Deck 8: International Insecurity and the Causes of War and Peace

Question 1

Why did Israel invade Lebanon in 2006?

A)In order to attack al-Qaeda
B)In order to attack Islamic Jihad
C)In order to attack al-Quds
D)In order to attack Hezbollah

Answer 1

D

Question 2

According to a revised perspective on democratic peace, what characterizes new democracies?

A)New democracies are likely to be more peaceful as they establish democratic practices.
B)New democracies are likely to be more willing to compromise in order to avoid conflict.
C)New democracies are likely to be more war-prone as they do not have institutions or values based on compromise.
D)New democracies are likely to be institutionalized with built-in mechanisms leading to negotiations.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

As many states start a war that they are likely to lose, expected utility theory suggests that states do not choose a successful strategy but instead choose a strategy that is characterized by which of the following?

A)It has the highest probability of winning.
B)It has the highest expected utility.
C)It is simply based on misperceptions.
D)It is initiated by irrational leaders.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

How does expected utility theory explain seemingly irrational decisions, such as Saddam Hussein's decision in 1991 not to withdraw forces from Kuwait?

A)It cannot explain these irrational decisions.
B)It explains these decisions by blaming flawed decision making.
C)In these types of decisions, the decision maker was choosing between a certain loss and a possible victory.
D)In these types of decisions, the decision maker was motivated by something other than expected utility.

Question 5

Why are new democracies more prone to waging war?

A)They do not yet have the institutionalized tendency toward compromise that limits the incentive to build public support through assertive foreign policies.
B)In new democracies, the weak economy leads the government to be more aggressive.
C)They do not see themselves as democratic, so they behave as autocratic regimes.
D)They are still struggling to leave behind old habits and patterns, and it makes it difficult for them to behave democratically.

Question 6

What was the central tenet of the Bush Doctrine, established following the September 2001 terrorist attacks?

A)That the U.S. is justified in a preventive attack on a hostile country that is gaining nuclear capability
B)That collective security is critical to isolating rogue states
C)That preventive war is illegal under international law
D)That American allies have the right to procure nuclear weapons to prevent a first strike attack

Question 7

In terms of whether free trade leads to peace, World War I demonstrates which point of view?

A)World War I occurred at a time of restricted trade.
B)World War I had nothing to do with the level of international trade among European powers.
C)European countries were trading more extensively at that time with the United States.
D)International trade among European countries was at an all-time high in 1914.

Question 8

Given the realist view of anarchy in the international system why do wars break out?

A)Because there is nothing to prevent it
B)Because war is in everyone's interest
C)Because the United Nations refuses to stop war
D)Because there aren't enough democracies in the world to stop wars

Question 9

Why do economic structuralists argue that capitalism is a likely cause of war?

A)Because capitalism creates international anarchy
B)Because workers unite against the capitalist class
C)Because capitalism produces the need for states to expand
D)Because the absence of free trade creates conflict

Question 10

Which of the following is a criticism of engaging in a preventive war?

A)Preventive wars are ineffective due to their asymmetric nature.
B)Preventive war may lead the aggressive state to desire more territory.
C)Preventive war may be illegal under international law.
D)Preventive wars are only waged against autocracies.

Question 11

Liberals emphasize the connection between economics and war by asserting which of the following?

A)That individual capitalists will eventually conflict
B)That free trade reduces the likelihood of war
C)That the probability of conflict increases with the rise of global capitalism
D)That global capitalism highlights the economic differences between states

Question 12

Which of the following might lead capitalist states to expand?

A)Declining returns on investment abroad
B)Declining returns on investment at home
C)Altruism toward third-world countries
D)The desire to centralize and integrate production

Question 13

Which adjective best describes a judgement a state makes when it is determining what course of action has the highest expected utility?

A)Objective
B)Subjective
C)Assertive
D)Pessimistic

Question 14

The Defenestration of Prague in 1618 has been cited as a spark of which war?

A)The War of the Roses
B)The Thirty Years' War
C)The War of 1618
D)The Hapsburg-Ottoman War

Question 15

When Japan invaded Manchuria in 1939 to make up for its own lack of resources, the invasion and the subsequent occupation exemplify which of the following?

A)Power transition theory
B)Economic imperialism
C)Expected utility theory
D)Cognitive dissonance

Question 16

According to liberal economic theory, what effect does interdependence have on the likelihood of war?

A)It makes war more expensive, since your "enemy" may be your economic partner.
B)It raises the possibility of war due to proximity to your enemy.
C)It increases the likelihood of conflict as economic competition raises tensions.
D)It makes little difference on whether a country enters into a conflict with another country.

Question 17

Which U.S. President warned Americans about the military industrial complex?

