POLS2401- exam #3

Question 1

Where did IR begin as an academic discipline?

Answer 1

Abersytwyth University (1919)

Question 2

Why was IR established?

Answer 2

IR was originally created to explore the idea of how to establish peace

Question 3

Characteristics of a nation

Answer 3

a group of people that recognize each other as belonging to the same group/identity (e.g. language,religion, ties to homeland)

Question 4

Characteristic of a state

Answer 4

a place with established borders, sovereignty, domestic support, and recognition from other international entities (“external actors”)

Question 5

Major outcomes of the end of WWII? (multipolarity to bipolarity)

Answer 5

End of colonial system in Europe. The bipolar system emerges after wwii which is basically when you have two major powers that can compete internationally for influence across the world, they are militarily the most advanced countries. these two powers become the US and the USSR

Question 6

what are proxy wars

Answer 6

an armed conflict fought between two belligerents, wherein one belligerent is a non-state actor supported by an external third-party power

Question 7

what is containment in terms of war?

Answer 7

geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism after the end of World War

Question 8

what is total war?

Answer 8

is a war that incorporates the mobilization of all sectors of society, which means that no sector of society is immune from the impact of war. All sectors become part of that war making machine.

Question 9

Why was the Cold War called as such?

Answer 9

there was no direct military engagement between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Question 10

What is anarchy?

Answer 10

absence of government

Question 11

What are the main differences between Realism and Liberalism? (Focus only on anarchy and role of institutions)

Answer 11

realist believe that no one can rely on anyone for security in terms of anarchy; liberalist believe that anarchy exists but can be tamed through cooperation

Question 12

What is Marxism?

Answer 12

Marxist believe that history moves based on economic relations/interactions and that states were created simply to help further the economic status of the already elite

Question 13

What is World Systems Theory?

Answer 13

periphery, semi-periphery, and the core

Question 14

what is the protection myth?

Answer 14

it is basically the idea that during war women and children are the groups that are mainly protected, but its a myth because they make up the majority of casualties because they end up being targets for the other army to send a message of “hey you cant protect the most ‘vulnerable’ “

Question 15

gender vs sex

Answer 15

Gender is a social construct, whereas sex is a biological fact.

Question 16

why is gendering important for the study of politics?

Answer 16

for many years women basically had targets placed on them and became victims of SA during war, but it wasn’t until 2002 that the Rome Statue made it so that rape was a war crime

Question 17

scope vs domain

Answer 17

Scope is basically the issue area that the organization covers and Domain includes members and who is part of that international organization.

Question 18

give an example of an IO with small scope, big domain

Answer 18

World Trade Organization
(scope:trade, domain:global)

Question 19

give an example of an IO with small scope, small domain

Answer 19

NAFTA
(scope: trade || domain: U.S.,Canada, and Mexico)kgmv

Question 20

give an example of an IO with
big scope, big domain

Answer 20

The United Nations (UN)
(scope: all human dimensions || domain: global)

Question 21

give an example of an IO with
big scope, small domain

Answer 21

The European Union (EU)
(scope:trade, security, immigration|| domain: Europe)

Question 22

why is the Security Council considered the most important organ of the UN?

Answer 22

it is the only organ of the UN that can authorize military action, it has 5 permanent member states that can veto any decision trying to be made even it has 9/15 members to agree with the proposition, and once a decision has been made it is binding, meaning that countries have to follow through

Question 23

What is the function of the Secretariat?

Answer 23

main administrative engine, it deals with logistics and planning? this position holds limited political power. this is the data center of the UN and it sets the agenda for UN meetings

Question 24

What is the function of the Security Council?

Answer 24

creates binding resolutions between states and decides whether to use military action in crisis

Question 25

what are the three pillars of R2P?

Answer 25

the responsibility to protect, the responsibility to assist, and the responsibility to intervene

Question 26

when can R2P be used?

Answer 26

when the state is no longer upholding its responsibilities as a sovereign and allowing harm to be done to its citizens

Question 27

What is conditional sovereignty?

Answer 27

sovereign rights and immunities are not absolute. They depend on the observance of fundamental state obligations. These include the responsibility to protect the citizens of the state.

Question 28

Civil and political rights

Answer 28

legal protection against the state, protection from unjust arrest, right to vote.

Question 29

Social, cultural, and economic rights

Answer 29

access to essential goods and services, equal social and cultural participation, right to food, housing, healthcare, education

Question 30

What were the color revolutions?

Answer 30

revolutions that ocurred in post communist countries

Question 31

What was the “anti-color insurance”?

Answer 31

former communist countries passed some regulations to prevent their nations from being removed. they started attacking civil society and political activist.

Question 32

Structural approach to understanding hunger makes what argument?

Answer 32

it is not about availability, but rather having the means to pay for food and there is a unequal distribution of supply so that areas with money have more and areas with less money have none

Question 33

Define a referent object (be able to identify referent objects based on given scenarios)

Answer 33

any object that need protection

Question 34

What has been the referent object traditionally in international relations?

