Chapter 37 Self-Check Quiz

This quiz has 12 multiple-choice questions and 4 short-answer questions. Multiple-choice questions test factual recall and conceptual understanding. Short-answer questions test the analytical reasoning the chapter is designed to develop. Answers and brief explanations follow each question.

The quiz is for self-assessment. The chapter's claim is that a serious civic education on this material requires more than recall — it requires the ability to steel-man positions across the spectrum and to engage contested questions without resolving them prematurely. The short-answer questions test that capacity, and they do not have a single "correct" answer in the way that the multiple-choice questions do.

Multiple Choice

1. Democratic erosion is best distinguished from democratic collapse by:

a) The number of casualties involved b) Whether elections continue to be held c) The gradual nature of erosion (vs. sudden transition) and its operation through formally legal moves d) Whether a foreign power is involved

Answer: c. The chapter defines erosion as gradual hollowing-out of institutional capacities through formally legal moves, distinct from collapse, which involves sudden transition. Both can leave elections in place; both can be domestic; the casualty question is not what defines the analytic category.

2. The V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index for the United States declined from approximately:

a) 0.95 in 2015 to 0.50 in 2024 b) 0.88 in 2015 to 0.73 in 2024 c) 0.65 in 2015 to 0.45 in 2024 d) 0.78 in 2015 to 0.78 in 2024

Answer: b. Section 37.2 reports the V-Dem LDI for the U.S. declining from approximately 0.88 in 2015 to approximately 0.73 in 2024, the largest decline among advanced industrial democracies in that period.

3. Which of the following is NOT one of Levitsky and Ziblatt's two foundational democratic norms?

a) Mutual toleration b) Institutional forbearance c) Procedural neutrality d) (Both a and b are foundational; c is not in their framework)

Answer: d. Levitsky and Ziblatt identify mutual toleration (treating opponents as legitimate competitors, not enemies) and institutional forbearance (disciplined non-use of legal but norm-violating powers) as the two foundational democratic norms. "Procedural neutrality" is not their term.

4. "Constitutional hardball," as Mark Tushnet introduced the term in 2004, refers to political moves that are:

a) Illegal under the Constitution b) Both legal and norm-respecting c) Legal but norm-violating d) Neither legal nor norm-violating

Answer: c. Tushnet's definition: moves that are legal under the Constitution's formal rules but violate the institutional norms that had previously constrained the exercise of those formal powers.

5. The Senate vote to convict President Trump in the second impeachment trial (February 2021) was:

a) 52–48 to convict (failed; needed 60) b) 57–43 to convict (failed; needed 67) c) 67–33 to convict (succeeded) d) 50–50 (tied; failed)

Answer: b. Senate roll-call vote 59 of the 117th Congress, February 13, 2021. The 57–43 vote was the largest cross-party vote against any President in any impeachment trial in American history but fell ten votes short of the two-thirds (67 votes) required for conviction.

6. Approximately how many individuals were prosecuted by the federal government in connection with the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021?

a) About 100 b) About 500 c) About 1,500 d) About 5,000

Answer: c. The chapter and Case Study 1 report approximately 1,500 prosecutions for offenses ranging from misdemeanor trespassing to seditious conspiracy.

7. On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued executive grants of clemency for:

a) None of the January 6 defendants b) Only nonviolent January 6 defendants c) Most January 6 defendants, but not those convicted of seditious conspiracy d) Nearly all of the approximately 1,500 January 6 defendants, including those convicted of violent offenses and seditious conspiracy

Answer: d. The pardons applied to defendants across the categories listed, including Stewart Rhodes (Oath Keepers), Enrique Tarrio (Proud Boys), and others convicted of seditious conspiracy and violent offenses.

8. Levitsky and Ziblatt's "asymmetric polarization" thesis holds that:

a) Both parties have polarized at equal rates since the 1990s b) Republican-side polarization has been more pronounced and consequential than Democratic-side polarization in the post-2016 period c) Democratic-side polarization has been more pronounced d) Polarization is symmetric but its consequences are asymmetric

Answer: b. The Levitsky-Ziblatt argument, particularly in Tyranny of the Minority (2023), holds that polarization and constitutional hardball have been asymmetric, with the Republican Party moving further from democratic norms over the past two decades. The asymmetry claim is contested in the rebuttal literature (Lee, Schickler, Bernstein), which argues that the asymmetry is overstated.

9. Mark Tushnet introduced the concept of "constitutional hardball" in:

a) 2001, after the Bush v. Gore decision b) 2004, in the John Marshall Law Review c) 2018, in Foreign Affairs d) 2021, after the events of January 6

Answer: b. Mark Tushnet, "Constitutional Hardball," John Marshall Law Review 37 (2004): 523–53.

