Deck 2: The Historical Evolution of International Politics

Question 1

In which way does history influence present-day international affairs?

A) It helps shape understanding of the purpose of policies.
B) It provides much of the evidence used to evaluate hypotheses.
C) It helps us understand the roots of contemporary problems.
D) All of the above are true.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Sovereignty means that

A) each state has complete authority over its territory.
B) the Roman Empire had control over Europe.
C) all states are different in terms of power.
D) a single empire has potential control over several states.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The Treaty of Westphalia is important because it

A) laid the foundation of the Cold War.
B) united Eastern and Western Europe.
C) recognized the existence of sovereign states.
D) promoted human rights.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

From the end of the Thirty Years' War until the early 1800s, most states were

A) democratic, with constitutional monarchies the rule rather than the exception.
B) undemocratic monarchies.
C) parliamentary systems of rule with limited monarchs.
D) communist dictatorships of varying types.

Question 5

A balance of power means that

A) no more than two countries are equal in power.
B) more than six countries have equal power.
C) one state has more power than all the others.
D) no one state is sufficiently powerful to defeat the others.

Question 6

In international politics, when sovereign states are recognized by other sovereign states, they have a greater chance of

A) surviving.
B) being powerful.
C) being democratic.
D) going to war.

Question 7

During which declining Chinese dynasty did Western powers begin to exploit China?

A) Ming
B) Qing
C) Zhou
D) Shang

Question 8

The great study of international politics, the History of the Peloponnesian War, was written by a Greek general named

A) Sparta.
B) Pericles.
C) Aristotle.
D) Thucydides.

Question 9

Why did anarchy result from the Westphalian system?

A) Sovereignty meant that no higher power could tell states what to do, so there was no one to prevent states from attacking one another.
B) The Westphalian system destroyed the concept of states and left the world in chaos.
C) The Westphalian system should have created an international organization to promote international peace.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 10

The sovereign state system created by the Treaty of Westphalia established all of the following except

A) the main actors in the system are states.
B) governments have complete authority within their territories.
C) there is no higher authority than the state.
D) Catholicism was decreed the one true religion.

Question 11

In the sixteenth century, which country founded a colony called Macao in China?

A) Portugal
B) England
C) France
D) Russia

Question 12

During the first millennium BCE, China

A) did not have a consistent government, and there were many debates. Since that time the borders and the strength of the state have also varied, at times controlled by outsiders.
B) was controlled by a monarchy. Over time, the country showed a consistent increase in strength and size.
C) expanded its cultural influence on the region, and it was never controlled by outsiders.
D) was always controlled by outsiders.

Question 13

The feudal system in Europe was different from the Roman Empire because

A) there were many overlapping political authorities under feudalism and only a single government under the Roman Empire.
B) the political authorities during the feudal period were not Christian.
C) the feudal system was capitalist while the Roman Empire was socialist.
D) citizenship was limited to Romans.

Question 14

Thucydides posited a theory of international politics that stated

A) morality drives the ambitions of states.
B) great men determine the shape of history through their personal charisma or genius.
C) states are the key actors and the distribution of power a key factor.
D) balance of power among states provides the least stable system of politics.

Question 15

The Peloponnesian War was fought between the two Greek city-states of

A) Sparta and Athens.
B) Baghdad and Sparta.
C) Athens and Istanbul.
D) Constantinople and Thebes.

Question 16

The conflict over religion that sprang from the Protestant Reformation was called the

A) Peloponnesian War.
B) European Civil War.
C) War of the Roses.
D) Thirty Years' War.

Question 17

The explanation of the Peloponnesian war by Thucydides is still important today because of the role of

A) money.
B) power.
C) morality.
D) population.

Question 18

Following the Treaty of Westphalia, the main actors in the international system are

A) religious organizations.
B) states.
C) international organizations.
D) European kings and queens.

