American Foreign Policy Political Science Exam
Review Hook readings, other reading assignments, the slides, your notes, and the discussion boards. The questions below can support your studying (although other questions from the second half of the course could appear on the exam). I encourage you to write out your responses to the questions to develop your thoughts thoroughly.
1. According to Hook, what is grand strategy (briefly stated)?
2. What are the primary national security challenges that Posen emphasized?
3. What are some strategic advantages that the United States enjoys?
4. What is "soft balancing" (see, e.g., Posen)?
5. Why might you believe that the United States should "lean forward," i.e., increase its international engagement? What are the best supporting arguments?
6. Why might you believe that the United States should "pull back," i.e., decrease its international engagement? What are the best supporting arguments? (Be able to argue both sides compellingly!)
7. What is the Powell Doctrine? Explain its key parts and why it is important. Discuss its relevance in the context of the United States' warfighting since 1991.
8. What does "MENA" stand for? Why is that acronym meaningful?
9. What countries does Iraq border? What countries does Syria border?
10. What do IS, ISIS, and ISIL stand for? Why are these acronyms helpful in explaining the goal of the group? What is the alternative name, used more often in European presses? Why would these media prefer this name?
11. What was the Sykes-Picot Agreement, and why was/is it important?
12. Which countries are majority Shia? (Note: maps may not help because we're talking about population size, not territory in which they reside.)
13. How many large-scale interstate wars has Israel fought since its creation in 1948?
14. What predominantly Muslim nations are members of NATO?
15. What is the apparent outcome of the Arab Spring? How successful was the democratization movement?
16. Why is China so important for U.S. foreign policy? How does their population compare to that of the United States'? Economy? Military?
17. Why is Taiwan important for China?
18. Where is Taiwan located?
19. Discuss reasons why conflict might become deadly between China and the United States.
20. On what continent is Russia located (somewhat-trick question!)? Where is the majority of Russia's population located (what part of the country)?
21. What former Soviet countries are now parts of NATO (what does NATO stand for)?
22. What historical foreign invasions into Russia represented existential threats?
23. Where has Russia recently engaged in military conflict (i.e., within the last 10 years)?
24. How successful has democracy and capitalism been in Russia? Why?
25. How is social identity defined, per Larson and Shevchenko? Why is social identity important for the study of international relations?
26. What are the three methods for attaining a positively distinctive identity, per social identity theory? What approaches are currently being employed and have been used in the past by China and Russia?
27. In what ways does economic strength contribute to national power?
28. What three general models of international political economy does Hook discuss? Briefly describe each.
29. What's the Washington Consensus? The Beijing Consensus?
30. Who are the United States' top three trading partners? (On what continent are two of them?)
31. What are the United States' objectives for foreign aid?
32. Approximately how much of the U.S. federal budget is allocated to foreign aid?
33. According to the chart in Hook, what country contributes the most in total volume of development aid? What country (or countries) contribute the most in total percentage of gross national income?
34. Define "economic sanctions." What is the purpose of economic sanctions? What forms can sanctions take?
35. What does "NPT" stand for? What are the goals and objectives of the NPT?
36. Which five countries are the internationally recognized and accepted nuclear powers, per the NPT? What do they have in common with the five permanent members of the UNSC (what does "UNSC" stand for)?
37. What are the four other states that we know or strongly believe possess nuclear weapons?
38. How many times in history have nuclear weapons been used?
39. What is the "nuclear taboo"?
40. What are the constituent parts of the nuclear triad?
41. What is a "second-strike capability" and why is it important?
42. What does Dr. Strangelove reveal about nuclear deterrence?
43. Rather than large armies, Obama has often used specific air and ground forces to conduct targeted killings (e.g., of terrorist leaders). What are these specialized (1) air and (2) ground assets called, according to Hook (Ch. 10)?
a. Answer: drones and special forces
44. What is "cyberwarfare"?
45. In 2011, according to Hook, what geographical region had the largest number (by far) of terrorist attacks? What region had the fewest?
46. Define terrorism. Be able to apply the definition to explain whether a given event is terrorism or not. (NOTE: we are not discussing the event on our campus.)
47. List two acts of international terrorism targeting the United States that occurred within the last 25 years.
48. Why might the threat of terrorism be exaggerated?
49. If the threat of terrorism is overblown, what are the costs of doing so?
50. What does the phrase "winning hearts and minds" mean? What strategy (or tactic, according to Hook) is this part of? What are the "hearts" and what are the "minds"?
51. According to Hook, the U.S. conception of human rights emphasizes liberty, but the conception favored by most other countries includes a second factor. What is this other factor?
52. What is an "illiberal democracy"?
53. What role did the United States play in the Arab Spring?
54. What does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by United Nations members in 1948, advocate for?
55. What is the difference between "state building" and "nation building"?
56. How does promotion of democratization relate to liberal international relations (IR) theory?
57. What major event recently occurred in Cuba?
58. What is the current status of the Syrian conflict? Discuss the players, their interests and goals, and the current status. Note specifically the situations in Aleppo and Mosul.
59. Why does the United States care about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
60. Does Vladimir Putin offer a good partnership with the United States? Why or why not?
61. What does the Syrian refugee crisis have to do with the United States?
62. What is the relationship between Turkey and the Kurds? Why is this important for the Syrian civil war and combating ISIL?
63. What do we know about Donald Trump's foreign policy plans at this point? How can we evaluate his intended strategies? What can his cabinet appointments tell us, and why are they particularly important for him with respect to foreign policy? Consider economic, security, environmental, and other factors.
64. What do we know, and what don't we know, about Russia's relationship with the United States with respect to the election? Do you expect that to have any impact on U.S.-Russia relations, or not?