Political Science Final Review Questions

Question 1

What three reasons do developed states have for providing economic aid to less developed states. Define each in one sentence.

Answer 1

1. The Donor state may wish to provide aid for use in economic development in the recipient nation, such as roads, ports, and power plants to advance political or economic interest
2. the donor may wish to provide humanitarian disaster-relief aid, also typically for self-interest
3. The donor may use tied aid, which requires fund to be used to buy goods or services from the donor country or to be used for specific projects, to advance economic interests or to subsidize their own firms by providing additional business

Question 2

Give two reasons why foreign aid might not produce economic growth in the recipient state.


Answer 2

In some cases, the donor’s objective in granting aid is not to induce growth, but to gain political favor and perhaps strengthen the recipient’s leadership. If aid continues, it may not necessarily be used to reach the people, especially if the donor lacks leverage. Another reason is if the recipient government has a small winning coalition and diverts the aid to private goods for supporters

Question 3

Economic sanctions only work 20%-30% of the time. Give two reasons why sanctions are rarely effective

Answer 3

1. Sanctions that work do not happen because the threat of a sanction itself will create compliance in the target state, so the sanctions will not be placed
2. If the target believes it can wait out the sanctions, it will defy the threat, especially if the target has a small winning coalition. The leadership may choose to switch to providing key supporters with contraband, and as a result, it will likely wait out the sanctions. Sanctions may work if the target underestimates the cost of the sanctions and may choose to later comply, especially if they are of limited demand

Question 4

How does the regime of the target of the threat of economic sanctions affect its willingness to make concessions before sanctions are put into effect? If sanctions are applied, how does the regime of the target affect whether they will succeed in changing the policies of the target state?

Answer 4

Before the sanctions are put into effect, those nations with regimes that have large winning coalitions, such as democracies, will be more likely to comply, or at least attempt negotiation, and so are more likely to make concessions. If the regime has a small winning coalition, the state will be more likely to defy, and so are less willing to make concessions. Once sanctions are applied, those states with large winning coalitions will likely comply to keep from losing further support or face costs. Regimes with small winning coalitions may see their leader become stronger, as they make the smuggling of contraband more valuable, which creates private benefit for supporters. They are less likely to concede.


Question 5

Explain why rivalries are difficult to end through diplomacy. What types of leader can credibly make the concessions needed to end a rivalry?

Answer 5

There is a history of mistrust between the two sides of a rivalry, and it requires drastic action to end one and change perception, which is not usually done. There is also distrust in negotiation, as there is little guarantee of honesty. Even when drastic action is taken, there is a commitment problem, as the other state may accept concessions for now, but press for more later. It is a balancing act between convincing the other side that you truly want peace but will not do absolutely anything for peace. Hawk leaders are more able to credibly do this and make concessions to end rivalries than dove leaders, who want peace and will go to great lengths to achieve it.

Question 6

What is an SOP, and what are the consequences for state action in a crisis.

Answer 6

An SOP, or standard operation procedure, is a set of guidelines and rules to coordinate people with different jobs working together on a task. For state action in a crisis, it is beneficial as it can allow more effective coordination within and organization and so greater capabilities by working together, however it also limits what organizations can do. Different SOPs exist for different organizations and SOPs limit how quickly organizations can react to changes in the environment. After a failure or crisis, SOPs are dramatically changed to address possible future concerns.

Question 7

How do standard operating procedures shape leaders’ choices and information in a crisis. Give two examples of how an SOP affected the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Answer 7

SOPs limit the choices leaders have and also limit what they can do with the information they receive. SOPs may also limit the information itself, as leaders prioritize which information is most relevant. In the Cuban Missile Crisis, when US U-2 Spy planes first noticed the deployment zones from aerial photos, analysts were able to identify them as Soviet constructions, as they followed the same deployment SOPs and troop formation SOPs as had been previously identified with the Soviets. Another example is the risk of escalation in the blockade. The navy was insistent on following standard operating procedures, even if it meant possibly leading to escalation, which made the situation more potentially dangerous.

Question 8

What effect did SOPs have on how the Cuban Missile Crisis transpired.

