Deck 3: The Historical Setting of Contemporary World Politics

Question 1

One consequence of World War I was a realization of the failures of liberalism to maintain world peace.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

One factor that likely contributed to the end of the Cold War was the toll that the expensive arms race took on the Soviet economy.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Many international relations scholars see the rise of nationalism as an important systemic cause for World War I.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) limited the number of nuclear weapons each country could possess.

Question 5

Domino Theory states that once a country falls to communism, it would trigger the fall of its neighbors.

Question 6

A key component of the Congress of Vienna 1814-15 was the exclusion of France from the new Concert of Europe.

Question 7

European leaders reacted positively to Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" speech because there was widespread support for the liberal ideas it contained.

Question 8

The gap between external commitments and internal resources of a leading global power is known as imperial overstretch.

Question 9

The dismantling of the Berlin Wall, which heralded the end of the Cold war, was in 1989.

Question 10

One consequence of World War II was the emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as the sole superpowers.

Question 11

The tendency of people in competition to see an adversary the same way that an adversary sees them is known as a mirror image.

Question 12

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought America into World War II, was in 1942.

Question 13

In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler urged Germany to recover territories taken by the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I.

Question 14

One cause of World War II was appeasement of Adolf Hitler by Britain and France.

Question 15

One of the consequences of the end of the Cold War was the emergence of a multipolar distribution of power.

Question 16

Long-cycle theory focuses on the rise and fall of the leading global powers in the modern world system.

Question 17

One step during the period of détente was the initiation of arms control agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Question 18

American foreign policy prior to World War II can be described as isolationist.

Question 19

The Triple Entente was comprised of Great Britain, France, and the United States.

Question 20

The global power distribution that existed during the Cold War was unipolar.

Question 21

Which of the following factors is not considered a reason for the emergence of the Cold War?

A)The power transition that created a rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union
B)Incompatible political ideologies
C)The superpowers' misperceptions of each other's motives
D)U.S.isolationism
E)Competing economic systems

Question 22

The Truman Doctrine, which defined U.S.strategy vis-à-vis the Soviet Union during the Cold War, stated that

A)if one state fell to communism, its neighbors would also fall in a chain reaction.
B)the United States would resist any Soviet expansion into the Western Hemisphere.
C)the United States would support its allies against communist expansion.
D)any Soviet assault against western Europe would be treated identically as an assault against the United States.
E)the U.S.official foreign policy would return to one of isolationism from European affairs.

Question 23

Many scholars believe that the Treaty of Versailles

A)ended World War II.
B)was too lenient.
C)was fair and equitable.
D)was irrelevant in its impact on Germany.
E)was too punitive.

Question 24

The leaders of what three countries met at the Yalta Conference to design a new world order?

A)Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union
B)The Soviet Union, Germany, and Italy
C)Great Britain, the United States, and France
D)Germany, Italy, and Japan
E)Great Britain, France, and Germany

Question 25

When two overwhelmingly powerful states dominate world politics, the structure of the international system is referred to as being

A)polycentric.
B)transnational.
C)bipolar.
D)multilateral.
E)hegemonic.

Question 26

Which of the following was seen as a systemic cause of World War II?

A)The vindictive peace settlement of the Versailles treaty
B)Collapse of the global economic system
C)Failure of the League of Nations
D)None of the above is true.
E)Options a, b, c were seen as a systemic cause of World War II.

Question 27

The policy of détente is associated with

A)George Kennan.
B)Richard Nixon.
C)John F.Kennedy.
D)Harry Truman.
E)Jimmy Carter.

Question 28

The assassination of this person triggered the outbreak of World War I.

A)Czar Nicholas
B)Archduke Ferdinand
C)Archduke Frederick
D)Leo Tolstoy
E)Leon Trotsky

Question 29

The relaxation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States is a policy known as

A)détente.
B)extended deterrence.
C)the Reagan Doctrine.
D)the Carter Doctrine.
E)containment.

Question 30

Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" speech included which of the following principles?

A)Strengthening international law
B)Self-determination and promoting democracy
C)Disarmament
D)Free trade
E)All of the above are true.

Question 31

The alliance that fought against the Triple Entente in World War I was comprised of

A)France, Great Britain, and the United States.
B)France, Great Britain, and Russia.
C)Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary.
D)Germany, Italy and the Ottoman Empire .
E)Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

Question 32

Underlying causes of World War II included all but which of the following?

A)German and Japanese imperialism abroad
B)The United States' isolationism
C)The reemergence of a bipolar global power distribution
D)The failure of the League of Nations to protect its members against invasion by stronger states
E)All of the above contributed to the outbreak of World War II.

Question 33

A dominant global leader that exercises predominate influence over other global actors is a(n)

A)fascist state.
B)isolationist state.
C)hegemon.
D)Marxist state.
E)None of the above is true.

