
b. encourage citizens to exercise their civil rights
c. discourage citizens from participating in elections
d. encourage civic duty and responsibility
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Americans Face Challenges in Acting Collectively in a Representative Democracy
Difficulty Level: Medium
19. Madison’s solution to the problem of factions was to ______.
a. discourage their formation
b. encourage competing factions
c. restrict the civil liberties of citizens
d. radically expand the Bill of Rights
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Americans Face Challenges in Acting Collectively in a Representative Democracy
Difficulty Level: Medium
20. Alexis de Tocqueville was struck by Americans’ passion for ______.
a. direct democracy
b. republican ideals
c. joining groups
d. rugged individualism
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
21. According to James Madison, which of the following posed the greatest danger to the American republic by encouraging factions?
a. social inequality
b. inequality of wealth
c. civic inequity
d. failure to participate
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
22. Political scientist Robert Dahl, in confronting the question of how a democratic system works amid an inequality of resources, focused his attention on the theory of ______.
a. elitism
b. nationalism
c. pluralism
d. constitutionalism
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
23. The theory of pluralism is one in which ______.
a. competition among groups serves to keep any one of them in check
b. the growth of interest groups must be suppressed by the government
c. individual voices matter more than those of interest groups
d. large interest groups are encouraged to operate at the expense of minorities
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
24. According to the theory of pluralism, the Occupy Wall Street Movement ______.
a. distracted from American democracy
b. acted as a counterweight to the financial firms
c. was a dangerous threat to the public welfare
d. had little if any true impact on the democratic process
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
25. The theory of governmental influence that focuses on the advantages that certain interests have in the political process based on the unequal distribution of economic and political power is called ______ theory.
a. pluralist
b. capitalist
c. elitist
d. centrist
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
26. A group composed of the top echelons of people in the business world in government and in the military is known as the ______.
a. republican center
b. democratic base
c. grassroots constituency
d. power elite
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
27. According to the research of C. Wright Mills, the greatest challenge is found in the ______.
a. grassroots movements of individuals in a democracy
b. nation’s defense industry and its allies in government
c. left and right fringe factions that differ from the center
d. nation’s congressional caucuses that control legislation
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
28. C. Wright Mills noted that the exercise of power may be seen ______.
a. not only in actions that are taken but in inaction or the prevention of actions
b. only in the hands of the people at the grassroots political level
c. in the actions of elected lawmakers who act on the beliefs of their constituents
d. in the actions taken by large social movements that control the political agenda
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
29. The set of issues to which government officials, voters, and the public attend is known as the ______.
a. partisan agenda
b. interim agenda
c. policy agenda
d. personal agenda
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Easy
30. Recent empirical studies by political scientists have backed up the theories about interest group influence propagated by whom?
a. Robert Dahl
b. Alexis de Tocqueville
c. C. Wright Mills
d. James Madison
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Interest Groups Face Challenges in Representation
Difficulty Level: Medium
31. How political interest groups wield power and how much power they have depends on ______.
a. the demographic makeup of the group
b. the level of wealth and elitist leadership
c. the level of organization within the group
d. they type of group it wishes to become
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Medium
32. Political action that occurs when individuals contribute energy, time, or money to a larger group goal is called ______.
a. individual attraction
b. collective action
c. affirmative action
d. persuasive contribution
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Medium
33. Economist Mancur Olson developed an influential theory on the logic of interest group participation in his study of ______.
a. why people choose to join groups
b. how groups recruit and activate members
c. which groups attract which types of people
d. why people choose not to participate
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Medium
34. Benefits or desirable outcomes that individuals can enjoy or profit from even if they do not help achieve or secure them are known as ______.
