RI T3W9 Features of Deomocracy Quiz 2021

Page 1 of 4 Raffles Institution 2021 Year 3 Social Studies Unit 2: Government and Governance Features of Democracy Quiz What feature of democracy do each of the following examples best represent? Put a tick beside the correct answer. 1. Current distribution of seats by party in the current 19th Bunderstag (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundestag) “There are 34 [political parties] in total to choose from. To someone accustomed to the American two-party system, this might seem a bit crowded. But in Germany this is democracy as its post-war founders imagined it, with all views and social currents, serious or not, represented. There is a party for more vegans in the federal government, for more adherence to the Bible, for a basic universal income, for senior-citizen visibility, hip hop, gardening in Magdeburg or happiness for all of humanity. To prevent chaos – and the framers of the 1949 constitution had the Weimar Republic in mind – most of these parties won't actually make it into the Bundestag. That's because the threshold for a party to win a seat in parliament is either 5 percent of votes, or three districts won via direct mandates. Based on all current polls, only seven parties will make it into the Bundestag: the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel; their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU); the center-left Social Democrats (SDP); ecology-focused Greens; the post-communist The Left; the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD); and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). All the other parties combined are likely to share the remaining 4 or 5 percent of the votes, and so will be left out.” (Source: Handelsblatt) A) Elections C) Civil society B) Political opposition D) Limits on government power

Page 2 of 4 2. “The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. It spells out Americans’ rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual—like freedom of speech, press, and religion. It sets rules for due process of law and reserves all powers not delegated to the Federal Government to the people or the States. And it specifies that “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” The First Amendment provides several rights protections: to express ideas through speech and the press, to assemble or gather with a group to protest or for other reasons, and to ask the government to fix problems. It also protects the right to religious beliefs and practices. It prevents the government from creating or favoring a religion. The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms. The Fifth Amendment provides several protections for people accused of crimes. It states that serious criminal charges must be started by a grand jury. A person cannot be tried twice for the same offense (double jeopardy) or have property taken away without just compensation. People have the right against self-incrimination and cannot be imprisoned without due process of law (fair procedures and trials.)” (Source: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights/what-does-it-say) A) Protected rights C) Limits on government power B) Political opposition D) Civil society 3. “She was declared Time magazine’s person of the year in the same month that Donald Trump told her to “work on her anger management issues”. Greta Thunberg has attracted international attention since her lone demonstration outside the Swedish Parliament in August 2018. Her “school strike for the climate” has now grown into a global movement that has brought more than 10 million people onto streets worldwide to demand action on climate change. In the same time that Greta Thunberg has become a household name, public concern about climate change has reached record highs in the US. But what role has Thunberg’s personal influence played in this? Do her speeches appeal to diverse audiences or is she simply preaching to the choir? Based on a nationally representative survey of over 1,300 US adults, our study found that Americans who report being more familiar with Greta Thunberg also feel more confident that they can help mitigate climate change as part of a collective effort. They are also more willing to take action themselves, by contacting elected officials or giving time and money to campaigns. We call this the Greta Thunberg effect.” (Source: https://theconversation.com/greta-thunberg-effect-people-familiar-with-young-climate-activist-may-be-more-likely-to-act-154146) A) Political opposition C) Independent media B) Protected rights D) Civil society

Page 3 of 4 4. “General elections (elections to the UK Parliament) usually take place every 5 years. To vote in a general election you must: • be registered to vote • be 18 or over on the day of the election (‘polling day’) • be a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen • be resident at an address in the UK (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years) • not be legally excluded from voting There are 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK Parliament. MPs are elected using the First Past the Post system. You vote once for a candidate in your constituency and the candidate with the most votes becomes your MP.” (Source: https://www.gov.uk/elections-in-the-uk) “In the United Kingdom, the Electoral Commission is the national election commission, created in 2001 as a result of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. It is an independent agency that regulates party and election finance and sets standards for how elections should be run.” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_Commission_(United_Kingdom)) A) Independent media C) Limits on government power B) Elections D) Political opposition 5. Freedom of the press—the right to report news or circulate opinion without censorship from the government—was considered “one of the great bulwarks of liberty,” by the Founding Fathers of the United States. Americans enjoy freedom of the press as one of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. New technologies, however, have created new challenges to media freedom. The First Amendment, which protects freedom of the press, was adopted on December 15, 1791, as part of the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights provides constitutional protection for certain individual liberties, including freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the right to assemble and petition the government. Before the thirteen colonies declared independence from Great Britain, the British government attempted to censor the American media by prohibiting newspapers from publishing unfavorable information and opinions.” (Source: https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/freedom-of-the-press) A) Protected rights C) Independent media B) Political opposition D) Limits on government power

Page 4 of 4 6. “Barack Obama suffered a unique political blow on Wednesday [28/9/16], when the US Congress overturned his veto of a bill that would allow families of the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks to sue Saudi Arabia. The legislation will permit courts to waive a claim of foreign sovereign immunity when an act of terrorism occurs inside US borders, according to the terms of the bill. Saudi Arabia has objected strongly to the legislation and has categorically denied any role in the 9/11 attacks. Fifteen of the 19 plane hijackers were Saudi nationals. The measure passed the Senate and House unanimously in May and September, but Obama vetoed it last Friday, claiming it would make the US vulnerable to retaliatory litigation in foreign courts that could put American troops in legal jeopardy. The vote deals a late blow to Obama on an issue he feels keenly about at a time when his personal popularity is ridi