Deck 7: The Threat of Armed Conflict to the World

Question 1

The most impoverished nations have been the least likely to start wars with their neighbors.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Marxist theory contends that free-market systems promote peace, not war.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The new global terrorism differs from past terrorism because the main goal is to persuade, rather than maximize casualties; therefore, attacks have become less lethal.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The communist theory of imperialism argues that war is a result of capitalism's need for new markets to generate capital.

Question 5

Intraspecific aggression hypothesizes that humans are one of the few species that conducts routine killing of their own kind.

Question 6

Hijacking is the most common method used in terrorist attacks.

Question 7

Asymmetric warfare is when one country has an overwhelming advantage over their opponent in armed conflict.

Question 8

Although conflict in international relations is inevitable and can even be productive, armed conflict is always destructive in some way.

Question 9

"Youth bulge" refers to the fact that a large portion of the population under age 35 in Global North nations is statistically over weight.

Question 10

War between the great powers has become virtually obsolete.

Question 11

The most common type of wars have been civil wars.

Question 12

The Sudanese government undertook the task of state-sponsored terrorism to instill fright in neighboring countries.

Question 13

Terrorism is senseless, premeditated violence.

Question 14

There is a tendency for countries that experience one civil war to undergo two or more subsequent civil wars.

Question 15

According to the power transition theory, war is most likely when there is an even distribution of power among several strong states.

Question 16

Established democracies are unlikely to go to war against each other.

Question 17

Cultures that tend to have a higher probability of violence tend to have higher incidences of gender discrimination.

Question 18

One trend in contemporary warfare is the growing number of armed conflicts among states in the Global North, who have much more of a stake in winning.

Question 19

Strong nationalist sentiments keep states from engaging in war out of a fear of diminishing the state's resources through a lengthy conflict.

Question 20

To ascribe the traits of a particular state leader, such as Adolf Hitler or Barak Obama, to all people in the state they lead is to commit the error of ecological fallacy.

Question 21

The power transition theory maintains that

A) weak states are more likely to initiate aggression than strong states.
B) war is most likely when a dominant great power is threatened by the rapid growth of a rival's capabilities.
C) the prospects for international peace increase when power is evenly distributed among the major states in the system.
D) Both A and B.
E) All of the above are true.

Question 22

According to a constructivist interpretation, counting the number of terrorist acts that occur is difficult because people define terrorism and interpret terrorist acts differently.

Question 23

Those who believe that aggression is an instinctive part of human nature point to the fact that

A) humankind is one of the few species that practices intraspecific aggression.
B) humankind is not one of the few species that practices interspecific aggression.
C) evolution illustrates that life is a struggle for survival of the fittest.
D) both A and C.
E) None of the above is true.

Question 24

Three-fourths of all civil wars after World War II

A) last for only a short period of time.
B) have a longer peace spell between wars.
C) have a low casualty rate.
D) consist of enduring internal rivalries.
E) are generally solved with a negotiated settlement.

Question 25

Immanuel Kant's ideas influenced which of the following political thinkers?

A) Adam Smith
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) James Madison
D) Woodrow Wilson
E) All of the above

Question 26

In his famous dictum, Karl von Clausewitz noted that war

A) is becoming a less likely way to settle disputes.
B) is an extension of diplomacy by other means.
C) should be the first resort for state leaders.
D) is immoral and should be made illegal.
E) is never fought between democracies.

Question 27

The collective characteristics ascribed to the people within a state are known as the state's

A) socialization.
B) nationalism.
C) national character.
D) demography.
E) relative deprivation.

Question 28

The idea that national unity will rise when a foreign rivalry exists was echoed by

A) Machiavelli.
B) Hermann Goering.
C) John Foster Dulles.
D) both A and C.
E) none of the above.

Question 29

According to long-cycle theory

A) a great power rises to power every eighty to one hundred years
B) a hegemon rises after a hegemonic war
C) the new hegemon dominates military power, trade, and determines rules for the world system.
D) global wars erupt as a challenge to the hegemon's rule
E) all of the above

Question 30

The formal assistance training and arming of foreign terrorists by a state in order to achieve foreign policy goals are known as

A) freedom fighters.
B) state-sponsored terrorism.
C) the conciliatory approach to terrorism.
D) realism.
E) nationalism.

Question 31

Since the end of World War II, the yearly incidence of armed conflict has

A) decreased dramatically.
B) increased steadily, reaching an all-time high in 1992,and then declined slightly.
C) remained the same.
D) increased at a constant rate.
E) None of the above are true.

Question 32

Which of the following explanations of war does not look to the global system as the explanatory level of analysis?

A) Power transition theory
B) Long-cycle theory
C) Globalization
D) Nationalism
E) Bargaining model of war

Question 33

Numerous failed states offer out-of-the-way places for terrorist groups to locate and train.

