Deck 9: The Global Security Structure

Question 1

These issues would make good class discussion topics. They could also be topics for a formal essay that requires students to use IPE tools in their analysis.
a. The Cold War. Is another one shaping up? Between which powers?
b. Nuclear strategy. How does it shape the U.S.-North Korea standoff?
c. The GSS. Where is it headed and why?
d. Cyberweapons/Drones
e. Middle East conflict
f. The Iran nuclear deal, ISIS, North Korea, or Russian interference in Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe.

Answer 1

No Answer.

Question 2

Which of these associations is incorrect?

A) Realism: Henry Kissinger
B) Neorealism: heavy emphasis on third and fourth levels of analysis.
C) Realism: a hierarchy of power ranging from the strongest at the top to the weakest at the bottom.
D) Neorealism: war is often a choice of state leaders, made to readjust the balance of power or to establish a new configuration of power.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following about the Cuban Missile Crisis is incorrect?

A) The Soviets placed medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba.
B) Kennedy wanted to get back at Cuba for taking over U.S. businesses during the Cuban revolution.
C) Kennedy did not take his military advisors' advice and attack Cuba.
D) The USSR stood down and eventually withdrew its missiles from Cuba.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following statements about Henry Kissinger is wrong?

A) He has always championed bipolarity over mulipolarity.
B) The European Concert of Power played a major role in his thinking about security.
C) He convinced Nixon to let the Soviets and Chinese play a bigger role in the global security structure.
D) He was famous for shuttle diplomacy.

Question 5

This peanut farmer became president of the United States and supported more idealism and human rights when it came to international security policies.

A) Lyndon Johnson
B) Jimmy Carter
C) George H. W. Bush
D) Bill Clinton

Question 6

Which of the following is not associated with President Reagan?

A) Labeling the USSR the "evil empire"
B) Halting all arms control talks with the USSR
C) The lowest increase in defense spending since WWII
D) The Star Wars program

Question 7

The George W. Bush administration's desire for U.S. hegemony was reflected chiefly in:

A) Its promotion of economic liberal trade policies
B) Its sense of a "moral crusade" against Islamic neo-fascism
C) Its formal declaration of empire-building
D) His family dynasty in the U.S. government.

Question 8

According to Chalmers Johnson, the source of U.S. imperial behavior is

A) President Obama's roots in Africa
B) President George W. Bush's roots in Maine
C) The military-industrial complex
D) A secret agreement with ex-Russian President Putin to control the price of oil in the Middle East.

Question 9

Which of the following is not something the Obama administration adopted to deal with Middle East conflicts?

A) It did not prosecute CIA employees who had waterboarded terrorist suspects.
B) It continued the use of "black jails" run by U.S. Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan.
C) It employed a "light footprint" strategy to defeat ISIS and other insurgents.
D) In Libya it led NATO "out front" by providing allies with crucial logistics and refueling services and conducting most of the bombing.

Question 10

Which of the following about drones is untrue?

A) They save the lives of many military personnel.
B) Because of their mobility and their targeting effectiveness, they are efficient tools in many types of conflict.
C) They are relatively cheap to produce.
D) Because their pilots are thousands of miles away, they make it easy for pilots to disconnect themselves from the battlefield.

Question 11

Stuxnet is a

A) WMD.
B) drone.
C) advanced ICBM.
D) cyberweapon.

Question 12

This group, which used to be al-Qaeda in Iraq, split from the Nusra Front and eventually seized a wide swath of territory in Iraq, including the city of Mosul, where it declared a caliphate.

A) the Taliban
B) the Revolutionary Front
C) ISIS
D) the YPG

Question 13

Which of the following measures did the Trump administration not adopt in response to North Korea's buildup and testing of long range ICBMs?

A) Threatening to respond to a North Korean attack on the United States with "fire and fury like the world has never seen"
B) Looking to South Korea and Japan to offer economic assistance to North Korea in exchange for stopping missile testing
C) Renewing the demand that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons
D) Putting new economic sanctions on North Korea that reduced its oil exports, banned all of its textile exports, and banned new contracts for its workers abroad

Question 14

Who labeled Trump a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard"?

A) Barack Obama
B) Benjamin Netanyahu
C) Kim Jong-un
D) George W. Bush

Question 15

According to many realists, which of the following is not one of Russia's strategies to enhance national power, preserve sovereignty, and balance against the United States?

A) defying one of the key norms of the liberal world order by acquiring territory by force in Ukraine
B) modernizing and building up its strategic nuclear arsenal to counter the weapons of the United States, China, and other major powers
C) deployed missiles close to the border with Poland and Lithuania, thereby violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
D) concluding new trade agreements with the EU, in part to stabilize East-West relations

Question 16

When it comes to cyber security issues, which of the following statements is not true?

A) The world increasingly relies on information technology to manage national security and public infrastructure, which makes nations vulnerable to crippling cyberattacks that could spark a war, requiring them to establish norms and rules to reduce cyber conflict and guide conduct when attacks occur.
B) The United States has identified the Moscow-based company Kaspersky Lab as a possible threat to U.S. cybersecurity because it sells antivirus and security software products used by 400 million people in the world including U.S. federal government agencies.
C) Adam Segal notes that cyberattacks are often closely tied to espionage, which states have historically failed to regulate and that militaries "are rushing to develop powerful cyber weapons without any agreement on how and when they might be used."
D) President Trump believes that rules for cyberspace under the auspices of the ITU should primarily reflect the interests of the world's biggest military powers, namely the United States, Russia, and China, to prevent a "digital cold war."