a. economic goods
b. capitalist profit
c. collective goods
d. free products
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Medium
35. Which of the following would be a good example of collective goods?
a. national banks
b. small businesses
c. public transportation
d. grocery stores
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Hard
36. Those individuals who enjoy collective goods without contributing to them are called ______.
a. criminals
b. pacifists
c. free riders
d. communists
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Easy
37. An example of a “free rider” would be a person who ______.
a. pays a toll to cross a bridge built with public money
b. pays state income tax when buying products
c. uses a public park but pays no local taxes
d. has never served in the U.S. military
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Hard
38. In Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960, African American men and women sat at the “whites only” section of segregated lunch counters, fully expecting to be arrested for breaking the law, in anticipation of publicizing the immorality of segregation. These people were engaging in an action of ______.
a. political candidacy
b. interest group action
c. civil disobedience
d. material benefits
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.5: Analyze the tactics that social movements use in order to advocate on their members’ behalf and contrast them with members of interest groups.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Social Movements Employ Different Tactics from Interest Groups to Make Change and to Educate
Difficulty Level: Hard
39. Goods that are made available only to those who join or contribute to a group are best described as ______.
a. collective benefits
b. selective benefits
c. social benefits
d. material rewards
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Easy
40. Tangible benefits made available to members and contributors of a group are best described as ______.
a. collective benefits
b. selective benefits
c. social benefits
d. material rewards
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Easy
41. The AAA offers roadside assistance service only to its dues-paying members in good standing. This is an example of ______.
a. collective benefits
b. selective benefits
c. social benefits
d. purposive benefits
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Hard
42. Members of AARP receive a monthly magazine and a free gift when they join. This is an example of ______.
a. collective benefits
b. material rewards
c. selective benefits
c. social benefits
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Hard
43. Many people join professional associations with the hope of networking with or meeting influential people in their field. This would be an example of ______.
a. collective benefits
b. material rewards
c. selective benefits
d. social benefits
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Hard
44. When one receives the satisfaction of working with others to achieve a common goal or purpose, these inducements are referred to as ______.
a. collective benefits
b. selective benefits
c. social benefits
d. purposive benefits
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Easy
45. Social movements may fail to lead to lasting social change but still may have an impact on domestic policy by ______.
a. helping to elect candidates that share the movements’ values
b. teaching members of future movements important lessons
c. giving large cash donations to political campaigns
d. reversing their courses and fighting for contradictory aims
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.5: Analyze the tactics that social movements use in order to advocate on their members’ behalf and contrast them with members of interest groups.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Success of Social Movements Is Difficult to Measure
Difficulty Level: Hard
46. In Democracy in America, French philosopher and sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about his observations of American life when he visited the United States in 1831–32. He found that the Americans were ______.
a. plagued by an inequality of conditions
b. more apt than people in other nations to want to join groups and associations
c. less religious than the French
d. very diverse in their opinions
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Hard
47. By 2008, which of the following facts was becoming clear?
a. Bankers failed to agree on the need for a bailout.
b. Large numbers of Americans were wary of using taxpayer dollars to fund a bailout.
c. The $700 billion dollar bailout plan was Wall Street’s only hope.
d. A grassroots movement was demanding a financial bailout solution.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Counter-pressure Arises from Outside Groups
Difficulty Level: Easy
48. Lobbyists provide information to members of Congress that will help them make decisions on a piece of legislation, as well as push their interest group’s agenda. This is testament to the fact that lobbying is ______.
a. only meant for academics
b. a complex and nuanced process
c. a public good
d. inherently manipulative
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: “Inside” Interest Groups Lobby to Influence Policymaking
Difficulty Level: Hard
49. In the end, which of the following was Congress’s policy decision?
a. They passed a gutted bailout.
b. They passed a full bailout bill.
c. They denied the bailout.
d. They reached a compromise.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Bailout
Difficulty Level: Medium
50. In the aftermath of the financial crisis and Wall Street bailout debate, many Americans were calling for ______.
a. legislative reform
b. constitutional reform
c. financial reform
d. socialist reform
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Bailout
Difficulty Level: Medium
51. In a National Bureau of Economic Research study published in 2011, the authors reached the conclusion that the greatest risk taking was among those ______.