Question 34

Criticisms of long-cycle theory include which of the following?

A)There is no agreement on which factors, economic, military, or domestic, produce these cycles.
B)Theorists disagree on the time frame necessary between cycles.
C)The theory is too deterministic.
D)Both options a and c are true.
E)All of the above are true.

Question 35

Name the world leader who created the League of Nations to guarantee world peace and the independence and integrity of all states.

A)Georges Clemenceau
B)Theodore Roosevelt
C)Neville Chamberlain
D)Woodrow Wilson
E)Winston Churchill

Question 36

Realists believe that the main cause of the Cold War was

A)discordant geostrategic interests.
B)concordant geopolitical interests.
C)misperceptions between the superpowers.
D)mutual disdain between Americana and soviet leaders.
E)None of the above is true.

Question 37

Which of the following was responsible for the origins of the U.S.strategy of containment?

A)Gerald Ford
B)John Foster Dulles
C)Woodrow Wilson
D)George Kennan
E)Franklin D.Roosevelt

Question 38

The German plan in World War I to fight Russia and France simultaneously was known as the

A)Schlieffen Plan.
B)Schleswig Plan.
C)Paris Plan.
D)Bismarck Plan.
E)Kaiser Wilhelm Plan.

Question 39

Which Soviet leader proposed peaceful coexistence with capitalism?

A)Leon Trotsky
B)Joseph Stalin
C)V.I.Lenin
D)Leonid Brezhnev
E)Nikita Khrushchev

Question 40

When did the Bolsheviks overthrow the Russian Czar?

A)1914
B)1916
C)1917
D)1919
E)1921

Question 41

Why did idealists believe their proposals would successfully manage conflict in the post-World War I world? Why did these proposals fail? What alternative steps might have been taken to prevent the onset of World War II?

Question 42

The ability to influence foreign affairs through factors such as a state's values and institutions rather than through military might is referred to as

A)soft power.
B)unilateralism.
C)the Truman Doctrine.
D)liberalism.
E)containment.

Question 43

Present the individual, state, and systemic causes of World War I.Which level do you feel best explains the outbreak of World War I?

Question 44

Discuss the main tenants of the Nixon, Regan, and Carter doctrines.Which of these three do you think was most effective in reducing Cold War conflict?

Question 45

American support for anti-communist insurgents in Afghanistan, Angola, and Nicaragua was known as the

A)Nixon Doctrine.
B)Reagan Doctrine.
C)Carter Doctrine.
D)Ford Doctrine.
E)Clinton Doctrine.

Question 46

Great-power war is not unique to the twentieth century.Long-cycle theorists assert that a rhythmic pattern of war and world leadership change has existed for the past five hundred years.Long-cycle theory is disarmingly simple, and for this reason it is not without its critics.Write an essay in which you critically evaluate long-cycle theory as a tool for understanding world politics.

Question 47

Imperial overstretch is best defined as

A)when a country becomes geographically too big to rule.
B)when a country strikes a balance between being isolationist and highly interventionist.
C)an approach that relies on self-help and independent strategies in foreign policy.
D)when an imperializing country has too many colonies to be able to support.
E)the historic tendency for superpowers to overspend militarily and weaken their economies leaving them vulnerable to rivals.

Question 48

Compare the system-level causes of World War I, World War II and the Cold War.Are there consistencies? Given these historical examples, which type of balance of power do you feel is most stable? What is the likely future direction of the international balance of power, and how stable is it likely to be?

Question 49

Compare Soviet and American images of each other in each of the three phases of the Cold War.To what extent did mirror images and self-fulfilling prophecies contribute to the course of superpower relations across the Cold War era?

Question 50

Foreign policy makers frequently appeal to the "lessons of history" to justify the actions that they are undertaking.Both World Wars I and II have been interpreted as sources of such lessons.What specific lessons have been derived from each of these two watershed events? How useful is either set of lessons as a guide for foreign policy makers today?

Question 51

What are the responsibilities of a global superpower? Is the United States risking "imperial overstretch?" What are the costs and benefits of acting unilaterally? What are the challenges to the United States in continuing to hold this position? What are the challenges to the global system if the United States loses its hegemonic position?

Question 52

Present the individual, state, and systemic causes of the Cold War.Which level do you feel best explains the escalation of the Cold War?

Question 53

Which two events are commonly accepted as signifying the end of the Cold War?

A)The resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the SALT agreements
B)The Soviet's withdrawal from Afghanistan and the START Treaty
C)The achievement of détente and rapprochement
D)The fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union
E)The rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan

Question 54

Discuss the penalties the Versailles Treaty imposed on Germany.Give your own example of a more balanced treaty and discuss how it could have prevented World War I.

Question 55

The Soviet-Afghan War began in

A)1976.
B)1978.
C)1979.
D)1981.
E)1989.