Question 19

Anarchy is central to understanding international politics. It refers to

A) chaos in the world.
B) the creation of order in Europe.
C) a situation in which there is no central government.
D) the expansion of democratic rule.

Question 20

In 1648, European countries signed the Treaty of Westphalia that

A) united Christian and Muslim countries.
B) ended the Thirty Years' War.
C) created a free trade alliance.
D) brought back the Roman Empire.

Question 21

Which of the following was not a cause of Napoleon's defeat?

A) The frigid winters in Russia
B) The use of nationalism to mobilize populations
C) The effective use of new weapons of war
D) His enemies adopted Napoleon's strategies

Question 22

Nationalism is the doctrine that means

A) large groups of people perceive themselves to be fundamentally similar to each other and distinct from other groups.
B) an intense dislike or fear of foreign people and their customs.
C) a feeling of pride as a country.
D) acceptance of different world views.

Question 23

Which two developments in European politics made possible Napoleon's rise in the late eighteenth century?

A) Republicanism and rationalism
B) Enlightenment and education
C) Democracy and emancipation
D) Nationalism and democracy

Question 24

At the start of World War I, Britain, France, and Russia belonged to the

A) Triple Entente.
B) United Nations.
C) World Trade Organization.
D) Triple Alliance.

Question 25

According to the textbook, during the Concert of Europe period

A) wars occurred often.
B) wars were considered illegal.
C) only a few limited wars occurred.
D) World War I was the only major war.

Question 26

The intense competition among European powers at the beginning of the twentieth century manifested in all of the following ways except

A) the colonization of the southern hemisphere.
B) a naval arms race.
C) a desire by each power to tilt the balance of power in its own favor.
D) stepped up programs to develop nuclear weaponry.

Question 27

Which of the following social scientists attributed Europe's economic success to its Protestant Christian values?

A) Huldrych Zwingli
B) Martin Luther
C) Max Weber
D) Jared Diamond

Question 28

National self-determination is a concept closely related to

A) fascism.
B) socialism.
C) nationalism.
D) authoritarianism.

Question 29

In multinational empires in the nineteenth century, nationalism

A) resulted in a dominant language.
B) evolved into a xenophobic ideology.
C) increased the industrial capacity of the state.
D) created pressure to break larger states into smaller ones.

Question 30

The nineteenth century is known for the rise of what two related phenomena?

A) War and capitalism
B) Nationalism and imperialism
C) Nationalism and capitalism
D) Imperialism and World War I

Question 31

By the middle of the 1500s, the authority of the Caliphate was claimed by

A) the Seljuk Turks.
B) the Berbers in North Africa.
C) Rome.
D) the Ottoman Empire.

Question 32

Mongol emperor Kublai Khan conquered China in the

A) fourteenth century CE.
B) fifteenth century CE.
C) thirteenth century CE.
D) sixteenth century CE.

Question 33

The spark that ignited World War I was

A) the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo.
B) Germany's invasion of Poland.
C) the British naval blockade in the Atlantic.
D) the storming of the French Bastille.

Question 34

The Concert of Europe was established following

A) World War I.
B) the Civil War.
C) The American Revolutionary War.
D) the Congress of Vienna.

Question 35

A major goal of colonialism was

A) embracing local culture and customs.
B) establishing world dominance.
C) exploiting the local economy to benefit the colonizers.
D) eradicating all traces of local culture and customs.

Question 36

One of the significant changes Napoleon initiated in warfare was

A) mobilizing the entire population behind his war effort.
B) developing a small professional army.
C) conscripting citizens of defeated states into his army.
D) separating political and military power in government.

Question 37

A situation in which one country controls another country or territory is called

A) imperialism.
B) satrapy.
C) tutelage.
D) domination.

Question 38

The Triple Alliance was a pact among three countries, pledging to help the other in case of attack. These countries were

A) Britain, France, and Russia.
B) the U.S., Canada, and Britain.
C) Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
D) Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.

Question 39

Which of the following was an example of a multinational empire in Europe?

