History and Political Science Exam Questions Essay

History and Political Science Exam Questions - Essay Example The case study countries can be said to relatively conform to the ideal model of liberal democracy. The three constitutional forms mentioned above are depicted in the case study countries. Political competitiveness is observed in the U.S, Nigeria, France and Russia. Elections are held after a specified period of time, and constitutional provisions allow for free and fair elections. Spain on the other hand practices democracy through a constitutional monarchy. While such a political process may not be competitive, transparency in governance is provided for by political laws. Q2 The growth and development of the civil society is an important aspect of the larger population within a country or a state. The management of human capital in the civil service is primarily undertaken by the civil society, and it therefore accounts for the major needs of the larger society. The development of the civil society and its influence to the state are intertwined. A developed civil society is one tha t accounts for the diversity and dynamisms realized in the state and one that further seeks to match this trend with the performance of the state. It therefore stands a strong ground to significantly influence the state. Q3 Centralization of legislation is the basis upon which unitary states function. This is form of legislature is however not necessarily the best in the contemporary world. Political systems and governments seek to uphold efficiency and effectiveness of governments, thereby delegating legislation duties. The concentration of authority and power to a single unit of governance is longer deemed as an aspect of democracy. As a result, political systems and governments of the modern times tend to create organs of governance that function just as the overhead arm of government. Decentralized legislature is thus a key defining factor of democracy. EXAM 2 Q1 The Rational Actor Model makes four assumptions that fail to conform to the real world phenomena. As a result, the us e of this model in the evaluation and assessment of foreign relations is limited, and to a more extent unrealistic. The model assumes that governments are unitary in nature, cost and benefit analysis is the mode of policy formulation, actors execute decisions faithfully and ineffective policies are optimized through adjustment (Held, 2006, p.329). These assumptions are unrealistic since they do not account for the ulterior motives of actors in foreign relations. On the same note, policy formulation keep conflicting with other policies already in place, and therefore optimality of policies is not realistic. Q2 Foreign policy making is subject to both rational processes and political influences. The extent to which these two factors affect foreign policy formulation and implementation is crucial in determining whether the goals of foreign policy reflect political interests. Foreign policies are formulated and implemented by states that identify foreign relations issues that need to be addressed by these policies. Due to this aspect, the rationality of foreign policy making is lost. This is due to the fact that the emerging foreign policies reflect collaborative political interests, and are therefore deemed to serve purposes that are beneficial to the formulating agencies even when the rationality of these policies is questionable. EXAM 3 Q1 States are endowed with powers within their jurisdiction to formulate and implement policies, among them

Short answers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Short answers - Essay Example An economist would advice a firm making accounting profits to close down because accounting profits is arrived at by subtracting only explicit costs from the total revenue. This rejects implicit costs hence inaccuracy of the profits (Aspers, 2011). (b) Why normal profit is the long run outcome for a firm under perfect competition When a firm is making economic profits, other firms will find the markets competitive hence mass entry into the market. This causes the supply curve to shift to the right, which results into a drop of the prices hence profits, are cancelled. The firm will in the end exhibit normal profits as an outcome under perfect competition (Aspers, 2011). (c) Characteristics of both monopolistic and monopoly competition, their advantages and disadvantages Characteristics of monopolistic competition are; there exist a large number of buyers and sellers, they exhibit price differentiation, free entry and exit of firms and high selling costs are incurred. Monopoly on the o ther hand exhibits characteristics such as the existence of only one firm in the market; they are price takers since they are the only producers. They have the advantage of controlling the whole market and therefore dictate the prices. The only disadvantage is that they are constrained by their own demand curves. Monopolistic case has several advantages; the most peculiar is that they are able to command a large market base. The market is disadvantaged in that stiff competition may threaten its operations in the market (Aspers, 2011). 4. (a) Graph of Fiscal policy and deflationary gap Deflationary gap happens when the actual output (Y) is below the natural output (Yn); this is as shown in the figure above. To correct the deflationary gap expansionary fiscal policy has to be used. The government does this through increasing government spending; alongside this, the government taxation has to be reduced. The result of employing the expansionary fiscal policy acts to shift the aggregate demand curve to coincide with the natural output and therefore real GDP is increased. Deflationary gap is caused when the investment spending goes down hence it is simply solved when the government increases it investment spending such as spending on infrastructure (Buti, 2003). (b) How fiscal and monetary used to address deflationary gap affects balance of payment Fiscal policy tools used to such as increased taxation will make the costs of local goods to be expensive. When the local goods become expensive balance shifts from favoring importation. When imports are more than exports, there is unfavorable balance of payment, which is harmful to the economy. In addition, monetary policies to correct deflationary gap is that aimed at increasing money supply, which leads to an increase in prices. Increase in prices causes local goods to be equally expensive leading to increased importation hence unfavorable balance of payment. Such negative impacts of balance of payment occur when the economy is at the helm of growth (Buti, 2003). 6. (a) Reasons for holding money There are three major reasons for holding money; transactionery motive, precautionary motive and speculative motive. For transactionery motive, money is held to undertake daily transactions mostly on basics. Money is also held to handle any future unfortunate occurrences anticipated in the future. Speculators are investors who anticipate that assets will be attractive in the near future hence hold money to take advantage of such (Dobeck, MF &