Exam format:
Each exam will have three sections. One section will have multiple-choice questions, another section will have fill-in-the-blank/definitions, and the last section will have one essay. The multiple-choice questions will cover conceptual understanding, details regarding international relations, as well as historical and current-event examples covered in class or in the textbook. Country identification on maps will be included in the multiple-choice section.
Potential Definition Terms:
Exam directions: Write in the correct terms for each of the following
sentences.
Note: The list of terms will not be provided with the exam.
| adjudication | IGO | preferences |
| alliance | influence | prestige |
| anarchy | international law | privateering |
| arbitration | international regime | proliferation |
| autonomy | legitimacy | reciprocity |
| balance of power | limited war | satisficing |
| balancing | MAD | security |
| band-wagoning | mediation | security dilemma |
| bipolar | MNC | social identity |
| capability | monopoly of violence | sovereignty |
| collective security | multipolar | state |
| compellence | nation | structural violence |
| conflict of interest | nationalism | system stability |
| consensus | nation-state | territorial waters |
| counterinsurgency | negotiation | total war |
| credible threat | NGO | tragedy of the commons |
| deterrence | optimizing | transparency |
| ethnocentrism | pirate | treaty |
| foreign policy | plausible deniability | unipolar |
| geopolitics | polarity | unitary actor |
| hegemon | positive peace | welfare |
| hegemonic stability | power | WMD |
| hierarchy | power projection | world federalist |
Other concepts or problems:
|
Thinkers |
Example Events |
Other topics |
|
Jane Addams
Hugo Grotius |
Thirty Years War |
Other forms of political organization |
Potential Essay Questions:
Exam directions: Using your knowledge of current events and the course
material, write on one of the essays below. For your essay, be sure to address all of its questions or problems. In addition, be sure to define (at least in passing) any key terms that are important in your essay.
1. If all the countries in the world were democracies, Democratic Peace theory suggests that "perpetual peace" would be achieved. Construct an argument that bolsters this prediction of world peace OR that contradicts it (suggesting instead that some kind of war would remain possible). Ground your argument both logically and with real-world examples.
2. What are the defining features of international intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and what principal roles have they traditionally played in world politics? Discuss how sovereignty, the level of consensus, and the degree of enforcement all interact to create a strong (or weak) IGO.
3. The United Nations is the product of fixing the security problems leading up to the Second World War as well as fixing problems with earlier security institutions. First, discuss how the United Nations is designed to ensure security. Then, provide a detailed assessment of whether the United Nations is equipped to handle the security problems of today.
4. What are the basic goals of any state? Choose and identify a specific state (other than your home country). What goal is most important for that state? Why is this goal most important for that state? What policies is this state pursuing in its attempt to reach its most important goal? How are each of the other goals affected by the pursuit of these policies?
5. Discuss the nature of political order in the international system. On the basis of this discussion, how close is today's international system to a world government? Back up your argument with examples.
6. Discuss the goals and the shortcomings of collective security. How, in particular, is collective security suppose to produce system stability? What is the role of the hegemon in bolstering collective security? In what ways could a hegemon undermine the goals of collective security?