Deck 19: International Political Relations

Question 1

In 2018, NATO had _____ member states.

A) four
B) twenty-eight
C) seventy-five
D) one hundred

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Why and how do geography and ideology affect foreign policies of sovereign states? What is geopolitics? What three ideologies have been most important in twentieth century international relations? Where in the world can examples of these ideologies can be found?

Answer 2

Geography and ideologies are key ideas in understanding the nature of foreign policies. Geopolitics is a term used to describe the relation between geography and security that policymakers take into account. Geography is important, because if a state is satisfied with its geography it will create policies to try to protect it, and if a state is dissatisfied it will use policy to try to get from others what it wants. Ideologies, deeply held visions of what the correct form of government should be, are also largely important to foreign policies. Three ideologies that are important to twentieth century politics have been the fascist ideology, the democratic ideology, and the communist ideology. Fascist ideology can be seen with Hitler, Mussolini, and some countries where significant social turmoil exists. Communism today is the ruling ideology in governments in China, North Korea, and Cuba. Democratic capitalist ideology is dominant throughout the world and is the prevailing U.S. belief.

Question 3

Generally speaking, foreign policies of a state are designed to:

A) help all nations prosper.
B) achieve equal distribution of power.
C) ensure mutual respect and advance the needs of all states.
D) serve the national interests of the state.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The containment of communism approach to U.S. foreign policy lost favor:

A) following U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
B) before the Korean War.
C) during World War II.
D) before the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Question 5

Military power is:

A) unlimited.
B) not limited by the will to use military power.
C) limited by social, political, and cultural conventions.
D) never affected by public opinion.

Question 6

What are isolationism, interventionism, internationalism, and preemption, and what roles have they played in the history of U.S. foreign policy?

Question 7

What is the nature of national power? What are the sources of national power? How and why is national power limited? What recent examples show how the will of the United States is limited by social and cultural conventions?

Question 8

The relationship between geography and security that foreign policy makers attempt to consider is called:

A) ideology.
B) frontier security.
C) boundary maintenance.
D) geopolitics.

Question 9

The fascist ideology holds that the nation, the people, and the culture will be made great by the:

A) political system.
B) economic system.
C) religious system.
D) leader.

Question 10

During the century that followed the Congress of Vienna
(1815), a fairly effective:

A) balance of power existed with no wars.
B) balance of terror existed because of the constant world wars.
C) balance of power was maintained.
D) peace persisted with no power adjustments.

Question 11

In the U.S. government, the right to appoint and receive foreign diplomats is assigned to the:

A) Senate.
B) House of Representatives.
C) Supreme Court.
D) president.

Question 12

The dominant global ideology today is:

A) democratic capitalism.
B) communist ideology.
C) fascist ideology.
D) unilateralism.

Question 13

In the beginning of the twenty-first century, the United States was a country with almost indisputable superior military power, called a:

A) monopoly.
B) détente.
C) coalition.
D) hegemon.

Question 14

What does the term state mean in international relations? What are the characteristics of a state? Why and how have nation-states been important in the history of international relations?

Question 15

In the world community how do sovereign states maintain their security? What are the differences between the balance of power and the theory of complex interdependence?

Question 16

In the 1990s, NATO lost much of its former purpose and:

A) actually lost many members.
B) became completely unimportant.
C) ceased to exist.
D) expanded in membership.

Question 17

Ideologues are individuals who:

A) can tolerate many different ideas.
B) can study ideologies in an objective manner.
C) are interested in the study of all ideologies but cannot decide which one is the best.
D) are so fixated on certain ideologies that they cannot reasonably examine opposing ideas.

Question 18

Which of the various forms of power is the most important?

A) Moral.
B) Public opinion.
C) Economic.
D) Military.

Question 19

The theory in which a balance of power between two competing nations was necessary to maintain peace was:

A) the theory of Complex Interdependence.
B) the New World order theory.
C) the Formal Alliance.
D) realist theory.

