Deck 2: The Historical Context of Contemporary International Relations

Question 1

Which of the following is true of the Treaties of Westphalia?

A) They sought to break up permanent national militaries,giving rise to the Thirty Years' War.
B) They made sure that no state or states could dominate the system after the Thirty Years' War.
C) They created formal international institutions to maintain the balance of power after the Thirty Years' War.
D) They codified the rights of states to determine their own domestic policies after the Thirty Years' War.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What is one reason that students of international relations should study history?

A) Historically,the world was a more peaceful place than today; therefore,the past offers clues as to how to achieve peace today.
B) Core concepts in the field,such as sovereignty,were developed and shaped by historical events.
C) Since the international system has remained unchanged over time,there are many parallel situations in the past that are relevant today.
D) Contemporary international relations mirror patterns often seen in the Chinese and Indian civilizations of the past.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Two principles that rose out of the American and French Revolutions and provided the foundation for politics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are

A) democracy and behavioralism.
B) legitimacy from the consent of the governed and nationalism.
C) sovereignty and capitalism.
D) legitimacy from divine right and feudalism.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The 1648 Treaties of Westphalia are important because they marked the rise of religious authority uniting Europe.

Question 5

In Europe following the 1648 Treaties of Westphalia,in states in the west,such as England and France,________ ,while in states in the east,such as Prussia and Russia,________.

A) serfs remained on the land; infrastructure was improved to facilitate commerce
B) private enterprise was encouraged; great trading companies arose
C) serfs remained on the land; private enterprise was encouraged
D) private enterprise was encouraged; serfs remained on the land

Question 6

In the early 1900s,Britain joined an alliance with Japan (a non-European power)against Russia
(a European power).

Question 7

The Korean War in the 1950s was conducted by the United States without UN authorization because of the Soviet veto.

Question 8

The authority of a state to govern matters within its own borders free from external interference is known as

A) nationalism.
B) sovereignty.
C) hegemony.
D) realism.

Question 9

Why is 1648,marked by the creation of the Treaties of Westphalia,a seminal year for scholars of international relations?

A) It marked a decrease of religious authority in Europe and the rise of secular authority in the form of sovereign states.
B) The Treaty of Westphalia failed and the Thirty Years' War began,ushering in the era of modern warfare.
C) It marked the rise of religious authority in the form of the Pope and the Catholic Church.
D) The Roman Empire fell that year,and Charlemagne rose to power.

Question 10

In addition to Germany,Japan and Italy also played a major role in the breakdown of interstate order in the 1930s.

Question 11

Despite the fact that U.S.President Woodrow Wilson had been the principal architect of the League of Nations,the United States refused to join.

Question 12

In a popular referendum in 2016,Great Britain voted in favor of leaving the European Union.

Question 13

Unlike European states,the United States was not an imperial power and had no colonies.

Question 14

Following the Treaties of Westphalia,

A) the idea of sovereignty embodied in the treaties made sure all states were equal in power.
B) the Holy Roman Empire rose in power.
C) leaders in Europe began to establish permanent militaries.
D) secular rule in states was abandoned.

Question 15

The peacefulness witnessed during the Concert of Europe was surprising given that there were major economic,technological,and political changes in Europe during this period.

Question 16

Scottish economist Adam Smith posits that the wealth of states and of the international system is increased when

A) military conquests help increase a state's level of industrial development.
B) governments strengthen their control of economic processes.
C) each state's market remains confined within its national borders.
D) individuals are allowed to pursue their rational self-interests,unfettered by state regulation.

Question 17

The concept of legitimacy,which emerged in the aftermath of the American and French revolutions,implies that political power ultimately rests with

A) the military.
B) the monarch.
C) the church.
D) the people.

Question 18

During the Cold War,the United States and the Soviet Union supported opposing groups in wars in Africa,Asia,and Latin America.

Question 19

Being sovereign entities means that states

A) are committed to becoming democracies.
B) are subservient to the most powerful states in the system.
C) are subject to the rule of religious authorities.
D) are legally equal participants in the international system,regardless of size.

Question 20

By the end of the nineteenth century,China was the only Asian country that was not under direct European or U.S.influence.

