Test Bank

Chapter 1: How to Think about International Relations: Perspectives, Levels of Analysis, and Causal Arrows

Multiple Choice

1. If an explanation of World War I argues that Germany’s relative power was the cause of war, it is best described by the ______ levels of analysis.

a. individual

b. domestic

c. foreign policy

d. systemic

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Systemic Level of Analysis

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. If an explanation of World War I argues that Germany’s militarist ideology, which glorified aggressive war, was the cause of war, it is best described by the ______ perspective.

a. realist

b. liberal

c. identity

d. critical theory

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Identity Perspective

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. ______ describes the substance of a cause in an explanation of an international outcome.

a. Idea

b. Perspective

c. Norm

d. Power

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Levels of Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. The ______ perspective describes the prisoner’s dilemma as a zero-sum game, where one actor will gain and the other loses.

a. realist

b. liberal

c. identity

d. critical theory

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Prisoner’s Dilemma from the Realist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. ______ refers to the idea that in an anarchic international system, there is no higher authority above states, either at home or abroad.

a. Interdependence

b. International law

c. Multilateralism

d. Sovereignty

Cognitive Domain: KnowledgeAnswer Location: The Realist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. The realist perspective tends to define power as ______.

a. material capabilities

b. the ability to ensure successful outcomes

c. cooperative capabilities

d. the ability to persuade

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: The Realist PerspectiveDifficulty Level: Medium

7. To argue that Poland has been frequently attacked because it sits in the middle of the European plains is to argue for the importance of ______.

a. alliances

b. geopolitics

c. balance of power

d. power transition

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Power

Difficulty Level: Hard

8. What term describes the number of great powers in the international system?

a. Polarity

b. Alliances

c. Balance of power

d. Independence

Cognitive Domain: KnowledgeAnswer Location: Polarity and AlliancesDifficulty Level: Easy

9. Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer argue that ______ worlds are the most stable because two bigger powers have only each other to worry about.

a. unipolar

b. bipolar

c. tripolar

d. multipolar

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: Alliances and PolarityDifficulty Level: Medium

10. Deterrence refers to the use of ______.

a. force to defend a country after an attack

b. force to get another state to do something rather than to refrain from doing something

c. threatened retaliation through force to stop an attack before it occurs

d. threatened retaliation through force after an attack

Cognitive Domain: KnowledgeAnswer Location: War

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. What term describes the discussions and negotiations among states, as emphasized by the liberal perspective?

a. bargaining

b. interdependence

c. cooperation

d. diplomacy

Cognitive Domain: KnowledgeAnswer Location: DiplomacyDifficulty Level: Easy

12. Which term refers to a network of intergovernmental organizations that together make up a loose form of world government?

a. global governance

b. transnational relations

c. interdependence

d. a League of Nations

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: International Institutions

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. According to the liberal perspective, which of the following is true about institutions?

a. They increase efficiency and control by regularizing international contacts and communications.

b. They always have some physical organization or location.

c. They cannot shape the interests and identity of states.

d. They are controlled by a few powerful governments.

Cognitive Domain: AnalysisAnswer Location: International InstitutionsDifficulty Level: Medium

14. As emphasized by the identity perspective, the phrase “anarchy is what states make of it” refers to the idea that state behavior is shaped by which of the following?

a. the relative position states hold in the material distribution of power

b. that states can pursue their interests through reciprocal interactions in international institutions

c. that the nature of the international system is constructed through the repetitive social interactions of states

d. the attribute of states such that they are not subordinate to a higher power

Cognitive Domain: AnalysisAnswer Location: The Identity PerspectiveDifficulty Level: Medium

15. Relative identities are identities that ______.

a. are determined by states’ historical and external dialogues with other states

b. overlap and fuse based on norms and images that cannot be traced back to specific identities or their interrelationships

c. position actors’ self-images with respect to one another as similar or dissimilar

d. are derived from states’ unique national self-reflections and memories

Cognitive Domain: KnowledgeAnswer Location: Relative IdentitiesDifficulty Level: Easy

16. Marxist critical theory emphasizes which explanation of politics?

a. History is driven forward by a dialectic conflict between economic classes.

b. Language is used by the powerful in order to oppress and marginalize the powerless.

c. States fear losses more than they value gains, so they more often opt for security.

d. States seek to maximize power in order to defend themselves against the security dilemma.

