Exam 1 Flashcards
What is one significant challenge related to the investigation of international relations?
The study of international relations considers every factor that influences human behavior.
Which two seemingly contradictory tendencies are evident in U.S. foreign policy?
America’s tendency to isolate itself and a determination to reform the world in its own image
If you have always seen members of the Conservative Party as protecting big business at the expense of the middle class, you will assume the Conservative Party candidate running for election will not support your progressive economic agenda. What kind of reasoning is this an example of?
Schematic
What is people’s psychological tendency to deny or rationalize away discrepancies between their existing beliefs and new information known as?
Cognitive dissonance
Which of the following exemplifies the psychological process of creating a mirror image?
The rivalry between Pakistan and India, in which each demonizes the other
Country A is afraid of aggression by Country B, so it starts to stockpile weapons and ammunition. Country B sees this and decides to start buying weapons too, because Country A is demonstrating aggression. What kind of reciprocal hostility is this an example of?
Mirror images
Which of the following interactions is NOT characteristic of states embroiled in an enduring rivalry?
One state always sees itself as being aggressive, regardless of the other state’s international activities
As a learner who is new to the study of international politics, which of the following practices is most essential to understanding the work of scholars, policymakers, and the “attentive public”?
Understand the vocabulary they use
What are Brazil, the United Nations, the Red Cross, China, and the European Union called in international relations?
Actors
What political concept can be defined as the factors that enable one actor to change another actor’s behavior against its preferences?
Power
The Peace of Westphalia ushered in a new concept of international relations when leaders no longer recognized the governing authority of the Roman Catholic Church. What did the treaty establish among the affected states?
State sovereignty
What is the main difference between an intergovernmental organization (IGO) and a nongovernmental organization (NGO)?
An IGO is an institution created around states’ governments, while an NGO is an institution established around non-state actors.
Which political concept implies a convergence between territorial states and the psychological identification of people within them?
Nation-state
Which of the following can be categorized as a nongovernmental organization (NGO)?
Amnesty International
The Basques in Spain are primarily identified by their shared common ancestral nationality, language, cultural heritage, and kinship. What are they recognized as?
An ethnic group
What are the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization examples of?
Intergovernmental organizations
What level of analysis refers to the personal characteristics of human beings, including political decision makers?
Individual
You seek to understand Russia’s policy on international trade by examining how its Federal Assembly interacts with the Duma. Which level of analysis should you be using?
State
Which level of analysis would be in use when analyzing the capacity of rich states to dictate the choices of poor states?
Systemic
What was Winston Churchill referring to when he advised, “The farther backward you look, the farther forward you are likely to see”?
It is crucial to view changes in politics today through a long-term historical perspective.
What kind of period did international politics go through after the Cold War ended, when communism was no longer a threat to democracy in the Western Hemisphere?
Transformation
According to Stanley Hoffmann, which of the following questions is key in determining whether a new global system has emerged?
What are the system’s basic units for global governance?
Which perspective looks at world politics from the “ground up,” focusing on the individual as the unit of analysis from which aggregate behavior is extrapolated?
Micro political
States’ predominant foreign policy goal has shifted away from territorial conquest to focus on new markets. What kind of means are these new markets?
Economic
Which political term refers to a condition in which the units in the global system are subjected to few, if any, overarching institutions to regulate their conduct?
Anarchy
What is the name of a model or pattern that structures thoughts about an area of inquiry?
Paradigm
Which approach to foreign policy emphasizing the use of military and economic power to bring about freedom and democracy in other countries was pivotal in the U.S. decision to wage war against Iraq in 2003?
Neoconservative
Which worldview would assume that even though Germany has the most powerful economy in the European Union, Germany should keep a strong military because there is no way to guarantee that the leaders of other member states have peaceful intentions?
Realism
How do realists define the conditions under which some participants in cooperative interactions benefit more than others?
Relative gains
When developing and using nuclear weapons, what kind of reactions did the United States create for other countries, motivating them to establish their own nuclear weapons programs?
Security dilemma
How do neorealists differ from classical realists?
Neorealists emphasize the global level of analysis.
Liberals believe that global politics is more of a struggle for which of the following?
Mutual gain
Which of the following statements would a liberal agree with?
Reforming the conditions in which people live, rather than lusting for power, will enhance the prospects for peace.
Which system is guided by the principle that an act of aggression by any state will be met by a collective response from the rest?
Collective security
What kind of relations involve interactions across state boundaries that involve at least one actor that is not the agent of a government or intergovernmental organization?
Transnational relations
Which of the following sometimes offers a better description of world politics than realism does, especially on international economic and environmental matters?
Complex interdependence
What does the concept of responsibility to protect sacrifice because it calls for the international community to intervene when it perceives that a government is perpetrating genocide, ethnic cleansing, or war crimes?
State sovereignty
What event stimulated interest in constructivism?
The end of the Cold War
Which perspective argues that the United States and the Soviet Union were able to ease tensions with one another after the Cold War because their interactions normalized, and they worked to understand each other peacefully as Russia turned away from communism?
Constructivist
From the social constructivism perspective, what are the priorities and interests of the United Nations based on?
Shared ideas
What demographic variable does feminism emphasize in the study of world politics?
Gender
Why did the feminist perspective emerge in the study of international relations?
The role of women has been marginalized in most societies.
Which economic theory emphasizes public ownership and control of property and resources?
Socialism
Which perspective would state that systematically excluding women from military combat compromises national defense because it reduces the availability of skilled soldiers who can help fight in wars?
Feminism
Which economic theory emphasizes private ownership of the means of production and distribution?
Capitalism
Which political perspective focuses on class conflict and the material interests of each class?
Marxism
What perspective represents the most recent effort to interpret world politics in terms of an integrated capitalistic division of labor?
World-system theory
What does Donald Puchala compare our understanding of world politics to?
A jigsaw puzzle
The case of Brexit is an example of tension between which two competing interests?
State sovereignty and commitments to European integration
The theory hypothesizing that less-developed countries are exploited because global capitalism makes them dependent on the rich countries is referred to as which of the following?
Dependency theory