Question 21

________ is a group's identification with their common history,language,customs,and practices.

A) Legitimacy
B) Sovereignty
C) Nationalism
D) Liberalism

Question 22

The League of Nations was an international organization that was

A) established after World War II to prevent future wars.
B) successful in enforcing peace.
C) not joined by the United States and Russia.
D) founded by Germany to assist in the payment of reparations after World War I.

Question 23

What political consequences did industrialization have?

A) It ended the age of colonialization,as colonies were no longer needed for resources.
B) It gave new wealth to the rural landowners.
C) It gave new power to the European middle classes.
D) It led all European countries to adopt democracy.

Question 24

Why did the advent of the railroad begin to upset the balance of power in Europe?

A) It was used widely by Russia to move military personnel across its wide geographic space,allowing it to fight wars effectively on both fronts.
B) It gave continental countries like Germany an enhanced level of strategic mobility equal to that of maritime powers such as Britain.
C) It led Britain to abandon its maritime military capabilities.
D) The development of the railroad had little effect on the balance of power in Europe.

Question 25

Which factor contributed to Napoleonic France's military victories?

A) The French army used guerrilla tactics.
B) The French had already conquered Russia and used supplies from there to fuel their victories elsewhere.
C) France had alliances with Austria,Britain,and Prussia.
D) The French army was united by passionate nationalism.

Question 26

One of the significant outcomes of World War I was the

A) increased nationalism and new states following the demise of three major European empires.
B) creation of the United Nations as an arbiter of future international conflicts.
C) establishment of three new European empires to replace those that collapsed.
D) development of nuclear weapons technology that launched the Cold War.

Question 27

Among the factors leading to an end to Europe's balance-of-power system under the Concert of Europe was

A) that Germany was a weak state at the center of Europe.
B) that Russia was becoming the leading industrial power.
C) the solidification of previously flexible alliances between the European powers.
D) the growth of fascism in Germany and Italy.

Question 28

Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815,Europe's five major powers

A) ushered in a period of relative peace in the international political system.
B) included Ireland,France,Germany,Hungary,and Austria.
C) split into seven smaller countries and continued fighting.
D) descended into a major war on the continent.

Question 29

The idea that states will hesitate to start a war with an adversary whose power to fight and win wars is similar to their own underpins the concept of

A) balance of power.
B) imperialism.
C) hegemony.
D) détente.

Question 30

The Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I

A) destroyed the League of Nations,the international organization designed to prevent war.
B) signaled the demise of self-determination as a major factor in international conflict.
C) fueled German dissatisfaction by making the country pay the economic cost of the war.
D) marked the beginning of an era characterized by open diplomacy and cooperation.

Question 31

Which factor contributed to the absence of major war on the continent under the Concert of Europe?

A) Italy disintegrated into multiple fragments,leading to a balance of power between the other European states.
B) Colonialism allowed rivalries to be played out in distant places.
C) The United States rose significantly in power,balancing against the countries of Europe.
D) The masses overthrew their rulers and brought about democracy on the continent.

Question 32

By the end of the nineteenth century,________ and ________ were the only Asian countries not under direct European or U.S.influence.

A) China; Japan
B) China; Philippines
C) China; Siam (Thailand)
D) Japan; Siam (Thailand)

Question 33

Which country exerted control over Palestine post-World War I?

A) Israel
B) United States
C) France
D) Britain

Question 34

In order to keep the balance of power in Europe following German unification,the European great powers

A) divided up Africa,giving Germany a sphere of influence on the continent to appease its great power aspirations.
B) forced Germany to disintegrate back into small autonomous political principalities.
C) formed an alliance with the United States.
D) allowed Germany to conquer and colonize Ethiopia without interfering.

Question 35

As part of the nineteenth-century balance-of-power system in Europe,

A) independent states balanced colonies of relatively equal power.
B) treaties were designed to create the emergence of a hegemon.
C) alliances were formed to counteract potentially more powerful factions.
D) agricultural elites balanced against urban factory owners.

Question 36

In the balance of power in Europe following the Napoleonic Wars,Russia played the role of ________ while Britain played the role of ________.

