Deck 17: After the Fall: the Western World in a Global Age Since 1985

Question 1

Which area witnessed the first independence movement among the Soviet republics during Gorbachev's rule?

A)Afghanistan
B)Azerbaijan
C)Lithuania
D)Georgia
E)Chechnya

Answer 1

Georgia

Question 2

What are the basic problems and antagonisms between Serbia and the other countries that once made up Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Slovenia)? What forces in the post-Cold War world enabled this dangerous and bloody conflict to escalate so terribly?

Answer 2

Answers will vary.

Question 3

How have women's lives changed by the late twentieth and early twenty-first century? What gains have they made? What obstacles still exist? In what countries have women seen the greatest gains, and which countries have been slower to change?

Answer 3

Answers will vary.

Question 4

Is the world facing a "clash of civilizations" in the near future? Why and/or why not?

Question 5

Who succeeded Vladimir Putin as president of Russia?

A)Lech Walesa
B)Mikhail Gorbachev
C)Dmitry Medvedev
D)Yuri Andropov
E)Andrei Sakharov

Question 6

Is capitalism the dominant force on the planet today? Why or why not?

Question 7

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia was plagued by all of these problems EXCEPT

A)a renewed Communist Party majority which took over the government.
B)organized crime.
C)an uprising in largely Muslim Chechnya.
D)economic hardships.
E)a president who was often ill.

Question 8

"The Iraq war was the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time." Discuss with specifics to support or refute the quotation.

Question 9

Was Mikhail Gorbachev responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union? If not, who or what was? Explain.

Question 10

Discuss the impact of terrorism on the West, the "Western mindset", and the relationship between western countries and the rest of the world (specifically, the Middle East).

Question 11

"Globalization is going to be the salvation of civilization." Do you agree or disagree? Explain, citing evidence to make your case.

Question 12

What has been gained and what has been lost as a result of the digital revolution? Discuss, citing specific examples.

Question 13

After becoming Russia's president in 1999, Vladimir Putin made it his mission to

A)decentralize power within the Russian government.
B)strengthen the role of the central government.
C)establish an independent Chechnyan government.
D)promote a more open exchange with the media.
E)raise taxes on the wealthiest members of society and stimulate the economy.

Question 14

What best describes the ruling policies of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union?

A)They forced the exportation of Russian Communism to Central and South America.
B)They evoked a "New Thinking" about internal and global politics, as well as an emphasis on openness and reform.
C)They increased political repression in Russia and in Eastern Europe.
D)They grew out of Russian misperceptions of United States strengths and failed to appreciate that American military spending and tax reductions under Ronald Reagan had greatly increased American budget deficits.
E)They led to a reform of Soviet Communism and the permanent strengthening of the Soviet regime.

Question 15

What did Mikhail Gorbachev intend to do under perestroika?

A)Frighten the United States with more military spending
B)Create a more free and open political culture in the U.S.S.R.
C)Turn all power over to the people
D)Restructure the economic and political systems
E)End communism and adopt western-style democracy

Question 16

What major economic challenges have plagued the West from the 1980s through the early twenty-first century?

Question 17

Compare and contrast the experiences of Russia and its Eastern European neighbors since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Question 18

How and why did the Cold War end? Did anyone "win" this conflict? Who? Why?

Question 19

Who was the Russian president after Boris Yeltsin?

A)Mikhail Gorbachev
B)Vladimir Putin
C)Nikita Khrushchev
D)Dmitry Medvedev
E)Gary Kasparov

Question 20

With the world increasingly inter-connected via transportation and communication networks, does the name "Western Civilization" still make sense?

Question 21

What was the Maastricht Treaty?

A)It was military alliance between the members of the European Community.
B)It was an attempt to create a true economic and monetary union among the members of the European Community.
C)It was an attempt to break up the European Community.
D)It was an attempt to revive the ideological conflicts of the Cold War.
E)It was an attempt to challenge the economic supremacy of the United States.

