International Relations Exam

Question 1

dominance

Answer 1

A principle for solving the collective goods problems by imposing sollutions hierarchically

Question 2

Reciprocity

Answer 2

This principle solves the collective goods problems by rewarding behavior that contributes to the group and punishing behaviorb that pursues self interest at the expense of the group.

Question 3

Identity

Answer 3

A principle for solving collective goods problems by changing participants preferences based on their share sense of belonging to a community.

Question 4

issue areas

Answer 4

Distinct spheres of international activity(such as global trade negociations) within which policy makers of various state face conflicts and sometimes achieve cooperation.

Question 5

conflict and cooperation

Answer 5

The types of actions that states take toward each other through time.

Question 6

International security

Answer 6

A subfield of international relations that focuses on questions of war and peace.

Question 7

International political economy

Answer 7

The study of the politics of trade, monetary and other economic relations among nations

Question 8

International political economy

Answer 8

The study of the politics of trade,monetary, and other economic relations among nations, adn their connection to other transnational forces.

Question 9

state

Answer 9

A territorial entity controlled by a government and inhabited by a population

Question 10

International Sytem

Answer 10

The set of relationships among the world’s states, structured by certain rules and patterns of interaction.

Question 11

Nation states

Answer 11

States whose populations share a sense of national identity, usually including language and culture.

Question 12

Gross domestic product

Answer 12

The size of a state’s total annual economic activity.

Question 13

Nonstate actors

Answer 13

Actors other than state goverments that operate either below the level of the state (that is,within state) or accross the state border.

Question 14

Intergovernmental organizations(IGOS)

Answer 14

Organizations whose members are national governments such as the UN and its agencies

Question 15

Nongovernmental organization(NGO)

Answer 15

A transational group or entity(such as the catholic Church, Greenpeace) that interacts with states, multinational corporations(MNCs), other NGOs and intergovernmental organizations(IGOs)

Question 16

globalization

Answer 16

The increasing integration of the world in terms of communications,culture and economics.

Question 17

global south gap

Answer 17

The disparity in resources(income,wealth, and power) between the industrialized coountries of the west(and former east) and the poorer countries of Africa, the middle East and much of Asia and Latin America.

Question 18

Cold War

Answer 18

The hostile relations between the two superpowers, the United States and the soviet Union from 1945 to 1990.

Question 19

containment

Answer 19

A policy adopted in the late 1940’s by which the United States sought to halt the global expansion of soviet influence on several levels - military,political,ideological, and economic.

Question 20

proxy wars

Answer 20

Wars in the third world(often civil wars) in which the United States and the Soviet Union jockeyed for position by supplying and advising opposing factions.

Question 21

annexation

Answer 21

possession taken of a piece of land or a country, usually by force or without permission:
The country’s annexation of its neighbour caused an outcry.

Question 22

carry out

Answer 22

to perform or complete a job or activity; to fulfill:
I was elected to carry out a program, the governor said, and I have every intention of carrying it out.
(Definition of carry out somethi

Question 23

realism

Answer 23

A broad intellectual tradition that explains international relations mainly in terms of power.

Question 24

Idealism

Answer 24

An approach that emphasizes international law,morality, and international organizations,rather than power alone, as key influences in international relations.

Question 25

Munich Agreement

Answer 25

A symbol of the failed policy of appeasement, this agreement, signed in 1938 allowed Nazi Germany to occupy parts of checoslovakia.

Question 26

Thucydides

Answer 26

A political thinker that that claim that the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept, he established this thinking on the peloponessian war and on the relative power among the greek cities.

Question 27

Power

Answer 27

The ability or potential to influence others behavior, as measured by the possesion of certain tangible and intangible characteristics.

Question 28

Niccolo Machiavelli

Answer 28

Urged princes to concentrate on expedient actions to stay in power, including the manipulation of the public and military alliances.

Question 29

Geopolitics

Answer 29

The use of geography as an element of power, and the ideas about it held by political leaders and scholars.

Question 30

Anarchy

Answer 30

In IR theory, a term that implies not complete chaos but the lack of central government that can enforce rules.

Question 31

Sovereignty

Answer 31

A state’s right, at least in principle, to do whatever it wants withn its territory.

Question 32

norms

Answer 32

The shared expectations about what behavior is considered proper.

Question 33

Security Dilemma

Answer 33

A situation in which actions that states take to ensure their own security are perceived as threats to the security of other states.

Question 34

Balance of Power

Answer 34

A term that refers to the general concept of the power of one or more states being used to balance that of another state or group of states

Question 35

Great Powers

Answer 35

Generally, the half dozen or so most powerful states.

Question 36

Middle POwers

Answer 36

States that rank somewhat below the great powers in terms of their influence of world affairs.

Question 37

neorealism

Answer 37

A version of realist theory that explains patterns of international events in terms of a system structure, the international distribution of power, rather than in terms of the internal makeup of individual states.

Question 38

Power transition theory

Answer 38

A theory that the largest wars result from challenges to the top position in the status hierarchy, when a rising power is surprassing(or threatening to surpass)the most powerful state.

Question 39

Hegemony

Answer 39

A one state’s holding a preponderance of power in the international system so that it can dominate the rules and arrangements by which international political and economic relations are conducted.

Question 40

Hegemony Stability Theory

Answer 40

The argument that regimes are most effective when power in the international system is most concentrated.

Question 41

Alliance cohesion

Answer 41

Is the ease with which the members hold together an alliance.Cohesion tends to be high when national interest converge and when cooperation within the alliance becomes institutionalized and habitual.

Question 42

Burden Sharing

Answer 42

The distribution of the costs of an alliance among members. This can arise even when the alliance cohesion is high.

Question 43

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Answer 43

A US - led millitary alliance in 1949 with mainly Western European members, to oppose and deter Soviet power in Europe(probably the most powerful alliance)

Question 44

Warsaw Pact

Answer 44

A soviet-led Eastern European military alliance founded in 1955 and disbanded in 1991.

Question 45

US- Japanese Security Treaty

Answer 45

A billateral Alliance between the USA and Japan,created in 1951 against potential Soviet threat to Japan.

Question 46

deterrence

Answer 46

The treat to punish another actor if it takes a certain negative action(especially attacking one’s own state or one’s allies)

Question 47

Compellence

Answer 47

The threat of force to make another actor take some action.(rather t than, as in deterrence, refrain from taking an action)

Question 48

Arms Race

Answer 48

A reciprocal process in which two or more states build up military capabilities in response to each other.

Question 49

Rational Actors

Answer 49

Actors conceived as single entities that can think about their actions coherently, make choices, identify their interests, and rank their interests in terms of priority.

Question 50

National interest

Answer 50

The interests of a state overall(as opposed to particular parties or factions within a state).

Question 51

Cost-benefit analysis

Answer 51

A rationality that actors perform that is: Calculating the costs to be incurred by a possible action and the benefits that action is likely to bring.

Question 52

Zero - Sum games

Answer 52

Situations in which one actor’s gains is by definition the other’s loss.As opposed to non zero sum game, in which it is possible for both actor to gain or loss.

Question 53

Prisioner’s Dilema

Answer 53

A situation modeled by game theory in which rational actors pursuing their individual interests all achieve worse outcomes than they could have by working together.