Answer 8

In some ways, SOPs made the conflict riskier and perhaps safer. The Soviets followed SOPs when it came to deployment and troop formation, making it easier for the US to identify Soviet installations in Cuba. The US SOPs meant that it took a month for a full-scale analysis of Cuban missile installations to develop and the navy’s response in the blockade was based on its blockade SOPs, even if they could have potentially led to escalation of the crisis. In this sense SOPs led to more risks if escalation had taken place, but as each side followed its procedures, it mitigated the risks of mistakes which could have led to conflict.

Question 9

Explain the difference in actors and their role in the formation of policy between the two sides of bureaucratic politics theory: organizational process and governmental politics.

Answer 9

States are often considered single actors, but they are made up of different organizations with different goals. Actors within organizations see foreign policy through the eyes of their parochial interests, shaping what they believe is best for foreign policy. They operate by standard operating procedures, which define what they do in various situations. There is also differing interest between different organizations, which can lead to tension in the government. In government politics, foreign policy is not so much the result of tension between organizations and standard operating procedures, but the competition between officials and politicians attempting to climb the ladder. They have idea on what is best and try to impose their will on the chief executive to gain in the future.

Question 10

Define the concept of legitimacy (of a state). Explain why legitimacy is always an issue in a civil war.

Answer 10

Legitimacy is the degree to which the people of a state view the government’s rule as binding. In the case of civil wars, legitimacy of the state is in question because the rebels or insurgents do not view the government’s rule as binding and seek to either secede and delegitimize the government’s rule over a piece of territory or replace the government altogether.

Question 11

Do interstate wars last longer on average than civil wars? Give a reason for the difference in the duration of the two types of wars.

Answer 11

Interstate wars are commonly shorter than civil wars. One reason is because civil wars can take the form of insurgencies in which only a few hundred combatants are necessary to keep the war going. The insurgents have long-term goals of slowly wearing down and delegitimizing the government, whereas interstate wars have reciprocity ideals and legal equality with typically larger forces. When a state surrenders, the forces typically surrender, as well. Rebels can keep the civil war going for extended periods of time.

Question 12

How has OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) been able to enforce agreements to limit production among its members?

Answer 12

OPEC sets quotas for the amount of oil produced by OPEC nations, and Saudi Arabia acts as the main enforcer. When a nation violates too many times, Saudi Arabia reciprocates by flooding the market, lowering prices to remind all OPEC members the benefit of limiting production to maximize profit. OPEC also uses the setting of quotas as incentives to not cheat, such as giving Iran and Nigeria larger proportional production quotas than other members. Setting quotas every six months allows for negotiation and enforcement on violators.

Question 13

Explain the relationship between enforcement and bargaining in international cooperation

Answer 13

States may agree that they share common interests but disagree on how to cooperate. They bargain with one another to determine how to cooperate among a variety of possible options. Enforcement is whether or not the agreement is followed by those states. Bargaining and enforcement do not necessarily happen sequentially. Often, bargaining takes into account how states have cooperated in the past and enforcement is altered depending on changing circumstances. An example of this is OPEC meeting every six months.

Question 14

What three reasons exist for why states might opportunistically defect from an agreement to cooperate?

Answer 14

First, a state may lack the capability to do what is is asked. Developing states often do not report publicly required information on government activity and performance, and they may claim they lack the personnel or infrastructure to collect the information. Second, a state’s incentives to live up to the agreement may change over time, posing a commitment problem by making it tempting to defect. There is a time-consistency problem with political incentives changing with time. Third, states may defect to gain an advantage

Question 15

Write down a Prisoners’ Dilemma game. Explain the logic of enforcement using your game

Answer 15

(After drawing the table). In the case of the prisoners’ dilemma, “cooperate” means to live up to the terms of the agreement, while “defect” means to break the cooperation for a short-term goal. Both players will benefit from joint cooperation, but they have incentive to break the agreement if the other continues to follow through on the deal, because it could produce a short-term advantage for the defector or protect themselves from the possibility of the other defecting. In international cooperation, the presence of future agreements and an ongoing relationship means that the other player has the potential to reciprocate, with both actors then defecting. This will result in less long-term benefit than if both cooperated. Reciprocity is the basis for enforcement over time in this case. However, this is not as effective if the defector does not care about the long-term detriment as much as the immediate gratification.

