Introduction Terms

Question 1

Theory

Answer 1

• a set of statements that explains particular events and acts as a conceptual framework to understand phenomena in world politics

Question 2

Worldviews

Answer 2

• how an individual looks at the world and a belief about how the world works

Question 3

World Trade Organization

Answer 3

• the international institution created in 1995 to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); it regulates trade between states

Question 4

Balance of Power

Answer 4

• one of the early realist theories that describes an arrangement of states in the international system to maintain parity in terms of power; the power of each state in the arrangement is checked by the power of the other states

Question 5

Idealist (idealism)

Answer 5

• an approach or belief that individuals and their ideas can affect international relations in a positive manner; an approach deemed utopian by realists

Question 6

Concert of Europe

Answer 6

• describes the period of relative peace among the great nations of Europe in the years between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and WWI.

Question 7

Collective Security

Answer 7

• a liberal approach whereby each state in the system agrees that an attack on one is an attack on all and pledge to respond to the agressor state. It was the framework of the League of Nations.

Question 8

Zero-Sum

Answer 8

• the outcome of relations where one state’s loss is another gain

Question 9

Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

Answer 9

• international institutions which have states as members

Question 10

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)

Answer 10

• international organizations made up of individuals and not states, usually focusing on a particular issue area such as the environment, human rights, or nuclear non-proliferation

Question 11

multinational corporations (MNCs)

Answer 11

• companies that have operations in more than one country with the headquarters usually located in the advanced, developed world.

Question 12

bipolar

Answer 12

• one configuration of the distribution of power in the international system where two states have a preponderance of power; used to describe the international system during the Cold War ideological battle between the USSR and US

Question 13

Epistemological (Epistemology)

Answer 13

• the study of knowledge and how humans acquire knowledge

Question 14

Ontological (ontology)

Answer 14

• the theory or study of being; refers to the nature of existence; addresses what kind of things actually exist and operate in the universe

Question 15

positivists

Answer 15

• theorists who argue that there is a known reality apart from our own existence and this knowledge is acquired in an empirical fashion

Question 16

post-positivists

Answer 16

• theorists who contend that there is no single reality and that the acquisition of knowledge is multifaceted

Question 17

cognitive consistency

Answer 17

• the desire to make information fit into pre-existing beliefs through the use of heuristic devices such as schemas and analogies.

Question 18

proliferation

Answer 18

• an increase in the number of actors possessing certain weapons

Question 19

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Answer 19

• a class of weapons defined by the United Nations in 1948 that includes biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons

Question 20

deterrence

Answer 20

• while applicable to conventional weapons, it generally refers to the threat of force (the use of nuclear weapons) to prevent an attack from a rival before it occurs

Question 21

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

Answer 21

• a condition that describes the relationship between two nuclear states such that if one side launched a nuclear weapon attack, the other side could retaliate, inflicting unacceptable losses. The end result is that neither side will launch an attack.

Question 22

Tariffs

Answer 22

• a protectionist policy whereby importers pay a tax on products entering a country

Question 23

quotas

Answer 23

• a protectionist economic policy that limits the quantity of goods that can be imported

Question 24

subsidies

Answer 24

• a type of protectionist policy where by a government provides an additional payment to producers enabling them to sell their product at lower prices in the international market, increasing their competitiveness

Question 25

non-tariff barriers

Answer 25

• a protectionist economic policy, other than taxation, designed to protect domestic markets; examples include quotas and product labeling.

Question 26

Most Favored Nation (MFN)

Answer 26

• a policy in international trade whereby an importing country will not discriminate against another country in favour of a third