SECTION I

60 MINUTES, 55 QUESTIONS

Directions: The following 55 questions are meant to test your knowledge of the complete curriculum of AP Comparative Government and Politics. Select the best answer from the choices provided with each question.

The term “political regime” is used to describe which of the following?
1. The enduring practices that exist from government to government
2. The geographic boundaries of an area
3. The group of elected officials with political power
4. All of the political actors within a government
Which of the following is the best definition of “political socialization”?
1. The way in which people acclimate themselves in a social setting
2. The process by which citizens acquire their political beliefs
3. The behaviors citizens engage in such as voting and protest
4. The method by which leaders are chosen
Which of the following is the best definition of legitimacy?
1. Citizens’ belief in the government’s right to rule
2. The relative level of protest in a country
3. The right to vote
4. The existence of organized groups
Which of the following is not a characteristic of a pluralist system?
1. Multiple groups participate
2. Group membership is voluntary
3. A single peak association represents each group
4. There is a separation between interest groups and the government
Which of the following is the best example of a government?
1. A voluntary association
2. Current members of parliament
3. Democracy
4. Theocracy
Which of the following is the best example of a civil society group?
1. A national legislature
2. The members of a panel of appellate court judges
3. Local police agencies
4. An environmental advocacy group
Which of the following is an accurate example of patron-client politics?
1. Interest groups articulate their concerns to government leaders
2. A member of a legislature proposes legislation in response to protest
3. The president promotes members of the executive branch who demonstrate competence
4. A member of the legislature funnels state resources to citizens in exchange for their votes
Which of the following countries uses proportional representation to elect some or all of its members to the national legislature?
1. United Kingdom
2. Russia
3. China
4. Nigeria
Which of the following countries has a majoritarian two-party system?
1. United Kingdom
2. Russia
3. China
4. Mexico

Questions 10, 11, and 12 refer to the following chart.

Source: Pew Research Center, 2017

Which of the following conclusions is accurate, according to the chart?
1. More Russians prefer representative democracy over rule by the military as a good way to govern the country.
2. Russians are highly satisfied with their current political regime.
3. A majority of Russians would support concentrating more power into the chief executive.
4. Russians are more likely to support democracy than people in most countries.
Which of the following is an implication of this chart?
1. Russia has become an authoritarian regime with excessive power concentrated in the presidency.
2. The government of Russia has successfully provided a liberal democratic regime that protects the rights of average citizens.
3. Excessive consolidation of power and movement toward authoritarianism in Russia could undermine the Russian state’s legitimacy with the public.
4. Russians are unable to express their true opinions when taking surveys for fear of retribution by state authorities.
Which of the following would be a normative statement related to the data in the chart?
1. A majority of Russians support democracy as a good form of government.
2. Russians are more likely to oppose rule by the military than to support it.
3. Similar numbers of Russians support representative democracy and rule by experts as good forms of government.
4. The Russian government should enact policies to protect civil liberties in line with the preferences of the public.
Compared to a unitary system, which of the following is not a benefit of federalism?
1. It strengthens the sense of national identity citizens may have.
2. Local levels of government can be used to experiment with policies to be implemented nationally later.
3. Regional cultural differences can be reflected in local policies.
4. It improves efficiency since decisions are made quickly locally.
A leader who was elected legally and has become increasingly unpopular would appeal to which type of legitimacy to justify continuing his/her rule?
1. Charismatic legitimacy
2. Rational-legal legitimacy
3. Traditional legitimacy
4. Constitutional legitimacy
Which of the following is not a characteristic of liberal democracies?
1. The rule of law
2. Competitive, fair, and free elections
3. A presidential structure of government
4. Relatively high per capita GDP levels
Developing countries with a history of economic dependency on the developed world have used Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) policies to become more self-sufficient through
1. entering into free-trade agreements with neighboring developed states
2. guaranteeing the property rights of foreign investors and multinational corporations
3. enacting protective tariffs against foreign imports while subsidizing local manufacturing
4. soliciting foreign direct investment from international institutions such as the World Trade Organization
When a government enacts an austerity measure, it is attempting to
1. bring its structural budget deficit under control
2. provide its citizens with additional economic benefits
3. open itself to foreign direct investment and trade
4. reduce economic inequality
When comparing the election system of Mexico to the election system of China, one accurate statement would be that
1. Mexico allows voters to elect representatives to local and national offices, while China only holds elections for local officials
2. Mexico uses a fully single-member-district (SMD) system, while China uses a proportional representation (PR) system to elect its legislature
3. both Mexico and China have a single dominant party that is nearly guaranteed to win every national election
4. neither Mexico nor China allows voters to elect representatives to the legislature
Which of the following trends in citizen behaviors would be associated with low levels of political efficacy?
1. High readership of national newspapers that cover political activities
2. Low voter turnout rates on election days
3. Large turnouts at protests against the current government
4. High numbers of signatures on petitions to stage a referendum for constitutional reform
Which of the following is true of the United Kingdom’s system of government?
1. It is a federalist system.
2. It is a unitary system with devolved powers.
3. It is a very centralized system with little subnational power.
4. It is a presidential system.
Which of the following is an impact of the United Kingdom’s first-past-the-post system?
1. Many parties are encouraged to form.
2. Parties are elected in proportion to the ideologies of the electorate.
3. Catch-all parties are encouraged to form.
4. The governments tend to be more extreme.
Which of the following is the most important policymaking organization in China?
1. National People’s Congress
2. Politburo
3. People’s Liberation Army
4. Secretariat
Which of the following is true about economic policy in Communist China today?
1. China is close to a market economy today, but still has a large state-owned sector.
2. There is a safety net in China for those who are unemployed.
3. The state employs more citizens than the private sector.
4. Private entrepreneurship is banned.

