The Making of the British State

Question 1

Realizing the need to accept austerity measures, college students in Britain accepted the dramatic tuition hikes without complaint in 2010. True or False

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Being an island off the shore of Europe caused Britain to seek closer relations with mainland
Europe to avoid being isolated. True or False

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Historically, Britain was a country comprised of political instability, cultural diversity, and economic backwardness. True or False

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Britain’s religious divisions continue to this day, reflective of the conflict in Northern Ireland. True or False

Answer 4

A

Question 5

By about 1700, a basic form of parliamentary democracy had emerged in Britain. True or False

Answer 5

True

Question 6

Despite gradually improving the standard of living throughout the English population in general, the Industrial Revolution also undermined the status of skilled craft workers, making them poor, and placing them on the margins of society. True or False

Answer 6

True

Question 7

On the negative side of the British Empire, the domestic economy was compromised limiting its growth and retarding its potential. True or False

Answer 7

False

Question 8

The Napoleonic Wars confirmed Britain’s preeminence and set the stage for free international trade. True or False

Answer 8

A

Question 9

The Industrial Revolution shifted economic power from landowners to businessmen and industrialists. True or False

Answer 9

True

Question 10

Although the state’s involvement in the economy increased in Britain to a significant degree during World War I, it steadfastly avoided nationalizing the railways, mining, or shipping for fear of disrupting the free market. True or False

Answer 10

False

Question 11

From the end of World War II into the mid-1970s, the Labour Party accepted the new and expansive role by government over the economy while the Conservative Party flat out rejected such policies. True or False

Answer 11

False

Question 12

In October 2010, there were sustained and massive demonstrations in France involving millions of people of all ages who turned out weekly for over a month to protest: a) an effort to remove government subsidies to industry, b) against requiring Muslim women to remove their scarfs, c) maintaining French troops in Afghanistan, d) a government plan to increase the age at which people could begin to collect pensions.

Answer 12

d) a government plan to increase the age at which people could begin to collect pensions.

Question 13

The term Great Britain includes a) England, Northern Ireland and Wales, b) England, Ireland, and Scotland, c) England and Northern Ireland, and Scotland, d) England, Wales, and Scotland.

Answer 13

d) England, Wales, and Scotland.

Question 14

Great Britain has an area of approximately 94,000 square miles which is roughly half the size of: a) France, b) Mexico, c) Japan, d) Australia.

Answer 14

a) France

Question 15

In 2007, the British population was about a) 50.3 million, b) 60.8 million, c) 75.7 million, d) 90.4 million.

Answer 15

b) 60.8 million

Question 16

The unification of the Scottish and English crowns occurred in 1603, when the following monarch of Scotland ascended to the English throne: a) Charles I, b) Henry VIII, c) Louis XV, d) James I

Answer 16

d) James I

Question 17

In 1215, King John was forced to consent to a series of concessions that protected the following against royal abuse: a) feudal landowners, b) the peasantry winning their freedom, c) the nobility, d) the Anglican Church.

Answer 17

a) feudal landowners

Question 18

A historic statement of the rights of a political community against the monarchical state that were accepted in 1215: a) The Ancient Rights of Mankind, b) Natural Law Constitution, c) Magna Carta, d) The People’s Charter.

Answer 18

c) Magna Carta

Question 19

The “last successful political coup d’etat or revolution in British history (1688) that confirmed the power of Parliament over the monarchy: a) The Glorious Revolution, b) The Chartist Revolution, c) The Stuart Insurrection, d) The Monarchical Abdication.

Answer 19

a) The Glorious Revolution

Question 20

The Glorious Revolution resolved the longstanding religious conflict with the replacement of the following Roman Catholic monarch by the Protestant William and Mary: a) Charles III, b) Edward II, c) George I, d) James II.

Answer 20

d) James II

Question 21

The following is the established Church of England and has some 2 dozen leading clerics represented in the House of Lords: a) the Catholic Church, b) the Lutheran Church, c) the Anglican Church, d) the Presbyterian Church.

Answer 21

c) the Anglican Church

Question 22

At the height of its glory in 1870, British trade represented about what percentage of the world’s total? a) 15 percent, b) 25 percent, c) 30 percent, d) 45 percent.

Answer 22

b) 25 percent

Question 23

During the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), Britain encompassed fully what percent of the world’s population with its colonial empire? a) 10% b) 15%, c) 20%, d) 25%

Answer 23

d) 25%

Question 24

A state that can control the pattern of alliances and terms of the international order and often shapes domestic political developments in countries throughout the world: a) Mercantilist power, b) Colonial power, c) Hegemonic power, d) Colossal power.

Answer 24

c) Hegemonic power

Question 25

This act extended the franchise to a section of the male middle classes beyond a thin band of men with substantial property: a) the Franchise Emancipation Act of 1798, b) the Voting Rights Act of 1824, c) the Reform Act of 1832, d) the Freedom Restitution Act of 1830.

Answer 25

c) the Reform Act of 1832

Question 26

Universal suffrage for both men and women above the age of 21 was achieved in the UK in: a) 1867, b) 1900, c) 1928, d) 1936.

Answer 26

c) 1928

Question 27

All of the following were laws passed by Parliament to extend the franchise EXCEPT the: a) Representation of the People Act of 1867, b) Representation of the People Act of 1918, c) Franchise Act of 1884, d) Peoples Charter of 1830.

Answer 27

d) Peoples Charter of 1830

Question 28

Minimal government interference in the operation of economic markets: a) mixed economy, b) laissez-faire, c) supply and demand, d) economies of scale.

Answer 28

b) laissez-faire

Question 29

A term coined to describe the consensus that drove politics in the harmonious postwar period of Britain, serving to broadly expand the role of government in the areas of the economy and social welfare: a) Collectivism, b) Marxism, c) Socialism, d) Free enterprise.

Answer 29

a) Collectivism

Question 30

What caused the collectivist consensus to breakdown in Britain in the 1970s according to Kesselman, et. al.? a) social upheaval and foreign intervention, b) class war and political corruption, c) economic downturn and political stagnation, d) public indifference and international interference

Answer 30

c) economic downturn and political stagnation

Question 31

What austerity measures were introduced by the Conservative-Liberal coalition government six months into office in 2010?

a) a \_\_\_ percent reduction in public spending, half a million public sector jobs cut, 
b) a three-strikes-and-you’re out plan for pressuring the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ to accept \_\_\_\_ 	offers or face a cut off of benefits, 
c) the elimination of \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ for middle-class families, which had been a 	mainstay of the British welfare state for generations, 
d) and sharp increases in \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.

Answer 31

a) 20
b) unemployed, job
c) child benefits
d) college tuition

Question 32

Why was Britain’s geographic location as an off-shore island so important?

a) It was less subject to _________ and _________,
b) It created among Britons a feeling that they were ______ from and a _____ of Europe.
c) This feeling complicates relations with Britain’s ___ partners even today.

Answer 32

a) invasion, conquest
b) apart, a part
c) EU

Question 33

The Industrial Revolution from the mid-18th century onward:

a) involved rapid expansion of ______________ production & technological ____________.
b) led to vast _______ & _________ changes,
c) created pressures to make the country more ___________.

Answer 33

a) manufacturing, innovation
b) social, economic
c) democratic