Deck 4: War and Democracy

Question 1

Democratic peace theory is typically associated with

A)realism.
B)Marxism.
C)liberalism.
D)balance of power theory.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

According to democratic peace theory, democracies usually lose their wars.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

World War I is inconsistent with democratic peace theory because most of the countries of Europe were democratic in 1914.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

According to the cultural-normative variant of democratic peace theory,

A)international institutions such as the United Nations have reduced the chances for war between democracies.
B)democracies tend to externalize their domestic preference for peaceful conflict resolution.
C)if democratic leaders believe they should not fight other democracies, they will not do so.
D)democratic institutions allow people to express their natural disinclination for war.

Question 5

The rational public thesis argues that

A)people are smarter than their rulers.
B)democratic publics usually prefer peace to war.
C)democratic publics usually pressure their leaders into war.
D)war is sometimes rational.

Question 6

There are many who claim that World War II was a war between two democracies because the United States and Germany fought each other.

Question 7

When critics maintain that the democratic peace is "insignificant," they mean that

A)the wars involving democracies have been very small.
B)we should not have expected many wars between democracies because both wars and democracies are rare occurrences.
C)this is only a very small part of international relations.
D)there have been wars in which democracies have fought each other.

Question 8

The strongest evidence usually offered in support of democratic peace theory is

A)the frequency with which democracies have been attacked by nondemocracies.
B)the relative scarcity of democracies.
C)the prevalence of anti-war movements in democracies.
D)peace among democracies.

Question 9

Immanuel Kant argued that wars among democracies were likely to be more destructive than wars among monarchies.

Question 10

The constructivist version of democratic peace theory argues that the dispersion of political power in democracies makes them less able to make the decision to go to war.

Question 11

World War I is a controversial case in debates surrounding democratic peace theory due to disagreements about the democratic credentials of

A)Germany.
B)Russia.
C)Great Britain.
D)Japan.

Question 12

The next few decades are likely to be critical for evaluating democratic peace theory because

A)we now have many more opportunities for democracies to fight one another.
B)people are now paying closer attention to the issue.
C)Immanuel Kant predicted democratic peace would exist within 200 years of when he wrote.
D)the potential costs of war are now so great.

Question 13

World War I is usually not considered as a war between democracies because women could not yet vote in most countries.

Question 14

The American Civil War is usually not considered a war between two democracies.

Question 15

Some observers believe that World War I was a war in which democracies fought each other.

Question 16

Immanuel Kant anticipated that democracies would be more peaceful because

A)most people did not gain from war.
B)the dispersion of power would make going to war difficult.
C)most democracies are also capitalist.
D)the will usually be more powerful than nondemocracies.

Question 17

The American Civil War is usually not viewed as a war between democracies because

A)the Union (the north) was not very democratic.
B)women were not yet allowed to vote.
C)the Union and Confederacy were not considered independent states.
D)the United States was still a British colony.

Question 18

A constructivist explanation for democratic peace emphasizes

A)that democracies have come to define themselves as states that do not wage war against other democracies.
B)that it is unlikely to continue much longer.
C)the nature of democratic political institutions.
D)the insignificance of the democratic peace.

Question 19

The definition of what constitutes a democracy has

A)not changed in the last 200 years.
B)is critical for testing democratic peace theory.
C)is irrelevant for testing democratic peace theory.
D)always required female suffrage.

Question 20

The most controversial potential case of a war in which democracies may have fought each other is

A)the Vietnam War.
B)the American Revolution.
C)World War I.
D)World War II.

Question 21

Liberals tend to argue that the peace among democracies is unlikely to survive the next 50 years.

Question 22

Why might even those who think democracies are more peaceful be worried in the short term about the consequences of democratization in the Arab world?

Question 23

Given that no democracy in the nineteenth and early twentieth century meets the ideal standards of democracy, it should come as no surprise that there are disagreements about the democratic credentials of _____________________ on the eve of World War I.

Question 24

____________________ are likely to be critical of democratic peace theory because it ignores the economic and political realities of capitalism.

Question 25

The existence of "checks and balances" is an example of the dispersion of political power emphasized in _____________ versions of democratic peace theory.

Question 26

The 2003 U.S.invasion of Iraq undermines democratic peace theory.

Question 27

The expectation that democracies will try to deal with their international disputes by applying the same norms they apply to domestic political conflicts is the foundation of a __________________ explanation of the democratic peace.

Question 28

Continued peace among democracies would lend support to a _________________ perspective on international relations.

Question 29

Why are some people not persuaded that the absence of war between democracies validates democratic peace theory?

Question 30

Some critics claim the absence of war between democracies thus far is ____________________________ because the chances of such a war were extremely low.

Question 31

Why would proof that democracies do not wage war with other democracies be a particularly devastating blow to realism? (Note: It may be best to ask this question if Chapter 5 has also been read by the time of the exam.)

Question 32

Why might democracies be peaceful among themselves but not with nondemocracies?

Question 33

If we can identify other reasons why democracies may never have fought each other (e.g., wealth or a common culture), the relationship between democracy and peace may be _______________.

Question 34

The assumption that people in democratic countries will oppose war because they are unwilling to shoulder its human and economic costs is central to the _______________ explanation of democratic peace.

Question 35

For ____________________ the peace among democracies depends on democracies defining themselves as regimes that do not fight other democracies.

Question 36

____________________predicted more than 200 years ago that democracies/republics would eventually form a separate peace.

Question 37

It was only in the years immediately after _____________that women were granted the right to vote in most democracies.

Question 38

The first half of the twentieth century provided a better test of democratic peace theory than will the first half of the twenty-first century.

Question 39

Democracies have never seriously considered going to war against each other.

Question 40

World War I was not a war between democracies in the eyes of many because foreign and defense policy in ______________ were not controlled by elected officials.

Question 41

Why might the next 50 years provide a better test of democratic peace theory than the previous 50 years?