Questions 24, 25, and 26 refer to the following passage.

First things first—how does civil society work in China?

It’s hard to define. Typically, people think of civil society as completely separate from the government but in China, it’s difficult to have a fully formed and vibrant civil society completely outside the auspices of the Communist Party. . . . it can be hard to work completely free from government affiliation, since the government may want to shape what you’re doing or stop you from doing things they don’t appreciate. It’s a matter of time before what you do gets clipped, shortened, or shaped in certain ways.

When did civil society and NGOs emerge in China?

Many of them started to spring up after the 1980s, when you saw the fruits of China’s reform period and, also, problems when the government steps back from service provision and oversight.

What Reform and Opening did was give people the social space to be able to solve problems on their own. It overcame this idea that the government had to solve everything, like under Mao.

Right now, there’s a tension between citizens wanting to solve their own problems and the government wanting to define what kinds of problem-solving is permissible. The problem is that the government still feels like it should be able to obtain permission for anything to be solved.

What have been the consequences of the new NGO law?

It’s a highly uncertain time for foreign NGOs. People may feel like it’s inherently riskier to get involved with one. And it isn’t limited to NGOs, either: There’s been a clear and concerted effort by the Communist Party to heighten awareness and fear of foreigners and foreign governments in particular. For example, there have been posters popping up instructing Chinese people how to tell if a foreigner is a spy.

The National People’s Congress considers the NGO law as part of the national security legislation, whereas in the U.S. civil society and national security are considered separately. Foreign NGOs are not treated as a social issue in China as domestic ones are.

Source: The Asia Society, “The Uncertain Future of Civil Society in China,” January 29, 2018. https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/uncertain-future-civil-society-china

The term “civil society” used in this article refers to
1. bureaucratic organizations that operate within the structure of the government to implement policy
2. the community of civil servants who work for the state or for the Communist Party
3. opposition political parties that seek to supplant the power of the Chinese Communist Party
4. independent organizations of people who have linked together to express a common interest or take mutual action
Which of the following describes one of the economic liberalization policies of the early 1980s referenced in this article?
1. The Communist Party cracked down on protest and dissent after the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
2. Deng Xiaoping opened China to foreign direct investment and global trade.
3. The Hundred Flowers Campaign encouraged additional freedom of speech and thought for Chinese intellectuals.
4. The “Iron Rice Bowl” guaranteed many Chinese laborers their jobs with good wages and benefits for life.
This passage implies that
1. the growth of civil society is a welcome and beneficial trend in the eyes of most Communist Party officials in China
2. civil society has been instrumental in engineering the growth of the Chinese economy over the last four decades
3. the Communist Party sees the growth of civil society as potentially challenging the continued legitimacy of one-party rule
4. civil society remains completely under the control of the Communist Party
Which of the following policies has not been implemented by President Vladimir Putin of Russia?
1. Taking aggressive military stances within some former Soviet states
2. Reducing the power of regional governments
3. Limiting media time for political opponents
4. Imposing a “shock therapy” economic reform agenda
Which of the following institutions in Iran has the ability to disqualify candidates from running for office?
1. Guardian Council
2. Supreme Leader
3. Expediency Council
4. Majlis

Questions 29 and 30 refer to the following chart.

Source: International Monetary Fund, 2017
Country	GDP (in trillions of U.S. dollars)	GDP per Capita (in U.S. dollars, PPP adjusted)	Human Development Index Ranking	Gini Index
Great Britain	$2.62	$43,620	16	0.341
China	$12.01	$16,624	90	0.422
Mexico	$1.15	$19,480	77	0.482
Nigeria	$0.38	$5,927	152	0.43

Based on the data from the chart, which of the following countries has the highest standard of living?
1. Great Britain
2. China
3. Mexico
4. Nigeria
Which of the following statements could be supported by the data from the chart?
1. The total size of China’s economy is currently smaller than that of Mexico’s.
2. Income inequality is more pronounced in Mexico than it is in Britain.
3. China’s economy has grown faster than that of the other three countries.
4. Nigerians are dissatisfied with the lack of economic growth in their country.
In both China and Russia, the president
1. may issue laws by decree
2. appoints all of the most senior members of the executive branch
3. acts as the ceremonial head of state
4. acts as the functional head of government
Which of the following offices in Iran is directly elected by the people?
1. The president
2. The Supreme Leader
3. The Guardian Council
4. The Expediency Council
The significance of the year 2000 presidential election in Mexico was that
1. it marked the first time opposition parties were allowed to appear on the ballot
2. a civilian was elected rather than a military general for the first time
3. an opposition party candidate won the election for the first time
4. it was marred by election day violence and rioting
Major protests by the “Green Movement” in Iran after the 2009 election
1. demanded women should have the right to vote
2. called for an end to the theocratic regime
3. brought animosity with the United States back to the center of Iran’s politics
4. accused the government of falsifying the election results
Nigeria and Mexico are similar in that both
1. invest the most political power into their national legislatures
2. have powerful lower houses, but only ceremonial upper houses in their legislatures
3. are federal republics with presidential systems
4. have demonstrated signs of growing authoritarianism in recent years
One unique requirement in the Nigerian presidential election is that the winning candidate must
1. receive at least 25 percent of the vote in at least two-thirds of the states to be declared the winner
2. have served in the military to be eligible for the office
3. disavow any devotion to his religion before entering the office of the presidency
4. end all ties to his political party before entering the office of the presidency
In both the United Kingdom and Russia,
1. elections are relatively free, fair, and competitive
2. the lower house of the legislature possesses considerably more power than the upper house
3. power is concentrated in the head of state
4. the judiciary has demonstrated a firm commitment to the rule of law
A state is distinguished from other forms of social organization in that it
1. it possess governing institutions that exert sovereign control over a population within a defined territory
2. has linguistic and cultural homogeneity
3. promotes debate within decision-making institutions
4. has a stable and democratically elected leadership
The state’s attempts to restrict, control, and command the economy often lead to
1. a higher standard of living for the middle class
2. a significant improvement in the development of domestic industry
3. a large increase in tax revenue for the state
4. the development of black markets, uncontrolled by the state
Globalization is MOST directly causing
1. states around the world to embrace democratic and market reforms
2. a decline in the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes
3. a new middle class to emerge in China
4. a diminished significance in state boundaries
A corporatist interest group system is characterized by
1. corporations’ involvement in interest group formation
2. state selection of which businesses and interest groups can legitimately participate in policymaking
3. high levels of control by business over public policy
4. an emphasis only on the needs of business
When a policy (like Britain’s EU membership, or the 1993 Russian Constitution) is presented to voters for their approval, it is called
1. a referendum
2. an approval vote for the president
3. an initiative
4. a plebiscite

