POSC230Part 1
Roskin, pgs.40-54, IR5-18
Why War?
True or False Questions
1. Determining the causality of war is hard to prove because any given war has a mixture of causes with its own unique sets of circumstances, argue Roskin and Berry. True or False
2. Archeological evidence indicates primitive hunter-gathers practiced plenty of violence against other humans, though it was episodic and loosely organized vendettas among families and clans. True or False
3. Man's closest relatives, the primates, are mostly aggressive and solitary. True or False
4. Fortunately, biological and psychological studies have proven that human beings are naturally aggressive and this is the reason why wars happen so often. True or False
5. During the Cold War, many Americans blamed Communist states for causing wars such as Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. True or False
6. Marxists argue that a capitalist economy inclines toward peace to maximize profit margins rather than war. True or False
7. Lenin was correct and the evidence shows that the competition for colonies played a dominant role in causing World War I. True or False
8. The democratic peace theory argues that democracies do not go to war with other democracies.True or False
9. A state can be democratic, dictatorial, Islamist, or vegetarian, but if attacked most will fight back, according to Roskin and Berry. True or False
10. When Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939, thousands died fighting against the Nazi onslaught. True or False
11. According to Roskin and Berry, the tragedy of today’s hostility between the Middle East and Europe is the fact that for centuries both regions had been on friendly, cooperative, and supportive grounds. True or False
12. Historically, most of the Muslim–Christian wars were about religion and conversion and not material booty and acquiring lands. True or False
13. Whenever war breaks out, its political goals must be arrived at by military leaders not civilian idiots, argued Clausewitz. True or False
14. According to Clausewitz, in order to win a war simply requires to take the enemy’s capital city because there is where the civilian leadership will be found. True or False
15. General MacArthur made a mistake believing that China would never enter the Korean War when American forces pushed into North Korea. True or False
16. Although the world is a complex place, IR theorists have been able to effectively determine when a country is truly a legitimate threat or not. True or False
17. In misperception or image theory, the psychological and real worlds bounce against each other in the minds of political leaders. True or False
18. Once convinced that they are being attacked, normally peaceful people will commit all manner of atrocities, argue Roskin and Berry. True or False
19. Many Americans perceive Muslims as fanatics and terrorists while most Muslims perceive Americans as arrogant and imperialistic, according to Roskin and Berry. True or False
20. According to Roskin and Berry, command pressure reached down into the working levels of U.S. intelligence agencies, requiring them to produce intelligence confirming the leaders' worst fears about Iraq. True or False
21. Any given war leaves behind regional imbalances, thirsts for revenge, and elite calculations that often lead to another war. True or False
22. For many IR scholars, the origin of the security dilemma stems from the amount of power nation-states are able to accumulate and not the type of international system that prevails at any given time. True or False
23. "No more Munichs" analogy was used for decades in Washington and contributed to U.S. intervention in Vietnam. True or False
24. If you proclaim your country will never intervene militarily, you notify the world’s dictators that they can murder with impunity. Trueor False
25. Roskin and Berry believe that patriotism must always be encouraged and supported, especially when a country gets stuck in a long conflict. True or False
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The following theory of war stipulates that a rising power overtakes a previous dominant power: a) dominant recession, b) power transitions, c) evolving strength, d) dilapidating hierarchy.
2. What was the cause of the disastrous Pelopponesian War according to Thucydides? a) the growth of Athenian power and the fear this caused in Sparta, b) the invasion by Sparta of Athens closest neighbor, c) the disintegrating economic condition of Athens, requiring new sources of wealth, d) the introduction of a new ideology by Athens extolling the virtue of war.
3. What does Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker argue about human violence? a) Human violence has been increasing over thousands of years, b) Skeletal remains show that primitive humans had a high chance of dying at the hands of other humans, c) The propensity for violence has diminished because of improved human nature, d) Because populations are now several times larger, therefore the same absolute number killed is at a higher percentage.
4. The extreme conservative favors returning to the old ways: a) ideologue, b) subversive, c) reactionary, d) pacifist.
5. Norman Mailer said the following about the cause of the Vietnam War: a) American leaders are racist like their European counterparts, b) Vietnamese people are childlike and must be protected, c) Americans' love of hunting, d) Americans' hatred of the spread of communism.
6. Recent research suggests that young soldiers: a) are natural born killers, b) initially are reticent to kill but eventually begin to enjoy the battle, c) are complex creatures with no uniform quality substantiating how they’ll behave in a battle, d) have to be carefully trained to kill.
7. According to most anthropologists, which of the following best explains human behavior? a) genetic inheritance, b) it is psychological, c) culture and circumstances, d) unexplainable.
8. The San people of Southern Africa, whose DNA is closest to that of original humans, are: a) quite amiable, b) naturally violent, c) socially deviant, d) anti-social and promiscuous.