Answer 34

the state

Question 35

What type of wars have increased in occurrence since the end of the Cold War?

Answer 35

intrastate wars (conflicts between groups within the same state)

Question 36

What type of wars have decreased in occurrence since the end of the Cold War?

Answer 36

interstate wars (conflict between different states)

Question 37

what is the difference between positive and negative peace?

Answer 37

positive peace: absence of both direct/personal and indirect/structural violence negative peace: absence of direct/personal violence

Question 38

direct/personal vs indirect/structural violence

Answer 38

direct/personal violence: assault, riot, use of weapon (what you'd traditionally think of as violence) indirect/structural violence: invisible violence such as racism, discrimination, sexism etc.

Question 39

what is peace ecology?

Answer 39

the idea that peace needs to be understood as an interconnected issue and those issues cannot be taken apart; they must all be assessed

Question 40

How does Clausewitz define war?

Answer 40

"war is politics by other means"

Question 41

What is the purpose of war, according to Clausewitz?

Answer 41

driven by political objectives; bending the other side to your will

Question 42

Why is war not considered haphazard use of force?

Answer 42

war is always calculated and it has an objective

Question 43

what are the types of war w/ an example for each (hint: there are 3 types)

Answer 43

interstate wars: wars between states ex.) iran and iraq war intrastate wars: war between groups within states ex.) the american civil war asymmetric wars: war between actors whose power differ significantly ex.) war on terror

Question 44

causes of War (know how each explains the occurrence of wars)

Answer 44

security dilemma, power transition, war cycles, type of governments, nationalism, natural resources competition, calculated choice, personality, and misperception

Question 45

What is hybrid warfare?

Answer 45

mix of traditional and non-traditional war tactics

Question 46

What types of tactics does hybrid warfare include?

Answer 46

fake news, hacking, shutting off access to energy sources, influencing elections

Question 47

Why is the term “terrorism” have negative implications?

Answer 47

it is associated with the use of violence, killing, and use of force

Question 48

What makes modern terrorist groups different from their predecessors?

Answer 48

their predecessors used terrorism to fight anti-colonialism, and anarchist and just performed in like old timey ways and were confined to one state; whereas modern terrorist have greater communication, transportation, and are much more widely spread because of these modernizations

Question 49

Motivations and goals of terrorist groups

Answer 49

motivations: religious, ethnic, and political goals: create panic, strike fear, and provoke state action

Question 50

Why is it important to pick specific locations and targets for attacks?

Answer 50

terrorist groups don't have the capability to fight at a large scale so they attack public places because it will be more publicized and thus have a more impact on the people of that area

Question 51

provoking states into action; why is it something that terrorist groups want?

Answer 51

the action that govts usually take is enhancing security and if they are doing that some citizens may begin to feel that they are having their civil liberties violated

Question 52

Creating fear; why is this important for terrorist groups?

Answer 52

it helps them to appear more powerful

Question 53

Recruitment and reinforcement of loyalty

Answer 53

terrorist use attacks as a way to show loyal members that their group is still active and have impact

Question 54

Define: “plug and play”

Answer 54

put themselves into usually poor communities and manipulate them into fighting for their cause and they'll do it because they usually don't have much to lose

Question 55

Define: sleeper cells

Answer 55

groups of people who are hiding as terrorist and become active when triggered

Question 56

Three ways to counter terrorism

Answer 56

aid, use of technologies, and increase of state power

Question 57

Why is terrorism considered a weapon of the weak?

Answer 57

they know that they can create a a lot of fear by doing small attacks

Question 58

The three characteristics that define globalized transnational groups (see slide 3; least section)

Answer 58

links in many countries, link similar minded people, impact in more than on place

Question 59

what are the three types of weapons of mass destruction?

Answer 59

chemical, nuclear, and biological

Question 60

Why do states develop WMDs despite them being taboo in international politics?

Answer 60

to deter attacks from others

Question 61

Why are these WMD considered taboo in international politics?

Answer 61

they are sometimes used to make up for conventional weakness

Question 62

What program led to the creation of nuclear weapons?

Answer 62

The Manhattan Project (1942)

Question 63

when were nuclear weapons first used?

Answer 63

August 6, 1945 (Hiroshima)

Question 64

Why is it difficult to develop nuclear weapons?

Answer 64

They require large amounts of highly enriched Uranium

Question 65

Why are nuclear weapons considered deterrents?

Answer 65

other countries think twice about attacking because they know that the retaliation of possibly using a nuclear weapon would be devastating

Question 66

What are dirty bombs?

Answer 66

bombs that are not as advanced that are made to simply inflict pain and are laced with radiation

Question 67

Dual use of nuclear programs – what does this mean?

