Deck 12: Deconstructing the State: Dictatorship and Neoliberal Markets

Question 1

Which of the following did not describe Brazilian Popular Music (MPB)?

A) It provided a catalyst for youthful protest against the dictatorship.
B) It often used love songs to thinly disguise lyrics that protested social injustice.
C) It imported jazz rhythms from the U.S. to appeal to middle-class values.
D) It became a target of military censors who banned its production and dissemination.

Answer 1

It imported jazz rhythms from the U.S. to appeal to middle-class values.

Question 2

Augusto Pinochet overthrew Allende and sought to defend his neoliberal reforms by organizing

A) Feminine Power, upper class women committed to "traditional family values."
B) a vast "right wing conspiracy" among media moguls, foreign corporations, and the CIA.
C) the Popular Unity Party, a coalition of political parties with diverse ideological agendas.
D) "arpilleristas," a network of women who protested against dictatorship.

Answer 2

Feminine Power, upper class women committed to "traditional family values."

Question 3

Which of these was not a form of popular resistance to the military dictatorship?

A) The creation of human rights organizations.
B) The development of "national rock," with outdoor concerts that protested the dictatorship.
C) The organization of women into groups like the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.
D) The establishment of a well-organized and effective guerrilla insurrection.

Answer 3

The establishment of a well-organized and effective guerrilla insurrection.

Question 4

The Brazilian military coup of 1964 resulted in

A) a dismantling of the state sector of the Brazilian economy.
B) a marked independence of the United States in foreign policy.
C) acceleration of the foreign takeover of Brazilian industry.
D) restoration of the death penalty for certain offenses against the state.

Question 5

Women actively opposed Pinochet's dictatorship by doing all of the following except organizing:

A) Feminist Movement (MF) to call for "Democracy in the Nation and in the Home."
B) groups to bake and distribute bread with messages about clandestine opposition activities.
C) Mothers' Centers that included 10,000 women's groups with 230,000 members.
D) people to create arpilleras, a folk art that fashioned powerful indictments of dictatorship.

Question 6

The military dictatorship in Argentina from 1976 to 1983

A) brought a tremendous economic boom to the nation.
B) engendered an unprecedented reign of terror.
C) vastly improved the status of the working class.
D) improved the upholding of civil rights.

Question 7

In 1982 the United States and Mexico devised a solution for the Mexican crisis that

A) added new foreign debts to the old ones.
B) pardoned a large part of Mexico's foreign debt.
C) declared a moratorium on payment of interest and principal on the debt.
D) authorized U.S. purchase of large quantities of Mexican oil at prices above the world price.

Question 8

Which of the following was NOT an achievement of Pinochet's government?

A) Restoration of potestad marital, husbands' right to control wives and their property.
B) Elimination of women's protective labor laws, including unemployment compensation.
C) Disqualification of women for legislative positions and reduction of their median income.
D) Reduction of the proportion of female heads of households.

Question 9

Brazil's military regime sought a way out of its growing economic and political difficulties by

A) increasing repression against the opposition.
B) implementing a strategy of limited détente and concessions to the opposition.
C) seeking U.S. economic assistance for the military regime.
D) legalizing the Communist party and other leftist parties.

Question 10

The Brazilian church

A) supported government repression of unions and peasant leagues.
B) played a leading role in the struggle for social justice under the dictatorship.
C) denounced political activism by the clergy as contrary to church teaching.
D) exhibited a sharp division, with a majority supporting the military government.

Question 11

Among the key characteristics of neoliberalism were

A) free trade, privatization, and incentives to foreign investors.
B) democracy and constitutional government.
C) state regulation and nationalization of non-renewable resources.
D) respect for civil liberties and free elections.

Question 12

Neoliberalism in Latin America seemed to thrive under

A) democratic governments.
B) constitutional monarchies.
C) military dictatorships.
D) foreign military occupation.

Question 13

Which of the following did not characterize the Malvinas war?

A) It aimed to divert the nation from the regime's domestic terrorism.
B) It defended Argentina's national dignity against British colonialism.
C) It grossly miscalculated the support of the United States.
D) It was a blunder by the Radical party to obtain support from the military.