9. In Waltz's third level of analysis, wars become operative because of: a) evil personalities, b) an expansionist state, c) an international anarchic system, d) bad economic conditions.
10. Why did classic liberals, like Norman Angell, argue prior to WWI that the free market would lead to peace? a) freedom compels states to come to the realization that life is precious and wars are wasteful, b) the free market has nothing to do with peace or war; its preoccupation is only innovation, c) interest groups determine war or peace, not state or economic systems, d) the economies of most countries become so prosperous and interdependent that war becomes too costly.
11. Globalization is an updated version of the view that trade and capitalism bring about: a) tension and conflict, b) collusion, c) peace, d) war and conquest.
12. The following individual said that it was undemocratic regimes that cause war, specifically the reactionary monarchies of Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1914: a) Theodore Roosevelt, b) Woodrow Wilson, c) William McKinley, d) William H. Taft.
13. Why was NATO formed? a) As a means to stabilize Germany after the war, b) To defend against the Soviet threat, c) To reassure the French that they would be protected, d) As a result of the British wanting to reconstitute their empire.
14. War is a continuation of policy by other means: a) Marx, b) Lenin, c) Tocqueville, d) Clausewitz.
15. To win in war, argues Clausewitz, you need: a) the government and army in sync but not the people, b) You need the cooperation and support of the people but not the government, c) the support and cooperation of the army, government, and people, d) a more advanced technology with an effective military.
16. According to Roskin and Berry, why did the U.S. take the Philippines and Hawaii according to macro theories of international relations? a) To save the people of these lands from brutal dictators, b) To Christianize and modernize the people, c) If the U.S. didn't take them, someone else would, d) Both these places are rich in natural resources and raw materials, necessary to U.S. economic interests.
17. How did John Mearsheimer define a situation where two powerful nation-states collide against each other and end up going to war? a) rear guard conquest, b) offensive realism, c) constructive security, d) anticipated hegemony.
18. During the Cold War, the U.S. adopted the following aphorism: a) Better late than never, b) If you break it, it's yours, c) If you want peace, prepare for war, d) If they move, kill 'um.'
19. Another famous aphorism in IR is “the enemy of my enemy is my: a) enemy, b) friend, c) slave, d) toy.
20. Why did Germany and Japan become U.S. allies just five years after the end of World War II? a) they were both deathly afraid of the U.S., b) both were headed by corrupt governments, allowing the U.S. to essentially buy their loyalty, c) They each wanted to extract as much capital and technology from the U.S. to eventually challenge the latter’s hegemony, d) All three faced Communist expansion and its existing threat.
21. In macro international theory, the balance of power theory says that peace results when: a) several states improve their national power by forming alliances, b) one state becomes more powerful than weaker states, compelling the rest to peace, c) two states become competitive forcing the rest to acquiesce, d) a group of states become all powerful refusing to form alliances.
22. When did fighting in Bosnia calm down in 1995 according to Roskin and Berry? a) When the Serbs had essentially conquered all their enemies, b) When the U.S. and its allies used the carrot by offering a series of concessions to the Serbs if they laid down their arms, c) When the Serbs were on the defensive, they had a strong incentive to stop the fighting, d) When both sides had become too exhausted to continue fighting.
23. When are states most tempted to go to war, according to hierarchy of power theorists? a) in times of peaceful coexistence, when economies are relatively stable and trade is significant, b) in times of transition, when the power hierarchy is blurred, c) in periods where a critical resource is found in a neighboring state, no matter how powerful either state, d) when one state has achieved a technological breakthrough that advantages its military capability.
24. What led to the Cuban missile crisis, the closest we came to World War III? a) The Soviets believed that they were superior to the U.S. in nuclear warheads, b) Nikita Khrushchev had an inferiority complex believing that provoking the U.S. would give the Soviets added credibility worldwide, c) Robert Kennedy had inadvertently insulted the Soviet ambassador at a luncheon that resulted in a tit-for-tat scenario, d) Kennedy's misperception that there was a missile gap creating an unnecessary arms raise.
25. Depending on the geographical and political situation, many countries are dominated by fear, sometimes justified, sometimes exaggerated: a) paranoia dichotomy, b) nullification politics, c) stress incremental paradigm, d) the fear factor.
26. Based on the “previous-war” theory, the best outcome is: a) when waging war, try to leave your enemy’s infrastructure intact to allow a quick recovery and minimize the losses, b) to have avoided a protracted war where there are many more unnecessary civilian casualties, c) where the losing enemy has been thoroughly crushed, who’s war machine and society have been completely devastated, d) to achieve a diplomatic resolution that assures a fair and equitable resolution of the conflict.
