| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| This politician once publicly blamed his resignation on a conspiracy by Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, and other world leaders to depose him for refusing an IMF loan. This former leader of the People for Freedom Party, whose namesake ideology has been loosely defined as a "demagogic populism," was arrested in 2013 for tax fraud. In 1993, this man formed the center-right political party known as FI. For the point, name this controversial media tycoon and longest-serving post-World War Two Prime Minister of Italy. | Silvio Berlusconi |
| A person with this last name defeated a twelve-term incumbent, John Mica, to become the first Vietnamese-American Democrat elected to Congress. A senator with this last name was first elected in 2012 in a contest in which he defeated future Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon. Another congressman with this name was Marco Rubio’s opponent in a 2016 Senate contest. For the point, what Irish surname also belongs to a politician named Phil, who became the Governor of New Jersey in 2018? | Murphy (accept Stephanie Murphy; accept Chris Murphy; accept Patrick Murphy; accept Phil Murphy) |
| A blue-ribbon panel of the American Bar Association found that these actions "undermine the rule of law" in 2006. George W. Bush used these actions to critique more than 700 provisions in bills that became law during his presidency. Barack Obama used one of these actions in 2015 to bemoan a lack of action on closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. For the point, name these documents, issued by the President, which assert that parts of an enacted bill are unenforceable or unconstitutional. | Signing Statements |
| With Albert Carnesale and Graham T. Allison, this author formulated an agenda for avoiding nuclear war in Hawks, Doves, and Owls. With a professor at Princeton, this man co- developed the concept of "complex interdependence" in Power and Interdependence. In books like Paradox of American Power, this theorist differentiated between the ability to attract and co-opt and the use of military and economic means to coerce. For the point, name this proponent of "soft power," who with Robert Keohane [[koh-HANE]] co-founded the international relations theory of neoliberalism. | Joseph Nye (accept Joseph Samuel Nye Jr.) |
| This book recommends that activists "expand the circle" to include as many people as possible to build support for their cause. This book opens by describing four enslaved ancestors of a man with a felony conviction, none of whom could vote. This book uses the term "racial caste system" to describe the impacts of the War on Drugs. For the point, name this book by Michelle Alexander that compares contemporary mass incarceration to the disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South. | The New Jim Crow |
| The definition of this concept is in the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act, but courts sometimes apply this concept to the rulings of judges as well as agency actions. The regulation of soda under Michael Bloomberg was deemed to have this trait because of its exemption for convenience stores. The Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s rescission of DACA [[DACK-ah]] because of this legal principle. For the point, name this legal term indicating a lack of rational grounds for a decision. | Arbitrary and Capricious (accept in either order; prompt on "Standard of Review") |
| In an interview with Andrew Marr, this party's leader controversially claimed regarding Brexit, "We are not a rejoin party, but we are a very pro-European party." Following a 2007 to 2015 coalition under Nick Clegg, this party lost its major party status. This party, led by Ed Davey and Daisy Cooper, has the symbol of a yellow bird in flight. For the point, name this center to center-left British political party, opposed to the Labour and Conservative parties. | Liberal Democrats (or Lib Dems; accept Liberal Democratic Party) |
| The “effective” form of this quantity was measured by Laakso and Taagepera based on seat shares and vote shares. Arend Lijphart [[LIPE-hart]] associated large values of this quantity with consensual forms of democracy. Duverger’s [[doo-vehr-ZHEHS]] Law posits a relationship between electoral rules and this quantity, with plurality voting corresponding to small values of this quantity. For the point, name this characteristic of a political system which is especially large in places like Brazil and Israel. | Number of Political Parties (accept Effective Number of Parties; be generous with equivalents) |
| A punk rock musician-led party called Kukiz'15 gained 42 seats in this body in one election. The satirical Beer-Lovers' Party managed to secure 16 seats in this body in 1991, its first free election. This body, which is presided over by a Marshal, is dominated by the opposition Civic Platform and the conservative Law and Justice Party. Originally controlled by split factions of the Solidarity movement, for the point, what body is the lower house of the parliament of Poland? | Sejm (accept Sejm of the Republic of Poland; accept Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) |
