Deck 4: Rivalries and Relations Among the Great Powers

Question 1

As the world's superpower, the United States risks creating a gap between its internal resources and its external commitments.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

As opposed to Woodrow Wilsons' desire for a peace based on liberal principles, The Treaty of Versailles reflected a peace built on punishment and retribution.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Linkage strategy is the idea that leaders should take a country's overall behavior into account when reaching agreements so as to link cooperation with rewards.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Analyzing the outbreak of World War I from the individual level focuses on the preference of German elites for a war to consolidate German power.

Question 5

In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler urged Germany to recover territories taken by the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I.

Question 6

One advantage of a highly polarized multipolar global system is that it is more stable than a bipolar system.

Question 7

The use of armed force by Nazi Germany to expand state power helped explain its realist view of state aggression.

Question 8

One cause of World War II was appeasement of Adolf Hitler by Britain and France.

Question 9

One of the criticisms of long-cycle theory is that it does not allow for the actions of policy makers.

Question 10

A cooperative agreement among great powers to manage the global system jointly is known as a concert.

Question 11

One factor that contributed to the emergence of the Cold War was that the Soviet Union sought to expand its sphere of influence while the United States retreated into isolationism.

Question 12

The end of the Cold War suggested that it was virtually impossible for great power rivalries to reconcile their competitive differences unless warfare occurred.

Question 13

One factor that likely contributed to the end of the Cold War was the toll that the expensive arms race took on the Soviet economy.

Question 14

One consequence of World War I was a realization of the failures of liberalism to maintain world peace.

Question 15

An example of a multilateral approach to ensure collective global security is the League of Nations.

Question 16

The tendency to see one's opponent as the complete opposite of oneself is known as mirror image phenomenon.

Question 17

Long-cycle theory focuses on the rise and fall of the leading global powers in the modern world system.

Question 18

Structuralism emerged as the dominant theory of global analysis in the nineteenth century when Russia was the dominant power in world politics.

Question 19

One of the consequences of the end of the Cold War was the emergence of a multipolar distribution of power.

Question 20

Based on various episodes of confrontation with the Soviet Union, President Harry Truman began to pursue a doctrine called détente.

Question 21

Of the Treaty of Versailles the exiled German Kaiser is said to have declared

A) "the buck stops here."
B) "to the victor goes the spoils."
C) "the war to end all wars has resulted in a peace to end peace."
D) "the victors get to write the history."
E) "all the world's a stage and we're merely players."

Question 22

Many scholars believe that the Treaty of Versailles

A) ended World War II.
B) was too lenient.
C) was fair and equitable.
D) was irrelevant in its impact on Germany.
E) was too punitive.

Question 23

A hegemon must

A) bear no costs to maintain worldwide political order.
B) not be concerned about upholding its position.
C) realize it has unrivaled power and can reshape the global system.
D) never worry about overextending itself.
E) bear no costs to maintain the economic order.

Question 24

The theory that maintains that a single great power is necessary to maintain order in the international economy and to keep security is known as

A) long-cycle theory.
B) hegemonic stability theory.
C) machtpolitik.
D) diversionary theory of war.
E) realism.

Question 25

In his book Mein Kampf, Adolph Hitler urged Germans to

A) let the Allies keep all territories taken under the Treaty of Versailles.
B) colonize Eastern Europe and recover territories taken under the Treaty of Versailles.
C) not absorb Germans living in neighboring lands.
D) totally comply with the Treaty of Versailles.
E) maintain a pacifist, non-aggression role for Germany.

Question 26

When two overwhelmingly powerful states dominate world politics, the structure of the international system is referred to as being

A) polycentric.
B) transnational.
C) bipolar.
D) multilateral.
E) hegemonic.

Question 27

The Truman Doctrine, which defined U.S. strategy vis-à-vis the Soviet Union during the Cold War, stated that

A) if one state fell to communism, its neighbors would also fall in a chain reaction.
B) the United States would resist any Soviet expansion into the Western Hemisphere.
C) the United States would support its allies against communist expansion.
D) any Soviet assault against western Europe would be treated identically as an assault against the United States.
E) the United States official foreign policy would return to one of isolationism from European affairs.

Question 28

The leaders of what three states met at the Yalta Conference to design a new world order?

A) Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union
B) The Soviet Union, Germany, and Italy
C) Great Britain, the United States, and France
D) Germany, Italy, and Japan
E) Great Britain, France, and Germany

Question 29

What new nations were born as a result of the end of World War I?