Questions 43 and 44 refer to the following passage.

As a single mother of two with little support from the family of her late husband, 32-year-old Stella Ekpenyong needed her own income to provide for her young ones. And yet it took her more than a month to register her fashion design business with the Lagos offices of the Corporate Affairs Commission—a process that takes just six hours in Rwanda …

Ranked 169 out of 190 countries on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index in 2016 (Rwanda is ranked 62), Nigeria is infamous for its murky, sluggish business environment. This reputation is accentuated by red tape bureaucracy coupled with the notorious nonchalance of government and civil service officials who request bribes as casually as moving a cursor across a computer screen. But there’s a new economic sheriff in town looking to clean up Nigeria’s act and tell the world that the country is open for efficient, transparent business.

Africa’s largest economy is in the middle of its worst recession in 25 years, and the government is desperate to attract more foreign direct investment. To this end, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration instituted the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council in July 2016 with a mandate to move Nigeria to a top-100 ranking on the World Bank index by 2019. . . .

To sustain any progress and see benefits trickle down to entrepreneurs like Ekpenyong will require strong enforcement, warns Gillian Parker, a Lagos-based analyst at Control Risks. One example: Arinze (last name withheld on request for fear of victimization) is a freight-forwarding agent who has to pay multiple levies for the same thing to both the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, a parastatal organization under the Ministry of Transport. “The manual processing system will continue to facilitate bribery, while theft often involves collaboration between criminal syndicates, security guards and customs officers, further complicating enforcement,” Parker says. “Previous efforts to reduce the number of authorities working at the ports have also failed . . . ”

Source: Ozy.com, “Can Nigeria End Its Business Nightmare?” by Eromo Egbejule, July 18, 2017. https://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/can-nigeria-end-its-business-nightmare/79610

The main concern of this article relates to Nigeria’s problem of
1. the lack of rule of law under a military government
2. corruption in the bureaucracy
3. corporate greed at the expense of the lower class
4. high tax rates on private businesses
Which of the following reforms to address the issues raised by the article would most likely be recommended by neoliberals?
1. End Nigeria’s dependence on foreign trade partners through import tariffs and quotas.
2. Strengthen the Nigerian welfare state so that average Nigerians have guaranteed access to education and health care.
3. Raise the corporate tax rate in Nigeria so that businesses do not continue to take advantage of loopholes in the code.
4. Eliminate many duplicated bureaucratic agencies and regulations to make it easier to do business in Nigeria.
Which of the following activities most approximates “direct democracy”?
1. A citizen writes a letter to her elected representative to express her view on a particular issue.
2. Striking workers march in the street attempting to gain government support for their demands.
3. The government stages a referendum on a controversial policy measure.
4. A protest group calls for revolution and the civil overthrow of the current regime.
Which of the following is the clearest distinction between democratic regimes and authoritarian regimes?
1. Democratic regimes hold elections.
2. In democratic regimes, leaders can be voted out of office.
3. In democratic regimes, private citizens control the means of production.
4. In democratic regimes, schools and the mass media are not used as agents of political socialization.
The EU, ECOWAS, and OPEC could all be classified as
1. trade agreements
2. formal alliances
3. NGOs
4. supranational organizations
Nonelected positions, impersonal structures, formal qualifications for jobs, and a hierarchical organizational structure are common characteristics of
1. bureaucracies
2. legislatures
3. cabinets
4. supranational organizations
Which of the following countries uses both SMD and PR election systems to choose its national legislature?
1. Britain
2. Russia
3. Mexico
4. Iran
Which of the following has shaped the political cultures of Russia, China, Mexico, and Iran the most?
1. Authoritarianism
2. Shiism
3. Union of political and religious authority
4. Escape from European colonization
The Revolution of 1979 was different from twentieth-century revolutions in Russia and China because it resulted in
1. a religious state
2. a dictatorship
3. a one-party state
4. an ideological government
Which of the following would best illustrate democratic consolidation?
1. A popular leader convinces the legislature to amend the constitution and allow him to run for an additional term as chief executive.
2. A government leader with low approval ratings who had stayed in power through vote-rigging and manipulation of ballot access is forced to resign and call for new elections after major protests.
3. Citing provisions of the national constitution, the military intervenes to remove a leader accused of corruption by his opponents.
4. A country has demonstrated a consistent recent history of granting political power through free, fair, competitive elections, and the losers of the elections acknowledge the validity of the results.
The main reason that an increasing number of women have been elected recently to the Mexican legislature is
1. reduced emphasis on machismo in Mexican political culture
2. an election law that requires political parties to sponsor female candidates
3. the removal of the “party list” system from legislative elections
4. the decline in Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) power

Questions 54 and 55 refer to the following image.

