Deck 4: Domestic Politics and War

Question 1

Which of the following statements about government bureaucracy is true?

A)Bureaucracies are generally efficient.
B)Actors in a bureaucracy tend to be war-prone.
C)Bureaucratic red tape often prevents wars from occurring.
D)Organizations in a country's bureaucracy can have a lot of influence over government
Decision making.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following would be considered an interest group in the United States?

A)The National Security Council,which advises the president on security issues
B)The United States Department of State,which seeks better relations with other countries
C)The Cuban American National Foundation,a Florida-based group seeking increased democracy in Cuba
D)The Iraq Study Group,a panel appointed by the government to prepare a report on the 2003 Iraq War

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What strategy best explains the Argentine military's invasion of the British-controlled Malvinas in 1982?

A)Military-industrial complex
B)Predatory incentives
C)Gambling for resurrection
D)Playing with fire

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What action did the Arbenz government take in 1954 that the United Fruit Company opposed?

A)It took control of lands held by the United Fruit Company.
B)It made business-provided health care mandatory.
C)It disallowed foreign companies from investing in Guatemala.
D)It banned the purchase of military weapons from foreign sources.

Question 5

How does a sense of shared community influence disputes between democratic states?

A)It enables compromise settlements.
B)It solves issue indivisibilities.
C)It creates collective defense.
D)It ensures no conflicting interests.

Question 6

What conditions would have to be met for two states experiencing economic downturns to engage in a diversionary war?

A)Both states would have to be convinced that the benefits of war are sufficiently high.
B)Both leaders would need to ensure that the costs of war are high for their opponent.
C)One leader has to experience domestic unpopularity.
D)One leader would have to decide that negotiations are not fruitful.

Question 7

Which of the following explanations of the United States' wars with Iraq relies on a particularistic interest explanation?

A)The American government undermines regimes that threaten the profits of U.S.oil companies.
B)Oil is critical for the smooth functioning of the economy,and the United States must avoid abrupt changes in oil supply and price.
C)Stability in the Middle East would make the United States more secure.
D)Spreading democracy in the Middle East would make the threat of war less likely.

Question 8

The Kargil War,which was fought between India and Pakistan,two democratic states,discredits which of the following theories?

A)Realism
B)Democratic peace
C)Institutionalism
D)Deterrence theory

Question 9

Why do interest groups tend to have greater influence over a state's foreign policies than the general public?

A)The preferences of interest groups tend to be similar to the preferences of state leaders.
B)Interest groups tend to have more people lobbying on their behalf.
C)Interest groups often have ties to the military.
D)Smaller groups are better able to coordinate and overcome collective action problems.

Question 10

Which actors can have particularistic interests that could increase a state's value of going to war?

A)Political parties
B)The general public
C)The military
D)The United Nations

Question 11

Why did Argentina attack the Falkland Islands/Malvinas?

A)The Argentine government expected that taking control of the islands would improve its ability to stay in power.
B)The Argentine public pressured the government to retake the islands.
C)Argentine business groups pushed for the government to safeguard their economic interests in the islands.
D)The Argentine government felt it had to launch a preemptive war.

Question 12

In 1982,what event changed popular discontent in Argentina to widespread support for the government?

A)Argentina democratized.
B)Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.
C)The United States invaded Argentina.
D)Argentina nationalized industries held by multinational corporations.

Question 13

In 1982,British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher responded aggressively to the Argentine invasion of its little valued Falkland Islands territory in order to distract the British people from their economic problems.What kind of motivation did this conflict constitute?

A)Predatory incentive
B)Diversionary incentive
C)Autocratic motivation
D)Ingenious motivation

Question 14

Why is it important to examine the interests of state leaders when attempting to explain the likelihood of war?

A)State leaders are usually put in place by the military,thus their interests are crucial to a declaration of war.
B)The public needs to know what those interests are before an election,so they can elect a good leader,since there is no way to influence the leader's decisions after an election.
C)The likelihood of war decreases as the age of a leader increases.
D)Leaders have the authority to make foreign policy decisions,even if other actors influence them.

