Deck 7: Political Violence

Question 1

War crimes and human rights abuses can be defined as:

A)the use of violence by nonstate actors against states in order to achieve a political goal.
B)the use of violence by nonstate actors against civilians in order to achieve a political goal.
C)the use of violence by states against civilians in order to achieve a political goal.
D)the use of violence by civilians against states in order to achieve a political goal.
E)any form of political violence in which civilians die.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following statements about revolutions and their results is accurate?

A)Revolutions often result in less freedom and equality.
B)Resulting revolutionary regimes rarely institutionalize new forms of politics.
C)Ideational factors typically play little to no role in the successful institutionalization of revolutionary regimes.
D)France provides a strong example of how public demands for more rights are essential to the growth of democracy in the wake of a revolution.
E)The historical results of revolutions have led us to generally think of them as negative events.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In which of the following ways do institutional explanations of political violence differ from ideational explanations?

A)They tend to be less deterministic.
B)They tend to lack an organizational base.
C)They tend to be more particularistic.
D)They tend to be more interested in the content of ideas.
E)They tend to be less well supported by research.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Terrorism can be defined as:

A)the use of violence by nonstate actors against states in order to achieve a political goal.
B)the use of violence by nonstate actors against civilians in order to achieve a political goal.
C)the use of violence by states against civilians in order to achieve a political goal.
D)the use of violence by civilians against states in order to achieve a political goal.
E)the use of any kind of political violence by states or civilians.

Question 5

Studies of the relationship between economic conditions and terrorism find that:

A)terrorists almost always come from poor families.
B)terrorists almost always come from the poorest countries in the world.
C)terrorists almost always come from the working class.
D)there is not a strong correlation between economic deprivation and terrorism.
E)terrorists have almost always grown up with limited access to health care.

Question 6

Which of the following best characterizes the relationship between revolution and violence?

A)Revolutions are typically more violent when the government chooses to freely give up its monopoly on violence.
B)Revolutions are most often violent, though some argue that nonviolent revolutions have occurred.
C)In the past, most revolutions were nonviolent, but they have become more violent since the end of the Cold War.
D)The degree of violence in a revolution is largely a function of the level of international intervention.
E)Revolutions are most likely to involve violence when ethnicity is at the core of the disagreement with the regime.

Question 7

Nihilism is in large part a belief that all institutions and values:

A)are essentially meaningless.
B)are equally valid.
C)should embrace pacifism.
D)are a gift from God.
E)should focus more on environmental issues.

Question 8

It has been argued that the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the 2011 Egyptian Revolution are examples of which model of revolution?

A)incipient mobilization model
B)religious-social model
C)relative deprivation model
D)imperial trigger model
E)Islamist rebellion model

Question 9

Guerrilla war can be defined as:

A)the use of violence by nonstate actors who accept the traditional rules of war and target the state in order to achieve a political goal.
B)the use of violence by nonstate actors who reject traditional rules of war and target civilians in order to achieve a political goal.
C)the use of traditional violence by states against civilians in order to achieve a political goal.
D)the use of asymmetric violence by civilians against states in order to achieve a political goal.
E)the use of any kind of political violence by states or civilians.

Question 10

In which of the following ways does a coup d'état differ from a revolution?

A)Higher levels of political violence are involved.
B)Elites are the agent of change.
C)People are the target of the violence, not the regime.
D)Regime change is much more likely.
E)Ideology plays a bigger part.

Question 11

States most often engage in state-sponsored terrorism as a means of:

A)encouraging domestic social unrest.
B)engaging in cosmic war.
C)influencing foreign policy.
D)attacking their own people by proxy.
E)silencing political dissent.

Question 12

Revolution is most accurately defined as:

A)the application of political violence by citizens against elites.
B)a spontaneous outburst of widespread violence in a state due to ideational reasons.
C)a public seizure of the state in order to overturn the existing government and regime.
D)any wide-ranging and rapid change in a society that produces beneficial social results.
E)the replacement of a regime's existing repressive policies with more inclusive or democratic ones.

Question 13

The statement "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter":

A)demonstrates that political scientists must consider multiple points of view when studying real-world cases.
B)runs against a core purpose of political science, which is to define terms objectively.
C)seeks to demonstrate the mutability of political science terminology depending on context.
D)demonstrates the futility in attempting to define politically charged terms.
E)is often used to demonstrate cultural differences in the application of political science.

Question 14

In the third phase of their evolution, such as in the work of Theda Skocpol, studies of revolutions have:

A)shifted their emphasis from the public to the state.
B)shifted their emphasis to the importance of elite planning.
C)shifted their emphasis to the role of the army in defending the state.
D)shifted from a more theoretical approach to becoming largely descriptive.
E)shifted to an emphasis on biological explanations for why people rebel.

Question 15

Which of the following could be categorized as an individual explanation for political violence?

A)nationalism
B)humiliation
C)capitalism
D)fundamentalism
E)ideology

Question 16

When looking at terrorists' backgrounds, we find that they:

A)often come from educated backgrounds.
B)are almost always illiterate.
C)almost always have religion as their primary motivating force.
D)usually have an extensive criminal background.
E)oppose political change.

