Deck 23: Postcolonial Nations in Asia and Latin America

Question 1

In the years following World War II, the new nations resulting from decolonization faced all of the following economic problems except

A) dependence on the industrialized world for raw materials.
B) dependence on the industrialized world for technology.
C) the difficulties of implementing modernization programs.
D) dependence on the industrialized world for manufactures.

Answer 1

dependence on the industrialized world for raw materials.

Question 2

Nehru's policies after independence included all of the following except

A) economic planning.
B) neutralism and nonalignment.
C) loyalty to China on the issue of Tibet.
D) a belief in a mixed economy.

Answer 2

loyalty to China on the issue of Tibet.

Question 3

Half a century after independence, India faced all of the following problems except

A) overwhelming poverty.
B) high illiteracy.
C) negative population growth.
D) grave ethnic and religious tensions.

Answer 3

negative population growth.

Question 4

V. Narasimha Rao was successful in all of the following except

A) reforming the Congress party.
B) encouraging foreign investment and reducing protectionist barriers.
C) laying the foundations for India's role in new computer technology.
D) resolving ethnic, religious, and political tensions.

Question 5

Which country became the first Islamic state to have a woman prime minister?

A) Sri Lanka
B) Egypt
C) Pakistan
D) Jordan

Question 6

Besides its status as an Islamic state, a fundamental difference between India and Pakistan has been _that

A) Pakistan has had a smoothly functioning democracy.
B) Pakistan has lacked political stability and the army has frequently intervened to topple democratically-elected leaders.
C) Pakistan has concentrated on the development of agriculture rather than industry.
D) unlike India, ethnic and regional tensions have not been a problem for Pakistan.

Question 7

Aung San Suu Kyi

A) leads the opposition party in Burma.
B) led the former British colony down "the Burmese path to socialism."
C) was assassinated before assuming the position of prime minister.
D) led the military government that ruled Burma after independence.

Question 8

Malaysia resolved the ethnic tensions after 1969

A) by prohibiting the participation of ethnic minorities in parliamentary politics.
B) by marginalizing Malays from parliamentary politics.
C) through multiethnic coalitions.
D) through radical Islamic religious groups.

Question 9

All of the following are true of post-1945 Indonesia except

A) it is now the fourth most populous country in the world
B) with considerable international approval, it liberated the eastern part of the island of Timor from . repressive Portuguese colonial rule and adjoined it to the rest of Indonesia after a referendum.
C) a more or less authoritarian regime rules the country.
D) the government has encouraged foreign investment and economic modernization.

Question 10

The United States withdrew from the Philippines

A) after the Filipino legislature refused to renew leases to military bases.
B) shortly after defeating the Spanish in the early 1900s.
C) after fighting a war similar to the one fought in Vietnam.
D) shortly after defeating a Muslim separatist movement.

Question 11

Most Latin American countries

A) remained in dependent economic positions after gaining their political independence.
B) rapidly industrialized in the first half century after independence.
C) experienced much greater social equality as a result of independence.
D) refused investments from Britain and the United States.

Question 12

The 1980s were a "lost decade" for Latin America for all of the following reasons except

A) prices for Latin American agricultural commodities fell in the 1980s after having experienced a boom in the 1970s.
B) inflation and hyperinflation developed.
C) economic growth slowed to below one percent or less in many countries.
D) many Latin American countries experienced heavy losses after investing in American "S and L's", which went bankrupt.

Question 13

In the mid-1990s, Latin America's population

A) barely increased, given the high death rate due to disease and infant mortality.
B) remained overwhelmingly in the countryside because urban areas offered little or no economic opportunity.
C) was often very poor, with per capita incomes lagging far behind those of industrialized societies.
D) had a relatively equal distribution of income, with no great extremes of wealth or poverty.

Question 14

The 1994 revolt of an Indian-led peasant movement in southern Mexico indicated that Mexico

A) had slighted its social needs, even if it had found some success in promoting modernization.
B) faced a Marxist revolutionary conspiracy.
C) was the victim of one of Fidel Castro's revolutionary stratagems.
D) all of the choices are correct.

Question 15

U.S. military intervention in Latin American affairs

A) was justified by the 1904 Roosevelt corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
B) was ended temporarily during the 1930s by the Good Neighbor policy.
C) was renewed after 1945 in the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Panama.
D) all of the choices are correct.

Question 16

In 1973, the military coup led by Pinochet in Chile toppled

A) a leftist dictator.
B) a right-wing dictator.
C) a democratically-elected president.
D) a president elected by fraud.

Question 17

In Mexico, the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party)

A) ruled for over seventy years.
B) defeated the long-ruling National Action Party candidate, Vicente Fox, in 2000.
C) led an indigenous revolt in 1994.
D) successfully combated poverty, illiteracy, and health issues like infant mortality.

Question 18

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez

A) won two elections.
B) renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
C) led an unsuccessful military coup.
D) all of the choices are correct

Question 19

How did religious and ethnic conflicts shape the experiences of many of the newly independent countries of Asia? How did these countries attempt to overcome these conflicts? How would you evaluate the methods used by various rulers?

Question 20

Why do you think communist movements emerged in many South and Southeast Asian countries after World War II? What impact did these movements have upon national politics? Consider at least two cases in your response.

Question 21

Evaluate the economic experiences of the former European colonies in Asia that received their independence after 1945. What have been their achievements since independence? What difficulties have they encountered?

Question 22

Compare and contrast the role of the United States in South and Southeast Asia and Latin America in the post-war period. How did the Cold War shape U.S. involvement in these regions?

Question 23

In terms of economic development, what have been the major problems and obstacles for Latin America? How, in recent decades, have Latin Americans attempted to remedy some of those problems?

Question 24

Why has democracy proved so elusive in Latin America in the post-war period? Consider specific examples in your response.

Question 25

Define the term "Third World." Why did this term become obsolete with the collapse of Soviet communism in 1991?

Question 26

Discuss the relationship between the Congress Party and the BJP in India. How have the agendas of these parties differed over the years?

Question 27

Who is Aung San Suu Kyi? Why did she receive a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991?

Question 28

Why has General Musharraf been the target of criticism in Pakistan? Which groups have opposed him, and why?

Question 29

How did Indonesia make steps toward democracy in the 1990s?

Question 30

What were the legacies of colonialism in Latin America? How have these legacies affected Latin American countries in the twentieth century?

Question 31

Why were the 1980s considered a "lost decade" in Latin America? What caused the "lost decade"?

Question 32

How did the PRI retain power for so long in Mexico? What tactics did party members use? What were the social costs of the PRI's seventy-one year rule?

Question 33

How did ethnic and religious differences influence the division of the British empire in South Asia?