A) Russia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania
B) Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia
C) Bulgaria, Estonia, Russia, Latvia
D) Estonia, Lithuania, Britain, Italy
E) Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Question 30

Which Soviet leader proposed peaceful coexistence with capitalism?

A) Leon Trotsky
B) Joseph Stalin
C) V. I. Lenin
D) Leonid Brezhnev
E) Nikita Khrushchev

Question 31

Which of the following is NOT considered a consequence of World War II?

A) Germany was divided into occupation zones.
B) Korea was divided into Soviet and U.S. occupation zones.
C) The League of Nations was replaced by the United Nations.
D) A shift from a bipolar to a multipolar distribution of power.
E) All of the above were consequences of World War II.

Question 32

Which of the following factors is not considered a reason for the emergence of the Cold War?

A) The power transition that created a rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union
B) Incompatible political ideologies
C) The superpowers' misperceptions of each other's motives
D) U.S. isolationism
E) Competing economic systems

Question 33

Which president was responsible for instituting the strategy of détente with the Soviet Union?

A) Gerald Ford
B) Richard Nixon
C) John F. Kennedy
D) Ronal Reagan
E) George H.W. Bush

Question 34

The Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 was a multilateral treaty that outlawed

A) the use of weapons of mass destruction.
B) war as a method for settling interstate conflicts.
C) the use of trade barriers to promote the wealth of one state at the expense of another.
D) torture and other forms of abuse against prisoners of war.
E) the use of chemical and biological weapons.

Question 35

What event led to the demise of détente?

A) When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979
B) The Soviet blockade of West Berlin in 1948
C) The communist coup d'état in Czechoslovakia in 1948
D) The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962
E) The SALT talks in 1969

Question 36

Fascism refers to

A) a far-left ideology that promotes extreme democracy and voting rights for all.
B) an attempt to recover lost territory to re-unite separated ethnic nationalities.
C) the intersection of politics and economics in international relations.
D) a far-right ideology that promotes extreme nationalism and the establishment of an authoritarian society.
E) the distribution of power into three or more power centers.

Question 37

The rationalist view of the cause of World War I states that

A) the state's interest, or a nationality within the state's interests, is supreme.
B) the changing distribution of power within the anarchical global system is the primary factor determining a state's behavior.
C) Great Britain caused World War I.
D) Germany did not to upset the balance of power.
E) World War I is a result of the "iron law of history."

Question 38

Which of the following is not considered a cause of World War I?

A) The growth of nationalism in Europe
B) The rise of German power
C) The highly polarized, bipolar structure of the global system
D) The desire of German leaders to consolidate Germany's power
E) All of the above contributed to World War I.

Question 39

Criticisms of long-cycle theory include which of the following?

A) There is no agreement on which factors, economic, military, or domestic, produce these cycles.
B) Theorists disagree on the time frame necessary between cycles.
C) The theory is too deterministic.
D) Both A and C.
E) All of the above.

Question 40

Underlying causes of World War II included all but which of the following?

A) German and Japanese imperialism abroad
B) The United States' failure to exercise leadership over the global economy
C) The reemergence of a bipolar global power distribution
D) The failure of the League of Nations to protect its members against invasion by stronger states
E) All of the above contributed to the outbreak of World War II.

Question 41

_____________ is a great-power grand strategy using economic and military power to influence only important particular situations, countries, or global issues by striking a balance between a highly interventionist "global policeman" and an uninvolved isolationist.

A) Selective engagement
B) Constructive engagement
C) Liberal idealism
D) Political efficacy
E) Hegemonic stability theory

Question 42

Why did the growth of nationalism make the outbreak of World War I more likely?

Question 43

Which two events are commonly accepted as signifying the end of the Cold War?

A) The resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the SALT agreements
B) The Soviet's withdrawal from Afghanistan and the START Treaty
C) The achievement of détente and rapprochement
D) The fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union
E) The rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan

Question 44

List three consequences of World War II.

Question 45

The relaxation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States is a policy known as

A) détente.
B) extended deterrence.
C) the Reagan Doctrine.
D) the Carter Doctrine.
E) containment.

Question 46

A system of cooperation where the great powers manage the global system jointly to prevent disputes from escalating to war is called

A) concert.
B) multipolar.
C) polarization.
D) uni-multipolar.
E) bi-polar.

