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

Question 1

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

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is not a criticism of engaging in a preventive war?

A) The situation could get out of control or drag on much longer than anticipated.
B) Preventing war may lead the aggressive state to desire more territory.
C) This type of war may be illegal under international law.
D) Following the strategy might cause what it was intended to prevent.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following was not a member of the "axis of evil" proclaimed by former President George W. Bush?

A) Venezuela
B) Iran
C) North Korea
D) Iraq

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Economic structuralists assert that capitalism is a likely cause of war because

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

Question 5

When a state is determining what course of action has the highest expected utility, that judgment is

A) objective.
B) subjective.
C) optimistic.
D) pessimistic.

Question 6

The empirical evidence for the "economic interdependence" approach finds

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

Question 7

The Bush Doctrine, established following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, posited that

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

Question 8

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

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

Question 9

Revisionist states are

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

Question 10

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 11

According to liberal economic theory, interdependence tends to

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

Question 12

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 13

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

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

Question 14

Given the realist view of anarchy in the international system, the self-help motive permits war because

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

Question 15

Germany's attacks on Poland and then the Soviet Union, as well as Japan's expansion into Southeast Asia are examples of

A) power transition theory.
B) economic imperialism.
C) expected utility theory.
D) cognitive dissonance.

Question 16

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 17

Liberals emphasize the connection between economics and war by asserting that

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

Question 18

Israel invaded Lebanon in 2006 in order to attack a transnational militant group known as

A) al-Qaeda.
B) Islamic Jihad.
C) al-Quds.
D) Hezbollah.

Question 19

According to a revised perspective on democratic peace, new democracies are likely to be

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

Question 20

Which of the following does NOT lead capitalist states to expand?

A) Declining returns on investment at home
B) The need for more labor and raw materials
C) The need for expanded markets in which to sell goods
D) The desire to centralize and integrate production.

Question 21

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

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

Question 22

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

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 23

The military industrial complex is a phrase that emphasizes

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 24

Those who argue for the diversionary theory of war consider all of the following conflicts as initiated primarily to distract the public except the

A) 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War.
B) 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan.
C) 1982 invasion of the Falklands by Argentina.
D) 1998 U.S. bombing of suspected terrorist bases in Sudan.

Question 25

When leaders are under heightened psychological stress, research shows that the problems with misperception are

A) reduced.
B) mitigated.
C) weakest.
D) strongest.

Question 26

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 27

National self-determination is a concept that traditionally is based on

A) xenophobic ideology.
B) democratic theory.
C) fascist ideology.
D) realist theory.

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

Nationalism and the idea of the nation-state are relatively modern phenomena, dating roughly to the period of the

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

Question 30

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 31

One explanation of war is called the power transition theory. This theory suggests that states initiate conflict when

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 32

Germany's attacks on Poland and the Soviet Union during World War II allowed Hitler to gain "living space" or

A) weltanschauung.
B) Reichstaat.
C) lebensraum.
D) zimmerwald.

Question 33

According to the view that aggression is "hardwired" into human beings, conflict

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

Question 34

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

A) expected utility theory.
B) power attribution theory.
C) economic imperialism.
D) misperception leading to war.

Question 35

One lesson to avoid war from the expected utility theory perspective is to

A) ensure your opponent has a better alternative than war.
B) allow no concessions concerning the issue at hand.
C) circumvent an irrational leader by negotiating with the opposition.
D) convince allies to mobilize to your side.

Question 36

Which of the following conflicts was not caused by either an incident of genocide or terrorism?

A) Yugoslavian wars in the 1990s
B) Armenia in 1915-1918
C) Basque operations in Spain
D) Rwanda in 1994

Question 37

When a state starts a war in order to distract the public from other crucial issues, this concept is referred to as the

A) diversionary theory of war.
B) power transition theory.
C) proximate cause of war.
D) misperception of conflict.

Question 38

The innate aggression hypothesis fails 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 39

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 40

The doctrine which asserts that each group of people should rule itself is

A) nationalism.
B) imagined communities.
C) national self-determination.
D) imperialism.

