Deck 15: Looking Ahead at Global Trends and Transformations

Question 1

Which entities are turning to information technology and the internet as unconventional weapons of war?

A)state actors
B)nonstate actors
C)both state and nonstate actors
D)transnational organizations

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which statement best describes the general agreement of the scholarly community about the study of international politics?

A)History speaks with sufficient continuity to make the scientific study of international politics possible and meaningful.
B)All scholars are in agreement about the superiority of liberalism to Marxism or communism.
C)There are few causal mechanisms at work in world politics.
D)Historical events are random and unpredictable.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Unlike many of the hard sciences (such as physics or chemistry), what characterizesthe study of world politics?

A)It is not recognized as scientific.
B)It focuses on specification, never generalization.
C)It has no set of uniform, deterministic laws to precisely predict actions.
D)It can never be useful in predicting future actions.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Who said the following: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"?

A)Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
B)UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
C)Niccoló Machiavelli
D)President John F. Kennedy

Question 5

The defeat of fascism and collapse communism were labeled by some twentieth-century thinkers as which of the following?

A)the clash of civilizations
B)the end of history
C)the democratic triumph
D)globalization

Question 6

In constructing your own image of the future of world affairs, it is important to begin by doing which of the following?

A)by thinking about the key questions that are likely to dominate international relations
B)by following one political theory and discounting those that don't conform to your beliefs
C)by joining an international organization
D)by distancing yourself from political science as a way to understand the world

Question 7

Which of the following suggests that history has not "ended"?

A)nationalistic tendencies and democratic backsliding
B)the rise in human and drug trafficking
C)climate change
D)new types of warfare

Question 8

Which of the following is true of political science theories' ability to predict future trends and changes in the global community?

A)Realist theories possess considerable predictive power whereas liberal theories do not.
B)Liberal theories possess considerable predictive power whereas realist theories do not.
C)Rival theories often diverge widely and are not very definitive.
D)As a social science, political science does not attempt to predict outcomes.

Question 9

According to the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the world we face in the twenty-first century is characterized by which of the following?

A)extraordinary challenges and extraordinary interconnectedness
B)extraordinary challenges and ordinary solutions
C)economic threats and unregulated capitalism
D)security threats and security dilemmas

Question 10

Today the threat of being attacked by the military forces of another country has receded, particularly in the Global North. Instead, in today's warfare states are increasingly pitted against nonstate actors in hostilities that lack front lines and clear distinctions between soldiers and civilians. Which concept captures this type of warfare?

A)third-wave warfare
B)third-generation warfare
C)fourth-generation warfare
D)fifth-generation warfare

Question 11

Which dimension of future conflict is susceptible to security dilemmas due to dual nature of the technology in question?

A)conflict in space
B)cyber conflict
C)terrorism
D)blitzkrieg war

Question 12

Transnational actors operate in a world that is constantly changing and, at times, chaotic. What do we know about how transnational actors behave?

A)Their behavior is random.
B)Their behavior is governed by regular propensities.
C)Their behavior is constrained by ever-present security dilemmas.
D)Their behavior is constrained by ever-present prisoner's dilemmas.

Question 13

Which of the following wars can be seen as fourth-generation warfare?

A)War in Afghanistan (2001)
B)Korean War
C)World War I
D)World War II

Question 14

Proponents of which school of thought are likely to view globalization as promoting both war and peace?

A)liberalism
B)realism
C)constructivism
D)postmodernism

Question 15

Which of the following is a limitation that social scientists face?

A)They cannot draw on a body of uniform, deterministic laws.
B)Social science theory can be used to understand but not to explain phenomena.
C)Social science theory can be used to explain but not to understand phenomena.
D)Social science is a part of humanities, not science.

Question 16

Human rights law now provides unprecedented protection for people everywhere to live in freedom without fear. Yet, this law clashes with which of the following?

A)responsibility to protect
B)conditional sovereignty
C)political realism
D)nonintervention norm

Question 17

Predicting the future might be difficult due to happenstance in world politics. Happenstance refers to events that are due to which of the following?

A)chance
B)irrational behavior
C)uncertainty
D)pressure

Question 18

Which is NOT one of the six clusters of threats identified by the UN Report A More Secure World ?

A)internal conflict
B)terrorism
C)international organization
D)transnational organized crime

Question 19

The ending of which war gave rise to the modern state system?

A)the Thirty Years' War
B)World War I
C)World War II
D)the Napoleonic Wars

Question 20

Which type of military thinking has influenced most countries since World War II?

A)firstfirst-generation
B)second-generation
C)third-generation
D)fourth-generation

Question 21

What is one of the downsides of the technological revolution happening nowadays?

A)agro-ecological innovations that enhance food production
B)displacement of workers
C)stagflation
D)higher prices of technology

Question 22

Which country is NOT one of the major players in space exploration?

A)Pakistan
B)the United States
C)China
D)India

Question 23

What are the cultural implications of globalization?

A)CultureCultures become more cosmopolitan.
B)Nation-states lose their cultural identities. .
C)CultureCultures become irrelevant in an interconnected world.
D)Local cultures disappear.

Question 24

What technologies in recent history have given the world more security and improved quality of life? What technologies have made the world less safe? What technologies may provide more security and well-being in the near future? Why are some critics so skeptical about the ability of technology to improve our lives? In your opinion, should the world place more emphasis on technology as a way to solve global problems? Explain your answer.

Question 25

Which time period represents the longest span of great-power peace in history?

A)the post-WWII period
B)the period between 1919 and 1939
C)the eighteenth century, also known as the Concert of Europe
D)the post-Napoleonic period

Question 26

Some analysts argue that the triumph of liberalism over other ideologies, such as communism, signifies the "end of history." Why? What threats still exist that may make proclaiming the "end of history" premature? What position do you find most persuasive?

Question 27

Which of the following is NOT a consequence of globalization?

A)elimination of conflict
B)constraints on foreign policy behavior for those who are "plugged" into the network of global transactions
C)global interdependence
D)difficulty maintaining political will to support global initiatives

Question 28

List the six security threats identified by the UN Report A More Secure World . Are there any threats to global security that you think were not included in the list? Which threats do you think are most important to global security? Why?

Question 29

The paradox of contemporary world politics is that a world no longer haunted by the paralyzing fear of a looming all-out war between great powers now faces a series of challenges every bit as threatening and potentially unmanageable. At times, change appears as the only constant. What lessons can we draw from ancient philosophers, researchers, and past leaders to best position ourselves for future success?

Question 30

How has the definition of human security changed? What new issues are now widely considered to be part of national security? Is the world prepared to ensure human security, given this new definition? In what ways have we made progress, and in what ways is the world falling behind?