Inquizitive Global Politics

Which of the following were ways that the Cold War represented a confrontation between sides?

capitalism versus socialism democratic liberalism versus communism a series of indirect military confrontations between two hostile superpowers and their proxy states

Which of the following were not ways that the Cold War represented a confrontation between sides?

an American invasion of the Soviet Union to return it to its previous borders

If Atlantis annexes territory located 1,000 miles from its borders, we would consider this -------. If Atlantis then sends some of its own people to settle in this new territory and live there, we would call the process ----------.

imperialism colonialism

Which of the following factors encouraged a major European war in the 1800s?

(False) European powers did not spend as much on their militaries as they used to. (Major powers such as France, Germany, Russia, Austria, and England spent vast sums training and updating their armies and navies in anticipation of future combat.)

In the 1800s, there was a constantly shifting alliance system among European powers. The goal was to------contain the Soviet in order to prevent any one state from becoming ------.

1. keep a balance of power Keeping a balance of power is harder than it sounds and relies on countries being willing to switch alliances if one becomes too powerful. 2.hegemon At various times countries such as England, Russia, and Germany threatened to assume hegemon status. The system worked well, right until it didn't, when the solidification of alliances and long-held grudges led to World War I.

The American Revolution, founded on the views of John Locke about the rights of the governed, demonstrated the importance of ----- as a political concept. Several years later, the French Revolution showed how important a factor ------- could be.

1. legitimacy The American Revolution was fought partly on the idea that the English no longer had a legitimate right to rule the colonies because of their decisions. 2.Nationalism Nationalism, and the emerging idea of a "French" people, was a powerful motivating force in the revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic years.

Complete the following statement. During the Cold War, the Western democratic nations formed the-------- for mutual protection. In response, the Soviet Union and its allies and client states created the ---------.

1.Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO remains a vital forum for international cooperation among its member states today, decades after the end of the Cold War. 2.Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact ended with the Cold War when several former members became democratic and attempted to adopt, with greater or lesser success, Western liberal political arrangements.

At the beginning of the Cold War, the United States faced a strategic choice. On the one hand it could pursue ------- attempting to return the Soviet Union to its pre-World War II borders. On the other hand, the United States could pursue -------- where it accepted the current Soviet border but aggressively pursued any opportunity to make sure communism did not spread further.

1.Rollback Rollback would have been particularly challenging, given the number of Soviet troops still stationed in Eastern Europe after World War II. 2.Containment Containment ended up being the policy of choice for America in the Cold War.

Place these major events in chronological order.

1.Treaties of Westaphila 2.Rise and fall of Napoleon 3.Concert of Europe 4.WW1

This map shows the political alignment of Europe during which year?

1648 This map shows Europe upon the signing of the Treaties of Westphalia and the beginning of the modern system of international relations.

Which concepts of the balance of power are incorrect?

Balance of power should lead to a hegemon emerging. If balancing is being done correctly, then it should prevent a hegemon from emerging.

Why was deterrence an important factor during the Cold War?

Both sides had large enough nuclear arsenals to prevent either from launching a direct attack on the other. The arsenals were large enough that the situation was sometimes described as Mutual Assured Destruction.

What is incorrect about colonies during the Cold War?

British and french colonial holdings sided with the US, whereas German and Italian colonial holdings sided with the Soviet Union. Colonies had to wait until after the Cold War to gain independence. The United States and Soviet Union competed to claim new colonies in Africa and Asia. Many colonies focused on gaining independence rather than engaging directly with the Cold War. By the time the Cold War ended in the late 1980s, most colonies had already gained their independence. Africa and Asia had been colonized long before the start of the Cold War.

The twenty-first century has seen a growing power in East Asia. What country has assumed its status as a global superpower, concerning many of its Asian neighbors despite its attempts at peaceful diplomacy and economic outreach?

China. For many centuries, China was the dominant power in East Asia, but with the arrival of European empires in the 1500s, its influence faded. It is now regaining its position as the largest and most powerful country in Asia.

What was the long period of confrontation between Western democracies on the one hand and communist countries on the other, which stretched from the end of World War II until the end of the 1980s?