A)Franklin Roosevelt
B)Dwight Eisenhower
C)Harry Truman
D)Jimmy Carter

Question 18

What does the empirical evidence indicate about the "economic interdependence" approach?

A)That free trade works best on a regional basis
B)That capitalist nations obtain most inputs internally
C)That there is little support for this hypothesis
D)That states will go to war when expected benefits of going to war exceed expected costs

Question 19

Which of the following were members of the "axis of evil" as proclaimed by former President George W. Bush?

A)Venezuela, Iran, and North Korea
B)Venezuela, Iran, and Iraq
C)Germany and Turkey
D)Iran, Iraq, and North Korea

Question 20

What are revisionist states?

A)States that reject the status quo
B)States that frequently enter into conflict
C)State that are very aggressive
D)States that are outside of the interdependent economy

Question 21

From the expected utility theory perspective, how might a state lessen the likelihood of war?

A)By ensuring an opponent has a better alternative than war
B)By allowing no concessions concerning the issue at hand
C)By circumventing an irrational leader
D)By convincing allies to mobilize to their side

Question 22

National self-determination is a concept that traditionally is based on which of the following?

A)Xenophobic ideology
B)Democratic theory
C)Fascist ideology
D)Realist theory

Question 23

Which doctrine asserts that each group of people should rule itself?

A)Nationalism
B)Imagined communities
C)National self-determination
D)Imperialism

Question 24

Proponents of the view that aggression is "hardwired" into human beings are likely to argue which of the following?

A)War can be regulated like other human actions.
B)War can be countered by religious belief.
C)War can be avoided through education.
D)War is an inevitable outcome of human aggression.

Question 25

Which term represents the phrase "the nation is the primary unit of political allegiance?"

A)Statehood
B)Nationalism
C)Nation-state
D)Imperialism

Question 26

While expected utility theory concludes that war is a result of rational calculations, which approach emphasizes the irrational calculations of war?

A)Misperception
B)Natural selection
C)Individual level of analysis
D)Nationalism

Question 27

Which explanation of war argues that states often start wars in order to distract the public from domestic problems?

A)Diversionary theory of war
B)Power transition theory
C)Proximate cause of war
D)Misperception of conflict

Question 28

Which term has been used to characterize the difficulties in controlling war once it starts?

A)Misperception
B)Fog of war
C)Human aggression
D)National identity

Question 29

The power transition theory is one of the most well-known explanations of war. This theory suggests that states initiate conflict under which of the following conditions?

A)A weaker state is losing power and needs to save face.
B)A stronger state initiates war because it views it has a clear advantage.
C)A state has gained power over time and seeks recognition of its power.
D)A stronger state is losing power and starts a war to regain its position.

Question 30

According to the latest research, what happens to misperception problems when leaders are under heightened psychological stress?

A)Misperception problems are reduced.
B)Misperception problems are mitigated.
C)Misperception problems are nonexistent.
D)Misperception problems are exacerbated.

Question 31

Which of the following conflicts was caused by a region's efforts to secede?

A)Yugoslavian wars in the 1990s
B)Armenia in 1915-1918
C)Germany's annexation of Sudetenland
D)Rwanda in 1994

Question 32

Which of all of the following conflicts is an example of a diversionary war?

A)1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War
B)1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan
C)World War I
D)Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s

Question 33

According to the theory of natural selection, as individual survival in the wild is uncertain, humans who cooperate in groups are more likely to do which of the following?

A)Engage in conflict with other groups
B)Survive and reproduce
C)Break away from the group to seek their own survival
D)Cooperate until there is too much internal conflict in the group

Question 34

What did Germany want to acquire when it attacked Poland and, later, the Soviet Union during World War II?

A)"living space" or Weltanschauung
B)"living space" or Reichstaat
C)"living space" or Lebensraum
D)"living space" or Zimmerwald

Question 35

What does the idea of the military industrial complex emphasize?

A)The positive outcome of interest group politics among defense businesses
B)The buildings in Washington, D.C. that house the military contractors and the Department of Defense
C)The understanding that defense contractors and the military work together in the national interest
D)The link between military contractors and the armed forces to increase defense spending

Question 36

What does the innate aggression hypothesis fail to explain?

A)The tendency for conflict to occur between neighboring states
B)The drive for national self-determination between groups
C)The psychology of irrational leaders
D)The variation in the amount of conflict over time

Question 37

How can the doctrine of national self-determination lead directly to violence?

A)In practice, this doctrine means that the group in control of a territory will either reduce other groups to second-class status or eject them from the territory altogether.
B)In practice, this doctrine will lead to ethnic cleansing because of its reliance on nationalism as a motivating influence.
C)Self-determination does not lead to violence.
D)Self-determination can lead to violence because the group in control feels a need to extinguish all those who are outside of the group.