A) hegemon; balancer
B) balancer; hegemon
C) builder of alliances; balancer
D) balancer; builder of alliances

Question 37

Which of the following political changes occurred in the years following the Napoleonic Wars?

A) Austria and Prussia fought the Crimean War.
B) Greece,Moldavia,and Wallachia (Romania)unified to form the Ottoman Empire.
C) Germany was formed out of fragments.
D) Italy broke up into multiple autonomous political principalities.

Question 38

The ultimate failure of the League of Nations to accomplish its mandate can be attributed to which of the following factors?

A) The United States joined the League but refused to support the most important issues.
B) President Wilson,the architect of the League,disagreed with the mandate's wording.
C) The League lacked the needed political weight,legal instruments,and legitimacy.
D) Tensions between Russia and the United States blocked all major votes.

Question 39

One major motive for colonialism was

A) to prevent regional conflict in Africa.
B) the goal of spreading democracy to all regions.
C) to gain industrial technology from the colonies.
D) a desire for economic gains.

Question 40

________ refers to annexing distant territory and its inhabitants to an empire,and ________ refers to the settling of people from a home country among indigenous peoples of a distant territory.

A) imperialism; colonialism
B) colonialism; imperialism
C) imperialism; nationalization
D) nationalization; colonialism

Question 41

In 2014,the Russian Federation

A) invaded the Baltic states and threatened to annex some of their provinces.
B) invaded Ukraine and annexed a Ukrainian province.
C) formed an alliance with China to stand against NATO.
D) began to support the Islamic state in their actions in the Middle East.

Question 42

Following the attacks against the United States on September 11,2001,in which state did the United States launch a war to oust the Taliban regime?

A) Iraq
B) Iran
C) Syria
D) Afghanistan

Question 43

How did the League of Nations respond to Italy's invasion of Ethiopia?

A) It led a military mission to remove Italy from Ethiopia.
B) It imposed sanctions,which served to cripple the Italian economy.
C) It imposed sanctions,but those sanctions were not enforced.
D) The League of Nations did not respond to Italy's invasion of Ethiopia.

Question 44

The "Arab Spring" refers to

A) a series of poplar protests in 2011 against corrupt and brutal Arab leaders in states such as Egypt,Libya,and Syria.
B) the rise of Iran and Iraq as the center of democracy in the Middle East in the early 2010s.
C) the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan after most American troops left the country in 2014.
D) the sectarian conflict in Iraq that arose after the United States overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Question 45

Why,following World War II,did the Soviet Union use its newfound superpower status to solidify control over Eastern European states like Poland and Czechoslovakia?

A) It wanted to support the independence movements of what President Truman called the "free peoples."
B) It wanted to increase its chances of joining the European Union.
C) It feared another invasion from the West and wanted a buffer zone of friendly nations to protect it.
D) It wanted to punish countries that had supported Germany.

Question 46

How did the United States respond when the Soviet Union invaded Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968?

A) It sent a military counterforce to both countries to push the Soviet Union out of these sovereign countries.
B) It sent a military counterforce to Hungary,but not to Czechoslovakia.
C) It sent a military counterforce to Czechoslovakia,but not to Hungary.
D) It took no aggressive actions in response.

Question 47

Which of the following strategic policies did the United States adopt vis-à-vis the Soviet Union during the Cold War?

A) rollback
B) colonialism
C) containment
D) transnationalism

Question 48

Which of the following is true of UN actions in the late 1980s?

A) Supported by all permanent members of the UN Security Council including both the United States and Soviet Union,it placed economic sanctions on Afghanistan to end the government's actions in the Soviet war.
B) Supported by the United States,but opposed by the Soviet Union,it sent troops to Afghanistan to help end the Soviet war in the country.
C) Supported by all permanent members of the UN Security Council including both the United States and Soviet Union,it sent a group of monitors to oversee the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
D) The UN did not take actions regarding the Soviet war in Afghanistan because of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Question 49

When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany,

A) Germany was the center of international trade in Europe.
B) Germany had no military.
C) Germany was the most economically powerful state in Europe.
D) Germany's economy was in crisis.

Question 50

The rise of populism that began in 2016

A) was triggered by the election of populist parties in the Netherlands and France.
B) is a reaction to the economic and political globalization that began at the end of the Cold War.
C) was triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.
D) is a reaction to the rise of the Islamic State.

