Political Ideas: Consent, Liberty & Limits on Power — Practice · Grade 12 Social Studies

Chapter: Foundations of Government & Public Reasoning

What this practice covers

By the end of Political Ideas: Consent, Liberty & Limits on Power you should be able to:

8 questions, written answer, each with a worked explanation.

Vocabulary used: political theory, social contract, consent, popular sovereignty, premise.

Problem 1

Why does identifying a political problem not justify every proposed solution?
Answer and explanation

A problem establishes a need to consider action, while a solution needs a mechanism, assumptions, limits, and comparison with alternatives. Secure agreements, for example, do not logically establish that all official power must be unlimited.

Problem 2

Why should the electorate be specified when using an election as evidence of consent?
Answer and explanation

Only eligible and participating voters are directly represented in the result. Exclusions, alternatives, information, and coercion affect what can be inferred. A majority within a restricted electorate does not establish everyone’s consent to the resulting rule.

Problem 3

Why does majority approval not settle every question about rights?
Answer and explanation

A vote records preference within an electorate. Whether the decision can burden a protected right requires another rule and justification. Rights frameworks can constrain collective decisions, including those with substantial support, so identify both the procedure and the protection at issue.

Problem 4

What makes a comparison of political theories stronger than listing famous names?
Answer and explanation

Apply shared criteria to each argument and explain the connections among its premises, institutions, and limits. Identify differences in consent, rights, sovereignty, and power, then use dated evidence to distinguish an idea’s claim from later institutional practice.

Problem 5

Invented assembly: 60 eligible landowners support a speech restriction and 40 oppose it; residents without property cannot vote; a proposed charter protects expression. Explain what the vote proves and what questions remain.
Answer and explanation

The proposal has 60 percent support among the 100 participating eligible landowners. That fact does not establish support among excluded residents or compliance with the proposed charter’s protection. The case therefore involves participation, consent, and a limit on majority action. A defensible evaluation must state which membership and rights rules apply and consider the proposal’s actual effect; it cannot infer universal legitimacy from the tally alone.

Calculate the majority within the stated electorate.

Identify exclusion and the separate rights question.

Compare procedures with the proposed protection.

Response criteria

  • Explain the relevant institution or economic concept accurately; show correct calculations where needed.
  • Connect supplied evidence and stated assumptions to an explained conclusion.
  • Compare feasible options and their effects on different people without stereotypes.
  • Identify a limitation, tradeoff, uncertainty, or condition that qualifies the conclusion.

Problem 6

Does studying a social-contract theory require agreeing with it?
Answer and explanation

No. Explain its assumptions and reasoning accurately, compare alternatives, and identify a limitation. Academic analysis is assessed through understanding and evidence, not personal political or religious affirmation.

Response criteria

  • Explain the relevant institution or economic concept accurately; show correct calculations where needed.
  • Connect supplied evidence and stated assumptions to an explained conclusion.
  • Compare feasible options and their effects on different people without stereotypes.
  • Identify a limitation, tradeoff, uncertainty, or condition that qualifies the conclusion.

Problem 7

An invented argument states that safety matters, therefore a ruler should face no review. Identify the unsupported step.
Answer and explanation

The importance of safety does not demonstrate that unlimited unreviewable power is necessary or effective. The argument must compare limited institutions, accountability, and alternatives, and explain the mechanism rather than jumping from an aim to a universal authority claim.

Response criteria

  • Explain the relevant institution or economic concept accurately; show correct calculations where needed.
  • Connect supplied evidence and stated assumptions to an explained conclusion.
  • Compare feasible options and their effects on different people without stereotypes.
  • Identify a limitation, tradeoff, uncertainty, or condition that qualifies the conclusion.

Problem 8

How would you compare Locke’s rights-and-consent argument with an argument for collective sovereignty without adopting either?
Answer and explanation

Use shared questions about authority, membership, rights, obligations, decision procedures, and limits. Reconstruct each argument accurately, state relevant historical context, and explain a serious difference or limitation. Assessment concerns the comparison, not personal assent.

Response criteria

  • Explain the relevant institution or economic concept accurately; show correct calculations where needed.
  • Connect supplied evidence and stated assumptions to an explained conclusion.
  • Compare feasible options and their effects on different people without stereotypes.
  • Identify a limitation, tradeoff, uncertainty, or condition that qualifies the conclusion.

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