Based on your knowledge of the Russian political system, which of the following best explains the partisan composition of the State Duma?
1. President Vladimir Putin primarily appoints loyal supporters to serve in the government.
2. The popularity of United Russia’s political platform has never been higher due to the strength of Russia’s economy.
3. Critical opposition parties have difficulties getting on the ballot and distributing their message, leading to electoral domination by United Russia.
4. Abuses by President Vladimir Putin led to a massive resistance protest movement that culminated in the legislative electoral victory of United Russia, a newly formed opposition party.
The presence of the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and Just Russia in the State Duma
1. can enhance the legitimacy of the one-party dominance of United Russia, providing the veneer of meaningful opposition in an authoritarian system
2. serves as a powerful check against the potential abuse of power of the United Russia Party
3. represents a growing share of Russian voters who support a return to Soviet-era economic policies
4. illustrates the loss of political power once held by Vladimir Putin and his supporters, as United Russia has surpassed them

SECTION II

1 HOUR 30 MINUTES, 4 QUESTIONS

Directions: You have 90 minutes to answer four questions. Be sure to answer every part of each question, and use substantive examples where appropriate.

Ceptual Analysis

Answer parts (A), (B), (C), and (D).
1. Define a parliamentary system.
2. Describe the process of removing the chief executive in a parliamentary system.
3. Explain one reason why a parliamentary system results in less potential political gridlock than a presidential system.
4. Explain one reason why a country might choose to use a presidential system despite the higher potential for political gridlock.

Quantitative Analysis

Answer parts (A), (B), (C), (D), and (E).

2017 General Election Results for British House of Commons

Political Party	Number of Votes Cast for Party Candidates	Percentage of Votes Cast for Party Candidates	Number of Seats Won (out of 650 possible)	Percentage of Seats Won
Conservative	13,636,684	42.4%	317	48.8%
Labour	12,878,460	40.0%	262	40.3%
Liberal Democrat	2,371,910	7.4%	12	1.8%
Scottish Nationalist	977,569	3.0%	35	5.4%
Democratic Unionist	292,316	0.9%	10	1.5%
Sinn Fein	238,915	0.7%	7	1.1%

Identify a party or coalition that could form a government after the results of this election.
Describe the relationship between the percentage of votes cast for party candidates and the percentage of seats won by those parties.
Describe a single-member-district system.
Using your knowledge of the single-member-district system and the data in the table, explain why in some cases, a party with fewer votes can win more seats than a party with more votes.
Explain what the data illustrate about how single-member-district systems affect party representation compared to proportional representation systems.

Comparative Analysis

Compare how direct democracy has been used in two different AP Comparative Government and Politics course countries. In your response, you should do the following.
1. Define direct democracy.
2. Describe how direct democracy has been used in a specific instance in two different AP Comparative Government and Politics course countries.
3. Explain why direct democracy was used by the country in each of the specific instances described in (B).
Argument Essay

Develop an argument as to whether federal or unitary systems are better for maintaining national unity. Use one or more of the following course concepts in your response:
- Sovereignty
- Legitimacy
- Political efficacy
In your response, you should do the following:
- Respond to the prompt with a defensible claim or thesis that establishes a line of reasoning using one or more of the provided course concepts.
- Support your claim with at least TWO pieces of specific and relevant evidence from one or more course countries. The evidence should be relevant to one or more of the provided course concepts.
- Use reasoning to explain why your evidence supports your claim or thesis, using one or more of the provided course concepts.
- Respond to an opposing or alternate perspective using refutation, concession, or rebuttal.