a. least active in lobbying
b. in the housing industry
c. in the banking industry
d. most active in lobbying
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Bailout
Difficulty Level: Medium
52. The revolving door phenomenon refers to ______.
a. former government officials going to work for lobbying firms, and government agencies recruiting former lobbyists for their experience and expertise
b. the way in which an outgoing administration is replaced by an incoming administration
c. how insiders and elites pave the way for each other’s success
d. how interest groups work together for common goals and agendas, often displacing each other in the process
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Who Lobbyists Are
Difficulty Level: Hard
53. In the years following the financial crisis, the AARP argued for ______.
a. tighter financial controls
b. a reduction in social benefits
c. a strengthening of Social Security
d. a strengthening of the American military
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Interest Groups Vary by Type and Tactic
Difficulty Level: Medium
54. Interest groups are often categorized and analyzed according to ______.
a. the demographics of their membership as it compares to the overall goals of the group
b. the common traits that members share when organizing and activating towards success
c. the way in which they recruit and motivate members in order to maximize political results
d. the broader goals that they set out to achieve and on whose behalf they hope to succeed
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Interest Groups Vary by Type and Tactic
Difficulty Level: Medium
55. Which of the following would be the best example of an economic interest group?
a. the National Association of Colored People
b. the League of United Latin American Voters
c. the National Automotive Dealers Association
d. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Interest Groups Vary by Type and Tactic
Difficulty Level: Hard
56. Which interest groups account for the largest number and the largest amount of campaign donations in all categories of interest groups?
a. public interest groups
b. economic interest groups
c. governmental interest groups
d. social interest groups
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Interest Groups Vary by Type and Tactic
Difficulty Level: Hard
57. Which of the following would be an example of a public interest group?
a. the National Defense Contractors’ Association
b. the American Bankers Association
c. the American Medical Association
d. the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Interest Groups Vary by Type and Tactic
Difficulty Level: Hard
58. Organizations that act to secure the interests of local, state, or foreign governments in the political process are known as ______.
a. economic interest groups
b. public interest groups
c. governmental interest groups
d. professional interest groups
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Interest Groups Vary by Type and Tactic
Difficulty Level: Easy
59. When the representative of a group interacts with government officials in order to advance that group’s goals in the area of public policy, it could best be described as ______.
a. lobbying
b. influencing
c. networking
d. acknowledging
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: “Inside” Interest Groups Lobby to Influence Policymaking
Difficulty Level: Easy
60. Which specific part of the 1st Amendment guarantees the right of a citizen to lobby?
a. the Establishment Clause
b. the Free Exercise Clause
c. the Free Press Clause
d. the Redress of Grievances Clause
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Who Lobbyists Are
Difficulty Level: Medium
61. The movement of individuals between government and lobbying positions is known as the ______ phenomenon.
a. open window
b. revolving door
c. closed circuit
d. employment cycle
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Who Lobbyists Are
Difficulty Level: Medium
62. Successful lobbyists must have ______.
a. solid, useful policy knowledge as well as the ability to be heard by those in government
b. impeccable credentials accompanied by a wide spectrum of professional experience
c. high levels of education, which give credibility to the message they deliver to Congress
d. the fortune of being in the right place at the right time in a political campaign
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Who Lobbyists Are
Difficulty Level: Medium
63. Interest groups vary on the basis of their ______.
a. name recognition, intensity of their base, and desire to achieve
b. membership, collective goals, and desire to achieve them
c. wealth, political clout, and access to governmental officials
d. size, political influence, and ability to persuade members of Congress
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Who Lobbyists Are
Difficulty Level: Medium
64. When lobbyists contact members of Congress (or their staff) directly to advocate for their group’s position, they are practicing ______.
a. coercive lobbying
b. inside lobbying
c. outside lobbying
d. agency lobbying
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Lobbyists Influence Legislation in Congress
Difficulty Level: Medium
65. When agencies tasked with regulating businesses, industries, or other interest groups are populated by individuals with close ties to the very firms that they are supposed to regulate, it is described as ______.