Question 38

Saddam Hussein's belief in 1990 that no one would do anything about his invasion of Kuwait is an example of which of the following?

A)Expected utility theory
B)Power attribution theory
C)Economic imperialism
D)Misperception leading to war

Question 39

To which period can the idea of nationalism and self-determination be traced?

A)French Revolution
B)Renaissance
C)European Reformation
D)Thirty Years' War

Question 40

Which of the following is true about the nation-state?

A)Most states qualify as nation-states.
B)It is the doctrine that holds that every nation should rule itself by having its own state.
C)National groups are often mixed together.
D)Nations are always at war with one another.

Question 41

Which concept refers to a conflict between organized groups within a nation-state?

A)Territorial imperative
B)Failed state
C)Domestic disturbance
D)Civil war

Question 42

Which of the following are Iraq's major ethnic or religious communities?

A)Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds
B)Sunnis, Shiites, and Turks
C)Sunnis, Shiites, and Berbers
D)Sunnis, Shiites, and Sikhs

Question 43

In 1941, what did the Japanese expect the Americans to do after the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

A)Engage them in a "winner-take-all" battle for control over the Pacific Ocean and its island chains
B)Withdraw from the Pacific
C)Sue for peace, then undertake a rearmament program to challenge the Japanese in future
D)Turn their attention to fighting Hitler in Europe

Question 44

The theory that argues that war is driven by psychological misperceptions would be best situated in which of the following levels of analysis?

A)System level
B)State level
C)Individual level
D)Global level

Question 45

When examining the various theories on the causes of war, which of the following approaches argues that war is not inevitable?

A)Economic structuralism
B)Economic liberalism
C)Realism
D)Human aggression

Question 46

Which of the following began as a civil war and ended as an international war?

A)World War I
B)Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s
C)the Iraq War (2003)
D)The War in Afghanistan (2001)

Question 47

Between 1945 and 1999, how many people died in civil wars worldwide?

A)About sixteen million
B)Approximately ten million
C)About five million
D)Less than one million

Question 48

Which of the following statements is supported by Fearon and Laitin's research?

A)The risk of violent conflict goes up in poorer countries and goes down in wealthier ones.
B)The relationship between per capita GNP and civil war is spurious.
C)Richer individuals are more likely to join insurgent movements because they have less to lose economically.
D)Democracy will emerge in countries with low income inequality.

Question 49

Which of the following conflicts was primarily caused by a secessionist effort?

A)Libyan civil war of 2011
B)Sudanese conflict of the 1990s-2011
C)Spanish civil war of the 1930s
D)Syrian civil war of 2012

Question 50

Why did the Soviet Union and the United States practice mutual surveillance during the Cold War?

A)Doing so allowed for building a long-term foundation of cooperation.
B)Doing so assured each party that the agreements were being observed.
C)Doing so allowed for maintaining effective espionage on each country.
D)Doing so placated domestic intelligence services who wanted continued surveillance.

Question 51

Which of the following usually precedes the actual decision to initiate a conflict?

A)Random decisions
B)Territorial disputes
C)Underlying causes
D)Economic tensions

Question 52

Which adjective best describes the outcome of war given technology, combatants, and military objectives?

A)Unpredictable
B)Anticipated
C)Manageable
D)Consistent

Question 53

What causes most wars?

A)A single factor
B)Irrational behavior
C)A series of random events
D)Multiple factors

Question 54

In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Prussia was able to effectively use which of the following to great effect?

A)Machine guns
B)Tanks
C)Railroads
D)Barbed wire

Question 55

What can we conclude after searching for a scientific explanation of war?

A)We are closer than ever to identifying the fundamental causes of war.
B)Scholars still are unable to definitively determine the causes of war.
C)Wars can now be predicted accurately.
D)Domestic-level explanations have been determined to be unscientific.

Question 56

Which of the following was not used to great extent during the first World War?

A)Trench warfare
B)Cluster bombs
C)Barbed wire
D)Machine guns

Question 57

How did the French government attempt to deter a German invasion prior to World War II?

A)By developing jet fighters that would make German tank forces vulnerable
B)By signing a separate peace treaty with Adolf Hitler
C)By creating an alliance system with both Russia and Italy
D)By building a series of fortresses, known as the Maginot Line

Question 58

Which organization declared itself to be a new Caliphate, with aspirations to create a single, global Islamic government?

A)Al Qaeda
B)Hezbollah
C)Hamas
D)Islamic State

Question 59

Traditionally, scholars have drawn a sharp distinction between which two types of conflict?