27. If your state has too much power, you create fear among other states, who themselves arm and ally with other states to offset your power. a) security dilemma, b) insecure debacle, c) cyclical insecurity, d) security madness.
28. The chronically insecure Soviet Union built more military power than it actually needed resulting in: a) generating more allies to assure the latter's security and further enhancing Soviet power, b) a world hegemonic power that nations respected and admired, c) unintentionally creating a ring of enemies around itself, thus making it more insecure, d) militarizing its people that made the Soviet citizen embracing war rather than condemning it.
29. After Napoleon was defeated, Europe generally relaxed and enjoyed three generations of peace and prosperity in the nineteenth century until: a) the rise of the British Empire with its navy, b) Germany was unified and became expansionist, c) the death of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, d) the birth of the Soviet Union.
30. What did Kissinger mean by establishing a "legitimate" world system? a) A world government with policing authority based on state equality not power like the UN, b) A world system based on power where the U.S. is dominant dictating the peace, c) A system where weapons of mass destruction are given to the countries of the planet to neutralize war, d) a world system where no country threatens another, respecting the right of nation to exist. OK, S16, p.48
31. As some states arise in power, argue some realist thinkers, there is the inevitability of war based on historical precedent: a) strategic imperative theory, b) inevitable prowess theory, c) imperialist hubris theory, d) rising-power theory.
32. How did Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, and Belgium settle the scramble for Africa in the late 19th century? a) by threatening war and economic sanctions, b) through coercion and intimidation, c) by applying diplomacy, d) by war.
33. What extended World War I? a) barbed wire and machine guns, b) the tenacity of the German spirit, c) the weakness of intelligence, d) the problems of logistics.
34. What are the similarities between South Vietnam and Afghanistan? a) both wars were being directed by a central leadership, b) both had weak, corrupt governments, c) both are populated by a homogeneous culture and language, d) both agreed with what the goals of the United States were.
35. He said “pacifism is a type of heresy because it requires Christians to do nothing in the face of evil; you just stand there and let the murders continue: a) Karl Marx, b) Adolf Hitler, c) Reinhold Niebuhr, d) Joseph Stalin.
Fill-in Questions
1. Organized warfare was the result of:
a) the founding of cities and their close offshoot, ______:
b) these produced ______, kings, a warrior class and a reason for fighting other kingdoms: territory.
c) More territory brought a state more food and more ______and
d) thus more ______to both resist attack and to expand.
2. What are Kenneth Waltz's 3 levels of analysis?
a) "____" supposes individual humans cause wars.
b) Bad "______" are the cause of wars.
c) The "International system" is ______, there is no overriding force or power to make countries obey.
3. Marxists have argued that capitalist economies incline a country toward war for the following reasons:
a) When the capitalists run out of ______in one country, they expand to other countries,
b) giving rise to ______and wars
c) as the several capitalist powers _____ into each other around the globe.
4. According to balance-of-power theorists, the great periods of relative peace were:
a) between the Peace of ______in 1648 and
b) the wars that grew out of the ______Revolution (1792-1814), and
c) again from 1815 to the start of World War I in 1914, have been times when European ______balanced each other.
d) When balances broke down there was ____.
5. What arguments have been used to criticize the balance-of-power theory by advocatesof the hierarchy of power theory?
a) First, calculations of power are so problematic, it is ______to know when power balances.
b) Second, the periods of ______, occurred when power was ______, when states were ranked hierarchically in terms of power.
c) Then every nation knew where it stood on some sort of a ______of relative power.
6. The defeat of Germany and Japan after World War II, based on "the previous war theory," left behind regional power vacuums that
a) brought about Communist power into East ______and East _____,
b) which led to the ______, Korea, and ______.
7. Why was the Munich analogy seriously misapplied to Vietnam in the 1960s?
a) In the first place, the ______did not even participate in the Munich conference and did not give Hitler anything.
b) ______and Paris take the blame for the Munich fiasco.
c) Second, ______was a far more complex foe than Hitler, requiring very different strategies.
d) Third, Hitler was in a ______; Communist leaders, believing history was on their side (it was not), took their time.
e) In 1938 Britain and France were militarily _____ and dominated by war-weary leaders, very unlike Washington in the 1960s.
ANSWERS
True/False Questions
1. True
3. False
5. True
7. False
9. True
11. False
13. False
15. True
17. True
19. True
21. True
23. True
25. False
Multiple Choice Questions
1. b
3. b
5. c
7. c
9. c
11. c
13. b
15. c
17. b
19. b
21. a
23. b
25. d
27. a
29. b
31. d
33. a
35. c
Fill-in Questions
1. a) civilization, b) states, c) people, d) power
3. a) markets, b) empires, c) bump
5. a) impossible, b) peace, asymmetric, c) ladder
7. a) United States, b) London, c) Communism, d) hurry, e) weak.
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