a. inside lobbying
b. purposive lobbying
c. agency capture
d. executive collusion
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Lobbyists Influence Executive Branch Implementation
Difficulty Level: Medium
66. Interest groups most often try to influence judicial decisions by way of ______.
a. direct testimony
b. indirect lobbying
c. amicus curiae briefs
d. directly sponsoring cases
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Lobbyists Influence Judicial Actions
Difficulty Level: Medium
67. Most recent efforts to regulate lobbying have focused on ______.
a. making the process more transparent
b. passing regulations that limit the number of lobbyists
c. limiting the amount of influence a lobbyist may have
d. regulating the degree to which lobbyists may see politicians in office
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Lobbying Activities are Regulated
Difficulty Level: Medium
68. Successful lobbyists must have or gain ______ representatives and senators in Congress, in addition to building relationships and donating money.
a. a history of quid pro quos with
b. special favors from
c. power over
d. access to
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Who Lobbyists Are
Difficulty Level: Hard
69. The coordinated (and mutually beneficial) activities of interest groups, Congress, and the bureaucracy to achieve shared policy goals, sometimes against the general interests of society or specific groups within it, best describes ______.
a. agency capture
b. the iron triangle
c. internal lobbying
d. illegal lobbying
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Interest Groups Exert Influence through Webs and Networks
Difficulty Level: Easy
70. In contrast to iron triangles, issue networks are often ______.
a. permanent
b. stronger
c. temporary
d. weaker
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Interest Groups Exert Influence through Webs and Networks
Difficulty Level: Easy
71. Webs of influence among interest groups, policy makers, and policy advocates are known as ______.
a. iron triangles
b. agency capture
c. governmental lobbies
d. issue networks
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Interest Groups Exert Influence through Webs and Networks
Difficulty Level: Easy
72. The first and perhaps foremost role of interest groups in the electoral process is ______.
a. targeted distribution of financial resources
b. direct lobbying
c. constituency support
d. voter education
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Interest Groups Are Involved in Election-Related Activities
Difficulty Level: Medium
73. Two ways in which lobbyists use information to try to advance their interest group’s positions are ______.
a. testifying at Congressional committee meetings and providing members of Congress with research reports
b. contributing to a Congresswoman’s reelection campaign fund, and making sure she gets reelected
c. introducing members of Congress to influential elites, and paying for their dinners
d. canvassing a neighborhood to advocate for their group’s issues, and appearing on television to broadcast the interest group’s message
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Lobbyists Influence Legislation in Congress
Difficulty Level: Hard
74. According to data presented by opensecrets.org, the ______ sector accounted for the single largest group of contributions when analyzed by sector in 2016.
a. financial
b. retail
c. technology
d. industrial
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Practicing Political Science: 2016 Campaign Contributions by Economic Sector
Difficulty Level: Medium
75. Efforts that focus on reaching the constituents themselves rather than their representatives are described as ______.
a. inside lobbying
b. outside lobbying
c. governmental lobbying
d. agency lobbying
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Grassroots Lobbying and Political Protesters Act from “Outside” to Influence Policy
Difficulty Level: Medium
76. When a group manufactures or presents the facade of grassroots support that does not really exist on its own or at least would not have happened without the “purchase” of support by the lobbying firm itself, political scientists refer to this as ______.
a. outside lobbying
b. grassroots movement
c. astroturf lobbying
d. internal lobbying
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Grassroots Lobbying and Political Protesters Act from “Outside” to Influence Policy
Difficulty Level: Medium
77. In evaluating the membership of groups, most of the evidence points to ______.
a. the declining influence of elitist memberships and increased democratization
b. an increasing movement toward balanced membership within the groups
c. rising influence of minority groups, particularly Hispanics and African Americans
d. a continued overrepresentation by the elite, powerful, and wealthy
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Interest Groups Face Challenges in Representation
Difficulty Level: Medium
78. Social movements like the civil rights movement and LGBT movement have most often used which of the following tactics?
