Oxford University Press | Online Resource Centre

Choose your answers from a-d by clicking the radio button next to each choice and then press 'Submit' to get your score.

Question 1

Robert Putnam argues which of the following?

a) Declining political participation is a product of the end of ideological conflicts

b) Declining political participation is the consequence of declining deference to, and trust in politicians

c) Declining political participation can be seen to be triggered by a decline in social capital

d) The declining interest in politics can be understood as a response to the tendency of modern states to shift from 'steering not rowing'

Question 2

People who are active socially are...

a) ...more likely be active politically than those who are socially inactive.

b) ...more likely to distrust politicians than those who are socially inactive.

c) ...four times as likely to be involved in direct action than those who are socially inactive.

d) ...twice as likely to be a member of an extremist party or organisation than those who are socially inactive.

Question 3

Which of the following statements about direct action are TRUE?

a) Direct action usually involves illegal activities

b) Direct action usually involves direct contacts with ministers and elected representatives

c) Direct action is a recent strategy with no historical precedents in Britain

d) There is a linkage between direct action and the emergence of new social movements

Question 4

Edmund Burke proposed that...

a) ...political participation is a personal and civic responsibility.

b) ...political participation should be limited to the election of representatives.

c) ...political participation is essential to the formation of a 'general will'.

d) ...political participation needs to be limited because voters are easily manipulated by politicians.

Question 5

What is the relevance of the ideas of Ulrich Beck to understanding the decline in representative politics?

a) His work suggests that the problems of representative of politics are associated with post-colonialism

b) His work suggests that the deference associated with traditional institutions has evaporated

c) His work suggests that popular concern has shifted from economic risk to environmental risk

d) His work suggests that civil society is becoming increasingly fragmented

Question 6

Which of the following statements about party membership in the UK is correct?

a) Membership of political parties in Britain has increased in total in recent years because of the emergence of new political parties like UKIP

b) The decline of party membership has been much more marked in the Labour Party in comparison to the Conservative Party because of the decline and fragmentation of the working class

c) The Labour Party has historically always had a larger full individual membership than the Conservative Party

d) Both of the two major parties currently have less than half a million party members each

Question 7

Which of the following statements about the campaign against genetically modified crops is false?

a) The campaign involved moderate insider groups in alliance with radical groups pursuing tactics of direct action

b) The majority of the public were opposed to genetically modified crop trials

c) The campaign involved pressure placed upon retailers

d) The campaign was unsuccessful in modifying policy

Question 8

Which of the following campaigns involving tactics of direct action failed to achieve its principal objective?

a) Greenpeace's campaign to recycle North Sea oil platforms

b) The Snowdrop campaign

c) Anti-war protests held in 2003

d) None of the above

Question 9

Which one of the following statements about direct action is false?

a) Those who participate in direct action are typically those who lack the resources to participate in politics in more conventional ways

b) The proportion of people who claim they would participate in direct action has doubled in the last two decades

c) Willingness to undertake direct action is not a political strategy exclusively associated with 'radical' groups

d) Groups employing direct action tactics often organise in non-hierarchical and non-traditional ways

Question 10

Approximately what proportion of people failed to pay the poll tax in its first year of operation in Scotland?

a) 5%

b) 15%

c) 30%

d) 55%

Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Chapter 22.

Chapter 22

Instructions

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10