Question 15

Which of the following is an example of a national interest?

A)The aspiration of the armed forces to create a larger military organization
B)The need for a country to maintain economic growth
C)The need for a company to expand its oil exploration
D)The expectation of the public that public officials will pay attention to its needs

Question 16

Why did Britain react so strongly to the Argentine attack on the Falkland Islands/Malvinas?

A)The British public opposed Argentina's attack and supported the prime minister's aggressive response.
B)The British public felt that the Falklands were vital to its economic well-being.
C)The islands' location was strategically important to Britain.
D)Britain's economy was growing rapidly at the time,and it could afford to go to war with a weaker country.

Question 17

What is a bureaucracy?

A)Any agency in a government with more than 50 employees
B)The different organizations that carry out governance in the state
C)Formal organizations that exist outside of the state
D)A branch of the government that creates laws or decides what is legal

Question 18

Which of the following explains why a war between Canada and the United States is unlikely to occur?

A)Both are democratic states.
B)Because of the military industrial complex.
C)Both states are nuclear powers.
D)They share common borders.

Question 19

What is the unitary state assumption?

A)The belief that a state's leaders have the most impact on foreign policy decisions
B)The supposition that states act as if they have a unitary,rather than a federal,system
Of government
C)The treatment of states as coherent actors with a set of interests that belong to the state
D)The belief that one domestic actor can control the foreign policy of a state

Question 20

What is an interest group?

A)A focus group the government creates to test possible policy changes
B)A group of individuals that pushes for policies that benefit members of that group
C)A faction of the government that pushes for economic and political changes
D)A faction of the government that provides information and advice to its leaders

Question 21

Countries that restrict competition in elections such that one party is almost assured of victory are considered:

A)liberal democratic.
B)nondemocratic.
C)bureaucratic.
D)accountable.

Question 22

Which of the following statements about hawkish narrow-interest groups is true?

A)Their interests are so narrow that their views are drowned out by other voices.
B)They are more likely to influence the government when more domestic actors are participating in public debates.
C)Their interests usually coincide with the national interest.
D)Their activities create more opportunities for conflict.

Question 23

Which of the following statements about military actors is true?

A)Military officers always advocate military solutions to international conflicts,because they are predisposed to war.
B)Military officers can be reluctant to advocate war,because they are more appreciative of the costs of war than civilian actors.
C)Military officers usually advocate war as a solution to international conflicts,because they always overestimate the strength of their own troops.
D)Military officers tend to advocate war because,as officers,they are usually not in danger during battles.

Question 24

Why would Dwight Eisenhower warn the American people about the military-industrial complex?

A)Strong links between the two removed civilian control over the military.
B)Such an alliance would push for a more aggressive foreign policy.
C)Americans would become immune to the rally effect if it was used too often.
D)American manufacturing was harmed by devoting such a large portion of the budget to the military.

Question 25

What was the military-industrial complex that U.S.President Dwight Eisenhower warned about?

A)A geographical concentration of weapons productions facilities that made the facilities vulnerable to attack
B)The collusion between military leaders and weapons builders that promoted a more aggressive foreign policy
C)The difficulty of demobilizing the military effort at the end of World War II
D)A secret weapons manufacturing plant in the closed Soviet city of Magadan

Question 26

Which of the following statements best describes the possible constraints leaders face when considering whether to go to war?

A)A leader rarely has to worry about the interests of military officers,since they must be obedient to the chief executive.
B)Most leaders have to consider the response of the public when thinking of going to war.
C)A leader would never risk going to war just to improve the chances of reelection.
D)A leader's options improve when the amount of information given to the public is increased.

Question 27

Which example demonstrates the importance of the military as a domestic actor?

