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BU PLSC 117 - Sample midterm

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Sample Mid-Term Examination The purpose of this sample exam is to acquaint you with the format of the actual exam, and give you examples of the kind of questions you can expect. The questions on the actual exam will be different. As an exercise, you should look up the answers to these questions on your own, or in collaboration with your classmates rather than asking me or your teaching assistant to tell you. I. Multiple Choice. Select the best answer to each question from among the choices given. Mark your answer on the answer sheet provided. The actual exam will contain 25 questions, each valued at 2 points. Ten sample questions are given here. 1. According to Mancur Olson, why is it useful to compare monarchs to "stationary bandits"? (a) Because monarchs, like bandits, are violent people. (b) Because monarchs, unlike "roving bandits," must continuously extract resources from people in the same territory over time. (c) Because both keep secrets from the general public. (d) Because there were many bandits in Europe at the time monarchies were first established. 2. In his August 21 editorial comparing the sanctions imposed on Russia to those the United States imposed on Japan before World War II, which of the following points did Paul Samuelson make? (a) The parallel between Japan before World War II and Russia today is misleading. (b) Economic sanctions never work, because they have little effect on their targets. (c) Sanctions can be dangerous because their targets sometimes respond with military force. (d) The sanctions on Russia must include steel and petroleum products, just as the sanctions on Japan did. 3. According to the "Melian dialogue" in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, what happened to the city of Melos after its leaders decided to resist the Athenian demands? (a) After a long siege, a negotiated settlement was reached. (b) Melos resisted Athenian attacks with assistance from Sparta. (c) The Athenians destroyed Melos, killing or enslaving it inhabitants. (d) After Athenian military forces arrived, the Melians reconsidered and gave in to Athenian demands. 4. Near the end of The Godfather, Michael Corleone becomes the godfather to his sister Connie's son at the child's baptism. After the ceremony, Michael confronts the father of his new godson, his brother-in-law Carlo. What happens to Carlo after their conversation? (a) Carlo is shot to death by one of Michael's men. (b) Carlo promises never to beat Connie again. (c) Carlo is banished to Las Vegas. (d) Carlo is strangled upon getting into a car to leave the meeting. 5. Which of the following is not necessarily a characteristic of the state as an international actor? (a) functional differentiation (b) sovereignty (c) public support (d) international recognition2 6. In research treating war as a bargaining process, what is a "commitment problem"? (a) The tendency of states to make hasty promises without thinking through them. (b) The difficulty state leaders have in convincing their adversaries that they will do the things they have promised to do. (c) The unwillingness of states to make promises to their enemies. (d) The difficulty of finding allies when states are in serious trouble. 7. In terms of the levels of analysis discussed in class, which of the following is a state-level claim about the causes of war? (a) Wars are caused by evil leaders. (b) Wars are caused by the security dilemma. (c) Wars are caused by the lack of democratic accountability. (d) Both a and c 8. The "security dilemma" refers to: (a) the difficulty of financing national security policy (b) a situation in which defensive actions by one state threaten other states (c) the trade-off between "guns and butter" (d) uncertainty about whether to form alliances or pursue a military buildup in order to insure the security of the state 9. What is the expected outcome (or "equilibrium") in a single-play Prisoner's Dilemma? (e) Both prisoners will talk to the police. (f) Neither prisoner will talk to the police. (g) One prisoner will talk to the police, but the other will not. (h) There is no equilibrium outcome in a single-play Prisoner's Dilemma. 10. What was NSC 68? (a) A secret 1940 U.S. policy statement setting out plans for intervention in World War II (b) A secret 1950 U.S. policy statement calling for a greater commitment of resources to foreign policy, especially containing the Soviet Union. (c) A secret 1968 U.S. policy statement setting out plans for withdrawal from Vietnam. (d) A secret 2002 U.S. policy statement setting out plans to invade Iraq. II. Short Answer. Briefly answer 5 of the following 7 questions. (10 points each.) 1. According to liberal international relations theories, what is one way states overcome the barriers to cooperation in situations that resemble the "Prisoner's Dilemma"? 2. What is the difference between the realist and the liberal understandings of "great powers"? 3. Why do realists point to the decline of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires as a cause of the First World War? 4. Before the Iraq War, some policy makers argued that the United States needed to invade Iraq so that it could replace Saddam Hussein's regime with a democracy. Which school of thought in international relations would be more likely to support this argument: liberalism or realism? 5. Give an example of a claim about the causes of war that employs the individual level of analysis. 6. Give two reasons democratic states might be more likely to survive in the long run than autocratic states. 7. Name two conditions that scholars have found to be associated with state failure. These may come either from the lecture or the Foreign Policy Fragile States


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