A) Russian Empire
B) American Empire
C) German Empire
D) Japanese Empire

Question 40

European countries were successful in dominating the rest of the world for all the following factors except

A) development of superior technology.
B) capitalism providing the means for expansion.
C) Christianity offering an ideology that justified expansion.
D) English emerging as the dominant language.

Question 41

Which of the following countries stood to gain the most from the disintegration of the Ottoman empire prior to World War I?

A) Russia
B) Great Britain
C) Austria-Hungary
D) Germany

Question 42

In World War II, the Allied Powers included

A) France, Britain, Soviet Union, and the United States.
B) Germany, Italy, and Japan.
C) Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.
D) the European Union and the United States.

Question 43

Avoiding punishing either Japan for invading Manchuria or Italy's invasion of Ethiopia demonstrated the weakness of which policy?

A) Collective security
B) Isolationism
C) Nuclear deterrence
D) Peacekeeping

Question 44

The doctrine of fascism sees as its goal the

A) subservience of the individual to the state.
B) establishment of a liberal civil society.
C) creation of commitments with international organizations.
D) development of democratic institutions.

Question 45

The United States dropped nuclear weapons on which cities?

A) Berlin and Stuttgart
B) Rome and Naples
C) Hiroshima and Nagasaki
D) Moscow and Khabarovsk

Question 46

Fascism as developed in Italy and Germany

A) supported the strengthening of the nation as the major political goal.
B) viewed the nation as a single organism.
C) justified political authoritarianism and economic centralization.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 47

Which of the following weapons technologies was not developed in the run up to World War I?

A) Biological weapons
B) Barbed wire
C) Poison gas
D) Machine guns

Question 48

Prior to the First World War, which declining empire controlled the Balkans?

A) the Austro-Hungarian empire
B) the Ottoman empire
C) the Russian empire
D) the French empire

Question 49

The Triple Alliance consisted of

A) Britain, France, and Russia.
B) Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
C) United States, Canada, and Italy.
D) Russia, Germany, and Italy.

Question 50

Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany

A) after democratic elections confirmed him as Chancellor.
B) as a result of a coup d'état launched in Munich.
C) with the support of appeasement minded Western leaders.
D) after the assassination of the German President, von Hindenburg.

Question 51

Fascism was a political ideology most closely associated with

A) Russia and China.
B) the United States and France.
C) Italy and Germany.
D) Hungary and Poland.

Question 52

Leaders after World War I sought to prevent future wars through

A) collective security.
B) national building.
C) financial reparations.
D) appeasement.

Question 53

The Triple Entente consisted of

A) Britain, France, and Russia.
B) Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
C) Britain, France, and the United States.
D) Germany, China, and France.

Question 54

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain advocated a strategy of avoiding war by acceding to the demands of Germany. This strategy is called

A) deliberation.
B) isolationism.
C) appeasement.
D) collective security.

Question 55

Provisions in the Treaty of Versailles called for all of the following, except

A) the creation of the League of Nations.
B) the enforcement of reparations payments against Germany.
C) the specification of limits on Germany's ability to rearm.
D) the creation of the International Court of Justice.

Question 56

The United States entered World War I at the

A) beginning of the conflict.
B) middle of the conflict.
C) end of the conflict.
D) request of Kaiser Wilhelm.

Question 57

At the beginning of the twentieth century, what most powerful country was most threatened by the rapid rise of Germany?

A) Russia
B) Italy
C) France
D) Great Britain

Question 58

The result of World War I was a shift in global power toward

A) England.
B) France.
C) international organizations.
D) the United States.

Question 59

What was the name of the treaty that ended World War I?

A) Treaty of Westphalia
B) Treaty of Versailles
C) Treaty of Maastricht
D) Treaty of Paris

Question 60

The idea of collective security failed because of all of the following except

A) European fatigue with war following World War I.
B) isolationism.
C) the hope that others would deal with German expansion.
D) disintegration of the British Empire.