Question 47

_________________________ is a theory that focuses on the rise and fall of the leading global power and the central political process of the modern system.

Question 48

President Nixon's Secretary of State who helped devise the strategy of "linkage" in dealing with the Soviet Union.

Question 49

In the years immediately following the end of the Cold War, bipolarity was superseded by a period of

A) containment.
B) unipolarity.
C) the Truman Doctrine.
D) liberalism.
E) linkages.

Question 50

Explain the doctrine of peaceful coexistence.

Question 51

President Carter's suspension of grain exports to the Soviet Union and boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics was in response to

A) terrorist threats at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
B) threats to U.S. oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
C) the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
D) the capture of American hostages in Iran.
E) the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Question 52

According to rational choice theory give a cause of World War I.

Question 53

____________________ is a strategy of relaxing tensions between adversaries to reduce the possibility of war.

Question 54

List three causes of World War II.

Question 55

What was George F. Kennan's argument in 1947 for the need to contain the Soviet Union?

Question 56

Which Russian leader embarked on domestic reforms to promote democratization and the transition to a market economy?

A) Khrushchev
B) Brezhnev
C) Andropov
D) Chernenko.
E) Gorbachev

Question 57

By the year 2025, some estimate that the greatest economic power on earth will be ____________.

Question 58

What was the theory popular during the Cold War that predicted that if one state fell to communism, its neighbors would also fall in a chain reaction?

Question 59

Imperial overstretch is best defined as

A) when a country becomes geographically too big to rule.
B) when a country strikes a balance between being isolationist and highly interventionist.
C) an approach that relies on self-help and independent strategies in foreign policy.
D) when an imperializing country has too many colonies to be able to support.
E) the historic tendency for superpowers to overspend militarily and weaken their economies leaving them vulnerable to rivals.

Question 60

The policy of détente is associated with

A) George Kennan.
B) Richard Nixon.
C) John F. Kennedy.
D) Harry Truman.
E) Jimmy Carter.

Question 61

An approach to foreign policy that relies on self-help and independent strategies is known as ____________________.

Question 62

The strategy of using one's economic and military power to influence only particular situations deemed to be important by striking a balance between interventionism and isolationism is known as______________________.

Question 63

Evaluate hegemonic stability theory. What are the pros and cons of this theory? If, as some political scientists predict, U.S. hegemony is coming to an end what does this mean for the global community as a whole? What system might take its place? In your opinion, will the world be better or worse off? Will the United States be better or worse off?

Question 64

The aftermath of World War I saw drastic changes in the map of Europe. Some old regimes permanently left and at least four nations were created. Discuss these old deletions and new additions and explain how they shaped the reasons / rationale for the next world war.

Question 65

Discuss major events and the leadership in the USSR and the United States that led to the fall of the Soviet Union starting with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Question 66

Compare the system-level causes of World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Are there consistencies? Given these historical examples, which type of balance of power do you feel is most stable? What is the likely future direction of the international balance of power, and how stable is it likely to be?

Question 67

What is a "concert" and how could it help manage a multipolar global system?

Question 68

A condition in which the global system has a single dominant power or hegemon capable of prevailing over all other states is known as ____________________.

Question 69

Foreign policy makers frequently appeal to the "lessons of history" to justify the actions that they are undertaking. Both World Wars I and II have been interpreted as sources of such lessons. What specific lessons have been derived from each of these two watershed events? How useful is either set of lessons as a guide for foreign policy makers today?

Question 70

Students of political psychology often point out that foreign policy decision makers selectively perceive international events, with the result that these events can take on quite different meanings depending upon the perceiver. When applied to the East-West conflict that erupted in the wake of World War II, this interpretation of world politics suggests that the superpowers' misperceptions of each other's motives provide a better explanation of the Cold War than explanations based on either conflicting interests or ideologies. Compare Soviet and American images of each other in each of the three phases of the Cold War. To what extent did mirror images and self-fulfilling prophesies contribute to the course of superpower relations across the Cold War era?

Question 71

Great-power war is not unique to the twentieth century. Long-cycle theorists assert that a rhythmic pattern of war and world leadership change has existed for the past five hundred years. Long-cycle theory is disarmingly simple, and for this reason it is not without its critics. Write an in which you critically evaluate long-cycle theory as a tool for understanding world politics.

Question 72

The first president to call attention to the ratio of military spending versus domestic spending was ________________________ .