A)Following Argentina's defeat by the British in 1982,the Argentine military leadership was forced from power.
B)The leader of the Argentine military government,General Leopoldo Galtieri,decided to launch an attack on the Malvinas to generate nationalistic feelings.
C)In 1991,Saddam Hussein was convinced that the American public would not intervene on behalf of Kuwait.
D)Iraqi military officials were unaware that Iraq did not actually possess weapons of mass destruction.

Question 28

Which of the following terms describes a situation in which a country's military goes to war to benefit the country's defense contractors?

A)Codependence
B)The military-industrial complex
C)Bureaucratic efficiency
D)Entangling interests

Question 29

In which of the following cases would the influence of interest groups make conflict LESS likely?

A)A small number of arms manufacturers build weapons that deter other countries from attacking.
B)Immigrants want the government to impose a trade embargo on goods manufactured in their homeland.
C)A group of manufacturers wants the government to increase tariffs on imports.
D)A small group of investors wants to increase trade with another country.

Question 30

Which of the following is a reason we might expect members of the military to advocate for more aggressive foreign policies?

A)Military leaders like to feel important.
B)Military leaders often lack information that would help them prevent war.
C)The military does not often suffer the costs of war.
D)States may increase the military's budget in the face of conflict.

Question 31

Which of the following is an example of how bureaucratic organizations affect decision making?

A)Halliburton and other companies providing information to the U.S.government that increased the pressure on Iraq
B)The Iraq Study Group report leading to changes in the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq
C)The American Israel Public Affairs Committee urging the Bush administration to stand firm in its support of Israel
D)The United States making mistakes after the 2003 Iraq War because the Defense Department and the State Department fought over strategy

Question 32

Why does the rally-'round-the-flag effect occur?

A)Members of a group feel greater loyalty when they come into conflict with outsiders.
B)Individuals feel a greater sense of community at mass political rallies.
C)Citizens usually want to help protect people who share ethnic and historical ties with their country.
D)A leader knows starting a war will prove to the public that their leader is loyal.

Question 33

Which type of leader is most likely to lose office after leading his or her country into war?

A)An autocratic leader whose country wins a war
B)An autocratic leader whose country loses a war
C)A democratic leader whose country wins a war
D)A democratic leader whose country loses a war

Question 34

How would we expect a world full of stable democracies to look?

A)Chaotic
B)No different
C)Peaceful
D)Conflictual

Question 35

Which of the following is an example of the rally-'round-the-flag effect?

A)A leader begins a war to show how patriotic he or she is.
B)A leader begins a war to reclaim territory that has historically belonged to his or her country.
C)The citizens of a country pressure the government to go to war,even when its leaders are reluctant to do so.
D)The citizens of a country unite to support their country when a dramatic international event occurs.

Question 36

Why are diversionary incentives less common than once thought?

A)The overall domestic costs of a war can be extremely high.
B)Political leaders are too cynical to think that the public will believe them.
C)There are too many benefits to starting a war.
D)Other states are unlikely to become preoccupied with a war.

Question 37

Which of the following best describes the military's influence on a country's decision making?

A)Leaders of democratic countries largely ignore the military.
B)The military has the most credible information about a country's own capabilities.
C)The military strongly advocates a policy of "shoot first,gather intelligence later."
D)A military is only influential in democracies and has little influence in other types of regimes.

Question 38

Which of the following is an example of the rally effect?

A)The leader of a country starts a war to distract attention from his or her government's struggles.
B)After a country declares war,public support for the government rises sharply.
C)The military pushes for more defense funding for troops in the field.
D)A powerful interest group lobbies on behalf of sending more support to a country it favors.

Question 39

What is a diversionary incentive?

A)A temptation to switch trading partners to get a better deal
B)An opportunity to change international agreements while other states are preoccupied with a conflict
C)An attempt to avoid war by creating a distraction
D)A temptation to start a crisis to create public support at home

Question 40

What is the most likely result for a leader after the outcome of a war?

A)An autocratic leader who wins a war is likely to lose power.
B)An autocratic leader who loses a war and loses power will go unpunished.
C)A democratic leader who wins a war is likely to lose power.
D)A democratic leader who loses a war is likely to lose power.