Question 16

What problems make reciprocal enforcement of agreements difficult? Give an example.

Answer 16

Reciprocal enforcement requires actors to know what each other is doing. It may be unclear whether a certain action is a violation, unclear what the other party is doing, and the other party may simply hide information. This problem of noise is exemplified by the ABM Treaty. The US and Soviet Union signed the Anti-Ballistic Missiles Treaty to ensure nuclear deterrence. The Soviets built a new radar system, which they claimed was for air defense, but the US suspected that it had anti-ballistic capabilities. The US was unsure how to respond because building a similar system might make the Soviets reciprocate, thus causing a cyclical deterioration of enforcement and the agreement itself. This noise could lead to erratic reciprocation and a delayed threshold for reciprocal response, but this could make responses disproportionate to the violation.

Question 17

Give two ways international institutions can alleviate enforcement problems by making reciprocity more effective.

Answer 17

First, International institutions are the “rules of the game” and they can set the specific guidelines for what counts as a violation and when and how to properly reciprocate, while specifying that the reciprocation is not itself a violation of the agreement. Second, organizations can be established to back institutions and they can conduct monitoring to reduce noise and make reciprocity more effective.

Question 18

Identify three different strategies open to non-state groups with grievances against their government or the international order, and explain what factors influence a group’s decision to use them.

Answer 18

Protests lie on the non-violent end of the spectrum, but they require many people, maybe thousands or millions, to have significant effect. Guerrilla movements are more violent, but not as much as terrorist movements. They require fewer people than protests, but recruitment is more difficult, and they are typically organized in small groups that come together when necessary. Terrorist movements are the smallest and most violent form of opposition by non-state groups. They require only a few members, maybe a few hundred to thousands, but recruitment is very difficult since it typically involves indiscriminate targeting. Groups must take into account the size of the group they want, the difficulty of recruitment, the type of state regime (autocratic, single-party, or democratic) they are facing, ease of attack, the value of the target, and whether they are moderate or extreme.

Question 19

Explain the difference between active and passive measures that governments can use to reduce the threat of terrorist attacks. Specify the disadvantages of each. Give an example of a passive measure and an active measure.

Answer 19

Active measures seek out terrorists to capture, kill, or arrest them before they can carry out the attack. Passive measures, on the other hand, seek to make it difficult for terrorists to launch attacks. Active measures include gathering intelligence, attack suspected terrorist hideouts, and using unmanned aerial vehicle strikes to kill suspected terrorist. Passive measures include security measures and metal detectors at airports and removing unattended checked luggage from a plane. A disadvantage of active measures is that terrorists work in secret and strikes to kill them may result in civilian casualties. A disadvantage of passive measures is that terrorists may simply alter their attack styles, such as the “shoe-bomb”

Question 20

Two commitment problems complete the resolution of issues that generate terrorist movements. What type of reneging does the government fear after a negotiated settlement? What does the former terrorist group fear if it transforms into an open political party?

Answer 20

Once a negotiated agreement is reached, the terrorists fear whether or not the government will continue to honor their concessions and allow the former terrorists to operate as a political party. Once they disarm, there is little to no leverage. Unpopular concessions might drive a change in political preferences to renege. They could counter this by keeping a potential to attack. The government fears whether the group has actually disarmed and renounced terrorism for good. Since they operate in secret, it is possible the group may by waiting to renew attacks with increased government vulnerability. This can be countered by conceding to the moderates to then disarm the extremists, or possibly ceding power to a third party to oversee the agreement.

Question 21

What is the logic of comparative advantage for international trade? Give three reasons why international trade makes countries wealthier.

Answer 21

Comparative advantage is the ability of each country to produce something more efficiently relative to other goods it can produce. When each country produces what it can produce most efficiently and trades, total production goes up for all countries. One reason why international trade makes nations wealthier is that competition from foreign goods forces domestic firms to produce more efficiently. Second, free trade provides a country with greater access to foreign innovations from major countries. Third, free movement of goods allows a nation to specialize in what it produces most efficiently and then trade, leading to rises in national income and global production.