A)Domestic conflict and civil conflict
B)Domestic conflict and international conflict
C)Conflict between Western and Eastern states
D)Civil war and domestic grievances

Question 60

A noted scholar on arms control wrote that "he thinks we think he thinks we think…he thinks we think he'll attack; so he thinks we shall; so he will; so we must." This statement refers to which of the following?

A)The logic of obscure thinking
B)The logic of deep-seated denial
C)The logic of heightened anxiety
D)The logic of self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 61

What must happen before peacekeeping troops enter a zone of conflict?

A)These troops must receive the consent of both warring parties.
B)These troops must obtain approval from the most powerful country on that continent.
C)These troops must receive the consent of only one warring party.
D)These troops do not to require consent from anyone but the United Nations.

Question 62

Which treaty concerning nuclear weapons did the United States withdraw from in 2018?

A)Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF)
B)Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)
C)Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
D)The Geneva Protocol

Question 63

What can we conclude about the causes of war and the methods for avoiding war? What appears to be the primary cause of war?

Question 64

We can organize explanations of war according to four levels of analysis. Provide an explanation of war from each level of analysis. Which explanation do you find most convincing?

Question 65

When is arms control particularly useful?

A)In enduring rivalries
B)In situations that involve nuclear weapons
C)In situations in which states have become embroiled in the security dilemma and are continuously increasing their arms supply
D)In situations in which states do not have a powerful desire for expansion but might initiate war out of the fear of what will happen if their enemy strikes first

Question 66

What is the long-term objective of a peacekeeping mission?

A)To maintain a permanent buffer zone between the warring parties
B)To provide stability in order to facilitate peaceful negotiations
C)To offer a short-term ceasefire which, most likely, will break down into conflict
D)To create a zone of collective security

Question 67

Which of the following places a military force physically in the territory between the two warring sides?

A)Preemptive invasion
B)Preventive use of force
C)Collective security
D)Peacekeeping

Question 68

How does peace enforcement differ from peacekeeping?

A)Peace enforcement allows only members of the UN Security Council to contribute troops.
B)Peace enforcement permits only states from the region of conflict to send soldiers.
C)Peace enforcement does not require the consent of the conflicting parties.
D)Peace enforcement prohibits troops from being heavily armed.

Question 69

Liberals claim that free trade reduces the probability of conflict. Why would an increase in free trade lessen the likelihood of conflict? Does empirical evidence support this claim?

Question 70

Where and why does the United States use land mines?

A)To help defend Israel from Syria, Jordan, and Egypt
B)To help defend South Korea from a possible invasion by North Korea
C)To help defend Iraq from Iran
D)To help limit illegal immigration from Mexico

Question 71

The campaign to ban land mines has been pushed forward mainly by which international actor?

A)United States
B)European Union
C)Nongovernmental organizations
D)United Nations

Question 72

In which of the following conflicts was "second-generation peacekeeping" practiced?

A)Somalia, Cambodia, and the former Yugoslavia
B)East Timor, Rwanda, and Egypt
C)Iraq, Sudan, and the Congo
D)Kashmir, Thailand, and Singapore

Question 73

Which concept embraces the motto of Dumas' Three Musketeers, "One for all, and all for one"?

A)Security dilemma
B)Peacekeeping
C)Collective security
D)Peace enforcement

Question 74

Which of the following characterizes a peacekeeping force?

A)They are typically heavily armed.
B)They are given the authority to attack one or both of the warring parties.
C)They are usually lightly armed.
D)They are permitted to take sides in the conflict.

Question 75

Which doctrine calls on other states to join together to counter an act of aggression committed by another state?

A)Balance of power
B)Hegemonic stability
C)Multipolar system
D)Collective security

Question 76

What was the 1922 Washington Naval Agreement?

A)It was an early arms control agreement.
B)It was a treaty that ended World War I.
C)It was an early step toward the creation of the United Nations.
D)It was an agreement that ended the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Question 77

Which arms control treaty led to the restriction on states without nuclear weapons from obtaining them?

A)Salt II Treaty
B)Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
C)START I Treaty
D)Anti-Ballistic Missiles Treaty

Question 78

What are the primary objectives of arms control? What are some examples of arms control treaties? What is the argument held by skeptics of arms control? Which viewpoint do you accept?

Question 79

Misperception is considered to be a significant cause of war. What are some ways in which individuals and leaders could avoid misperception which, in turn, should help to avoid conflict?

Question 80

When is collective security likely to fail?

A)When the aggressor state is militarily strong
B)When countries refuse to come to the assistance of another country
C)When large and small countries are engaged in fighting
D)When the victim is rich in natural resources