Chapter 2 Self-test questions

. Who wrote that the state is an institution that claims 'a monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force in enforcing order within a given territorial area'?

Jean Bodin

Max Weber

William Blackstone

Robert Dahl

. According to political pluralists, the proper role of the state is to...

adjudicate between the claims of freely-competing groups.

allocate equal resources to as many groups as possible.

stand up against big groups and try to make them smaller.

provide jobs for as many bureaucrats as possible.

. A key figure in the development of pluralism is...

C. Wright Mills.

Roald Dahl.

James Burnham

Robert Dahl.

. Robert Michels claimed to have discovered...

an 'Iron Pyramid of Polyarchy'.

'The Man in the Iron Mask'.

the danger of having 'too many irons in the fire'.

an 'Iron Law of Oligarchy'.

. C. Wright Mills and James Burnham argued that...

pluralism would be perfectly possible if ordinary people would put forward their views more forcefully.

elite rule in some form is very difficult to avoid.

the richest people ought to be in power at all times.

Marxists always offer unquestioning support to inefficient dictatorships.

. New Right theorizing on the state suggests that...

interference with the free market is counterproductive.

politicians have a tendency to bribe voters with generous tax-funded benefits.

bureaucrats are self-interested like everyone else.

all of the above are true.

. The most potent criticism of classical pluralism is that...

the influence of any organized group on government decisions always ends in disaster.

the theory is naïve, because some groups are much more influential than others.

it fosters existing divisions within society.

it makes people think that all viewpoints are equally valid.

. Marxism views the state as…

Marxism has no theory of the state.

Fundamentally necessary to enforce social order.

A vehicle for the exercise of power by the dominant class.

A useful tool in forming a communist society.

. What does the 'hollowing out' thesis refer to?

It suggests that the state no longer plays the significant role it used to, largely due to globalisation.

It argues that peripheral parties will come to dominate in politics.

It suggests that politics is becoming too detached from the real world, lacking sentiment.

The theory that climate change is causing a hole in the centre of the earth.

. Which position in the globalization debate argues that although globalization might not exist in reality, if state actors believe it is happening their actions may make it a reality?

Complex globalization thesis.

Ideational globalization thesis.

Hyperglobalist thesis.

Sceptical thesis.

Chapter 2 Self-test questions

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