| Harold Hotelling provided the basis for this concept in a model of spatial economic competition. This concept, popularized by Duncan Black and Anthony Downs, assumes "single-peaked preferences" in a certain body. The namesake individual identified by this concept might be the 218th most liberal member of the U.S. House or the fifth most conservative member of the Supreme Court. For the point, identify this concept, which predicts that electoral candidates will converge to the center in search of votes. | Median Voter Theorem |
| Recently, this country has tried to modernize agriculture in provinces like Darkhan- Uul and Khovd. In March 2020, this country announced that it would use both Cyrillic and its traditional script in official documents by 2025. This country's Government Palace hosts its unicameral State Great Khural. In 2018, this country's president Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh [[OOK-nah-geen KOO-rel-sook]] signed eleven bilateral agreements with neighboring China. For the point, name this country, which has been building large-scale infrastructure projects around Ulaanbaatar. | Mongolia (accept Mongol Uls) |
| This man stated that the "best test of truth is the power... to get itself accepted in the competition of the market" in his dissent in Abrams v. United States. This man stated, "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience" in his book The Common Law. This man stated that free speech does not protect a man shouting fire in a crowded theater, formulating the "clear and present danger" test in his opinion for Schenck v. U.S. For the point, name this influential early-20th-century Supreme Court Justice, the oldest to ever serve. | Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. |
| This clause was inspired by the decision in Somerset v Stewart, which ruled that the defendant could not be forced to leave England. The phrase "under the laws thereof" was added last-minute to this clause, which made clearer that its central institution existed only under state law. This clause in Article IV was made mostly moot with the passage of the 13th Amendment. For the point, name this clause which requires a "person held to service or labor" who flees to another state to be returned to their master. | Fugitive Slave Clause (accept Fugitives From Labor Clause) |
| Hakeem Jeffries said the politics of this place could be "pretty rough, but that move was gangster" after being gerrymandered out of a district. Antonio Reynoso is the Democratic nominee for a November 2021 election for president of this place. The president of this borough since 2014 was nominated for a more powerful position despite allegations that he did not in fact live in Bedford-Stuyvesant [["STY"-vuh-sent]]. For the point, name this area that is coextensive with Kings County, a borough of New York City. | Brooklyn (accept Kings County before mentioned) |
| This politician created his nation's first agricultural free trade zone for plantations to export fruit to the European Union, earning him the nickname "Banana Man." This politician, who defeated Jude Célestin [[SAY-less-tin]] in a 2015 run-off election, helped found the center-right political party Tèt Kale. Former interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph claimed that Spanish-speaking mercenaries killed this man in his Pétion-Ville residence in Port-au-Prince. For the point, name this former President of Haiti who was assassinated in July 2021. | Jovenel Moïse [[MOH-eese]] |
| The creation of one of these things endangered the careers of Montana congressmen Pat Williams and Ron Marlenee in 1992, although Williams's career survived. Delaware and Rhode Island were the two states to possess these political units in the first Congress. Alaska and Wyoming have had the power of their delegations limited by this form of representation throughout their existence. For the point, name these constituencies given to states with fewer than one million persons in the 2021 reapportionment. | At-Large Districts |
| The charity GiveDirectly operates the longest-running experiment with this policy in Kenya, which increased entrepreneurship. A 1970s pilot of this policy in Manitoba was found to decrease labor participation by 13%. Elon Musk supports this policy as a response to automation-driven unemployment. This policy was dubbed "freedom dividends" as the centerpiece of Andrew Yang's presidential bid. For the point, name this policy in which the government gives citizens unconditional, regular sums of money. | Universal Basic Income (accept UBI; accept Unconditional Basic Income; accept Citizen's Income; accept Basic Income Guarantee; accept Universal Demogrant; prompt on "Freedom Dividends" before mentioned) |
| The Supreme Court narrowly interpreted this amendment in United States v. Reese. The American Equal Rights Association split up during debates surrounding this amendment, which led Susan B. Anthony to state that it would create an "aristocracy of sex." In Guinn v. United States, the Supreme Court struck down grandfather clauses "repugnant" to this amendment. For the point, name this last of the Reconstruction Amendments, which states that citizens' right to vote cannot be denied on account of race. | Fifteenth Amendment (or Amendment Fifteen) |
