Practice Test 5 - AP Comparative Government and Politics

19 questions. Answer them in any order, then submit to see your score and every explanation.

China's rapid economic growth, which has been heavily concentrated in coastal urban areas, has exacerbated which of the following social cleavages, posing a potential challenge to regime stability?
Impact on Representation and Policy: Kingdom of Sweden (PR) and United Kingdom (majoritarian) Overview of electoral systems Electoral systems can be proportional representation (PR), majoritarian, or mixed. PR allocates seats to parties based on vote share, often enabling more parties to enter the legislature. Majoritarian systems typically award seats to district winners, which can magnify the largest party's seat share. How rules affect party systems and citizen engagement The passage argues that PR can increase party diversity and make voters with minority views feel represented, potentially strengthening engagement. Majoritarian systems can produce clearer governing responsibility but may encourage strategic voting when only a few parties seem competitive. Sweden: PR and coalition governance In the Kingdom of Sweden, PR elections in the last decade have supported multi-party legislatures where governing often requires coalitions or minority cabinets supported by agreements. United Kingdom: decisive majorities and faster policy change In the 2019 United Kingdom general election, first-past-the-post produced a single-party majority, which the passage associates with the ability to pass policy more quickly than coalition governments that must negotiate. Policy outcomes and representation trade-offs The passage concludes that PR often broadens representation but can slow policy change through bargaining, while majoritarian rules can speed policymaking but may underrepresent smaller parties. According to the passage, which electoral system is described as having the most potential for coalition governments?
Read the passage. In Hungary, democratization unfolded as communist control weakened during the late 1980s. Reform-minded officials and opposition groups negotiated changes rather than pursuing violent confrontation. In 1989, Hungary opened its border with Austria, allowing East Germans to travel westward and signaling that the old security order was collapsing. That same year, the ruling party accepted constitutional revisions, legalized new parties, and prepared for competitive elections. In 1990, voters chose a new parliament in elections widely considered free, and the government began building checks on executive power through courts and legislative oversight. International organizations shaped incentives after the transition. The European Union linked future membership to legal reforms, protection of minority rights, and credible elections. NATO partnerships encouraged civilian control of the armed forces and professional defense institutions. Influential leaders, including reform communists and emerging opposition figures, framed these external ties as safeguards for sovereignty and prosperity. Yet democratization faced obstacles. State assets were privatized unevenly, corruption allegations eroded trust, and political polarization made compromise difficult. Some citizens associated democracy with economic insecurity during the early market transition. Hungary's democratic institutions remained in place, while public arguments about accountability and institutional independence continued. Which event marked a turning point in democratization as described in the text?
In Iran, theocratic ideology is most directly institutionalized through the
China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 was a pivotal moment in its engagement with the global economy. A major consequence of this event was
The authority of the Guardian Council in Iran to vet and disqualify candidates for public office is an example of power that is
Read the passage: Economic Cleavages: United States and Brazil. In both the United States and Brazil, class-based economic cleavages structure political competition, yet they do so through distinct institutional channels. In the United States, income and educational stratification increasingly correlates with partisan alignment, with higher-income and higher-education voters often clustering differently from lower-income voters across recent elections; this pattern interacts with a candidate-centered system and primary elections that amplify ideological sorting and mobilize donors and activists. In Brazil, persistent income inequality intersects with a fragmented multiparty system and coalition presidentialism, encouraging parties to bargain over cabinet posts and budgetary allocations while appealing to socioeconomically diverse electorates. In both cases, economic cleavages shape political culture by influencing perceptions of fairness, trust in institutions, and expectations of government responsiveness; they also shape participation by affecting turnout, campaign engagement, and the relative influence of organized interests. Policy-making reflects these cleavages: distributive conflicts appear in debates over taxation, social assistance, labor regulation, and public services. However, the United States often experiences policy gridlock through separated powers and polarization, whereas Brazil's coalition bargaining can produce policy compromises but also raises coordination challenges and bargaining costs. These dynamics affect political stability: intense polarization and institutional veto points can heighten governability concerns in the United States, while coalition fragmentation can strain executive-legislative relations in Brazil without necessarily collapsing democratic procedures. (References: Lipset & Rokkan, 1967; Mainwaring, 1999; Hacker & Pierson, 2010.) What impact do economic cleavages have on political stability in the passage?
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the delegitimization of communist ideology in Russia created an "ideological vacuum." Which of the following best describes how the current Russian regime has sought to fill this vacuum to bolster its legitimacy?
Russia's efforts to create a 'sovereign internet' by increasing state control over domestic internet infrastructure is a political response to which perceived threat from global technology?
In an Emerging Democracies scenario, read the text: Brazil experiences high campaign visibility and periodic mass protests, but economic inequality shapes who can attend meetings or join parties. Compulsory voting raises turnout, yet clientelist networks sometimes replace policy-focused participation with targeted benefits. In India, local community ties and leaders mobilize voters, while uneven education and registration hurdles affect political knowledge and access. Institutional strength influences whether participation continues between elections. According to the text, how does political culture influence participation in Brazil?
When an authoritarian state successfully represses or co-opts most civil society organizations, what is the most likely impact on long-term political stability?
Which of the following best explains why policy-making can be more efficient in the United Kingdom's parliamentary system than in Nigeria's presidential system?
A country experiences a widespread breakdown in its ability to provide basic services such as security, infrastructure, and law enforcement in large parts of its territory due to insurgency and corruption. This situation represents a severe crisis of
A government that reduces broad social welfare programs and instead offers targeted, means-tested benefits to only the poorest citizens is adapting its policies in line with
The combination of a high literacy rate among women and limited economic and political opportunities in Iran has contributed most directly to which of the following outcomes?
Nigeria's high population growth rate poses a challenge to its democratic consolidation primarily because it
Based on the passage: In unitary systems, the center may delegate authority to local units, but sovereignty remains centralized; France is highlighted as unitary. Which statement best illustrates decentralization within a unitary system?
The vetting of candidates for political office by the Guardian Council in Iran has what effect on the regime's legitimacy?
Unlike the first-past-the-post system used for the UK Parliament at Westminster, the devolved legislatures in Scotland and Wales use a mixed-member proportional system. What was a key objective for adopting a different electoral system?

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