Question 22

Why might a state use an optimal tariff against its trading partners? What effect does an optimal tariff have on the distribution of benefits of international trade? Explain how states can enforce an agreement not to use optimal tariffs.

Answer 22

An optimal tariff can be used to increase the terms of trade, or the price of exports relative to imports.They can shift the terms of trade in favor of the country using it so it can capture the added value from the logic of comparative advantage, assuming that the other states do not retaliate with tariffs. If the other state does not respond, then the tariff-imposing country gains all the benefits, leaving the partner worse off, according to the Prisoners’ Dilemma. Free trade agreements can be enforced through reciprocal sanctions to deter the use of optimal tariffs (threat of retaliation). It is also effective if the agreements are multilateral and bilateral in enforcement, such as the GATT and WTO.

Question 23

Explain the effects of free trade on national income and the incomes of individuals in terms of the factors they possess.

Answer 23

When countries open up to trade, imports and exports become more competitive, facing more competition. States plentiful in land, skilled labor, and capital can benefit from exports, but could face hardship due to the scarcity of unskilled labor, however, overall, national income increases. Individuals dealing with plentiful factors win from openness of trade, since they have a larger market, more demand, and potential for higher income. Those dealing with scarce factors in the state face lower wages, as it is easier for firms to find more affordable factors elsewhere, such as unskilled labor.

Question 24

What does the acronym NTB stand for? Give an example. What special problems do NTBs, as opposed to tariffs, pose for cooperation on trade?

Answer 24

NTB stands for Non-Tariff Barriers which are barriers to the free movement of goods and services. They include any policy which discriminates against imports and in favor of certain domestic goods. Quotas on imports, for example, prevent foreign producers from selling above a certain limit in the country. An example of NTB is the the Voluntary Export Restraint the Reagan Administration imposed on Japanese car imports in the 1980s. 
The special problem they pose is that it is unclear whether a particular policy is a barrier to trade or not, especially when it comes to safety laws and health and environmental regulations.

Question 25

Explain the difference between the multilateral principles and bilateral enforcement in the GATT and WTO systems the regulate international trade.

Answer 25

Multilateral principles mean that members of the system agree to give concessions to all members in nondiscrimination, known as the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status in GATT and WTO. The broad agreements are multilateral, but the enforcement is bilateral; a state which is deemed to have suffered due to a violation of GATT or WTO rules from another state uses reciprocation for retaliation. Other states are not involved in the enforcement.

Question 26

In what two ways did the formation of the WTO strengthen the GATT system? What two types of products did the GATT exclude which are brought into the WTO system, although not successfully?

Answer 26

The formation of the WTO led to more focus on NTBs as tariffs were lowered and made compliance more effective and mandatory. It introduced dispute resolution procedure, trade policy reviews, established legal barriers for trade, and extended coverage to two products, textiles and agriculture, not covered under GATT

Question 27

Define fiscal and monetary policy. Assuming mobile capital, when can monetary policy be used for managing economic growth, inflation, and unemployment?


Answer 27

Fiscal policy is how the government spends and collects in taxes to try and encourage economic activity. Monetary policy is increasing the money supply to induce economic activity, and is usually the responsibility of the central bank. Banks are often reluctant to hand out loans during economic crises out of fear of not being payed back in a timely manner. The central bank may lower interest rates for banks, which could mean lower interest rates and cheaper credit for businesses, encouraging economic growth. In really bad times, banks may simply give money to banks to recapitalize them. However, increased money circulation could lead to inflation or the depreciation of the currency, which means that monetary policy could involve increasing interest rates slightly to manage the growth. This works best when the currency is floating, assuming mobile capital.

Question 28

Describe the basic features of the international monetary system in the following periods: before the 1930s, after World War II to 1971, and now.

Answer 28

The Bank of England held the gold standard with other currencies pegged to it before the 1930s. The value of paper currency was fixed to a certain amount of gold. In 1931, the Bank of England ended the pound-gold convertibility and devalued the pound. After World War II, the Bretton Woods System established the US as the central reserve currency which other currencies were pegged to. The US dollar was set at $35 per ounce of gold and other currencies were allowed to devalue. In 1971, Nixon ended the convertibility, allowing the US dollar to float, where the market was the deciding factor for value, and since then floating rates have become the norm.