Question 51

Although the Cold War did not involve direct military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union,it can be characterized as a period during which

A) each of the two superpowers extended their colonial holdings in Latin America.
B) interstate wars raged throughout Western Europe despite the example set by the superpowers.
C) the domino effect played out often,increasing tensions between the two countries.
D) differences between the two were played out indirectly using proxies on third-party stages.

Question 52

The most important outcome of World War II was

A) the creation of the United Nations and the strengthening of the U.S.-Soviet alliance.
B) the emergence of two superpowers and the decline of Europe as the epicenter of world politics.
C) the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the rise of nationalism.
D) lasting peace in Asia.

Question 53

At the pinnacle of its power in 2016,the Islamic State controlled large swaths of territory in

A) Libya and Iraq.
B) Libya and Syria.
C) Iraq and Iran.
D) Syria and Iraq.

Question 54

Which international relations perspective rose to dominance around the time of World War II?

A) realism
B) liberalism
C) neoliberal institutionalism
D) constructivism

Question 55

Which of the following statements is true of U.S.and Soviet involvement in the Middle East during the Cold War?

A) While both superpowers were involved in many areas of the world,they did not involve themselves in the Middle East.
B) The region was a scene of proxy confrontations between U.S.-supported Israel and Soviet-backed Arab states.
C) The United States was heavily involved in Middle East politics,but the Soviet Union was not.
D) The Soviet Union was heavily involved in Middle East politics,but the United States was not.

Question 56

During the Cold War,________ was the strategic idea to push the Soviet Union out of Eastern Europe and back to its own borders,and ________ was the strategic idea to protect the status quo from further Soviet expansion.

A) détente; containment
B) détente; rollback
C) containment; rollback
D) rollback; containment

Question 57

Which of the following domestic policies were initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev and other Soviet reformers beginning in the mid-1980s,contributing to the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union?

A) policies of both political openness and economic restructuring
B) policies of political openness but not economic restructuring
C) policies of economic restructuring but not political openness
D) Neither political openness nor economic restructuring policies were adopted; the dissolution of the Soviet Union was purely in response to U.S.actions.

Question 58

Which of the following was the alliance between the Soviet Union and several East European states in the post-World War II era?

A) North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
B) Warsaw Pact
C) League of Nations
D) Nonaligned Movement

Question 59

Which of the following is true of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis?

A) It ended with an agreement that the Soviets would remove its missiles from Cuba and the United States would remove similarly capable missiles from Turkey.
B) It ended when the United States invaded Cuba and removed the missiles.
C) It ended when the United States used air strikes on missile sites,destroying the missiles.
D) It ended with a land war fought in Cuba between U.S.and Soviet troops in which the United States arose victorious.

Question 60

The lessening of tensions between the United States and Soviet Union beginning in the late 1960s is called

A) appeasement.
B) accommodation.
C) détente.
D) easement.

Question 61

Imperialism and colonialism are an important part of history in international relations.Two questions thus arise.First,why did states engage in imperialism and colonialism in the first place? Second,what do you think are the lasting effects of colonialism that we see in international relations today? Explain your answer to these two questions,making sure to cite specific examples to back up your argument.

Question 62

Why do you think populism has arisen in the mid-2010s,and what do you think are the most important effects of its rise? Do you think these effects will be a long-lasting feature of international relations or are they likely to subside quickly? Why?

Question 63

What are the most important reasons for the relative peace that characterized nineteenth-century Europe? Why do you consider these particular reasons to be most important? In light of your answer,do you think any of the principles of nineteenth-century European politics are applicable to contemporary international relations? Why or why not?

Question 64

Several issues have risen to prominence in international relations in the twenty-first century.What do you think are the most important issues states face today? Why do you think these issues are so important? Be sure to draw on specific examples in your discussion.

Question 65

Explain the importance of the Treaty of Westphalia for international relations.What significant concepts and principles informed this treaty? What notable changes in international relations did the treaty signal or set in motion? Discuss how contemporary international relations might be different (or not)without the Treaty of Westphalia,and provide support for your answer.