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: Causal ArrowsDifficulty Level: Medium

17. Arguing that North Korea, like other absolute dictatorships, is dangerous is an example of an argument from the ______ level of analysis.

a. foreign policy

b. domestic

c. international

d. individual

Cognitive Domain: AnalysisAnswer Location: Levels of AnalysisDifficulty Level: Medium

18. The ______ level of analysis is often called a two-level game?

a. transnational

b. individual

c. foreign policy

d. domestic

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: Foreign Policy Level of AnalysisDifficulty Level: Medium

19. Thinking through a realist lens, which of the following factors is important in international relations??

a. modernization and technological change

b. the development of increasingly complex institutions that centralize legitimate power

c. interdependence among states

d. the security dilemma

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: The Liberal PerspectiveDifficulty Level: Medium

20. Marxist critical theory emphasizes which of the following explanations for politics?

a. History is driven forward by a dialectic conflict between economic classes.

b. Language is used by the powerful in order to oppress and marginalize the powerless.

c. States fear losses more than they value gains, so they more often opt for security.

d. States seek to maximize power in order to defend themselves against the security dilemma.

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: Causal ArrowsDifficulty Level: Medium

21. Arguing that President George W. Bush and a small group of neoconservative advisers made the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 for their own reasons is an example of an argument from the ______ level of analysis.

a. foreign policy

b. supranational

c. international

d. individual

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: Domestic Level of AnalysisDifficulty Level: Medium

22. ______ is described as a situation in where one actor will gain while the other loses.

a. Competition

b. Compellance

c. Zero-sum

d. Equilibrium

Cognitive Domain: KnowledgeAnswer Location: The Prisoner’s Dilemma from the Realist PerspectiveDifficulty Level: Easy

23. Cooperation facilitates the provision of better outcomes for some while not harming others, whereas ______ aims to distribute gains that are zero-sum.

a. balancing

b. buckpassing

c. bargaining

d. bandwagoning

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: The Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. Interdependence refers to ______.

a. the mutual dependence on states and nonstate actors in the international system

b. the behavior of states toward one another based largely on mutual exchanges

c. a situation in which one country is more powerful than all the others

d. a formal defense arrangement wherein states align against a greater power to prevent dominance

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: The Liberal PerspectiveDifficulty Level: Easy

25. In international relations, ______ refers to the use of force to get another state to do something.

a. defense

b. soft power

c. compellence

d. coercion

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: WarDifficulty Level: Easy

26. What is the name of the specific realist theory that argues that states seek maximum or dominant power?

a. structural realism

b. defensive realism

c. offensive realism

d. conservative realism

Cognitive Domain: ComprehensionAnswer Location: WarDifficulty Level: Easy

27. Stalin’s 1939 pact with Germany—which at the time represented the greatest threat to the Soviet Union—is an example of which of the following?

a. bandwagoning

b. deterring

c. power balancing

d. buckpassing

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: War

Difficulty Level: Easy

Multiple Response

1. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. In addition to theories that concern the construction of identities, the identity perspective includes which of the following types of theories?

a. theories that focus on soft power

b. theories that focus on environmental systems

c. theories that focus on psychology

d. theories of relative power.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Foreign Policy Level of Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. What is the balance of power?

a. the process by which states seek to ensure that no single state dominates the international system

b. an outcome that establishes a rough equilibrium among states

c. the decentralized distribution of power in the international system

d. the material capabilities of a country

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Balance of Power

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following concepts are central to the defensive realist perspective?

a. defense

b. deterrence

c. cooperation

d. interdependence

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: War

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. In contrast to the realist perspective, which of the following factors does the liberal perspective see as important in international relations?

a. modernization and technological change

b. the development of increasingly complex institutions that centralize legitimate power

c. interdependence among states

d. the security dilemma

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following are examples of nongovernmental organizations?

a. student, tourist, or professional organizations

b. international labor unions

c. multinational corporations

d. federal governments

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Collective goods have which of the following properties?

a. They are indivisible.

b. They cannot be appropriated.

c. They are controlled by a few states.

