GED Social Studies : Other Political Philosophies

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GED Social Studies

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Other Political Philosophies

The idea that all men have a right to life, liberty, and property is most commonly associated with __________

Possible Answers:

Charles de Montesquieu.

Adam Smith.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

John Locke.

Voltaire.

Correct answer:

John Locke.

Explanation:

John Locke was an Enlightenment-era philosopher who is most commonly associated with arguing in favor of the idea that all men have certain inalienable rights: primarily to life, liberty, and property. His ideas were extremely influential to the Constitutional Framers, particularly Thomas Jefferson.

Example Question #2 : Other Political Philosophies

The government practice whereby a stronger nation tries to dominate or exert influence on another nation through military or economic superiority is best described as __________

Possible Answers:

isolationism.

imperialism.

jingoism.

colonialism.

appeasement.

Correct answer:

imperialism.

Explanation:

The term imperialism is used to describe any attempt by a stronger nation to dominate or exert influence a weaker nation through the use of its military or via its economic superiority. The period from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century is often referred to as the Era of European Imperialism, because so many European states were carving out sections of influence around the world. The United States has also engaged in its fair share of imperialism, particularly economic imperialism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Example Question #2 : Other Political Philosophies

Anarchism is a political theory that __________

Possible Answers:

opposes a weak and decentralized government.

demands freedom of religion.

favors the complete abolition of government.

favors a mostly free-market economy, loosely regulated by a central government.

argues for the elimination of boundaries between nations and the integration of the human race into one global government.

Correct answer:

favors the complete abolition of government.

Explanation:

Anarchism is a political theory that favors the complete abolition of government. Anarchists believe that government interferes negatively in the lives and well-being of people, and that society would function best in the complete absence of government.

Example Question #3 : Other Political Philosophies

A political philosophy that is defined by trying to resist social change or desiring a return to a previous social order is called __________

Possible Answers:

reactionary.

libertarian.

liberal.

conservative.

revolutionary.

Correct answer:

reactionary.

Explanation:

The political spectrum is usually constructed as follows: On the far left are revolutionaries, on the left are liberals, in the middle are moderates, on the right are conservatives, and on the far right are reactionaries. Reactionary political philosophy is defined by the repeated attempt to resist social change or, even further, to desire a return to a previous, and more rigid, social order.

Example Question #4 : Other Political Philosophies

The political theory that states that a democratic society benefits from competing ideas from a wide spectrum of individual and group opinions is called __________

Possible Answers:

pluralism.

progressivism.

liberalism.

nominalism.

republicanism.

Correct answer:

pluralism.

Explanation:

Pluralism is the name given to a political theory—widely accepted in most modern democracies—that states that a democratic society benefits when there are many competing and varied individual and group opinions working together, or in competition with each other, to direct public policy.

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