Question 34

In Perpetual Peace, Immanuel Kant outlined the basis of the theory of democratic peace, which states that

A) democratic leaders are constrained by the public from initiating foreign wars.
B) democratic leaders initiate conflict abroad to divert the public's attention from domestic problems.
C) democratic leaders can act more quickly to prevent wars from erupting.
D) democracies are more likely to go to war against other democracies.
E) democracies are more likely to end up on opposite sides in a war.

Question 35

Motives for terrorist groups include all but which of the following?

A) Anticolonialism
B) Separatism
C) Financial gain
D) Religion
E) Left-right political ideology

Question 36

Which philosopher argued in Perpetual Peace that countries in which citizens are allowed to choose their leaders are far less likely to go to war than those with autocratic leaders?

A) Woodrow Wilson
B) Immanuel Kant
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) Karl Marx
E) James Madison

Question 37

In contrast to the nationalist theory of war, the feminist theory of international relations states the foundation of war

A) is rooted in the masculine ethos of realism, which glorifies men as heroes.
B) comes from an intense commitment to power and prosperity for the state.
C) is most prevalent where gender discrimination, inequality, and violence towards women occur.
D) both A and C.
E) both B and C.

Question 38

Researchers have found that

A) communist states rarely go to war against other communist states.
B) democratic systems of government increase the likelihood of war through exporting capitalism.
C) democratic governments rarely make war on other democracies.
D) autocratic governments are less likely to go to war against other autocrats.
E) established democracies are more likely to go to war compared to new democracies.

Question 39

Which of the following is not considered in danger of becoming a failed state?

A) Somalia
B) Nigeria
C) Sudan
D) Chad
E) Zimbabwe

Question 40

The outbreak of war in Europe since 1945

A) has occurred with greater frequency, starting with the former Yugoslavia, Russia, and finally Georgia.
B) has shifted to the developing countries of the Global South.
C) has occurred roughly once a year.
D) has diminished, making the Global South a safer place to live.
E) shows that militarization leads to peace.

Question 41

Describe cultural conditioning and how it impacts decision making.

Question 42

____________ is the deliberate use or threat of violence against civilians intended to instill fear in a wider audience.

Question 43

Attacks on an adversary's telecommunications and computer networks to degrade the technological systems vital to its defense and economic well-being is called _____________________ .

Question 44

The September 11 terrorist attacks exposed what new feature of terrorism?

A) Terrorists were more interested in spreading their religious message.
B) There was a greater desire to create political theater, with a lot of people watching but few being killed.
C) Terrorists were seeking not only to coerce changes in enemies' policies but also to kill many people.
D) Terrorist groups had little access to communications technology.
E) All of the above are true.

Question 45

Discuss the origins and consequences of civil war.

Question 46

According to the ____________________ theory, well-established democracies do not initiate wars against other well-established democracies.

Question 47

What is the "bargaining model of war"?

Question 48

Feminists argue that through _________________________ people have come to believe that war is an inevitable fact of international relations.

Question 49

Describe and discuss how war has become more lethal in recent centuries. How has the character of war changed?

Question 50

____________________ is discord, often arising in international relations over perceived incompatibilities of interest. This can escalate to ____________________, which is combat between the military forces of two or more states or groups.

Question 51

A major characteristic of civil war is: ________________.

Question 52

Reducing the incidence and effectiveness of terrorism while maintaining civil liberties will be difficult because

A) today's borderless world makes terrorism easy to practice.
B) the possibility that terrorists will obtain weapons of mass destruction will create unprecedented opportunities to commit unspeakable atrocities.
C) some failed states offer out-of-the-way- places for terrorist groups to locate and train.
D) terrorists use technology as a breeding ground to recruit and to aid in committing acts of terror.
E) All of the above are true.

Question 53

Economic conditions have historically been both a cause of war, both interstate and civil, and a cause of peace. What are economic factors that lead to war? What are economic factors that facilitate peace?

Question 54

How does the theory of commercial liberalism argue that trade can enhance peace?

Question 55

The proposition that fighting a major war is costly in terms of lost lives, income, and these costs greatly reduce a country's tolerance for undertaking another war until enough time passes to lose memory of those costs is known as (the) _________________________.

Question 56

A sudden, forcible takeover of a government by a small group within that country, usually carried out by violent or illegal means, with the goal of installing their own leadership is known as a __________________.

Question 57

The school of liberal thought (opposite to realist thought) that recognizes no conditions justify the taking of another human's life is known as ____________________.

Question 58

John Foster Dulles noted that "The easiest and quickest cure of internal dissension is to portray danger from abroad." What did he mean by this? Do you agree? Cite historical examples that demonstrate your opinion.

Question 59

List two of the possible state-level causes of war.

Question 60

List at least four characteristics of states that are vulnerable to becoming failed states.

Question 61

War is often said to be rooted in multiple sources located at various levels of analysis. Select two levels of analysis (individual, state, or global) and compare the contributions that theories at each level have made to our understanding of the causes of war.