a. protest and civil disobedience
b. internal lobbying
c. presentations to Congress
d. financial contributions to candidates
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.5: Analyze the tactics that social movements use in order to advocate on their members’ behalf and contrast them with members of interest groups.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Movements Employ Different Tactics from Interest Groups to Make Change and to Educate
Difficulty Level: Medium
79. Public demonstration designed to call attention to the need for social action or change is best defined as ______.
a. civil disobedience
b. social injustice
c. protest
d. direct lobbying
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.5: Analyze the tactics that social movements use in order to advocate on their members’ behalf and contrast them with members of interest groups.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Social Movements Employ Different Tactics from Interest Groups to Make Change and to Educate
Difficulty Level: Easy
80. The intentional breaking of a law for the purpose of calling attention to an injustice is best described as ______.
a. civil disobedience
b. social injustice
c. protest
d. direct lobbying
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.5: Analyze the tactics that social movements use in order to advocate on their members’ behalf and contrast them with members of interest groups.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Social Movements Employ Different Tactics from Interest Groups to Make Change and to Educate
Difficulty Level: Easy
81. The ability of interest groups to lobby the executive branch is made possible by ______.
a. the president’s desire to have an informed White House staff
b. the difficulties involved when lobbying Congress, in contrast to having access to the bureaucracy
c. federal law requiring agencies to notify the public and solicit their input when establishing rules and procedures
d. the president’s demand that executive actions be undertaken with multiple interests represented
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Lobbyists Influence Executive Branch Implementation
Difficulty Level: Hard
82. When interest groups try to influence both whether or not the Supreme Court will agree to hear a case, as well as how the justices should rule once they do agree to hear it, they do what?
a. file amicus curiae briefs
b. lobby the justices in their chambers
c. take collective action
d. go public with their message
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Lobbyists Influence Judicial Actions
Difficulty Level: Medium
83. The ingenious method of communicating that Occupy Wall Street invented was called ______.
a. instant broadcast
b. the people’s mic
c. social media telegraphy
d. virtual transmission
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.4: Explore the efforts of Occupy Wall Street to understand the challenges that individuals face and strategies they employ to make social and political changes.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Occupy Wall Street Illustrates the Struggles, Successes, and Failures of Social Movements
Difficulty Level: Medium
True/False
1. A powerful tool to shape the behavior of governmental leaders in a republican system of government is the election.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. The distinction between an interest group and a social movement is neat and clean.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Easy
3. Alexis de Tocqueville was struck by America’s passion for individuality.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Easy
4. In a pluralistic society, the distribution of power among many competing groups serves to keep any one of them in check.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Easy
5. The power elite is limited to the top-ranking elected officials in government.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Easy
6. Interests groups are involved in elections in a variety of manners, not just by providing financial resources.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Interest Groups Are Involved in Election-Related Activities
Difficulty Level: Medium
7. An individual who enjoys collective goods while also helping to secure them would be a free rider.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Easy
8. When a group member is rewarded with new connections and access to other members of the group through participation in the group, he/she is receiving a social benefit.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Medium
9. Labor groups account for the largest number and the largest amount of campaign donations of all categories.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Interest Groups Vary by Type and Tactic
Difficulty Level: Medium
10. Lobbying is most accurately thought of as a singular process rather than an ongoing one.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: “Inside” Interest Groups Lobby to Influence Policymaking
Difficulty Level: Medium
11. Inside lobbying efforts focus on the content of a piece of legislation as well as the levels of funding for agencies and programs through the appropriation process.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Lobbyists Influence Legislation in Congress
Difficulty Level: Medium
12. Iron triangles are the coordinated and mutually beneficial activities of interest groups, Congress, and the bureaucracy to achieve a set of shared policy goals, sometimes against the general interests of society of the specific groups within it.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Interest Groups Exert Influence through Webs and Networks
Difficulty Level: Easy
13. Interest groups rarely involve themselves in the election process.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Interest Groups Are Involved in Election-Related Activities
Difficulty Level: Medium