Question 29

According to the Mundell-Fleming Trilemma, what three financial policies cannot be realized at the same time, so that states are forced to choose two out of three? Assuming mobile capital, when is fiscal policy effective for managing national economies as opposed to monetary policy.

Answer 29

A country cannot have a fixed exchange rate, monetary policy autonomy, and capital mobility all a the same time, but only two of them. Assuming mobile capital fiscal policy is most effective when the state has a fixed exchange rate, as this encourages trade and reduces exchange rate risk. It is preferred by smaller countries which rely heavily on trade.

Question 30

Who in a country benefits from fixed exchange rates instead of floating exchange rates? Who benefits from an overvalued currency?

Answer 30

A fixed rate favors those in international business, as it eliminates exchange rate risks and costs the businesses face from floating rates. It hurst those involved in a single domestic economy, as exchange rate risk has been removed for foreign competitors. Overvalued currencies benefit domestic investors and producers of nontradables, as they can buy more foreign goods for production and sale domestically. Those who engage in foreign exports benefit from undervalued currencies, while foreign competition suffers.

Question 31

Does a country with a small economy prefer devaluation or trade barriers as a way to respond to a downturn in its economy? Explain why.

Answer 31

A country with a small economy would prefer devaluation, as in the Great Depression, so that they can shift the costs of adjustment and downturn onto other economies. Trade barriers protect domestic industries, but smaller economies have less diversity and fewer industries, so it would not be as effective in stimulating growth.

Question 32

Does skilled or unskilled labor in a developing country benefit as the country opens up to trade? How might the type of labor which suffers as trade opens compensate for their loss?


Answer 32

As trade opens up, unskilled labor should benefit, as they are more plentiful in developing countries and can more actively compete in the global market. The skilled labor that suffers compensates through embedded liberalism. Social welfare programs and unemployment insurance are an example of this compensation, and small industrialized nations which rely heavily on trade typically have larger social welfare programs for compensation. Other compensation measures include training programs to help workers who lost jobs to foreign competition find new jobs, increasing mobility.

Question 33

Explain the difference between foreign direct investment and portfolio capital. Which form of finance poses a greater risk of capital flight in a financial crisis?

Answer 33

Foreign direct investment is the purchase or construction of assets in another country, such as a company building a factory in another country to sell goods in that country. It creates fixed assets in the other country. Portfolio investment covers the purchase of financial instruments rather than real assets, such as stocks and bonds. Portfolio Investments are riskier, as they are promises that the lender will get the money back in the future. The risk is combatted with collateral and financial institutions.

Question 34

Give one advantage and one disadvantage to the creation of the Euro for those countries in the Eurozone.

Answer 34

An advantage is that it encourages trade by eliminating exchange rate risk and not requiring currency changes. A disadvantage is that states cannot as readily adapt to changing economic conditions.

Question 35

What is the “race-to-the-bottom” that some claim that globalization causes? Name two state policies that are believed to be compromised by that race. Name one piece of evidence that suggest that his is not occurring.

Answer 35

The race-to-the-bottom is the idea that globalization will lead to a pursuit of profit in which standards and taxes are lowered to attract more investment. Other governments would have to match those standards to attract capital and the net result is worse off for all. In the last few decades, the level of government spending as a share of GDP has risen, opposing the idea of the race-to-the-bottom. Also, the race should have driven investment into developing countries, but FDI has spread across the developed world.

Question 36

Define the terms “public good” and “externality.” How do they pose different problems for international cooperation on the environment?

Answer 36

Public goods are general to all, no one can be excluded, and it has small individual contributions and effects. Externalities are when one party benefits from an action that imposes costs on another. These pose problems for international cooperation, as the cost of contributing for one state may exceed the benefits they receive from the contribution, especially in terms of environment limitations and the cost of those limitations. Governments may have to coerce their population to contribute, such as with limiting LA smog, but this is more of a domestic issue. Sometimes an actor will bear the entire expense, but in terms of the environment, states do not want to do that, and may not be able to if others do not cooperate. This raises distribution problems over what to do and informational problems over whether or not states are complying and how to enforce.

