Governance and Policy-Making

Question 1

Britain’s codified constitution is unique in the sense that it can be modified more easily than the American constitution. True or False

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Widely agreed-on rules of conduct, rather than law or U.S.-style checks and balances, set the limits of governmental power. True or False

Answer 2

True

Question 3

In the British system, absolute principles of government are many providing a fundamental and stable structure for the organization of the state and central to governance, policy-making, and patterns of representation. True or False

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Parliament can make or overturn any law; the executive, the judiciary, and the throne do not have any authority to restrict, veto, or otherwise overturn parliamentary action. True or False

Answer 4

True

Question 5

Similar to the American presidential system, a British prime minister can veto any acts of Parliament that he deems unacceptable to the public interest. True or False

Answer 5

False

Question 6

In a classic parliamentary democracy, the prime minister is answerable to the House of Commons and may be dismissed by it. True or False

Answer 6

True

Question 7

When Britain joined the European Economic Community (EU) in 1973, it acknowledged that European law has force in the United Kingdom without requiring parliamentary assent and that European law overrides British law. True or False

Answer 7

True

Question 8

The Labour government of Tony Blair introduced a far-reaching program of constitutional reform that created a quasi-federal system, allowing some government decision-making power for legislative bodies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. True or False

Answer 8

True

Question 9

Unlike the cabinet in the U.S. government where the president must acknowledge its decisions, a British prime minister can ignore his cabinet as he sees fit. True or False

Answer 9

False

Question 10

Unlike the French Constitution, which prohibits a cabinet minister from serving in the legislature, British constitutional tradition requires overlapping membership between Parliament and cabinet. True or False

Answer 10

True

Question 11

A constitutionally mandated mechanism for checking the prime minister is a defeat on a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons. True or False

Answer 11

True

Question 12

In principle, a prime minister does not need to gain the support of the majority of the members of his cabinet to implement the major legislative agenda. True or False

Answer 12

False

Question 13

Margaret Thatcher’s style of cooperation and loyalty to her cabinet is what allowed her to serve for over a decade as prime minister. True or False

Answer 13

False

Question 14

Under Blair, cabinet meetings were usually less than an hour and could not seriously take up (much less resolve) policy differences. True or False

Answer 14

True

Question 15

Because the cabinet system and the core executive concentrate power at the top, London does not suffer from Washington-style gridlock. True or False

Answer 15

True

Question 16

In presidential systems the agenda and the authority of the president are often compromised when the president and the majority of legislators are from different parties—in fact this is the rule, rather than the exception in the United States. True or False

Answer 16

True

Question 17

A prime minister does not depend on the support of the majority members of the legislature once selected to the executive position. True or False

Answer 17

False

Question 18

In a presidential system like America’s, because the legislature and executive are mutually independent—one can swim, while the other sinks—the tendency for finger pointing and stalemate is much greater than in a parliamentary system. True or False

Answer 18

True

Question 19

If recent history is a good predictor, an American president is more likely to face a bill of impeachment than a British prime minister is to face a serious vote of no confidence. True or False

Answer 19

True

Question 20

The doctrine that grants the legislature the power to make or overturn any law and permits no veto or judicial review in the British system: a) Legislative supremacy, b) Parliamentary sovereignty, c) Assembly counterbalance, d) Congressional accountability.

Answer 20

b) Parliamentary sovereignty

Question 21

System of government in which the chief executive is answerable to the legislature and may be dismissed by it: a) Federalism, b) Confederation, c) Theocracy, d) Parliamentary democracy.

Answer 21

d) Parliamentary democracy.

Question 22

A system of government in which no powers are reserved for subnational units of government: a) Dual Federalism, b) Cooperative Governance, c) Unitary State, d) Consensual Democracy.

Answer 22

c) Unitary State

Question 23

A constitutional principle in a parliamentary system that merges the authority of branches of government, in contrast to the principle of separation of powers: a) oligarchy, b) plutocracy, c) democratic centralism, d) fusion of powers.

Answer 23

d) fusion of powers.

Question 24

System of government in which the head of state ascends by heredity but is limited in powers and constrained by the provisions of a constitution: a) constitutional monarchy, b) absolutism, c) monarchical ascendency, d) theocratic monarchy.

Answer 24

a) constitutional monarchy

Question 25

The following helped define define the relationship between the monarchy and Parliament in the seventeenth century in Britain: a) Magna Carta, b) Bills of Attainder of 1659, c) the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus of 1672, d) the Bill of Rights of 1689.

Answer 25

d) the Bill of Rights of 1689.

Question 26

Cabinet government is the center of the British system where : a) it shapes, directs, and takes responsibility for government, b) the Crown and the executive dominate public policy initiatives, c) the prime minister has veto power over the cabinet's actions, d) the legislature has a minimal role in determining the composition of the government.

Answer 26

a) it shapes, directs, and takes responsibility for government

Question 27

Britain is a constitutional monarchy where the position of head of state passes by hereditary succession, but nearly all powers of the Crown must be: a) exercised by the monarch himself, b) exercised by the government or state officials, c) determined by a constitutional tribunal, d) decided by a judicial commission.

Answer 27

b) exercised by the government or state officials

Question 28

After a general election, the Crown invites the leader of the party that emerges from the election with control of a majority of seats in the House of Commons to: a) come by and accept the names selected by the monarch to serve in the cabinet, b) receive a written letter specifying the goals that the government must implement, c) form a government and serve as prime minister, d) calls upon the people to vote for a cabinet that runs the government.

Answer 28

c) form a government and serve as prime minister

Question 29

Requires that all ministers are bound to support any action taken by an agency in the name of the government, whether or not the action was discussed in the cabinet or known to the minister in advance. a) Social Cooperation, b) Group Identification, c) Party Loyalty, d) Collective Responsibility.

Answer 29

d) Collective Responsibility.

Question 30

One way of checking the prime minister in the British system without threatening to bring down the government: a) a cabinet member resigning, b) the majority members of the cabinet rejecting a prime minister's proposal, c) the opposition party calling for a new election, d) There is no way for the government to check a British prime minister

Answer 30

b) the majority members of the cabinet rejecting a prime minister's proposal,

Question 31

The British constitution is a combination of a) __________ law (mainly acts of Acts of Parliament) b) _______ law c) ___________ d) ______________ interpretation

Answer 31

a) statutory b) common c) convention d) authoritative

Question 32

The core elements of the Westminster model and the central principles of British government are: a) parliamentary ____________, b) parliamentary __________, c) and ________ government

Answer 32

a) sovereignty b) democracy c) cabinet government

Question 33

Cabinet government's key functions are: a) responsibility for _______- _______, b) ________ control of the government, c) coordination of all government _____________.

Answer 33

a) policy-making b) supreme c) departments