Cold War

As England added territory to its empire, it sent settlers to live in places such as the future United States, Canada, Australia, and India. What is the process of relocating one's own population to live in a country's territories?

Colonialism. Not every country that had an empire engaged in colonialism; some, like Spain, focused more heavily on harvesting natural resources and bullion from its imperial possessions without settling large numbers of citizens there.

Which of the following were ways that imperialism helped keep war from breaking out on the European continent during the 1800s?

Correct: European powers were able to keep German and Italian ambitions in place by giving them imperial possessions in Africa. (Without the promise of imperial possessions in Africa, war between Germany, France, and England may have ignited sooner than 1914.) European rivals could engage in military skirmishes overseas, rather than on the European mainland. (The prospect of rivalry and conflict overseas was enough to keep discontentment off the European mainland for decades.) Incorrect: Because many European countries had such large empires, they did not have much left to fight over closer to home.(Simmering resentments between France and Germany; Austro-Hungarian concerns about their fading empire; Russian domestic turmoil; and England's wary glances at Germany's growing power would all prove causes for a large war in 1914.) Countries spent so much on keeping up an empire that they had little left over for large-scale war. (France, Germany, and Russia all had intricate plans ready for a European war, plans that cost large sums of money to create and, in 1914, implement.

Which of the following are reasons that Napoleon was important in European international relations?

Correct: He demonstrated new ways of succeeding militarily.(This included storing provisions in pre-positioned locations as well as marshalling nationalist fervor.) His success was partially responsible for the creation of the Concert of Europe (European leaders feared the rise of another Napoleon or similar hegemon.) Incorrect: He ushered in a period of political dominance for the working class. (If anything, Napoleon's success and the success of the prior French Revolution let to a crackdown on the working classes as aristocrats tried to cement their hold on power.) He succeeded in uniting all of Europe under one flag.(Although Napoleon did have quite a bit of military success, he was never able to conquer countries such as Russia and England.)

In which countries has the United States spent much of the twenty-first century in protracted military conflicts?

Correct: Iraq (The United States has had a military presence in Iraq ever since the early 2000s invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.) Afghanistan (The war in Afghanistan began after ties emerged between the Taliban regime then in power in the country and the 9/11 attacks.) Incorrect: Vietnam (The Vietnam War ended several decades before the twenty-first century and was part of a broader Cold War.) China. (The United States and China have not engaged in military confrontation.) Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia is one of America's closest allies in the Middle East.)

Which of the following are reasons that the Treaties of Westphalia and the Thirty Years' War are important in the history of international relations?

Correct: They ushered in the era of sovereignty. (Westphalia created the expectation that the ruler or government in a state would have the right to determine things for their citizens without outside interference.) They created a durable group of powerful states in Europe. (This group included France, England, Prussia, Austria, Russia, and the Netherlands, and would remain the core group of powerful countries until the early 1900s.) They led to the creation of permanent militaries.(Experiences with paid militias during the war led states to want to have their own permanent armies afterward. Much of the modern system of international relations comes into focus after Westphalia) Incorrect: They helped foster a new system of free market economics. (Adam Smith began writing about the free market about 130 years after the Treaties of Westphalia, and the events are largely unrelated.)

Which concepts of the balance of power are correct?

Different states have different means to pursuing the balancing power. Some states use their navy, others their armed forces, others their economic might. One example of power balancing was Europe in the 1800s. The "Long Peace" in Europe in the 1800s and early 1900s was predicated on the willingness of certain countries to shift alliances to keep a balance of power. Balance of power usually involves more than two states. For balancing of power to work, there usually has to be at least three states so that there is at least one state that can shift its allegiances to keep that balance going if needed.

Which of the following events demonstrate the rise of populism since 2016?

Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election in the United States. The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.

The twenty-first century economic crises in such countries as Greece, Portugal, and Spain hurt the -------. The organization faced a further setback when the -------- voted to leave in 2016.

European Union United Kingdom

Which of the following factors discouraged a major European war in the 1800s?