Question 37

Give two of the three problems that make it difficult for states to cooperate on a common policy to address global warming. Explain specifically how those problems occur in the issue of global warming.


Answer 37

There is a distribution problem in deciding what should be done, as local effects are unclear when it comes to global warming, and some areas benefit, such as Canada’s prairies with a warmer climate and perhaps more rain, while others, such as the Maldives, potentially lose from the low elevation. The unknown future makes it difficult to decide how to approach global warming. There are also economic costs of deciding how much is necessary to pay and who. Some experts suggest that not much action is needed now to have a significant impact on global warming while others say it would take 2-3% of global production. The developing world sees bearing the costs as an unfair barrier to becoming developed nations.

Question 38

Define an international norm. How does international law differ from a norm on the same topic; in what two ways does a law elaborate a norm?

Answer 38

Norms are a shared principle about which actions are appropriate and inappropriate for different social or political roles; they are what is considered proper conduct for states. An example is the idea the governments should protect their citizens’ rights, such as political rights and personal integrity. International law specifies and codifies the norms in detail, defining consequences of what the law considers inappropriate behavior, clarifying the expectations of other states, making it easier to anticipate how they will act.

Question 39

Give examples of both successes and failures of the laws of war in the 20th century.

Answer 39

One failure was when rumors of Japanese perfidy during World War II spread to U.S. forces, and the US stopped taking prisoners of war and even armed doctors, leading to both sides violating international laws of war. A success was how the US and British treated PoWs once they reached collection points and where they remained for the rest of the war. Another failure was how Nazi leadership used Soviet prisoners as slave labor. Another success was how the US treated PoWs properly during the Korean War.

Question 40

Provide three reasons why a treaty on the laws of war might be more effective than a norm to limit the destruction and violence of war in preventing atrocities.

Answer 40

The laws of war are specific as to what constitutes a violation and how to respond, so other states may respond
Voluntary compliance and ratification of treaties makes actions more predictable
Signing onto laws acts as a public commitment device to honor the laws.


Question 41

How might human rights law assist in the spread of human right law over time?

Answer 41

There is a distinction between the in-group and out-group, the latter of which does not abide by the laws or treaties and is isolated by the former. In the worst cases of human rights abuses, military intervention can be used to force human rights law to be honored. Other times, courts are used to bring offenders to answer for their crimes, such as the International Criminal Court. NGOs also play a large role in lobbying and conducting efforts in various nations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch conducting monitoring efforts and publishing public reports. However, universal human rights laws could conflict with state sovereignty, making it harder to enforce in some states. Human rights law serves as the rallying point to create institutions which monitor compliance with the law

Question 42

Sovereignty is the principle underlying how polities relate to one another in the modern state system. Give two other ways in which polities have related to one another internationally in history.

Answer 42

One other was empires in which there was inequality among units, as opposed to the sovereign state system. The metropole was the center of the empire which ruled over the peripheries. Borders will ill-defined and demarcated by the location of troops. Another system was the feudal system of medieval times, in which there were overlapping sources of authority. Nobles owed allegiances to the king, who could call on the forces of nobles when necessary, but these nobles also fought each other, meaning the king did not have a monopoly on the use of force as in the sovereign state system.

Question 43

Give two of the four issues central to the organization of the sovereign state system since 1500. For instance, what was the central issue of contention in Europe before the Peace of Westphalia, and what is the central issue facing state leaders now? How have the principles or institutions of the sovereign state system changed in response to the two issues you have identified? Be specific.

Answer 43

The Peace of Westphalia determined that states had mutual territorial recognition and saw each other as legal equals. The central source of contention prior to this was religion and religious wars. The Peace allowed rulers to determine state religions without hindrance from others, but after Westphalia this has become less of a source of contention for state leaders. Fights over territory began, and nationalism fueled this source of contention, especially with the fusing of the people and the nation with the French Revolution, and caused trouble for states such as Austria-Hungary. Today, we are affected by human rights issues, self-determination, and perhaps most of all, economic development. We have principles which support openness in trade, increased prosperity, and better conditions for people in general.