Question 41

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 42

Most wars are caused by

A) a single factor.
B) irrational behavior.
C) a series of random events.
D) multiple factors.

Question 43

Traditionally, scholars have drawn a sharp distinction between _____ and _____.

A) domestic conflict; civil conflict
B) domestic conflict; international conflict
C) Western states; Eastern states
D) civil war; domestic grievances

Question 44

In order to deter a German invasion, prior to World War II the French

A) developed jet fighters that would make German tank forces vulnerable.
B) signed a separate peace treaty with Adolf Hitler.
C) created an alliance system with both Russia and Italy.
D) built a series of fortresses, known as the Maginot Line.

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

Allowing mutual surveillance by both countries was important in terms of

A) building a long-term foundation of cooperation.
B) satisfying each other that the agreements were being observed.
C) maintaining effective espionage on each country.
D) placating domestic intelligence services who wanted continued surveillance.

Question 47

Which of the following is not a major ethnic or religious community in Iraq?

A) Sunnis
B) Kurds
C) Berbers
D) Shiites

Question 48

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 49

A conflict between organized groups within a nation-state is known as a

A) territorial imperative.
B) failed state.
C) domestic disturbance.
D) civil war.

Question 50

According to the author, the actual decision to initiate a conflict usually is preceded by

A) random decisions.
B) territorial disputes.
C) underlying causes.
D) economic tensions.

Question 51

Which of the following statements is NOT 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) A connection exists between per capita GNP and civil war.
C) Poorer 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 52

According to the text, 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 53

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 54

Which of the following was not a reason for the Sudanese civil war?

A) Conflict over diamonds in the south of the country
B) Religious conflict between the Arab, Muslim north and the animist or Christian south
C) Disputes over limited land resources
D) Clash over control of oil resources

Question 55

In searching for a scientific explanation of war, the author concludes that

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) certain explanations have been determined to be more scientific than others.

Question 56

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 the logic of

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

Question 57

Which of the following conflicts was primarily caused by a territorial grievance?

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 58

The objectives of arms control treaties include all of the following except

A) provide arms to the other side.
B) make war less likely.
C) make war less destructive.
D) decrease uncertainty about states' capabilities and intentions.

Question 59

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 60

Given technology, combatants, and military objectives, the outcome of wars is

A) unpredictable.
B) anticipated.
C) manageable.
D) consistent.

Question 61

The use of poison gas in war was banned by

A) the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
B) SALT I.
C) the 1997 Ottawa Treaty.
D) the Geneva Protocol.

Question 62

This chapter puts forth the levels of analysis in order to understand conflict. Provide examples from each level of analysis that explains international conflict. Which level of analysis do you find most convincing?

Question 63

The doctrine that calls on other states to join together to counter an act of aggression committed by another state is called

A) balance of power.
B) hegemonic stability.
C) multipolar system.
D) collective security.

Question 64

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 65

Liberals claim that free trade reduces the probability of conflict. Why would an increase in free trade lessen the likelihood of conflict? What evidence can you discuss that supports this claim?

Question 66

"Second-generation peacekeeping" emerged to deal with crises in places such as

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 67

Ultimately, the long-term objective of a peacekeeping mission is to

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

Question 68

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 69

The 1922 Washington Naval Agreement

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

Question 70

According to the table included in the chapter, the majority of UN peacekeeping missions since 1990 have been located on which continent?

A) Africa
B) Middle East
C) Asia
D) Europe

Question 71

What does this chapter conclude about the causes of war and the methods for avoiding war? What appear to be the primary causes of war and methods for avoiding war?

Question 72

Peace enforcement is different from peacekeeping in that peace enforcement

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

Question 73

Arms control is 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 74

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 75

Placing a military force physically in the territory between the two warring sides is a feature of

A) preemptive invasion.
B) preventive use of force.
C) collective security.
D) peacekeeping.

Question 76

In order for peacekeeping troops to enter a zone of conflict, those troops

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

Question 77

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 78

The United States uses 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 79

One important feature of a peacekeeping force is that they are

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

Question 80

Collective security is likely to fail when

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