Question 22

Which conservative British Prime Minister resigned after an inconclusive election and was succeeded by Liberal Democrat David Cameron?

A)Helmut Kohl
B)Margaret Thatcher
C)Tony Blair
D)Bill Clinton
E)Gordon Brown

Question 23

Which party won nearly 50 percent of the vote in East Germany's 1990 election?

A)Nazis
B)Communists
C)Christian Democrats
D)Green Party
E)Libertarians

Question 24

Which country held the first free parliamentary elections to occur in Eastern Europe for forty years in 1988?

A)Hungary
B)Austria
C)Poland
D)Estonia
E)Lithuania

Question 25

Who was the politician who kept the fractious state of Yugoslavia together for decades after World War II?

A)Marshall Tito
B)General Filopovic
C)President Milosevic
D)Prime Minister Kostunica
E)Marshall Petain

Question 26

Which dictator, known for his violent suppression of the people, was tried and executed with his wife in late December 1989?

A)Gustáv Husák
B)Václav Hável
C)Aleksander Kwasniewski
D)Nicolae Ceausescu
E)Erich Honecker

Question 27

Under whose leadership was the reunification of Germany accomplished?

A)Willy Brandt
B)Conrad Adenauer
C)Helmut Schmidt
D)Gunter Grass
E)Helmut Kohl

Question 28

Which group most brutally employed the tactic of "ethnic cleansing," the murder or forcible removal of ethnic minorities from their lands in the former Yugoslavia?

A)Serbs
B)Croatians
C)Bosnians
D)Herzgovenians
E)Slovenes

Question 29

Who was the Yugoslavian president ousted from power in 2000 and was subsequently put on trial for war crimes against humanity?

A)Vojislav Kostunica
B)Nicolae Ceausescu
C)Wladyslaw Gomulka
D)Todor Zhivkov
E)Slobodan Milosevic

Question 30

All of these actions contributed to growing anti-U.S. sentiments in the Islamic world in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century EXCEPT

A)U.S.support for Israel.
B)the rise to power of the Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran.
C)the Gulf War and U.S.liberation of Kuwait.
D)the U.S.'s seizing of Saudi Arabian oil fields.
E)the growth of insurgent and extremist groups in the Middle East, such as ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant).

Question 31

Which leader of Czechoslovakia in 1990 replaced the Communist government and was a former dissident writer and philosopher?

A)Erich Kádár
B)Gustáv Husák
C)Aleksander Dubcek
D)Václav Hável
E)Marshall Tito

Question 32

In 1998, a survey showed that one-third of the children in London's inner cities

A)could not read.
B)lived in single-parent households.
C)were raised by gay parents.
D)did not speak English.
E)did not have access to adequate food each day.

Question 33

In the early twenty-first century, the European Union established qualifications for potential new members that included

A)disavowal of communism.
B)acceptance of NGOs.
C)a commitment to market capitalism and democracy.
D)willingness to provide economic assistance to Europe's farming community.
E)acceptance of each country's national currency.

Question 34

A controversial 2004 French law prohibited Muslim

A)families from arranging marriages for their children.
B)female students from wearing a headscarf (hijab) to school.
C)men from praying in public.
D)groups from erecting a mosque near government buildings.
E)men and women from working in the French government.

Question 35

What was a consequence of the war in Bosnia?

A)Yugoslavia was truly unified for the first time.
B)Bosnia was split into a Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat federation.
C)Nothing was accomplished.
D)Bosnia agreed to adhere to the Geneva Accords as their multi-party conflict raged on.
E)Bosnia agreed to join the European Community.

Question 36

On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked ____ airplanes as part of a planned assault on the United States.

A)two
B)three
C)four
D)five
E)six

Question 37

Who succeeded Tony Blair as Britain's prime minister in 2007?

A)Gordon Brown
B)John Major
C)Clement Attlee
D)Nicolas Sarkozy
E)Bill Clinton

Question 38

What was the reason for Yugoslavia dividing into warring factions?

