US Government

Test Taken
Score: 10/16
Things To Remember:

1. Power is the ability to  get another person to act in accordance with another person's intentions.
2. Authority is the rightful use of power.
3. Direct Democracy was used by Greek city-states and in some New England town meetings. 
4. The pluralist view of power suggests power is so widely scatter no single elite has anything like a monopoly.
5. The Framers of the Constitution did not think that the "will of the people" was synonymous with the "common interest" or the "public good"
6. Pluralists argue that political resources are not divided equally.

Nigeria

Test Taken
Answer Key

Original Score: 13/30

Things To Remember:

1.  Nigeria's "national question" is whether or not it should remain as one country,
2. In comparison to the Iranian Constitution of 1979, the 1999 Nigerian Constitution is a much less important source of political authority.
3. According to novelist Chinua Achebe, Nigeria's troubles are squarely a failure of leadership.
4. The Sokoto Caliphate was founded by the Fulani.
5. Parliamentary government did not work in Nigeria because Nigeria's many ethnic groups meant that a majority party could not form.
6. Russia and Nigeria have the largest number of ethnic minority groups in proportion to their overall population.
7. Nigeria does not have a law that requires parties to run female candidates for office.
8. The People's Democractic Party chose to run a Christian presidential candidate from the south in 1999 and 2003.
9. The most consistent criticism of the Nigerian presidential election of 2007 was that it was fraudulent.
10. Labor unions have a long, active history in Nigeria.
11. The Power Holding Company is a para-statal. 
12. The institution in the Nigerian government created to give equal representation to the states is the Senate. 
13. One indidcation that the judiciary in Nigeria may be developing some independence is that the Supreme Court ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission did not have the authority to disqualify candidates for office.
14. The institution in Nigeria that is usually seen as the most truly national character is the military.
15. In NIgeria most rent-seeking behavior is directed toward the government for a share of oil revenue.
16. International organizations have developed structural adjustment programs for Nigeria in order to help the country pay down its debt.

Iran

Test Taken
Answer Key

Original Score: 19/30

Things To Remember:

1. Iran traces it's identify with Shiism to the safavids.
2. The first written constitution for Iran came about as a direct result of the Revolution of 1905-1909.
3. The government position/organization that has had the power to veto laws passed by the Majles since 1906 is the Expediency Council.
4. Since 2005, Civil society has been more restricted under Ahmandinejad than under Khatami.
5. The theocracy is most directly represented in the national government by the Supreme Leader, the expediency council, and the Guardian Council.
6. Foundation for the Oppressed, Martyrs Foundation, and the Foundation for the Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works are all examples of semipublic institutions. 
7. The body of statutes with no sacred basis in the Iranian System is called qamun.
8. The belief that the government should take an active role in controlling the economy is called statism.
9. The Ayatollah Khomeini's attitude toward economic policy can best be described as disdainful.

AP comparative: Russia

Test Taken 

Answer Key

Initial Score: 10/30

Things To Remember:

1. Russia could be considered to be an illiberal democracy if it has a free, regular, and competitive elections.
2. The well-established tradition of statism in Russia indicates that the country will have a difficult time developing civil society.
3. Democratic centralism was a key ideology that defined the legitimacy of the USSR.
4. The policy of glasnost proved to be a dangerous policy for the Soviet Union because it encouraged open discussion and criticism of the government.
5. Conflicts in Northern Ireland and Chechnya are examples of cleavages based on ideology.
6. Russia's civil society is less well developed than Britain's.
7. Britain is a unitary state while Russia is a federalist state.
8. Elections by Referenda and to the national legislature take place in both Britain and Russia.
10. The arrangement in Russia Where the businesses and companies that participate in the policy-making process are controlled by the government is called neo-corporatism.
11. Most media outlets are owned by private individuals but the government seriously restricts freedoms of press and speech.
12. The main purpose of the Federation Council is to represent regions in the national legislature.
13. The Duma does not confirm the president's nominations to the Constitutional Court.
14. The main responsibility of the Constitutional Court is to decide the constitutionality of laws and presidential decrees.
15. Member states of both the Confederation of Independent States and the European Union are bound by trade agreements.
16. Russia currently belongs to the Confederation of Independent States, the United Nations, and the G-8.
17. Russia's recent asserstiveness with western countries is best explained by the growing clout of its oil and gas industries.
19. Recently President Putin announced that regional governors would no longer be directly elected, but Would be selected bythe president. The incident that provoked his announcement was the seige of the Beslan School
20. President Putin has not insisted on running for a third term of office.
21. "Shock therapy" is a method of jump-starting the russian economy used by Boris Yeltsin. 

AP Comparative: United Kingdom

Test Taken
Answer Key

Initial Score: 10/30

Things to Remember: 

1. Hereditary monarchy is not an example of rational-legal authority in Britain.
2. Great Britain and The United States have legal and justice systems based on common law
3. In the early 12st century, ethnicity is a social cleavage that appears to be getting stronger in Britain.
4. Insularity may be linked most directly to its Britain's cautious attitude toward the European Union
5. Neil Kinnock, John Smith, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown have all been leaders of the Labour party.
6. The post-World War II cabinet laid the foundations for a decentalized economy.
7. Tony Blair's "third way" was an attempt to balance the socialist policies of the Labour Party during the 1970s with the demands made by the Democratic Liberal Party for the more personal liberties.
8. Tony Blair's support for devolution was primarly stimulated by Britain's problems with multi-national identities 
9. In modern times political elites in Britain have most often been recruited from Oxbridge
10. The Conservative party gets most of its support from rural and suburban areas of England.
11. The British political party most disadvantaged by plurality voting system is Liberal Democratic
12. Quangos best represent neo-corporatism.
13. collective responsibility is a concept that applies most clearly to the British cabinet
14. The prime minister does not have an excellent chance at ending up in gridlock with the parliament.
15. Britain's highest court of appeals consists of the law lords.
16. Referenda on British policy issuese have actually been held for regional assemblies.