14. According to opensecrets.org, the defense industry had the highest dollar amount of campaign contributions in 2016.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Practicing Political Science: 2016 Campaign Contributions by Economic Sector
Difficulty Level: Medium
15. Occupy Wall Street would be a good example of an astroturf lobbying effort.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Grassroots Lobbying and Political Protesters Act from “Outside” to Influence Policy
Difficulty Level: Medium
16. Grassroots lobbying is used to focus on constituents themselves rather than on their representatives.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Grassroots Lobbying and Political Protesters Act from “Outside” to Influence Policy
Difficulty Level: Easy
17. Selective benefits are goods that are made available to anyone whose interests are addressed by an interest group.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Medium
Short Answer
1. The group that actively protested against economic inequity following the economic crisis of 2008 was ______.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. Members of Occupy Wall Street would most likely be believe in the ______ theory of interest groups, which focuses on the advantages certain interests have in the political process based on the unequal distribution of economic and political power.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Easy
3. If a group member is rewarded simply by the satisfaction of working with others to achieve a common goal or purpose, he/she would be receiving a ______ benefit.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Challenges of Group Formation and Activity Also Explore the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Medium
4. When agencies tasked with regulating businesses, industries, or other interest groups are populated by individuals with close ties to the very firms that they are supposed to regulate, it is defined as ______.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Lobbyists Influence Executive Branch Implementation
Difficulty Level: Medium
5. Webs of influence among interest groups, policy makers, and policy advocates are called ______.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Interest Groups Exert Influence through Webs and Networks
Difficulty Level: Medium
6. Abdul, who runs a small bakery in town, has joined the local chamber of commerce to be able to meet people who he may turn into prospective customers. This opportunity is a(n) ______ of the chamber of commerce.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Medium
7. Also known as grassroots lobbying, ______ lobbying focuses on reaching constituents and mobilizing them to pressure their representatives rather than pressuring the representatives directly.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.3: Discuss the types of interest groups in the American political landscape and the different tactics that they use.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Grassroots Lobbying and Political Protesters Act from “Outside” to Influence Policy
Difficulty Level: Easy
Essay
1. What is a collective action? How do interest groups overcome the major challenges that collective action problems pose?
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Hard
2. In his famous book Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville was struck with Americans’ “passion for joining.” What major questions accompany the idea that we are a “nation of joiners”? How can these questions be addressed in our study of political science?
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Americans Face Challenges in Acting Collectively in a Representative Democracy; Theories of Interest Group Formation Focus on the Challenges of Faction
Difficulty Level: Hard
3. How did members of the financial industry as well as members of government use the threat of serious economic consequences to advance their agenda? What did many ordinary citizens do in response?
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Lobbyists’ Pressure Play Begins; Counter-pressure Arises from Outside Groups
Difficulty Level: Hard
4. Why do some social movements meet with success while others simply die out or fail?
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.5: Analyze the tactics that social movements use in order to advocate on their members’ behalf and contrast them with members of interest groups.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Success of Social Movements is Difficult to Measure
Difficulty Level: Hard
5. Many would argue that the federal government’s response to the financial crisis of 2008 favored powerfully connected financial firms at the expense of the average citizen. Would you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.1: Explore financial firms’ response to the 2008 housing crisis to understand how interest group members try to wield the levers of political power to shape policy.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Lobbyists’ Pressure Play Begins; Counter-pressure Arises from Outside Groups. | The Bailout
Difficulty Level: Medium
6. You are thinking about creating an interest group about a policy issue that is very important to you. You know you need to attract as many members as possible, thus giving you political sway in policymaking circles. But you are aware of the free rider problem. Describe this problem and discuss the available solutions to mitigate it.
TOP: Learning Outcome: Describe the roles and relative importance of major entities and influences in American political life.
KEY: Learning Objective: 11.2: Summarize the challenges associated with interest group activity.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Theories of Interest Group Formation Also Explore the Challenges of Collective Action
Difficulty Level: Medium
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Complete Test Bank | American Gov Stories of a Nation 2e
By Scott F. Abernathy
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