A)Demands for separatism among the varying republics
B)Differences of political goals
C)Support of the Serbs
D)Lack of cultural diversity
E)Religious uniformity

Question 39

What caused massive rioting in the suburbs of Paris in 2005?

A)Higher taxes
B)The end of free national health care
C)Resentment of some young Muslims about unemployment and living conditions
D)Anti-Muslim hysteria amongst a majority of other Parisian residents
E)The opening of a new McDonald's restaurant

Question 40

Which Eastern European republic came into existence in 1993 with the breakup of a previously existing state and which was fueled by ethnic rivalries?

A)Lithuania
B)Estonia
C)Albania
D)Lichtenstein
E)Slovakia

Question 41

Pope John Paul II was

A)the first Polish pope since the sixteenth century.
B)liberal on birth control and women in the priesthood.
C)understanding about the acquisition of wealth in the western world.
D)responsible for alienating the non-Western world.
E)the person who selected Pope Francis as his successor.

Question 42

What happened to Osama bin Laden?

A)He escaped to Saudi Arabia in 2005.
B)He died of old age in 2010.
C)He was killed by American operatives in a compound in Pakistan in 2011.
D)He was killed by NATO forces in Afghanistan in 2012.
E)He was captured by United Nations troops in 2009.

Question 43

An example of the growing anti-immigration sentiments globally in the 1990s and 2000s, ____ enacted a law requiring would-be immigrants to pass a language and culture test before being admitted to the country.

A)France
B)the Netherlands
C)Germany
D)United States
E)Great Britain

Question 44

All of these factors contributed to George W. Bush's declining popularity by his second term as president EXCEPT

A)his strong support for environmental programs that were opposed by major business interests.
B)the war in Iraq.
C)tax cuts that primarily benefitted the wealthy.
D)poor handling of the relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
E)financial corruption in the Republican Party.

Question 45

In what year was Apple's iPod introduced?

A)1975
B)1985
C)1991
D)2001
E)2005

Question 46

The winner of the 2000 U.S. presidential election was ultimately decided by

A)the citizens of Florida.
B)Governor Jeb Bush.
C)Al Gore, who conceded halfway through the process.
D)the United States Supreme Court.
E)the Florida Supreme Court.

Question 47

What was one of the underlying causes of the end of the Cold War?

A)The fall of Khrushchev in the Soviet Union and the election of Reagan in the United States
B)Financial difficulties for both superpowers and the unbearable expenses of the arms race
C)Peace movements in both countries
D)The end of the Afghan War
E)The death of Gorbachev

Question 48

Where did the United States initially wage war in the immediate aftermath of 9/11?

A)Iraq
B)Persian Gulf
C)Iran
D)Pakistan
E)Afghanistan

Question 49

Experts believe that one of the most important vehicles for addressing global issues presently and in the future are

A)NGOs.
B)human rights organizations.
C)global banking institutions.
D)women's and men's liberation movements.
E)environmental activist groups.

Question 50

George H.W. Bush's defeat to Bill Clinton in his 1992 reelection attempt was due largely to

A)Bush's failures in the Gulf War.
B)government budget deficits and an economic downturn.
C)Bush's conservative social agenda.
D)Bill Clinton's youth and charisma.
E)Bush's inability to connect with voters.

Question 51

Where have women seen the greatest gains in recent decades?

A)In equal pay rates with men
B)In access to credit
C)In the Catholic Church's acceptance of reproductive rights
D)In advancement to management positions
E)In workforce opportunities

Question 52

Which politician called terrorism "the enemy of our generation"?

A)Tony Blair
B)George W.Bush
C)Vladimir Putin
D)Jacques Chirac
E)Bill Clinton

Question 53

What was true of the impact of the global economic downturn that began in 2008?

A)It was caused by problems in the United States only.
B)It hit Spain and Germany harder than any other European country.
C)It fueled resentment by some of the most severely affected EU states about the policies imposed by wealthier European countries.
D)It barely affected eastern Europe.
E)It made Europe economically dependent on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Question 54

In Islam, the term ____ typically means a return to traditional values and can also be a label for more radical movements.

