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Comparative Politics Practice Sheet
Introduction
Comparative Politics is a branch of Political Science that studies the political systems of different countries. It looks at how different countries make decisions, how they interact with each other, and how they are governed. In this practice sheet, you will learn about some of the key concepts of Comparative Politics and how they are used to analyze different countries.
Questions
- What is Comparative Politics?
- What are the main goals of Comparative Politics?
- What are the three main approaches to studying Comparative Politics?
- What is the difference between a presidential system and a parliamentary system?
- What is the difference between a unitary state and a federal state?
- What is the difference between a democracy and an autocracy?
- What is the difference between a first-past-the-post voting system and a proportional representation voting system?
- What is the difference between a direct democracy and a representative democracy?
- What is the difference between a civil society and a political society?
- What is the difference between a nation-state and a multinational state?
Practice Problems
- Identify the type of government in each of the following countries:
- France: Presidential system
- United States: Presidential system
- Canada: Parliamentary system
- Germany: Parliamentary system
- Identify the type of voting system used in each of the following countries:
- United Kingdom: First-past-the-post
- India: First-past-the-post
- Canada: Proportional Representation
- Germany: Proportional Representation
- Identify the type of state in each of the following countries:
- United States: Unitary
- Canada: Federal
- Switzerland: Federal
- France: Unitary
- Identify the type of democracy in each of the following countries:
- United States: Representative
- India: Representative
- Switzerland: Direct
- North Korea: Autocracy
Answer Key
- France: Presidential system; United States: Presidential system; Canada: Parliamentary system; Germany: Parliamentary system
- United Kingdom: First-past-the-post; India: First-past-the-post; Canada: Proportional Representation; Germany: Proportional Representation
- United States: Unitary; Canada: Federal; Switzerland: Federal; France: Unitary
- United States: Representative; India: Representative; Switzerland: Direct; North Korea: Autocracy