d. They are transferable.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. The construction of identities is a process that shapes which of the following?

a. how actors define who they are

b. how actors behave toward one another

c. how actors define anarchy

d. how actors understand cooperation

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Identity Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Intrastate violence includes all of the following EXCEPT ______.

a. family violence

b. wars between states

c. large displacements of populations

d. natural disasters

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Technological Change and Modernization: Nongovernmental Organizations

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. According to the liberal perspective, three factors change the prisoner’s dilemma to a more cooperative game: interactions or communications, common goals, and technological change.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Perspectives in international relations help us find facts and order these facts differently to explain international situations.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Identity Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. The realist perspective focuses on global society and international institutions.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Identity Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. If an explanation for World War I argues that Kaiser Wilhelm’s bad diplomacy was the cause of war, it can be said that the cause is coming from the state-leader level.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Identity Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. In non-zero-sum games, both sides will always gain equally.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Prisoner’s Dilemma from the Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Realist approaches often favor multilateralism and cooperation through international institutions to mitigate anarchy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. The security dilemma results from the fact that a state, as it gains power in order to gain security, threatens the security of other states.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Security Dilemma

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. War is most likely to occur during moments of power transition, or when an emerging power challenges a declining power.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: War

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Defense is the use of threatened force to deter an attack before it occurs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: War

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. The balance of power prevents war.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: War

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. According to the liberal perspective, hierarchy is more important than anarchy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Historically, international law was developed to protect the interests of states. However, more recently, it has evolved to address the rights of citizens and individual human beings to protection from mistreatment.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: International Institutions

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. The distribution of identities includes both internal and external identities.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Relative Identities

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Feminism is a theory that emphasizes the dialectical or conflictual relationship between capitalist and communist states in the international system.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Feminism

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. A state is said to have acquired sovereignty when it has monopolized force within its borders and mobilized that force to defend its borders.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: State Actors and Sovereignty

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer

1. Aligning to ensure that no one state dominates the international system is called ______, while aligning with (not against) the greatest power is known as ______.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Balance of Power

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Nongovernmental organizations are nonstate actors that engage in ______ relations, or relations outside the direct influence of national governments and international institutions.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Technological Change and Modernization: Nongovernmental Organizations

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Institutions, once created, tend to evolve through feedback and reinforcement, a process which is known as ______.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: International Institutions

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Clean air is a classic example of a ______, which is emphasized by the liberal perspective.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Collective Goods

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. From the liberal perspective, the essence of international law is ______, or the inclusion of all states.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: International Law

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. According to the identity perspective, the ______ operates at the systemic level of analysis and determines whether states will treat each other as friends, rivals, or enemies.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Relative Identities

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. ______ constructivism is an identity perspective that allows for greater influence on the part of independent actors in shaping identity.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Identity Perspective

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. ______refers to the exchange of ideas that are free of material or institutional influence, such as pure speech acts, in order to establish claims to validity.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Identity Perspective

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. ______are those that position actors’ self-images with respect to one another as similar or dissimilar, while ______ are those that overlap and fuse based on norms and images that cannot be traced back to specific identities or their interrelationships.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Relative Identities

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Groups of individuals or countries that share a broad base of common knowledge and trust are better known as ______.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Distribution of Identities

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. The ______ refers to a phenomenon whereby as countries become stronger and stronger democracies, they tend not to go to war with one another or engage in military threats.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Democratic Peace

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. The situation that results when one state arms to defend itself and, as a result, threatens other states is called ______.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Security Dilemma

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. How do the power balancing and power transition schools of the realist perspective differ on the question of when war is most likely?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: War

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. According to the liberal perspective, what are collective goods and how can they lead to cooperation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. According to the identity perspective, what are the internal and external dimensions of a state’s identity?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Liberal Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. According to the identity perspective, what is the distribution of identities, and how can it determine how states cooperate or conflict?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Relative Identities

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Why is the foreign policy level of analysis called a two-level game?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Foreign Policy Level of Analysis

Difficulty Level: Hard

6. According to the realist perspective, how does anarchy in the international system lead to war?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Realist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. How does collective security differ from the balance of power?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Collective Goods | Balance of Power

Difficulty Level: Hard

8. According to the identity perspective, where do ideas come from?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Identity Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium