Question 1

When country A chooses to attack country B based on a suspicion that country B might attack it sometime in the distant future, country A is engaging in which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  preemptive war
B)  preventive war
C)  extended deterrence
D)  bandwagoning B

Question 2

What adjectives would a realist use to describe the characteristics of international alliances?

Accepted Answer

A)  temporary and opportunistic
B)  ironclad and reliable
C)  formal and permanent
D)  opportunistic and permanent A

Question 3

What trend in the USU.S. military started around the beginning of the Iraq War?

Accepted Answer

A)  the use of private military services
B)  the use of smart bombs
C)  increased reliance on weapons of mass destruction
D)  increased reliance on international coalitions A

Question 4

When the United States threatens or uses limited force to persuade an adversary to alter its foreign or domestic policy, the US is engaging is what practice?

Accepted Answer

A)  forceful diplomacy
B)  coercive diplomacy
C)  selective engagement
D)  soft power

Question 5

Which weak military power managed to prevail over the United States?

Accepted Answer

A)  Vietnam
B)  Iraq
C)  South Korea
D)  Cambodia

Question 6

The United States supplied weapons to the Taliban during the Soviet-Afghan War. Some of these weapons were later used by the Taliban to fight the USU.S. What is this an example of?

Accepted Answer

A)  blowback
B)  the creation of a military industrial complex
C)  vertical proliferation
D)  opportunity cost

Question 7

How are military expenditures and economic growth linked? Some people argue that there is a trade-off between "guns and butter," because military expenditures divert resources away from growth-promoting investments. However, other people claim that military spending stimulates economic growth. Which side of this debate do you support? Why?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How are military expenditures and economic growth...

Question 8

Military power is an important characteristic of states from a realist point of view, but states that are apparently weak seem to win a large number of armed conflicts. 
(a)How can we change our definition of military power to reflect this reality? 
(b)Are there other types of power that may be more important in predicting military victories? 
(c)Should states focus primarily on military power in their security decisions? Why?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Military power is an important characteristic of...

Question 9

What is necessary for mutually assured destruction (MAD)to work?

Accepted Answer

A)  constant communication
B)  second-strike capability
C)  ballistic missile defense (BDM) 
D)  preemption

Question 10

Which of the following countries spends the most on its military?

Accepted Answer

A)  Japan
B)  Russia
C)  China
D)  the United States

Question 11

The condition that results when each state's increase in military capability is matched by the others, resulting in no significant gain in security for any one state, is known as which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  the security dilemma
B)  mutually assured destruction
C)  coercive diplomacy
D)  balance of power

Question 12

Which country is the leading global weapons exporter?

Accepted Answer

A)  Brazil
B)  China
C)  the United States
D)  the United Kingdom

Question 13

Why did some countries call for an explicit ban on AI weapons?

Accepted Answer

A)  because AI is susceptible to computer viruses
B)  because AI weapons include machines that have discretion to take human life
C)  because AI weapons do not minimize collateral damage
D)  because AI weapons are unreliable

Question 14

Power distribution in the world during the height of the Roman Empire can best be described as which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  unipolarity
B)  bipolarity
C)  multipolarity
D)  molecular polarity

Question 15

Which of the following states has the highest relative burden of military spending?

Accepted Answer

A)  Saudi Arabia
B)  Germany
C)  Poland
D)  Mexico

Question 16

Aside from the obvious consequences of a nuclear war, such as the destruction of life and property, what other devastating outcomes might such a war bring?

Accepted Answer

A)  a nuclear winter
B)  nuclear summer
C)  Earth's axial tilt
D)  Earth's geomagnetic reversal

Question 17

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." This statement by President Eisenhower exemplifies which of the following concepts?

Accepted Answer

A)  human security
B)  soft power
C)  opportunity costs
D)  diminishing returns

Question 18

The inability of arms suppliers to control the uses of their military hardware and the fact that friends can become foes can lead to which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  deterrence
B)  soft power
C)  blowback
D)  diminishing returns

Question 19

What technological innovation allows many weapons to be delivered from a single missile?

Accepted Answer

A)  multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) 
B)  nonlethal weapons (NLWs) 
C)  smart bombs
D)  cyber-strategic artificial intelligence weaponry

Question 20

What do weak states engage in when they seek alliance with the strongest power, irrespective of that power's ideology or type of government?

Accepted Answer

A)  balancing
B)  deterrence
C)  bandwagoning
D)  alignments

Exam 8: The Pursuit of Power Through Arms and Alliances