Question 14

Sarney's Plan Cruzado of 1986 called for

A) large cost-of-living adjustments to compensate for inflation.
B) a freeze on wages, prices, and rents.
C) a large public works program to reduce unemployment.
D) a program of subsidies for Brazilian exports.

Question 15

In the aftermath of Brazil's military dictatorship, the greatest external problem was the

A) foreign trade deficit.
B) routine interference by U.S. ambassadors in Brazil's internal affairs.
C) foreign debt, which in 1990 amounted to $120 billion.
D) nation's dependence on immigration to provide the labor force necessary to modernize.

Question 16

Populist reforms sought social stability by unifying elites and subaltern peoples under the lofty rhetoric of

A) racial democracy.
B) nationalism.
C) free markets.
D) liberalism.

Question 17

Brazil's agricultural development since 1964 has been marked by

A) a shift from export production to increased stress on staple foods like manioc and corn.
B) resettling landless peasant families on new lands opened up in the Amazon Valley.
C) an explosion of land concentration and land grabbing.
D) revival of the poverty-ridden northeast region through construction of irrigation projects.

Question 18

Significant accomplishments of the new democratic constitution in 1988 included

A) guarantee of civil rights such as freedom of speech, assembly, and press.
B) vigorous enforcement of an agrarian law providing for distribution of land to the landless.
C) success in the fight against inflation.
D) a reduction of Brazil's foreign debt by half.

Question 19

The economic crisis that struck Mexico in 1981-1982 was caused by

A) restrictions on oil imports from Mexico by the United States.
B) the flight of domestic and foreign capital from Mexico.
C) a sharp decline in the purchasing power of Mexicans.
D) a sharp decline in oil prices.

Question 20

During the 1970s and 1980s, the material foundation for populism was destroyed by

A) radical reforms that transformed existing social structures in Latin America.
B) policies that abolished the latifundio and neocolonialism.
C) high interest rates and plunging prices for raw material exports.
D) expensive social welfare programs and high taxes.

Question 21

Argentina's reign of terror known as the "Dirty War" was unleashed in 1976 by

A) General Augusto Pinochet.
B) General René Schneider.
C) José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz.
D) General Jorge Rafael Videla.

Question 22

What role did popular culture play in the mobilization of resistance to military dictatorships in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina?

Question 23

What were the policies of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), how did they affect various social classes, and what was their legacy for national development?

Question 24

What were some unexpected results of the Nicaraguan election of 1990 and its aftermath?

Question 25

Neoliberalism and the resulting explosion of maquiladora industries affected Mexican women by

A) eliminating higher-paying jobs for men and forcing women to work outside the home.
B) creating new opportunities for employment in high wage industries financed by foreign capital.
C) doubling women's waged employment and increasing their power in the workplace.
D) making them targets of sexual violence and harassment.

Question 26

A major cause of the 1994 Zapatista revolt in Chiapas was

A) the Mexican government's anticlerical policies.
B) the Salinas government's free trade program.
C) the impact of the maquiladora program.
D) the government's imposition of a communal ejido land system.

Question 27

Why were foreign debt and land reform the most burning problems for Brazil during the 20^th century?

Question 28

Brazil's First Institutional Act declared a state of siege in 1964, ending civil liberties for ten years, and established a military dictatorship led by

A) Roberto Campos.
B) José Sarney.
C) Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco.
D) João Goulart.

Question 29

The neoliberal victory in Nicaragua's 1990 presidential elections was shaped by the

A) failure of the Sandinista government to enact a structural adjustment program.
B) U.S.-sponsored Contra war and a disastrous economy victimized by a U.S. embargo.
C) corruption and mismanagement of the Sandinista regime.
D) brilliant electoral strategy developed by Anastasio Somoza Debayle.

Question 30

The economic policies of Chile's brutal dictator, Augusto Pinochet, were greatly influenced by

A) University of Chicago economist Militon Friedman.
B) communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
C) Cuban revolutionaries Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.
D) French positivists like Auguste Comte.

Question 31

Neoliberalism was institutionalized by Mexico's fraudulent elections of 1988 that empowered

A) Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas.
B) Lázaro Cárdenas.
C) José López Portillo.
D) Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

Question 32

What conclusions did the Mexican experience with dependent capitalist development suggest concerning the neoliberal program's viability as a solution for the problems of Latin American backwardness and poverty?