Deck 2: Political and Economic Development in Western and Eastern Europe

Question 1

The exclusive right of a ruler to exercise political authority over a territory and people is known as

A) republicanism.
B) sovereignty.
C) divine right of kings.
D) nationalism.
E) fascism.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

An example of a state founded largely on ethnic nationalism is

A) Great Britain.
B) Germany.
C) France.
D) Spain.
E) Switzerland.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Civic nationalism suggests

A) a high degree of turnout in elections.
B) that "blood ties" or heredity determine the makeup of the nation.
C) that people tend to trust each other.
D) that the country is democratic.
E) that outsiders can more easily become a citizen of the state.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

All of the following are cited as factors that contribute to the nationalization of politics EXCEPT

A) education.
B) media.
C) economic growth.
D) communism.
E) urban-rural divisions.

Question 5

In the 1830s, approximately what percentage of people in Great Britain had the right to vote?

A) 50
B) 20
C) 10
D) 5
E) 1

Question 6

Women received equal voting rights with men in Italy

A) after the French Revolution.
B) in 1871 after the French lost a war with Prussia.
C) after World War I.
D) after World War II.
E) in 1971 after a national referendum.

Question 7

A founder of capitalist thought is

A) Karl Marx.
B) Adam Smith.
C) Diderot.
D) John Stuart Mill.
E) Montesquieu.

Question 8

Fascism

A) emphasizes individual rights and freedoms.
B) first came to power in Germany.
C) is another word for communism.
D) rejects many of the ideas of the Enlightenment.
E) was a cause of World War I.

Question 9

The Marshall Plan

A) helped end World War II.
B) helped undermine communist governments in Eastern Europe.
C) helped Europe rebuild after the war.
D) was extremely unpopular in Europe.
E) was Stalin's plan to impose communism in Eastern Europe.

Question 10

Examples of countries that became democratic in the 1970s are

A) Italy and Austria.
B) Finland and Switzerland.
C) Poland and Hungary.
D) France and Germany.
E) Spain and Portugal.

Question 11

Which statement is most accurate?

A) West Germany had a longer and more successful period of postwar recovery than Great Britain.
B) Great Britain had a longer and more successful period of postwar recovery than West Germany.
C) Both West Germany and Great Britain moved away from a welfare state after World War II.
D) The British did better economically than the Germans after World War II because their country had not been destroyed in the war.
E) The reunification of Germany produced dramatic economic growth.

Question 12

One conclusion to be drawn from Table 2.3 is

A) West European states took a long time to begin growing economically after World War II.
B) economic growth sped up in the 1970s and 1980s.
C) economic growth was most marked in the first decade after World War II.
D) Sweden had the best rates of growth in Europe after World War II.
E) some states experienced economic growth but some states did not.

Question 13

All of the following are historically true about Eastern Europe EXCEPT

A) Eastern Europe was a land of empires.
B) the region was more economically backward than western Europe.
C) the political map of Eastern Europe has changed little since 1900.
D) the region contains a mix of different nationalities and religious traditions.
E) communism came to power only after World War II.

Question 14

The only East European state in which democracy survived between the world wars was

A) Poland.
B) Czechoslovakia.
C) Hungary.
D) Romania.
E) Yugoslavia.

Question 15

Half of the Jews killed in the Holocaust were

A) Germans.
B) Poles.
C) Russians.
D) French.
E) Yugoslavs.

Question 16

In communist Eastern Europe, all of the following are true EXCEPT

A) the economy was controlled by the state.
B) literacy became nearly universal.
C) one party controlled political life.
D) there were no efforts to change the system or get rid of communism.
E) consumer goods were often in short supply.

Question 17

Solidarity in Poland was

A) ultimately unsuccessful.
B) an example of civil society.
C) a communist-run organization.
D) responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Poles.
E) a group that collaborated with Hitler.

Question 18

Communism fell peacefully EXCEPT in

A) Hungary.
B) Bulgaria.
C) East Germany.
D) Poland.
E) Romania.

Question 19

Since Germany has reunified

A) living standards between East and West have become similar.
B) some in eastern Germany have become nostalgic for East Germany.
C) East Germany has given West Germany massive amounts of aid.
D) Germany has become a neutral country.
E) Germany has withdrawn from the EU.

Question 20

Since the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe

A) few states in the region have been able to establish democracy.
B) the European Union was too busy with its own problems to provide much economic assistance to the region.
C) most states in the region have pursued privatization and free-market reforms.
D) Czechoslovakia witnessed a civil war and split in two.
E) unemployment has declined.

Question 21

The worst massacre in Europe since World War II occurred in

A) Croatia.
B) Albania.
C) Bosnia.
D) Serbia.
E) Poland.

Question 22

What appears to be true about "shock therapy"?

A) Those who adopted it fared better than those who pursued gradual reforms.
B) Those who adopted it fared worse than those who pursued gradual reforms.
C) It was a wonderful idea in theory but no one ended up adopting it.
D) It was tried most successfully in Hungary and least successfully in Poland.
E) It is an idea inspired by communist ideals.

Question 23

Under Tito,

A) Yugoslavia split up in a violent civil war.
B) Yugoslavia became a democracy.
C) Yugoslavia was closely aligned with the Soviet Union.
D) Serbian nationalism was the dominant ideology in Yugoslavia.
E) Yugoslavia was a single country ruled by a communist party.

Question 24

Slobodan Milosevic

A) was a Serb leader and arguably the person most responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia.
B) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
C) imposed communism in Yugoslavia after World War II.
D) oversaw the massacre at Srebrenica.
E) was a Croatian leader and arguably the person most responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Question 25

What is true about the fighting in the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia?

A) The European Union sent troops to fight against the Serbs.
B) The Bosnians occupied large parts of Serbia.
C) NATO sent in troops once the Serbs invaded Macedonia.
D) Russia was on the side of the Albanians.
E) The war in Bosnia ended with the signing of the Dayton Accords.

Question 26

A nation refers to a group of people who share some sort of cultural or historical bond; a state is a political organization that governs people in a particular territory.

Question 27

Germany is one of Europe's oldest states.

Question 28

By the 1980s, state spending accounted for over half of gross domestic product in some European countries.

Question 29

Adolf Hitler was the first fascist leader to come to power.

Question 30

In the 1800s, women were not allowed to vote for government officials in any European country.

Question 31

European welfare states have had consistently low growth rates since the 1950s.

Question 32

The Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sent in Soviet troops in the 1980s to prevent Poland from breaking free of communism.

Question 33

After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, there was little controversy about privatizing state-owned property.

Question 34

Since reunification, the unemployment rate in eastern Germany has been around 15 percent.

Question 35

NATO intervened militarily in the Bosnian war only after the massacre in Srebrenica.

Question 36

What are the main differences in political development between Western and Eastern Europe?

Question 37

Why did Yugoslavia break apart? Why did the EU and the United States do so little to prevent the outbreak of violence there?

Question 38

Most communist states successfully made the transition to democracy and capitalism. Which transition-the political or the economic one-was more difficult? What do you think accounts for the success of these transitions?

Question 39

What are the main features of European welfare states? How have they performed since World War II?

Question 40

How and why did democracy arise in western Europe prior to 1900? What made it possible for democracy to take root?