Question 41

What is the "democratic peace"?

A)Countries with democratic governments are less likely to experience civil unrest than countries with autocratic governments.
B)Autocratic countries avoid going to war with democratic countries.
C)Democratic countries are less likely than autocratic countries to go to war with any country.
D)Countries with democratic governments are less likely to go to war with other democracies.

Question 42

What effect do influential,dovish interest groups have on the bargaining model of war?

A)They decrease the acceptable bargaining range for the state in which they are located.
B)They increase the acceptable bargaining range for the state in which they are located.
C)They decrease the acceptable bargaining range for the opposing state.
D)They increase the acceptable bargaining range for the opposing state.

Question 43

Which of the following explains why a pair of democracies is more likely to reach a war-avoiding bargain than a pair of autocracies?

A)Democracies have more transparent political processes,which can alleviate information problems in crises.
B)Citizens in democratic states are less aggressive than citizens of an autocratic regime.
C)Autocratic leaders are indecisive,which makes it difficult to settle on acceptable terms.
D)Bargaining is more likely to succeed when two states have similar regime types.

Question 44

Which of these domestic actors is most likely to benefit from a war?

A)Citizens who pay taxes
B)Companies that manufacture weapons
C)Male citizens who are over 18 years old
D)Organizations pushing for more public services

Question 45

What factor is likely to cause both democracy and peace?

A)Conflicting interests
B)Institutions
C)Economic development
D)Bureaucracy

Question 46

How do democratic institutions help solve commitment problems?

A)Citizens can better scrutinize government actions before a conflict occurs.
B)Citizens can vote directly on whether their country should go to war.
C)Elected leaders face greater costs if they back down from threats.
D)States are more likely to follow through on their obligations if an international organization has fair voting procedures.

Question 47

How can one determine the level of influence an interest group has had in foreign policy decision making?

A)One can assume that,since a policy decision benefited a group,the decision must have been made in order to benefit that group.
B)In democracies,interest groups have to make their campaign contributions public,so one can link the amount of money with policy decisions that benefit a group.
C)Measuring the influence of an interest group is difficult,because usually one cannot directly observe the connection between a group and the ultimate decision.
D)Scholars find out how much influence an interest group has had when official records are made public long after the decision has been made.

Question 48

How do democratic institutions help reduce informational problems?

A)Policy decisions are usually debated in public,so foreign governments can obtain more information about resolve.
B)Citizens can easily ascertain how well a conflict is handled and can vote a leader out of office at the next election.
C)International organizations with no suppression of information can freely monitor states to make sure they are not cheating on their agreements.
D)Interest groups in democratic countries can provide valuable expert advice on how to deal with possible conflicts.

Question 49

Which of the following is an explanation for the democratic peace proposition?

A)Most democracies have nuclear weapons,which gives them greater deterrent capabilities than autocracies.
B)Citizens of democratic states constrain their leaders from war.
C)Democracies never have conflicting interests.
D)Leaders of democratic states are more aggressive than autocratic leaders.

Question 50

Which of the following is an example of a diversionary incentive?

A)The leader of a country starts a war to distract attention from his or her government's struggles.
B)After a country declares war,public support for the government rises sharply.
C)The military pushes for more defense funding for troops in the field.
D)The leader of a country that was unsuccessful in war loses the next election.

Question 51

Which of the following is an example of an interest group successfully pushing a state into a conflict?

A)Japan attacking Pearl Harbor because the United States was impeding its supply of oil
B)The United States sponsoring a failed invasion of Cuba because the Cuban leaders were communists
C)The United States removing Guatemalan President Arbenz to protect United Fruit's assets
D)India attacking Pakistan because Pakistani military forces crossed the Line of Control in Kashmir

Question 52

Which bargaining problem can the transparency of democratic institutions alleviate?