Question 20

The 1980s and 1990s have seen:

A) almost no change in communism.
B) enormous change in communism.
C) the continued expansion of communism everywhere.
D) no need for communist countries to change economic policies.

Question 21

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 brought a shift towards unilateral and uncompromising foreign policy.

Question 22

Which of the following countries chose not to adopt the euro?

A) Britain and Denmark.
B) France and Netherlands.
C) Spain.
D) Germany.

Question 23

The last nation-states gradually disappeared during the late Middle Ages.

Question 24

In international relations, the capacity to compel another party to commit an act contrary to its explicitly stated will is called:

A) policy expansion.
B) negotiation based on weakness.
C) reasoning enhancement.
D) power.

Question 25

Today, an easing or relaxation of strained relations and political tensions between countries seems to have replaced:

A) the purely economic struggles of the past Cold War.
B) the ideological rivalries of the Cold War.
C) the cooperation among all nations during the Cold War.
D) religious conflicts everywhere.

Question 26

England was one of the first nation-states.

Question 27

The European Union has a common currency used by most of its member nations.

Question 28

The war on terrorism pitted the United States not against a particular country but an enemy who could be anywhere.

Question 29

The current structure of the U.S. democratic system clearly:

A) divides the war power functions.
B) indicates that only the president can make war.
C) shows that only Congress can involve U.S. troops in a war zone.
D) does not unambiguously divide war powers between the presidency and Congress.

Question 30

All states lack sovereignty.

Question 31

When nations join the European Union, they merge their government into the E.U.'s government.

Question 32

The president's authority in foreign affairs is augmented by:

A) the vice president's role as foreign minister.
B) the president's ability to name ambassadors without consent.
C) the president's commander-in-chief of the armed forces role.
D) the cabinet's role in enacting treaty legislation.

Question 33

Throughout much of the nineteenth century, the United States was committed to a policy of:

A) empire building in Africa.
B) colonial expansion on every continent.
C) isolationism.
D) deep involvement in the wars in Europe.

Question 34

President Obama worked much more closely with other countries, negotiating new international trade and climate partnerships.

Question 35

Of all the sources of power, political power is the most important.

Question 36

There are some nation-states that do not have a common language or cultural background.

Question 37

The basis of peace in the Cold War was:

A) the lack of international competition.
B) the power of the United Nations to disarm all nations.
C) a nuclear stand-off.
D) the mutual trust of the two superpowers.

Question 38

After World War II, the policy of the U.S. to help any country threatened by communist aggression was called the:

A) Roosevelt Plan.
B) Truman Doctrine.
C) Eisenhower Contract.
D) Kennedy Decree.

Question 39

The original primary reason for the formation of the European Union was to form:

A) a collective defense against Communism.
B) a common market.
C) a common currency.
D) a new nation-state.

Question 40

The state is the institution empowered to conduct international relations for its citizens.

Question 41

Autocratic governments have direct control over foreign opinion.

Question 42

After World War II, the balance of power was between a Western bloc
(U.S. leD) and an Eastern bloc
(USSR led).

Question 43

Economic power has never been important in international relations.

Question 44

The U.S. president can declare war.

Question 45

In the 2003 Iraq War, some members of the press were "embedded" within military units.

Question 46

With the defeat of Hitler and Mussolini, fascism disappeared as a political ideology.

Question 47

As of 2016, Al Jazeera ended its attempt to establish itself as a cable channel in the U.S.

Question 48

Loss of public support for the military was an effect of the Iraq War.

Question 49

U.S. foreign policy during most of the nineteenth century was isolationist.

Question 50

Since World War I, the three most prevalent ideologies have been fascist, democratic capitalist, and communist ideology.

Question 51

One of a country's major sources of power is dependable access to adequate supplies of raw materials.

Question 52

A military hegemonic state has unlimited power.

Question 53

In 1997, NATO worked out a cooperative agreement with Russia.

Question 54

In the U.S. government, the president has little control of diplomacy.