UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Foreign policy is a local issue in midterm campaigns

Q1. With reference to the working of the United States Congress, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. A midterm election by itself decides who holds a majority of the seats in the Senate, since most senators' terms end at that election.
  2. Unlike the Senate, the House of Representatives cannot be called a continuing body, because all its seats are contested together every two years.
  3. A midterm election can transfer control of either chamber of Congress to the opposition party while the same President stays in office.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1 and 2 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q2. Consider the following statements comparing the United States Senate with India's Rajya Sabha: Which of the statements given above are correct?

  1. In both houses, members representing a State are chosen in a vote in which that State's general electorate takes part directly.
  2. Both are permanent bodies that are not dissolved; about one-third of their members are renewed every two years.
  3. Members of the Rajya Sabha from a State are elected by the elected members of that State's Legislative Assembly through proportional representation by single transferable vote.
  4. Until an amendment ratified in 1913, US senators were chosen by State legislatures, a method broadly similar to the indirect election still used for the Rajya Sabha.
  • A. 1, 3 and 4 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 3 and 4 only
  • D. 2, 3 and 4 only

Q3. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Unlike the US House of Representatives, the US Senate is never wholly renewed at any single general election.
  2. The Seventeenth Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1913, provided for the direct popular election of senators.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q4. In a presidential system like that of the United States, the President's party loses its majority in both chambers of the legislature at an election held halfway through the President's term. What is the most likely constitutional consequence?

  • A. The President's cabinet is collectively dismissed and must be reconstituted from the new legislative majority
  • B. The President must step down, and a fresh election for the office has to be held within a fixed period
  • C. The President stays in office but has to secure an opposition-controlled legislature's assent for laws and budgets
  • D. The President's remaining term is shortened so that it ends together with the newly elected legislature's term

Q5. With reference to how the executive is held accountable in India and in the United States, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. In India, the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, so a government that loses that House's confidence must resign.
  2. In India, a no-confidence motion adopted by the Rajya Sabha alone obliges the Council of Ministers to resign, since ministers are responsible to Parliament as a whole.
  3. In the United States, a congressional majority opposed to the President cannot remove the President merely by passing a resolution expressing lack of confidence.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 1 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1 and 2 only

Q6. Consider the following proposals in the United States, each to be carried out without amending the US Constitution: Which of the statements given above is/are constitutionally valid?

  1. A State legislature passes a State law barring anyone who has already served three terms in the House of Representatives from appearing on that State's congressional ballot.
  2. Congress passes an ordinary federal statute raising the minimum age for membership of the Senate.
  3. Two States adopt different procedures for casting and counting votes in the same federal congressional election.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 1, 2 and 3
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 3 only

Q7. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. In the United States, a limit on the number of terms a person may serve in Congress cannot be introduced through an ordinary Act of Congress.
  2. The qualifications for membership of Congress laid down in the US Constitution are fixed and cannot be supplemented by Congress or by the States.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q8. A war in a major oil-producing region pushes up world crude prices. At the same time, an oil-importing country raises customs duties on a wide range of imported inputs. With reference to the likely effects on that country's economy, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Both developments tend to push up the general price level by raising costs of production, not by raising aggregate demand.
  2. A rise in diesel prices can raise the prices of goods that are not petroleum products, through higher freight and farm costs.
  3. Because the resulting inflation reflects a shortfall of aggregate demand, an expansionary monetary policy would directly correct it.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 1 and 3 only
  • C. 2 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3