Answer Key

Diagnostic Test

Answers explained

Multiple-Choice

(A) Whereas a government is the current leader in power, a regime is the broader system and rules under which people compete for and win the right to exercise political power. Although governments can change from election to election, regimes are defined in constitutions or other unwritten political customs that endure from government to government.
(B) Political socialization refers to the ways in which people acquire their political beliefs. Common agents of political socialization include families, schools, peers, and the media.
(A) Legitimacy is the perception of the people that the government has the right to rule. Governments with legitimacy can exercise political power with the expectation that the people will respond to their demands, while governments that lack legitimacy will struggle in trying to exercise power.
(C) While the other characteristics are typical of pluralism, having a single “peak” organization for each interest is more typical of corporatism, where groups are chosen by the government to participate in policymaking, and the single peak organizations are thus highly unlikely to criticize the government or the regime.
(B) A government is the people currently in power, such as the current members of parliament. Governments can change by regular election, such as when new members of parliament are elected and a new party becomes the majority in power.
(D) Civil society refers to all of the voluntary associations and groups citizens choose to join to express or advance a particular interest. They can include religious groups, charities, recreational clubs, interest groups, unions, and much more. They are not part of the formal state, though, so institutions of the government are not considered civil society groups.
(D) Patron-clientelism refers to a system in which people in power use their position to direct benefits to others in exchange for their support. The patron provides benefits in exchange for support from the client.
(B) From the list, only Russia uses PR, and they use it in elections to the State Duma. Nigeria, Britain, and Iran all use systems that are exclusively SMD. China does not elect its national legislature. Mexico (not on the list of options) mixes an SMD and a PR system to elect both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
(A) In the United Kingdom, the SMD system highly encourages the formation of large big-tent parties that group together diverse interests, since only parties that win in each district are rewarded. The result is that consistently, one of the two major parties (Labour and Conservative) emerges with a majority of the seats and control of the government.
(A) The data show that a larger percentage of Russians support representative democracy (68%) than rule by the military (27%) as a good form of government. The other conclusion choices may be true, but they are not measured directly by the poll data in this chart.
(C) Because Russians have expressed stronger support for forms of democracy than for authoritarian systems, such as military rule or rule by a strong leader, this implies that concentration of power into the executive could result in public resistance if it was perceived as excessive and undemocratic, which potentially undermines the legitimacy of the government’s perceived right to rule.
(D) The other statements are true according to the data, but they are empirical statements. Normative statements make a value judgment beyond only what is expressed by the data. Choice (D) is a normative statement because it assumes that it is good for the government to do what the public prefers, which is a value judgment.
(A) Federal systems give more independent powers to lower, local levels of government than unitary systems. While this allows for the diversity of a society to be reflected in the system of government, it can sometimes reduce the sense of national identity since citizens may become divided in their loyalty between levels of government, believing the local government is perhaps more reflective of their values than their national government.
(B) States based on rational-legal legitimacy entrust political power in the hands of those who acquired it through appropriate defined constitutional means, such as winning an election. Even when the leader becomes unpopular, the leader may still exercise his constitutional authorities in a rational-legal system.
(C) While most liberal democracies have clearly established rule of law, competitive elections, a strong civic culture, citizens who are relatively well-off, and a large middle class, they are not necessarily presidential systems. Many liberal democracies, such as Britain, use parliamentary systems without separation of powers or checks and balances.
(C) Import Substitution Industrialization policies seek to achieve self-sufficiency by replacing the country’s demand for imported manufactured goods with domestically manufactured goods. These policies include protective tariffs and quotas meant to prevent consumers from buying foreign products, and supporting domestic manufacturing firms through subsidies and other regulatory support.
(A) Austerity measures increase taxes or reduce government spending, including salaries of government employees, welfare state expenditures, and other budget categories. These measures are generally imposed when a country’s debt and annual budget deficits are becoming unsustainable and need to be brought under control.
(A) Mexico is a federal democracy, and allows voters to elect representatives to both their local state government and the national government. China is a unitary authoritarian system that does not elect any of its national officials; however, China implemented limited democratization at the most local levels of its structure—for example, in the elections of village and township officials.
(B) Political efficacy refers to the extent to which citizens believe their participation in the political process matters. Low voter turnouts would indicate that citizens do not believe participating will make a difference, whereas the other activities listed all indicate engaged citizens who believe that their participation will matter.
(B) Britain is a unitary state with all political powers concentrated in the House of Commons in London, but in 1998, it began to devolve many powers to regional parliaments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, in addition to the city of London.
(C) Because the SMD system only gives seats in parliament to winning candidates, voters are encouraged to back candidates from catch-all parties with large membership. Voting for smaller parties is sometimes seen as “throwing a vote away,” and minor parties don’t tend to last or get representation in the system.
(B) The Politburo (or political bureau) is a small group of the top leaders within the Chinese Communist Party. They act as the main policymaking institution at the top of the CCP hierarchy and control the promotion of other CCP members into higher-ranking positions.
(A) China has deregulated most of the state controls on the economy and turned most economic activity over to the private sector since However, many of China’s most important companies and assets remain state-owned, and comprise a large percentage of the overall Chinese economy.
(D) Civil society is the term for independent organizations of people who are united by a common interest they wish to express. These organizations can include interest groups, religious organizations, recreational clubs, charitable groups, and many more. They can be political or not.
(B) Economic liberalization refers to policies that move an economy toward market-based approaches, allowing for the free flow of money between investors, producers, and consumers without government restrictions or interventions. In the 1980s, under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, China liberalized its economy in many ways, such as opening itself to foreign direct investment as a way to create jobs and opportunities for its citizens.
(C) This article implies that the large number of both registered and unregistered civil society groups worries the Communist Party because it may indicate the capacity of citizens to organize large-scale activities outside of the control of the Party. This could potentially threaten the Party’s hold on power in the future.
(D) “Shock therapy” was implemented under Boris Yeltsin, radically transforming Russia from a communist to a capitalist economy as quickly as possible. It had tremendously poor results, with high unemployment and inflation in Russia lasting from 1993 to 1998, and set the stage for Yeltsin to resign and promote Putin into the presidency.