Question 17

In terms of achieving their stated long-term outcomes, terrorists:

A)are usually successful.
B)are usually unsuccessful.
C)have shown more strategic than tactical success.
D)usually abandon their primary goals early into the process of committing violence.
E)are typically more successful in rich countries than in poor ones.

Question 18

Political violence is defined as:

A)violence outside of state control that is politically motivated.
B)violence conducted by the state that is politically motivated.
C)violence conducted against civilians for political purposes.
D)violence conducted by one state against another.
E)violence between military forces.

Question 19

Which of the following is true of differing explanations for political violence?

A)Most political scientists attempt to form a unified theory of political violence that incorporates different explanations equally.
B)The placing of blame is often a component of ideational factors in explaining political violence.
C)Most scholars now agree that individual factors are the root of political violence.
D)Ideational factors are most important for providing a context in which particular preconditions, problems, and conflicts may emerge.
E)Ideational and institutional factors are more useful in explaining terrorist violence than revolutionary violence.

Question 20

What type of explanation for political violence can essentially be seen as a quest for a "root source" for violence?

A)institutional
B)ideational
C)individual
D)ideological
E)revolutionary

Question 21

Under what conditions does religion become a source for political violence? What are the similarities between major terrorist groups in this arena?

Question 22

The people of Country X experienced over the course of the last decade a slight expansion of their rights and economic conditions-women's suffrage was expanded, more political parties were allowed to form, and per capita income increased slightly.A large middle class began to desire a continuation of this trend toward full democracy, yet the illiberal regime in power refused to enact additional reforms at the pace the people desired.Opposition groups formed and a popular, violent revolution began against the state.What category of explanation would this overall process best fit into?

A)institutional
B)elite preservation
C)relative deprivation
D)ideational
E)individual

Question 23

In which of the following ways must the study of terrorism necessarily differ from the study of revolutions?

A)There is less focus on outcomes.
B)There is greater focus on institutional causes.
C)Ideational explanations are less emphasized.
D)There is less concentration on individual actors.
E)Strategic outcomes are focused on more than tactical components.

Question 24

What distinguishes a terrorist, a guerrilla, and a revolutionary? How do these terms relate to one another? Can there be overlap, or are they very different categories?

Question 25

How have the use of institutional, ideational, and individual explanations for political violence evolved in the work of political scientists? Are they employed differently for explaining terrorist and revolutionary violence?

Question 26

Which of the following statements about the relationships between regime type, terrorism and revolution is accurate?

A)Regime type has no observable correlation to level of terrorism; however, democratic regimes seem less prone to revolution.
B)Terrorism is most common under authoritarian regimes, but revolution occurs equally across different regime types.
C)Both revolution and terrorism are less likely to arise under democratic regimes.
D)The level of revolution and terrorism do not correlate with regime type.
E)Terrorism is more likely to occur under regimes with strong ideological leanings, but the incidence of revolution is not influenced by ideology.

Question 27

Which of the following statements about the concept of "cosmic war" is accurate?

A)It represents religious fundamentalists' end goal of bringing about apocalypse.
B)It is often bound up with political conspiracy theories.
C)It largely rejects concepts of good and evil in favor of "believers" and "nonbelievers."
D)It is sometimes bound up with religious belief but is often espoused by secular terrorist groups.
E)Ethnicity is a core component of cosmic war.

Question 28

Individual-focused studies of terrorism, noting in part the emphasis on community and purity of cause, have drawn comparisons between terrorist groups and:

A)state bureaucracies.
B)political campaigns.
C)folk customs.
D)religious cults.
E)sports teams.

Question 29

Which of the following best represents the relationship between fundamentalism and political violence?

A)Fundamentalists tend to use guerrilla warfare directed against the state instead of terrorist violence against civilians.
B)Political ideologies can be categorized as fundamentalist more easily than as religious groups.
C)Fundamentalists that seek change in the political status quo almost always resort to violence.
D)Extreme forms of fundamentalism may use violence, but it is a mistake to associate fundamentalism directly with violence.
E)Fundamentalists tend to target civilians instead of state institutions when using violence.

Question 30

What is the objective of terrorism? Of revolution? How does the difference in the outcomes of each change the way political scientists look at the two phenomena?

Question 31

The modern concepts of revolution and terrorism can be first traced back to which important modern event?

A)French Revolution
B)American Revolution
C)English Revolution
D)Iranian Revolution
E)Russian Revolution

Question 32

Some warn that too much centralized power to fight terrorism could lead to:

A)unitary government.
B)a surveillance state.
C)hyperdemocracy.
D)nihilism.
E)illiberalism.

Question 33

The 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe, with the exception of Romania, serve as an example of revolutions:

A)that failed to overthrow the state.
B)with very limited or no violence.
C)that ultimately reduced personal and political freedom.
D)that were motivated by deep political fundamentalism.
E)that did little to change the basic institutions of the state.

Question 34

What are some commonalities in the backgrounds of those who commit terrorist acts? Why are the more common explanations of religious fundamentalism and lack of education problematic?

Question 35

Which of the following is widely believed to involve (or have involved) state-sponsored terrorism?

A)the 2011 Egyptian uprising
B)the 1979 Iranian Revolution
C)fighting over the Indian province of Kashmir
D)revolution in Eastern Europe in 1989
E)the French Revolution