Deck 10: Trouble and Hope in Latin America

Question 1

Argentina is the economic and political leader of Latin America.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A powerful voting bloc of Cuban immigrants in Florida is responsible for contemporary U.S.-Cuban relations.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Latin America, South America, and Central America refer to the same geographic region.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Neither eradication nor interdiction has helped curb the growth of drug cartels in Latin America.

Question 5

Democracy was the norm in Latin America following independence.

Question 6

Spain's colonies in the New World helped fund its huge armies and achieve European dominance.

Question 7

Dependency can occur naturally as a result of statism that discourages local capital formation.

Question 8

America pursued its interest in Latin America by inventing Panama.

Question 9

The 1954 Guatemalan coup was the beginning of reforms and end of bloody battles in the state.

Question 10

The long-term and only effective solution to Latin America's problems is military intervention.

Question 11

Which Latin American country currently serves as a model in terms of political and economic development for the rest?

A) Chile
B) Argentina
C) Brazil
D) Venezuela
E) Peru

Question 12

Weak Latin American states ________.

A) have no military coups
B) have no police force
C) cannot keep law and order
D) cannot protect their own borders from external threats
E) have no written constitution

Question 13

Until recently, Latin America largely practiced ________, meaning that the government owned and supervised large parts of the economy.

A) authoritarianism
B) capitalism
C) entrepreneurialism
D) statism
E) imperialism

Question 14

Statism has the effect of ________.

A) raising employment
B) producing small, efficient bureaucracies
C) leading to independence from foreign capital
D) leading to slow economic growth
E) eliminating corruption

Question 15

Independence movements in Latin America were influenced by ________.

A) the Soviet and Chinese revolutions
B) the Iranian revolution
C) the English revolution
D) the Cuban revolution
E) the American and French revolutions

Question 16

As illustrated in countries such as Honduras, what pair of trends proves most effective in ensuring steady economic growth?

A) increasing GDP per capita and decreasing population
B) increasing GDP per capita and decreasing population growth rate
C) increasing GDP per capita and increasing statism
D) decreasing GNP and increasing population
E) decreasing GDP per capita and increasing population

Question 17

Which of the following occurs naturally because the host country does not generate capital for its own investments?

A) entrepreneurialism
B) dependency
C) intervention
D) exploitation
E) demagoguery

Question 18

Which of the following statements pertaining to dependency theory is true?

A) Poor countries are dependent upon the military protection of rich ones.
B) Rich urbanites in the host country's capital city flee for rural areas, a trend known as capital flight.
C) Poor countries will stay poor because they are economically subordinate to rich countries.
D) Developing countries are dependent on authoritarian rule rather than democratic rule.
E) Latin America's dependence on the U.S. helped advance Latin American countries' interests.

Question 19

Which of the following statements pertaining to Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is NOT true?

A) The PRI lost the free and fair presidential elections in 2000 against PAN.
B) The PRI historically suppressed any opposition against it and ordered people to vote for them.
C) The PRI has long been Mexico's most dominant party.
D) The PRI billed itself as a leftist party and became corrupt and bureaucratic.
E) The PRI President Enrique Peña Nieto joined with Calderón to start a drug crusade.

Question 20

The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. proclamation ________.

A) to assist Europe in its colonization of Latin America
B) to provide economic assistance to Latin American countries
C) that it had no interests in Latin America
D) to keep Europe out of the Western hemisphere
E) to assist any Latin American country wanting to democratize

Question 21

The CIA-sponsored coup in Guatemala had what effect?

A) It shut down the United Fruit Company.
B) It influenced Cuban leftists to rely on revolution rather than reform.
C) It influenced Cuban leftists to maintain the Cuban army as it was before they took over.
D) It installed a democratic regime cognizant of investment and human rights.
E) It established the first stable regime in Latin America.

Question 22

Which of the following statements pertaining to the Roosevelt Corollary is true?

A) The Roosevelt Corollary gave the U.S. an unlimited right to intervene directly in Central America.
B) The Roosevelt Corollary showed that Latin America did not need reforms, but in fact needed revolutions.
C) The CIA was compelled by the Roosevelt Corollary to undertake the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.
D) The Roosevelt Corollary was responsible for ending United Fruit's domination of the Guatemalan economy.
E) The Roosevelt Corollary curbed the influence of narcotraficantes, which extends through Mexico's army.

Question 23

________ refers to politics through the manipulation of votes by extravagant promises.

A) Authoritarianism
B) Statism
C) Democracy
D) Populism
E) Demagoguery

Question 24

The Cold War environment led the United States to ________.

A) economically support only democratic Latin America regimes
B) provide military aid only to democratic Latin American regimes
C) economically and militarily support all Latin American countries
D) intervene against reformist regimes thought to be Communist
E) intervene against all democratic regimes

Question 25

Which of the following classes of people left Cuba after Castro took power, as they were the most disadvantaged by his reforms?

A) much of the poor rural class
B) the entire urban class
C) much of the educated poor class
D) much of the uneducated rural class
E) the entire upper class

Question 26

Which of Castro's reforms made it impossible for the CIA to overthrow his regime, as it did in so many other Latin American countries?

A) the "zone of chaos"
B) a military headed by five-star generals
C) the democratic elections
D) the neighborhood committees
E) the capital fight

Question 27

According to Samuel Huntington, "torn" countries are those that ________.

A) have a divided but well-educated middle class
B) have a modernizing pro-Western elite and traditional anti-Western masses
C) have a weak state that cannot keep law and order
D) have free and fair elections for one and all
E) have a cultural blind spot for their hemispheric neighbors

Question 28

When a major power molds the policies of another state through indirect control it is exhibiting its ________.

A) demagoguery
B) zone of chaos
C) capital flight
D) sphere of influence
E) interdiction

Question 29

Which of the following is a maquiladora?

A) a farmer who produces coca leaf
B) a drug trafficker
C) a Latin American term for Indian
D) an assembly plant
E) a person of mixed Indian-Spanish descent

Question 30

Unlike some forms of U.S. influence, which of the following has had a positive impact on the Mexican economy?

A) the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
B) the Bay of Pigs invasion
C) the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
D) U.S. military intervention
E) Mercosur

Question 31

Describe the causes of weak, unstable governments in Latin America. Which of these causes do you think have been most influential? Why?

Question 32

Describe traditional dependency theory. What arguments does it make about the relationship between developing countries (such as those in Latin America) and developed, capitalist countries (like the U.S.)? Do you find dependency theory convincing? Why or why not? Cite examples in your answer.

Question 33

What additions did Latin American Marxists make to dependency theory? Is there sufficient evidence to support such claims? Is there contemporary evidence to suggest the U.S. still engages in this type of behavior in Latin America and elsewhere?

Question 34

What role did the Cold War play in shaping the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America? Specifically, what kind of regimes did the U.S. support, what kind of regimes did the U.S. not support, and what tactics did it use in each of these cases? Did this have a lasting effect on the politics of these countries?

Question 35

Discuss the relationship between the Bay of Pigs and President Kennedy's decisions regarding South Vietnam. How did the Cold War environment influence each of these events, both individually and together?

Question 36

Why did direct intervention become an "unfashionable" policy option for the U.S. in Latin America? How did this influence U.S. policy regarding Cuba? Did indirect intervention leave the U.S. in a more vulnerable position? Consider the costs, benefits, and effects of direct intervention, and compare.

Question 37

Discuss the various reasons that Latin American countries failed for so long to democratize. Have these issues been permanently alleviated, or will they continue to be a problem in the future? Discuss the role of the state, dominant political parties, and international actors in your answer.