(A) The Guardian Council reviews candidates who wish to run for all political offices, and has the power to remove any of those candidates from the ballot if they believe them to be unqualified, usually based on religious or ideological measures. Although the Supreme Leader can dismiss a president in office, he does not have the formal constitutional power to prevent candidates from being on the ballot (though he does appoint half of the Guardian Council’s membership).
(A) The measures of development would be GDP per capita, which measures the average person’s standard of living, and Human Development Index ranking, which indicates where the country compares to other countries in additional factors, including health care access, life expectancy, and education. Great Britain leads in both of those categories compared to the other countries.
(B) The measure of income inequality is the Gini index, which is much higher for Mexico (0.482) than for Great Britain (0.341).
(C) In both China and Russia, the president is the head of state, but both countries have a different office act as the head of government (the premier in China, and the prime minister in Russia). The Russian president has most of the powers of appointment, while that power is more spread among many CCP leaders in China. Only the Russian president may issue laws by decree, while neither country’s executive has to work closely with a legislature.
(A) The president of Iran is directly elected by voters every four years. The Supreme Leader is chosen by the Assembly of Religious Experts, and the other officials are appointed by the Supreme Leader.
(C) In 2000, the PAN defeated the PRI, the first victory for the opposition against the PRI since its formation. Other candidates had been allowed to appear on the ballot in all of the elections prior, and there had been a few civilians elected since the 1970s as well.
(D) Green Movement protesters believed the Iranian government had rigged the 2009 presidential election in favor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
(C) Both Nigeria and Mexico divide their constitutional structures of government between national and state (regional) levels, making them federal systems. They also directly elect the national chief executive, making them both presidential systems.
(A) In order to prevent regional candidates from winning the presidency, Nigeria’s constitution requires that a candidate win 25 percent of the vote in at least two-thirds of the states to be declared the winner in the first round.
(B) In Britain, the House of Commons possesses nearly all political powers, while the House of Lords can do little more than delay legislation. In Russia, the Duma can pass legislation over the objections of the Federation Council by a simple majority vote.
(A) The characteristics inherent in a state are sovereignty, territory, population, and government.
(D) Banning or restricting the sale of a product that is demanded by people can reduce how much of it is consumed, but there will also likely be a black market for those products uncontrolled by the state. Market behavior is difficult for the state to control.
(D) Globalization has brought the people of countries closer together through technology, trade, and growing cultural unification. National boundaries are decreasingly significant, since it is increasingly the case that people can purchase products and engage in business or finance all across the world, and communicate with almost anyone at any time.
(B) In corporatist systems, the state controls the participation of groups in policymaking by selecting which group will be allowed, and ignoring or regulating the activity of other groups.
(A) A referendum allows voters to cast a ballot for or against a particular proposal, and the result of the vote becomes the binding law.
(B) This article tells the story of the difficulty businesses have with the large number of Nigerian bureaucratic agencies that impose excessive and repetitive regulations, and seem to exist not to protect the public, but rather to provide a place for political leaders to give their supporters jobs in government. Many of these agencies demand additional fees or even bribes to issue licenses for businesses to operate legally. The tendency of corrupt officials in Nigeria’s bureaucracy to use their offices for personal gain rather than fulfilling the intended function of the office is commonly referred to as prebendalism.
(D) Neoliberalism is an ideology that espouses the best way to develop an economy and create prosperity for more people through market-based economics with open trade, easily understood and consistently enforced rules, and a limited role for the government that includes protection of private property rights. It generally advocates keeping the government out of the way of private business activity to maximize the role of the private sector in growth. As this article detailed the frustrations private businesses have in dealing with Nigeria’s excessively large and corrupt bureaucracy, neoliberals would likely advocate eliminating duplicate agencies and rules to make doing business easier in Nigeria.
(C) Direct democracy means that common citizens are empowered to decide on their own public policies, as opposed to indirect democracy, where elected representatives make decisions on behalf of the public. A referendum would give the people direct control over whether a proposal becomes policy or not.
(B) What most clearly distinguishes democracy from authoritarianism is the power of the people to remove one government and replace it with another through free, fair, competitive elections. Authoritarian systems may also hold elections, but the results are managed in some way to ensure victory for the current government.
(D) Supranational organizations gather many states together to make group decisions, reducing some of the sovereign policymaking authority held by each state, but solving some kind of common problem. The organizations listed in the question were the European Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
(A) Bureaucracies implement the policies of the government, such as in enforcement of regulations, or gathering information required, for some examples. To perform their jobs effectively and fairly, they have impersonal structures, formal qualifications for jobs, and a hierarchical structure filled with people appointed to their positions based on their merit and qualifications.
(C) While Britain, Nigeria, and Iran use a fully SMD system, and Russia uses a fully PR system, Mexico uses a mix in which some members of the legislature are chosen from SMD constituencies, and other members are chosen from a party list PR vote. China does not elect its national legislature.
(A) All four countries have experienced longstanding themes of authoritarian rule, with only Mexico in recent decades exhibiting signs of democratic transition.
(A) Iran’s revolutionaries established a theocratic state based on Ayatollah Khomeini’s interpretations of Shari’ah law, whereas the revolutions in Russia (1917) and China (1949) established communist states opposed to religion. While Russia and China both established one-party states, Iran did not. All three revolutions retained authoritarianism, though in different forms than it had existed before the revolution.
(D) Democratic consolidation is when the only means to acquire political power is through democratic processes, and not through any military or authoritarian means. Democracy has become “the only game in town,” essentially. A country that develops a consistent history of choosing leaders through free elections, with acceptance of the results by the people and the political elites alike, is a consolidated democracy.
(B) In Mexico, a law requires that each party sponsors women to run for at least one-third of the seats they contend for, and as a result, a much larger percentage of women are elected into office in Mexico than in any of the other countries in the AP Comparative Government and Politics curriculum.
(C) United Russia is a political party created in the early 2000s to support the agenda of President Vladimir Putin. Although a few parties that aren’t especially critical of the president are usually able to get their candidates onto the ballot easily (such as the Communist Party), other legitimate opposition parties are frequently blocked from the election process for a variety of supposed reasons. Even though President Putin is no longer officially a member of United Russia, the election system still gives extensive and favorable treatment to the party.
(A) Although Russia does not have a democratic system of government at this time, it still stages elections in compliance with the Constitution of The presence of parties other than United Russia gives the perception to voters that democracy is working in Russia, even if the other parties in the Duma are not truly oppositional. The strongest voices of opposition among Russia’s political parties are usually denied the chance to get their candidates on the ballot.