| A holder of this position resigned just months before banning the Beach Boys from performing at the National Mall. The first holder of this position was nicknamed "Butcher" for firing bureaucrats. Thomas Ewing and James Watt held this position, as did a man who improperly handled the Guggenheims' attempts to secure interests in Alaska. A former senator of New Mexico leased naval oil reserves to Harry Sinclair and Edward Doheny while holding this position. For the point, name this position held by Richard Ballinger and Albert Fall, the office responsible for the National Park Service. | Secretary of the Interior (accept Department of the Interior) |
| A leader of this country's Senator 21 movement won the 2018 Zlín by-election seat. A liberal progressive political party in this country developed an environmental policy called "Ecology without ideology" and is called the Pirate Party. The eurosceptic Civic Democratic Party, or ODS, holds 25 seats in this country's Chamber of Deputies and was founded by Václav Klaus. Miloš Zeman currently leads this country, which, with an eastern neighbor, formed after the Velvet Revolution. For the point, name this country governed from Prague. | Czechia (orCzech Republic; do not accept or prompt on "Czechoslovakia") |
| A mayor of this city replaced Lyda Krewson and was elected under the city’s first primary election using approval voting. A member of Congress from this city said in 2021 that “defunding the police has to happen” in response to Joe Biden not extending an eviction moratorium. A person from this city sought a Senate seat and was pardoned by Mike Parsons after confronting Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020. For the point, name this Midwestern city home to Tishaura Jones, Cori Bush, and Mark McCloskey. | St. Louis |
| Documents with this designation, used once every two years, often indicate the priorities of a national political party. This label was applied to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A bill with this label in 2021 advocated for voting rights, redistricting reforms, and campaign finance regulations. For the point, name this designation of the For the People Act or any first bill introduced in a session of Congress’s lower chamber. | H.R. 1 (accept House of Representatives 1) |
| In this state in 2013, Wendy Davis staged a three-hour filibuster of an abortion restriction bill, delaying its passage. In August, Dade Phelan [[FEE-lin]] signed arrest warrants in an attempt to force state Democrats to end a quorum busting effort. In February of 2021, this state's independent power grid was partially knocked out by a blizzard. For the point, name this state whose controversial prohibitions on COVID safety measures have been promoted by Governor Greg Abbott. | Texas |
| A group of exiles from this country called the "Southerners" formed the Peoples' Party after they were accused of being illegal aliens in the 1990s. This country launched the 1972 Trashigang and Tsirang Intensive Valley Development Projects as part of rural household reforms. In 2003, this country banned mountaineering, making its Gangkhar Puensum the tallest unclimbed peak in the world. This country was ruled for 34 years by "dragon king" Jigme Singye Wangchuck. For the point, name this Himalayan country known for its Gross National Happiness index. | Kingdom of Bhutan (accept Druk Yul) |
| This term was coined in 1985 by Lloyd Bensten in response to a generated mail campaign on behalf of insurers. Letitia James identified a pattern of this practice in which millions of fake comments were sent to the FCC about net neutrality rulemaking. John Oliver called the hiring of paid protestors "one of the most infuriating tools" of this practice. For the point, name this pejorative term for lobbying in which interest groups fund efforts to give a misleading appearance of grassroots support. | Astroturfing (prompt on descriptions of the practice before "For the point") |
| A holder of this position quipped, "for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa." The first holder of this position died months after his resignation, falling from a 16th-floor window of a clinic where he was receiving treatment for depression. Charles Wilson held this position, which was twice held by a man who resigned after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. James Forrestal and Donald Rumsfeld held, for the point, what position currently occupied by Lloyd Austin? | Secretary of Defense |
| This agency's primary public policy organ is the FOMC, which controls short term obligations. This agency publishes eight annual reports collected in the Beige Books. A 2009 book by Ron Paul calls for the "End" of this agency, arguing that business cycles are caused by this agency's interest rate policies. This agency has been chaired by men such as Alan Greenspan, Jerome Powell, and Ben Bernanke. For the point, name this agency that serves as the central bank of the United States. | Federal Reserve System (or the Fed) |
