Deck 27: The Changing Modern World

Question 1

In 1992, official investigations in Italy revealed political corruption at the highest levels. How had Italy's governing parties avoided such scrutiny and criticism for so long?

A) The governing parties had projected themselves as Italy's defenders against communism.
B) It took many years to unravel the extremely complex and secret web of bribes.
C) The government had succeeded in muzzling the press, either through payoffs or threats.
D ) Italians had been willing to overlook the government's corrupt practices because of its successes in balancing the budget and lowering crime rates.

Answer 1

The governing parties had projected themselves as Italy's defenders against communism.

Question 2

Responses to immigration in western European countries included all of the following except

A) the emergence of a Neo-Nazi movement in Germany.
B) laws to reduce or eliminate immigration.
C) the repeal of Germany's constitutional provision granting asylum to all immigrants fleeing political persecution.
D) All of the choices are correct were responses to immigration.

Answer 2

All of the choices are correct were responses to immigration.

Question 3

Tony Blair and the British Labour party undertook which of the following reforms?

A) The centralization of power away from Scotland and Wales.
B) The complete reversal of Thatcher's economic reforms.
C) Greater decentralization for Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
D) The abolition of the legislative council governing Ireland.

Answer 3

Greater decentralization for Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

Question 4

In the 2005 election in Germany,

A) the Social Democrats remained in power.
B) the Christian Democrats lost.
C) Germans chose the first woman, and the first East German, to become chancellor.
D) the Christian Democrats won an overwhelming majority of the votes.

Question 5

Why were the 1990s a dividing point or watershed in the history of postwar Japan?

A) A stubborn recession developed that suggested that Japan's economy was faltering.
B) An unprecedented political crisis took place, in which the Liberal Democratic party fell after forty-some years in power.
C) Pressure increased for social and structural changes that would enable more Japanese to benefit from the country's wealth.
D) all of the choices are correct.

Question 6

The Maastricht Treaty

A) delayed Europe's unification because of differences over defense issues.
B) paved the way for the adoption of a common currency, the "euro."
C) allowed non-democratic states to enter into the European Union.
D) encouraged states to act individually in military matters.

Question 7

The driving force behind the new information economy was

A) Japan.
B) Russia.
C) western Europe.
D) the United States.

Question 8

The new global economy generated concerns about all of the following except

A) stagnant growth
B) the impact of the search for cheap labor on workers in industrialized countries.
C) the vulnerability of the new system to political and regional crises.
D) A and B

Question 9

The American economic boom of the last few decades of the twentieth century led to

A) rising incomes for middle class Americans.
B) stagnating incomes for the wealthiest sector of the American population.
C) an increasing gap between the rich and poor.
D) a more equal distribution of wealth.

Question 10

Existentialism is a philosophy affirming that

A) humans must be committed to belief and action, even though they may not be able to change the world.
B) human reason has nearly unlimited powers to define the nature of our existence.
C) atheism and a belief in human progress are essential.
D) choosing the contemplative life is the only way to be free.

Question 11

Under Pope John Paul II,

A) the Catholic church allowed a relaxation of its stand on issues such as the rights of divorce and birth control.
B) the Catholic church became more centralized.
C) Vatican II was more fully implemented by the church.
D) the church refused to acknowledge past wrongs, such as the mistreatment of Jews.

Question 12

The latter part of the twentieth century saw the spread of militant religious fundamentalism, which demanded all of the following except

A) a belief that God has created many different paths to understanding religious truth.
B) an absolute adherence to sacred texts, regardless of the historical context of their origins.
C) an identification of religion with political and moral values.
D) a strict moral code extending to diet, dress, and the relationship of the sexes.

Question 13

One important change in the role of the United Nations since the end of the Cold War has been

A) it has had to scale back its peacekeeping functions.
B) its peacekeeping functions have grown in scope and magnitude.
C) Japan and Germany have been granted positions on the Security Council.
D) it has increasingly emerged as a world government, independent even of major powers.

Question 14

As the sole superpower after 1991, the United States

A) often blurred the distinction between unilateralism and international action.
B) became involved in peacekeeping missions for the first time.
C) refused to participate in peacekeeping missions.
D) A and C

Question 15

The only permanent member of the UN Security Council to support the U.S. resolution to authorized

A) Britain.
B) France.
C) Germany.
D) Russia.

Question 16

In the January 2005 elections,

A) most Iraqis to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
B) the Iraqis chose a Kurdish president.
C) the Shiite majority refused to participate.
D) the Iraqis elected a transitional parliament to write a new constitution.

Question 17

Approximately what percent of couples in the developing world have access to family planning?

A) 10 percent
B) 30 percent
C) 100 percent
D) 60 percent

Question 18

Which of the following statements is not true regarding recent developments on environmental issues?

A) The United States withdrew from the Kyoto agreement in 2001.
B) Between 1995 and 2000 the world lost one-fifth of its topsoil.
C) Between 1995 and 2000 the world lost one fifth of its tropical rain forests.
D) Developing countries have taken the lead on environmental issues.

Question 19

Why were the 1990s an economic and political turning point for western Europe and Japan?

Question 20

Discuss the changing role of religion in the world since 1945. How do you account for the recent rise of fundamentalism?

Question 21

Describe the new economy and what is meant by the term globalization. What are some negative aspects of the two concepts?

Question 22

How have science and technology transformed people's lives in the last few decades? Have these advances reached people the world over, or is access to these advances limited?

Question 23

What were the main trends in the creative arts and the social sciences in the second half of the twentieth century? How did these trends reflect the social, economic, and political realities of the period?

Question 24

What are some of the debates that have shaped the role of the United Nations in international affairs? How has its participation and intervention in the world changed in recent decades?

Question 25

What were the origins of the United States' involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq? How successful has the United States been in attaining its goals? What kinds of developments and events have hindered progress in the war on terror?

Question 26

What major problems did the world face in the 1990s? Which do you consider to be the gravest threat? What possibilities exist for overcoming that problem?

Question 27

What led to Europe's post-Cold War gloom in the early 1990s?

Question 28

Why did unemployment become a serious problem for western Europe in the late twentieth century? How did western European countries attempt to overcome this problem?

Question 29

What was entailed in the "third way" approach endorsed by politicians like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair? How effective were these policies?

Question 30

In what ways did the European Union become further integrated? What obstacles still stood in the way of unification?

Question 31

Why has scientific advance been questioned in the last decades of the twentieth century?

Question 32

Why did religious fundamentalism find fertile ground in the late twentieth century?

Question 33

What were the inspirations and demands of the late twentieth century women's movement?

Question 34

What has caused the population explosion in Asia, Africa, and Latin America? Why have the United States and Europe remained unaffected?