European political elites united over fears of the masses. (Popular revolutions such as the one that occurred in France in 1789 scared European aristocrats into a previously unthinkable level of cooperation.) Several major confrontations happened within states rather than between them. (Prominent unification struggles in Germany and Italy ensured that maneuvering and conflict was intrastate rather than interstate during these years.) Rivalries between European nations played out in their colonies instead. (There were numerous struggles between European powers in the 1800s, but they happened in Africa and Asia rather than as major warfare on the European continent.)

True or False: Imperialism describes the process by which Asian and African countries gained their independence.

False. Imperialism refers to one country taking control of another distant territory usually by force.

State sovereignty is understood to be absolute and unlimited

False. States are limited both by their people, by such documents as their constitution (if they have one), and by other states and nonstate actors.

True or False: The conflict in Syria is a straightforward civil war, with the Assad regime supported by most world superpowers, such as the United States and Russia, against rebel forces.

False. The situation in Syria involves at least three, and maybe four, different sides, each with overlapping support and opposition from regional and global superpowers.

Axis Powers

Germany, Italy, Japan

Which two European countries that arose out of unification in the 1800s, thereby shaping the future of European international relations?

Germany: For centuries, what is today Germany was then a group of small principalities, duchies, and other independent states, with a few powerful ones such as Prussia holding more influence than the rest. Italy: Many European powers had long held influence in various Italian city-states, but the Italy we know today unified in the 1800s under Sardinia.

Allied Powers

Great Britain, France, Russia and US

What is true about industrialization and political power in Europe in the 1800s?

Industrialization favored the middle classes at the expense of the aristocrats. Because aristocrats drew their power from owning land, industrialization gave the growing middle classes an opportunity for more power.

Which of the following are explanations of why the League of Nations failed?

It lacked any powerful mechanisms for forcing states to go along with its decisions. Member states refused to enforce the decisions that the League made. It lacked political weight as several major countries failed to join.

Which of the following statements about sovereignty are correct?

Modern understandings of sovereignty start with the Treaties of Westphalia. Sovereignty means states should have little interference in their government from outside sources. There are limits to sovereignty that come from the type of regime or from the people themselves.

Why was the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union called a "cold" war?

Most military confrontations took place indirectly through proxy wars and third party conflicts. These included conflicts in Cuba, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and many other countries.

The French people share a common geography, history, and language and thus are often considered a ________.

Nation. The boundaries of nations do not always line up with the boundaries of states, which often causes problems in the modern world.

What best summarizes Adam Smith's contribution to economic theory in the 1700s?

Smith was one of the first proponents of free markets and capitalism. Smith is often thought of as the founder, or one of the founders, of modern economics.

The foundation of the modern state system is built on a concept understood as the perpetual power vested in or given to the state and its government, free to rule its people without outside interference. What is this concept?

Sovereignty. The formulation of sovereignty was one of the most important intellectual developments leading to the Westphalian revolution.

Who were the two largest superpowers during the Cold War, featuring the two largest militaries and nuclear arsenals in the world during that era?

Soviet Union and United States

The biggest change in the post-Cold War era, in terms of international relations at least, has been the emergence of which transnational issue, including such incidents as the 9/11 attacks in the United States and the London bombings?

Terrorism. Terrorism was not unknown before the late 1990s, but it was much more limited in scope and the causes tended to be more idiosyncratic.

What is correct about colonies during the Cold War?

The vast majority of colonial lands gained independence during the Cold War. Decolonization was one of the most important developments during the post-World War II era.

True or False: Most governments derive their legitimacy from the people.

True. At least in the modern world, in most countries, legitimacy is granted to the government by the governed. This is in sharp contrast to much of world history, where legitimacy was seen as deriving from the will of the divine.

True or False: Europe's initial reaction to Hitler's rise to power was to allow him limited military victories in the hope of stalling for time.

True. The less charitable interpretation is known as "appeasement" and captures the idea that European nations allowed Hitler to take over Czechoslovakia in the hopes that Germany would be satisfied and stop there.

Place these major twentieth-century events in chronological order.

WW1 Great Depression WW2 Cold War

As NATO struggled to redefine its mission in the wake of the end of the Cold War, it involved itself heavily in a civil war in which European country?

Yugoslavia

Which of the following were causes of World War I?

the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. lingering discontent from the end of the Franco-Prussian War. a solidified alliance system that turned a small conflict into a large one.