Question 61

Mutual assured destruction (MAD) refers to which situation?

A) Suicide terrorists with means to destroy others
B) The inability of either side to win a nuclear war, even if one side wages a successful surprise attack
C) The possibility of conflict between smaller countries in the developing world
D) The Iraq War

Question 62

According to the text, the European Union consists of how many members?

A) 15
B) 27
C) 6
D) 45

Question 63

A company with business operations in more than one country is called a(n)

A) non-governmental organization.
B) international conglomerate.
C) multinational corporation.
D) global enterprise.

Question 64

Which of the following was not a repercussion of the Vietnam War?

A) Encouragement of nationalistic movements against superpowers
B) Supporting communist ideologies of the Soviet
C) Undermining the consensus that the United States was always a force for good in the world
D) Establishing the belief that United Nations intervention could prevent war

Question 65

A new system of post-World War II international economic stability and coordination came from which agreement?

A) Bretton Woods agreement
B) Treaty of Versailles
C) European Union treaty
D) Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

Question 66

What major problem do most third world countries share?

A) Poverty
B) Homogenous populations
C) Limited population growth
D) Large amounts of arable land

Question 67

One measure taken immediately after the conclusion of the Cuban Missile Crisis was

A) the negotiation of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT).
B) the installation of a hotline enabling immediate communication between Moscow and Washington.
C) the lifting of the blockade of Berlin.
D) the founding of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Question 68

What were the consequences of the Vietnam War outside of Southeast Asia?

A) It showed that the United States could be defeated, and this encouraged others to challenge the United States.
B) It made the Soviet Union feel that they could successfully create communist states in the developing world.
C) It made many in Western Europe and the United States question whether the United States was as altruistic as many had formerly believed.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 69

One of the central goals of the Bretton Woods system was to

A) end the Cold War.
B) stabilize the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
C) provide for expanded international trade.
D) establish mutual assured destruction pacts.

Question 70

According to the textbook, which event during the Cold War created the greatest danger for the United States?

A) Berlin airlift
B) Great Depression
C) Cuban Missile Crisis
D) Vietnam War

Question 71

The World Bank is considered which type of nonstate actor?

A) Multinational corporation
B) European Union member
C) International organization
D) International advocacy group

Question 72

Vietnam was seeking independence from

A) France.
B) China.
C) Japan.
D) the United States.

Question 73

The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union lasted between what years?

A) 1941-1945
B) 1946-1991
C) 1955-1965
D) 1981-1991

Question 74

The Vietnam War was waged, in part, because the United States

A) thought Japan would intercede on behalf of the Vietnamese.
B) feared Vietnam would join China in the procommunist camp.
C) assumed Vietnam would have access to nuclear weapons.
D) suffered an attack on its embassy by the Vietnamese.

Question 75

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was the precursor to the

A) World Trade Organization (WTO).
B) European Union (EU).
C) North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
D) International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Question 76

The "new international economic order" proposed to

A) allow the World Bank to determine unfair trade barriers.
B) establish gold as the international medium of exchange.
C) permit developing countries to set high tariffs on goods from developed countries.
D) use international trade to distribute power and wealth from rich countries to poor ones.

Question 77

In the Cold War, proxies were

A) government leaders who acted in consort with other leaders.
B) used by the superpowers to wage war through their allies.
C) a type of nuclear weapon developed by the United States.
D) important diplomats from many countries.

Question 78

Which of the following are nonstate actors?

A) Sony, Apple, and Microsoft
B) The European Union
C) The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
D) All of the above are true.

Question 79

In 1955, many African and Asian nations met to create an agenda that was to avoid taking sides in the Cold War. This agreement was called the

A) World Trade Organization.
B) Non-Aligned Movement.
C) North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
D) Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Question 80

Which two countries were considered superpowers during the Cold War?

A) France and England
B) China and the Soviet Union
C) The United States and the Soviet Union
D) The United States and Germany