Free-Response

Conceptual Analysis (4 points possible)
1. One point is earned for a correct definition of a parliamentary system. Correct definitions may include:
  - A parliamentary system fuses legislative power and executive power into a single political institution, as the members of the executive are simultaneously part of the majority party of the legislature.
  - A parliamentary system allows voters to elect the members of the legislature, and then empowers the legislature to choose the chief executive. The executive is not directly elected by voters.
2. One point is earned for correctly describing the process of removing the chief executive in a parliamentary system. Correct descriptions may include:
  - The legislature calls a “vote of no confidence,” in which a majority of the legislature votes for the removal of the current government and the holding of new elections.
3. One point is earned for a correct explanation of why a parliamentary system results in less potential political gridlock than a presidential system. Correct explanations may include:
  - Parliamentary systems ensure that the same political party controls both the legislature and the executive, whereas presidential systems create the potential for a divided government in which different parties control each institution.
  - Since the legislature chooses the chief executive in a parliamentary system, the legislature is likely to back the agenda of the chief executive. The legislature and the executive are chosen through different processes in a presidential system, and may have differing priorities as a result.
4. One point is earned for a correct explanation of one reason why a country might choose a presidential system despite the higher potential for political gridlock. Correct explanations may include:
  - Presidential systems can prevent policies from being enacted if they are considered too partisan or too hastily constructed.
  - Presidential systems can reflect the federal nature of a country by representing all people of the nation in the presidential election, by representing the states or regional governments in the legislature, or vice versa.
  - Presidential systems give voters a more direct say in who their chief executive should be, enhancing democratic representation of the will of the people and the legitimacy of the government as a result.
Quantitative Analysis (5 points possible)
1. One point is earned for correctly identifying a party or coalition of parties that could form a government after the results of this election. Forming a government requires control of over 50 percent of the seats in the parliament. Correct identifications include:
  - Conservatives, plus any other single party or combination of parties (with the exception of Sinn Fein alone—this party would only get the coalition to 49.9 percent of the seats when a majority is needed).
  - Labour, plus the Scottish Nationalists, Liberal Democrats, and Democratic Unionists. (Sinn Fein may also be included.)
2. One point is earned for a correct description of the relationship between the votes cast for each party and the percentage of seats won by each party. Correct descriptions may include:
  - The parties that won the most votes in the election also won the most seats in the legislature.
  - While the parties with the most votes won the most seats in the legislature, some parties received much larger or much smaller shares of seats than their percentage of the vote.
  - Note: It is incorrect to state that there is no relationship between the percentage of the vote received and the percentage of seats won, or to imply that there is very little relationship between the two.
3. One point is earned for a correct definition of a single-member-district system. Correct definitions may include:
  - Single-member-district systems divide the country into geographic constituencies, and each constituency elects a single member to the national legislature as a representative of that constituency’s interests.
4. One point is earned for a correct explanation of why, in some cases, a party with fewer votes can win more seats than a party with more votes. Correct explanations may include:
  - Candidates for parties must win the most votes in a specific district to win a seat in the legislature. A party with some support spread out across the country may win a sizeable share of the national vote, but rarely ever win the most votes in any place, resulting in a discrepancy between their share of the vote and their number of seats.
  - Parties with strong regional concentration may win very few votes across the country, but still win the most votes for the few constituencies in their area of regional strength, causing them to have a larger percentage of seats in parliament than their share of the national votes.
5. One point is earned for a correct explanation of what the data illustrate about how single-member-district systems affect party representation compared to proportional representation systems. Correct explanations may include:
  - Single-member-district systems tend to overrepresent the scale of victory for the parties with the most votes, giving them more seats in the legislature than the proportion of votes they received. Proportional representation systems more closely match the share of the vote received to the share of seats won in the legislature.
  - Single-member-district systems tend to overrepresent parties with regional concentration, giving them more seats in the legislature than the proportion of votes they received. Proportional representation systems more closely match the share of the vote received to the share of seats won in the legislature.
  - Single-member-district systems tend to underrepresent parties with national appeal that are not one of the major parties, giving them fewer seats in the legislature than the proportion of votes they received. Proportional representation systems more closely match the share of the vote received to the share of seats won in the legislature.
Comparative Analysis (5 points possible)
1. One point is earned for a correct definition of direct democracy. Correct definitions may include:
  - Direct democracy allows voters to draft and/or enact a specific public policy directly, without the involvement of the national legislative and executive institutions.
  - Direct democracy allows voters to approve or reject a specific public policy through an election, such as an initiative or referendum.
2. One point is earned for EACH correct description of the use of direct democracy in one of the six course countries, with up to two points possible. Correct descriptions may include:
  - Great Britain
    1. Referendum to approve the EU Constitution
    2. Referendum to change the election system from first-past-the-post to the Alternative Vote
    3. Referendum to leave the European Union, known as “Brexit”
  - Russia
    1. Referendum to approve the national Constitution of 1993
    2. Local referenda in Russian regions to accept or reject proposed local constitutions or amendments to their constitutions
  - Iran
    1. Plebiscite/referendum to support the creation of an Islamic Republic in 1979
3. One point is earned for EACH correct description of why direct democracy was used by the country in the specific instance discussed in (B), with up to two points possible. Correct descriptions may include:
  - Great Britain
    1. The EU Constitution Referendum