10. The "McConnell Rule" of 2016 — that no Supreme Court vacancy should be filled in the final year of a presidency — was applied by Senate Majority Leader McConnell:

a) Identically to the Obama-Garland nomination in 2016 and the Trump-Barrett nomination in 2020 b) To Garland in 2016 but not to Barrett in 2020 c) To Barrett in 2020 but not to Garland in 2016 d) To neither nomination

Answer: b. The blockade of Garland in February 2016 was justified on the "let the voters decide" principle. The Barrett confirmation in October 2020, eight days before the election, proceeded without that principle. McConnell's defense of the asymmetry rested on the distinction between unified party control of the Senate and presidency (2020) versus split control (2016). Whether this distinction is principled or post-hoc is among the most-cited points in the asymmetric-hardball debate.

11. Which comparative case did the chapter identify as showing that some democratic erosion is reversible at the ballot box?

a) Turkey b) Hungary c) Poland d) India

Answer: c. The chapter identifies the October 2023 Polish election (in which the Donald Tusk-led opposition coalition defeated PiS after eight years of PiS-led erosion) as evidence that ballot-box reversal is possible, even when significant institutional damage has been done.

12. The chapter's central claim about citizen civic obligation is that:

a) Citizens should support the policies of the party that best aligns with their values b) Citizens should hold both parties' leaders accountable for institutional behavior, with the obligation falling hardest on the side currently holding power c) Citizens should remain neutral on partisan questions d) Citizens have no special obligation regarding institutional norms

Answer: b. The Madisonian framework, restated for the chapter's context: ambition counteracts ambition at the elite level only if mass-public actors hold both parties accountable for institutional behavior. Same-party criticism is the most informative signal because it is the costliest.

Short Answer

13. Distinguish "democratic erosion" from "democratic collapse," and give one historical example of each from outside the United States.

Sample answer: Democratic collapse is the sudden, often violent transition from a constitutional regime to an authoritarian one, typically through a coup or analogous event (example: Chile 1973, with the Pinochet coup overthrowing the elected Allende government). Democratic erosion is the gradual hollowing-out of democratic institutions through formally legal moves, with elections continuing to occur but the playing field becoming progressively tilted toward the ruling party (example: Hungary under Orbán since 2010, with constitutional rewrite, judicial restructuring, media consolidation, and other moves that have shifted Hungary's V-Dem classification from Liberal Democracy to Electoral Autocracy without a coup).

14. State two examples of constitutional hardball — one by each major American party — drawn from the past two decades. For each, give the year, the action, and the party that took the action.

Sample answer: (Republican): The 2016 Senate refusal to consider Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court following Justice Scalia's death — a categorical refusal by a Republican-majority Senate to hold hearings or a vote on a Democratic president's nominee, on the asserted ground that the seat should be held open for the next president. (Democratic): The 2013 invocation of the Senate "nuclear option" by Majority Leader Reid, lowering the cloture threshold for executive-branch and lower-court judicial nominations from 60 votes to 51 by simple-majority rule change. Other valid pairings: McConnell's 2017 nuclear-option extension (Republican) and the 2020-21 court-expansion proposals (Democratic); Trump-1 administration's pressure on Justice Department and 2020 election denial (Republican) and the 2025 Biden preemptive pardons of family members and political allies (Democratic).

15. State three specific institutional facts about January 6, 2021, that are not in dispute at the level of the empirical record.

Sample answer (any three of the following): The U.S. Capitol Building was breached by a crowd, with the first perimeter breach occurring at approximately 12:53 p.m. The certification of the Electoral College vote was delayed by approximately six hours, ultimately completing at 3:40 a.m. on January 7. Approximately 140 police officers were injured. A protester (Ashli Babbitt) was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer; four other people died of medical events on the day or shortly thereafter; multiple police officers died by suicide in the days and months following. The certification was completed; Joseph R. Biden Jr. was certified as the next President. The House of Representatives subsequently impeached the President a second time. The Senate trial resulted in a 57–43 vote to convict, the largest cross-party vote against any President in any impeachment trial in American history, but short of the 67 votes required.

16. State the central claim of any one of the four positions on democratic erosion that the chapter steel-mans, and identify two specific empirical claims or institutional patterns the position foregrounds. Then briefly state the strongest objection from another position.

Sample answer (Position 1): The asymmetric-erosion position holds that the constellation of post-2016 events on the Republican side — sustained election denial, the Capitol breach, the 2025 mass pardons, calls for prosecution of opponents, and executive-branch consolidation — represents a pattern that the comparative-democracy literature has reliably flagged as concerning in other countries. Empirical foregrounded patterns: the V-Dem and Freedom House decline; the 30+ percentage-point gap between Republican and Democratic voters' belief in the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Strongest objection (from Position 2): The institutional system has continued to function — courts ruled against the Trump campaign in 2020; the impeachment trial occurred; the 2024 election was won fairly and the transfer of power was peaceful; the Court continues to rule on Trump-2 actions with mixed outcomes. The "alarmism" of Position 1, on this view, reflects partisan reaction rather than clear-eyed institutional assessment. (Sample answers for Positions 2, 3, and 4 should follow analogous structure.)