A)Issue indivisibility
B)Unitary actors
C)Small bargaining range
D)Information problems

Question 53

Which of the following features suggests that a country is a liberal democracy?

A)The country holds formal elections but prevents a small group of citizens from running for public office.
B)The country holds formal elections but jails its political opponents.
C)The country holds formal elections but engages in media censorship.
D)The country holds formal elections and allows for freedom of the press.

Question 54

Why might losing a war be more costly for nondemocratic leaders than for democratic leaders?

A)Nondemocratic leaders are more likely to overestimate the capabilities of their own military and experience much worse losses than wars begun by democratically elected leaders.
B)Spending money on waging a war but not getting any resources in return means that an undemocratic leader will have less money than democratically elected leaders,who usually have a steady salary.
C)Wars are generally financed personally by nondemocratic leaders.
D)Nondemocratic leaders are more likely to be jailed,exiled,or killed if they cause a war that their country loses.

Question 55

Which of the following definitions best describes the current conception of democracy?

A)A system in which all citizens are free to make their own political decisions
B)A system in which all citizens meet together to discuss and vote on laws
C)A system in which candidates compete for political office through frequent,fair elections in which most of the adult population can vote
D)A system in which a few representatives are allowed to make decisions for the many,as long as they preserve basic individual freedoms

Question 56

Why does accountability reduce the likelihood of democracies going to war?

A)The responsibility of elected governments to reduce deficit spending will also inhibit their ability to launch costly wars.
B)Democracies face more liability from international organizations for violating the rules of war.
C)Through elections,voters will remove leaders who start wars viewed as wasteful or unwise.
D)Voters are more likely to elect leaders who refuse to participate in conflict.

Question 57

Which of the following is a reason that democracies may be less likely than autocracies to gamble for resurrection?

A)Democratic accountability
B)Democratic peace
C)Domestic law
D)The rally-'round-the-flag effect

Question 58

Overall,what is the American public's attitude toward war?

A)Americans are generally eager to engage in war.
B)Americans never support war.
C)Americans become less supportive of wars as the costs increase.
D)Americans rarely comprehend the true costs of war.

Question 59

If war is costly,why would domestic actors be willing to risk a conflict?

A)They usually expect the war to take place on foreign soil.
B)No one expects war to become too destructive in the nuclear era.
C)The costs and benefits are not evenly distributed among domestic actors.
D)They can put their assets in Swiss bank accounts before a war begins.

Question 60

Which of the following is an example of accountability?

A)The leader of a country starts a war to distract attention from his or her government's struggles.
B)After a country declares war,public support for the government rises sharply.
C)The military pushes for more defense funding for troops in the field.
D)The leader of a country that was unsuccessful in war loses the next election.

Question 61

How might groups with narrow interests influence the ways in which states bargain over goods?

Question 62

How do interest groups affect the bargaining range of states? How does this differ if the groups or actors are hawks or doves?

Question 63

What is the rally effect? What causes it? Do you believe leaders purposefully change their behavior to cause a rally effect? Why might they or might they not do so?

Question 64

It has been said that how much the general public matters in foreign policy decision making is a question of how much democracy matters.Why would this be the case?

Question 65

How does democratic accountability help explain the democratic peace phenomenon?

Question 66

How does the Kargil War between India and Pakistan demonstrate the limitations of democratic peace theory?

Question 67

Explain why a world full of democracies would not necessarily be a world without war.

Question 68

How do democratic institutions help the general public restrain their leaders from engaging in risky wars?

Question 69

Why might the democratic peace simply be a coincidence?

Question 70

How are leaders' interests and options different in democratic and nondemocratic countries?

Question 71

How might electoral institutions minimize the influence of small groups?

Question 72

Explain how the democratic peace theory encompasses institutions,interactions,and interests.

Question 73

How could economic development explain the observation that democracies rarely if ever fight each other?

Question 74

Explain how and to what extent the military can influence foreign policy decisions.

Question 75

In which way can the military shape the probability of war?