      - The EU Constitution stipulated that each country must approve its adoption through a referendum.
    2. Alternative Vote
      - Prime Minster David Cameron had made a bargain with the Liberal-Democratic Party to form a coalition government. The Liberal-Democrats preferred the Alternative Vote to the first-past-the-post system, and they were given a national referendum on the matter in exchange for their support of the Conservative government under Cameron.
    3. Leave the EU (“Brexit”)
      - Prime Minster David Cameron promised voters and anti-EU members of the Conservative Party a referendum on EU membership during the 2015 election in order to keep the support of Euroskeptics who might otherwise have voted for the UK Independence Party or other anti-EU parties.
      - Leaving the EU was a large and consequential decision, and the government wanted to legitimize the decision with a public vote.
  - Russia
    1. National Constitution of 1993
      - President Boris Yeltsin and his political allies were concerned that the legislature, still dominated by the Communist Party, would never approve Russia’s new constitution, and therefore chose to submit it to voters for approval.
      - A public referendum could build legitimacy, demonstrating public support for the radical change in the regime codified by the new constitution.
      - The new constitution required ratification to occur through a public referendum.
    2. Regional constitutions
      - Russia was building a new federal system of government and sought to demonstrate public support in each new regional level of government for the new regime
  - Iran
    1. Referendum/plebiscite on the creation of an Islamic Republic
      - The leaders of the new regime wanted to demonstrate widespread public support of their goals after the success of the Revolution of 1979.
      - A national vote on the matter could build legitimacy for the new regime in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1979.
Argument Essay (5 points possible)
1. One point is earned for constructing a defensible claim or thesis that establishes a line of reasoning using one or more of the course concepts.
  - Examples of acceptable claims or theses:
    1. “Federal systems are better for maintaining national unity because they allow people groups to remain united while exerting a degree of local sovereignty, preventing ethnic and regional conflict. Federal systems also enhance the political efficacy of participants because there are more opportunities to connect with policymaking at the local level provided than in a unitary system.”
    2. “Unitary systems preserve national unity more than federal systems by holding full sovereignty at the national level, while federal systems undermine national unity by legitimizing and exacerbating regional or ethnic conflict in the creation and exercise of power by subnational states.”
  - Examples of unacceptable claims or theses:
    1. “Federal and unitary systems both have a number of significant advantages and disadvantages when it comes to preserving national unity.” This attempt at a thesis does not make a specific claim regarding whether either system is better for preserving national unity.
    2. “Federal systems preserve national unity more than unitary systems.” This statement alone does not establish a line of reasoning.
2. One point is earned for EACH use of specific evidence from one of the six course countries, with up to two points possible. These specific examples and evidence used must be relevant and support the thesis or claim of the essay.
  - Examples of specific relevant evidence (not an exhaustive list):
    1. “Creating specific regional governments in Russia for ethnic non-Russians gave legitimacy to the idea that these groups had a right to their own national sovereignty (Such as Chechens, for example), undermining the unity of the people of the Russian state.”
    2. “The division of Nigeria into states undermines national unity by reinforcing existing ethnic rivalries and conflict over resources, because the states were generally created along ethnic boundaries.”
    3. “Creating additional layers of government in Mexico/Russia/Nigeria diminishes policy unity and continuity across state lines, undermining the sense of national unity.”
    4. “The creation of local layers of government in Nigeria allows a very diverse country to remain unified federally, because local policy preferences can be reflected at the local level without threatening the national government (such as the limited implementation of Shari’ah law in Nigeria’s northern states).”
    5. “By the 1990s, the singular unitary nature of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was impossible to maintain while uniting the member countries, and the solution was to devolve power to local parliaments and to make Britain closer to a federal system.”
    6. “China has a large territory and massive population, but through the nature of a unitary state, China has maintained an extremely strong and legitimate sense of national identity and loyalty of the population to the Chinese state.”
    7. “The legitimacy of the religiously-oriented Iranian state has been preserved partially by concentrating power in a singular national level of government, rather than allowing local governments to undermine the country’s religious unity.”
3. One point is earned for discussion of why the evidence cited supports the thesis or claim. This discussion should be specific to the evidence cited and connected back to the thesis or claim.
4. One point is earned for responding to an opposing or alternate perspective, either using refutation, concession, or rebuttal.
  - Examples of refutation, concession, or rebuttal may include:
    1. “Although many have asserted that the capabilities of federal states to allow local policymaking preferences to be enacted may help diverse countries remain united, there are many cases where the wide disparities between policies in different regions led to the strengthening of regional rivalries and secessionist movements.”
    2. “It may be true that unitary states create a stronger sense of national identity, but this is generally only possible when the country is not particularly diverse ethnically, religiously, and culturally. In countries with any degree of diversity, national unity is only possible through federalism.”

SCORE ANALYSIS

Section I: Multiple-Choice

Use the following formula to calculate your weighted Section I score.

Number correct (out of 55): ________ × 1.0909 = ________ (Section I Score Total)

Section II: Free-Response

Add together your weighted scores for each of the four questions to get your total weighted Section II score.

Short-Answer Concepts

Conceptual Analysis (11% of exam score)

Points earned on rubric ________ (out of 4 possible) × 3.3 = ______
Quantitative Analysis (12.5% of exam score)

Points earned on rubric ________ (out of 5 possible) × 3.0 = ______
Comparative Analysis (12.5% of exam score)

Points earned on rubric ________ (out of 5 possible) × 3.0 = ______
Argument Essay (14% of exam score)

Points earned on rubric ________ (out of 5 possible) × 3.36 = ______

Section II Score Total______

Total Section I + Total Section II = ________/120

Conversion Chart for AP Exam Score*

Final Score Range	AP Score
84–120	5
72–83	4
60–71	3
43–59	2
0–42	1
*The score range corresponding to each grade varies from exam to exam and is approximate.