Study Guide for Second Exam

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. The final exam will be cumulative. The multiple-choice and definition sections will include terms from the first study guide and will both include more questions than the first exam. You will still only answer one essay question.

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.

absolute advantage enclave economy MFN status
adjudication exchange-rate policy micro-loan
anarchy export-led growth MNC
arbitration fiscal policy modernization theory
autarky fixed currency exchange monetary policy
autonomy free trade nation
brain drain free-trade area nation-state
capital accumulation functionalism NGO
cartel hierarchy non-discrimination
cash crop human capital prestige
central bank hyperinflation protectionism
central planning IGO reciprocity
collective goods problem imperialism security
common market import quota sovereignty
comparative advantage import substitution state
conditionality integration subsidiary
convertibility intellectual property subsidy
customs union interdependence supranationalism
devaluation international regime sustainable development
development managed float tariff
discount rate mediation treaty
efficiency mercantilism welfare




Other concepts or problems:

ThinkersOther Examples
John Maynard Keynes
Elinor Ostrom
Thomas Malthus
Karl Marx
David Ricardo
Adam Smith
Bretton Woods and the gold standard
Default vs. Debt Renegotiation
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Demographic Transition
import substitution versus export-led growth
E.U. integration history
Overlapping European memberships
WTO dispute resolution procedures

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. 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?
  2. Few effective international agreements have been reached to solve the problem of global warming. Given the several difficulties associated with managing this problem, what creative international solutions can you thing of? What would be the strengths and weaknesses of your solutions in the short term and in the long term?
  3. Describe the demographic transition. How does this create a problem for states undergoing development? If you were the leader of a state at the beginning stages of development, what policies would you implement to overcome the problems created by the demographic transition and justify why these policies would be beneficial?
  4. How do states develop economically? What domestic policies can a developing state's government enact to encourage development? How do these policies encourage development? What are the pitfalls of these policies? How does international investment in a developing economy help development? How can this investment hinder development?
  5. Some global economic issues (like labor standards and environmental regulations) have not yet been addressed in as comprehensive a manner as other issues (like trade in goods and services). Why is this the case? What positions do developed countries take on such issues? What positions do developing countries take on these issues? Describe an international agreement that might be acceptable to both sides. Be sure to include arguments as to why both sides would find the agreement acceptable.
  6. What is reciprocity? What is nondiscrimination? Relate these two concepts to the WTO in terms of the organization's basic goal and in terms of its dispute resolution procedure. In what ways does the WTO's dispute resolution procedure differ from the GATT's? How does the difference threaten state sovereignty?