A)jihad
B)fundamentalism
C)Taliban
D)Shi'ites
E)hijab

Question 55

One of the major challenges of globalization has been

A)trade imbalances.
B)food shortages.
C)increased growth of an underclass.
D)the widening gap between rich and poor nations.
E)the increased spread of harmful diseases.

Question 56

The Women's Movement empowered achieved all of the following gains EXCEPT

A)academic acceptance of the field of women's studies.
B)global unity among movement members that the top priority should be ending violence, hunger, and disease.
C)the repeal of many laws against birth control and abortion in most European countries.
D)participation in many international conferences devoted to women's issues.
E)leadership for women in environmental campaigns, such as Petra Kelly, who was one of the founders of the German Green Party.

Question 57

A continuing problem roiling Canadian politics for the past several decades has been

A)whether to always support United States foreign policy.
B)the demand by many French-speaking Canadians that the province of Quebec become independent of the rest of Canada.
C)the desires by many Canadians that Canada become a republic and sever all ties with the British monarchy.
D)whether to nationalize Canada's sizeable oil and gas reserves.
E)whether to change from a parliamentary system of government and adopt instead the US presidential model.

Question 58

Which of these groups serves as an example of nationalist terrorism?

A)Baader-Meinhof gang in Germany
B)IRA in Northern Ireland
C)New Order in Italy
D)Charles Martel Club in France
E)Al-Qaeda in the Middle East

Question 59

Why is Islam growing in both Europe and the United States?

A)More people have converted to Islam from Christianity in both nations.
B)Muslim family size has grown dramatically in the past four decades, thereby increasing the number of adherents.
C)Both nations have promoted immigration to Muslims from the Middle East.
D)More people have migrated to these nations from Muslim countries.
E)Countercultural movements in both nations have inspired curiosity about the Muslim religion.

Question 60

What conflict provided the first opportunity for testing the new relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union in the post-Cold War era?

A)Chinese-Vietnamese War
B)Arab-Israeli War
C)war in Angola
D)Persian Gulf War
E)Iraq War

Question 61

By the 1990s, the rapid growth of the technology industry made ____ the richest man in the world.

A)Steve Jobs
B)Warren Buffet
C)Bill Viola
D)Bill Gates
E)Anselem Kiefer

Question 62

After his election as Poland's president in 1995, former Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski moved the country toward a free-market economy.

Question 63

The justifications that George W. Bush used for invading Iraq in 2003 were agreed upon by most members of the United Nations.

Question 64

Scientists tend to agree that ____ is contributing to droughts, the melting of the polar ice caps, and rising sea levels.

A)toxic dumping in the world's waterways
B)fossil fuel emissions
C)the greenhouse effect
D)overpopulation worldwide
E)biodiversity

Question 65

As president, Vladimir Putin sought to democratize Russia and loosen the central control of the state.

Question 66

George W. Bush called terrorism "the enemy of our generation."

Question 67

"Think globally, act locally" is the slogan of the global environmental movement.

Question 68

The number of Muslims in Europe and the U.S. has declined since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Question 69

Barack Obama's first challenge, even before he was inaugurated as president in 2009, was the collapse of the American financial system.

Question 70

What do critics accuse the World Bank and International Monetary Fund of?

A)Seeking to undermine national sovereignty
B)Engaging in widespread corruption
C)Pushing Western economic practices on non-Western nations, leading to increased poverty and debt
D)Promoting non-Western economic needs at the expense of its Western member nations
E)Charging excessively high interest rates on loans to poorer countries

Question 71

The rapid collapse of the Soviet Union was due the policies of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Question 72

Population growth is a contributing factor to the dangers to the earth's ecosystems.

Question 73

In 2004, Yugoslavia officially ceased to exist when it was renamed Serbia and Montenegro.