| A proponent of this ideology, Murray Bookchin, advocated against an individualistic form of it and analyzed how it would function in a “Post-Scarcity” world. A leading proponent of this ideology attacked organized religion in God and the State. Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread espoused this ideology, which names a political philosophy often combined with syndicalism. The assertion "Property is theft!" was stated by a proponent of, for the point, what ideology, advocated by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon [[proo-DOHN]], calling for a dissolution of government? | Anarchism (accept word forms like Anarchy or Anarchists; accept Anarcho- Communism; accept Anarcho-Syndicalism) |
| According to the distributive theory, these institutions are subject to “stacking” by political parties. Other accounts of these entities comment on the “turf wars” associated with the jurisdictions possessed by these entities. Participation in these congressional bodies is influenced by member requests and is also governed by the seniority system. For the point, name these institutions whose “prestige” type includes those on Appropriations and Ways and Means. | Congressional Committees (accept Appropriations Committee; accept Ways and Means Committee) |
| Bill Dodd authored a book about the "pea patch politics" of a politician with this surname, who had a controversial affair with Blaze Starr. A governor with this surname defeated the Old Regulars political machine and was often deterred by Mayor T. Semmes Walmsley. That politician with this surname was assassinated by dentist Carl Weiss shortly after writing My First Days in the White House. A proponent of the "Share Our Wealth" ideology possessed, for the point, what surname, shared by Louisiana governors Earl and Huey? | Long (accept Huey Long; or Earl Long) |
| Branzburg v. Hayes ruled that employees of these institutions do not have a type of "privilege" in court under the First Amendment. John Patterson claimed he was falsely charged by one of these institutions with "grave misconduct and...improper actions and omissions as Governor of Alabama." One of these institutions retracted "Heed Their Rising Voices" in a 1964 Supreme Court case that established the "actual malice" standard. L.B. Sullivan sued one example of, for the point, what type of institutions which includes The New York Times? | Newspapers (accept Papers; accept Journalism or Journalists; prompt on "The New York Times" or "The (Louisville) Courier-Journal") |
| The New York Times referred to the "Frankenstein" form of this action as a "legislative twist on the game of Mad Libs" before reforms in Wisconsin. These actions are largely toothless in places like Arkansas and Kentucky because they can be undone by a simple majority vote. The "amendatory" form of this action allows a governor to amend bills that have been passed by the legislature. For the point, name this gubernatorial power whose "partial" forms include the pocket and line-item varieties. | Veto (accept Frankenstein Veto; accept Pocket Veto; accept Line-Item Veto) |
| This organization faced a mid-2000s scandal over faulty bullet lead analysis done by its primary lab, which possibly resulted in multiple wrongful prison sentences. This agency, which kept dossiers on Civil Rights leaders in its COINTELPRO program, has been led since 2017 by Christopher Wray. For the point, name this federal agency, based out of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, that acts as the highest level of law enforcement in the United States. | Federal Bureau of Investigation (or FBI) |
| This practice was abolished in South Africa in 1969, replacing those from this system with a pair of "assessors." Japan reinstated this process in 2009 with a system in which six laypersons make decisions alongside three professionals. Hong Kong denied this process to Tong Ying-Kit in the first prosecution under a new national security law in 2021. For the point, name this legal system feature which is common in former British colonies, in contrast to a bench trial. | Jury Trial (accept Trial by Jury; prompt on "trial") |
| A 2017 report by ESOMAR found that more than half of countries restrict these things with a blackout period. Wasted votes in fragmented party systems are higher in countries that embargo these things for days or even weeks. American media outlets wait until all precincts in a state have closed before publishing these results from providers like Edison/Mitofsky. For the point, name these public opinion instruments whose publication is restricted in many countries prior to elections. | Polls |
| Philippe Schmitter argued that countries with the “neo-“ form of this system are more stable and governable. The Charter of Carnaro established this system in Italy, which was based on the theories of George Sorel. Emile Durkheim considered this ideology as democratic, although it would later be associated with fascism in Mussolini’s Italy and Franco’s Spain. For the point, name this system involving negotiated relationships between business groups, labor unions, and the government. | Corporatism |