Answer 67

it means that nuclear programs can be used to create nuclear weapons, but they can also be used to create nuclear energy

Question 68

What do proliferation optimists and pessimists say about the spread of nuclear weapons?

Answer 68

proliferation optimists: they believe that nuclear weapons should be spread as much as possible to prevent wars between countries and provide the countries with stability like prices proliferation pessimists: they want to curb the spread of nuclear weapons because humans are prone to making mistakes

Question 69

Two groups of states when it comes to nuclear weapons and foreign policy – why are they different from each other?

Answer 69

1st group: US, UK, France, and China 2nd group: India, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan

Question 70

Role of NPT

Answer 70

prevents the spread of nuclear weapons

Question 71

Define: nuclear opacity and provide an example

Answer 71

presence of a nuclear weapon but never conducted a test and publicized to the world ex.) Israel

Question 72

Define: latent nuclear capacity and provide an example

Answer 72

presence of capacity of building a nuclear weapon but never has done so ex.) Japan

Question 73

Define: stability-instability paradox, provide an example

Answer 73

when two rival countries have nuclear weapons, the chances of these two countries going to war, decreases because there's always this fear that such a war will escalate into nuclear warfare, right. so what ends up happening is that this fear creates stability between two nations. ex.) India and Pakistan

Question 74

Which conference sought to eventually make chemical weapons obsolete?

Answer 74

1925 Geneva Protocol

Question 75

What chemical weapon did Aum Shinrikyo use for the Tokyo subway attacks?

Answer 75

biological weapon he used vaporized sarin gas, a highly toxic nerve agent

Question 76

How are biological different from chemical weapons?

Answer 76

A biological weapon uses a living organism like a bacteria or virus to inflict harm, while a chemical weapon uses a manufactured chemical compound to cause damage

Question 77

Why are biological weapons very ineffective in usage?

Answer 77

they need ideal conditions because they are living organisms

Question 78

what is the tragedy of the commons?

Answer 78

individuals with access to a public resource (common) act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource

Question 79

how does "the tragedy of the commons" apply to the global environment?

Answer 79

the environment is a global system, so if there's collapse in one area, it is going to impact other areas of the world as well.

Question 80

Dual meaning of global commons

Answer 80

the idea that it encompasses both the physical spaces like the high seas, atmosphere, and Antarctica, which fall outside any single nation's jurisdiction, and the concept of shared resources within those spaces that require international cooperation to manage sustainably

Question 81

Megaconferences in international/environmental politics

Answer 81

usually focus on a particular issue at hand; their goal is to engage in productive collaborative efforts to reach agreement and consensus on specific strategies to protect the environment and solve global challenges.

Question 82

why was the megaconference: Brundtland Report (1987) important?

Answer 82

introduced the idea that we need to focus on development that is not going to overextend resources and is actually leave resources for future generations, emphasized sustainable developmen

Question 83

why was the megaconference: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (1994) important?

Answer 83

first time nearly all nations agreed to take collective action to address climate change by aiming to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, preventing dangerous human interference with the climate system, thus laying the foundation for future international climate agreements and negotiations to combat climate change

Question 84

why was the megaconference: Paris Agreement (2015) important?

Answer 84

marked the first time nearly all nations on Earth agreed to collectively take action to combat climate change by aiming to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C, ideally to 1.5°C, above pre-industrial levels,

Question 85

why was the megaconference: COP 27 (2022) important?

Answer 85

breakthrough agreement to provide loss and damage funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by floods, droughts and other climate disasters

Question 86

How do the different theories approach environmental cooperation?

Answer 86

realism: they believe that states will do what they need to; don't really care liberals: they believe that through cooperation changes can be made to protect the people

Question 87

What are epistemic communities?

Answer 87

a bunch of different climate experts from across the world who have come together and formed specific organizations

Question 88

What is Siddharth Kara’s argument in regard to the exploitation of people in the extraction and production of Cobalt?

Answer 88

describes it as modern day slavery, Kara advocates for a reformation of the supply chain of Cobalt

Question 89

What are artisanal mines?

Answer 89

small-scale mining, a largely informal economic sector that includes workers who use basic tools to extract from the earth

Question 90

How are artisanal mines connected to human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Answer 90

these mines have basically no safety measures which results in many injuries and death. workers work for very minimal pay and are sometimes coerced by armed groups to keep working

Question 91

Why is the government of the DRC not doing much about the human rights violations in artisanal mines in the DRC?

Answer 91

there is a lot of corruption in their govt

Question 92

what is China’s role in the Cobalt production process?

Answer 92

China purchases the raw cobalt and refines it to later sell on the market for much more than they paid for it

Question 93

Why is it problematic for the US that only a few controls have deposits of lithium and control the production of lithium? Why is it specifically problematic for the US since 50% of the total lithium market is controlled by China?

Answer 93

it allows China to dominate processing and manufacturing, potentially leveraging this dominance to influence markets, increase costs, or gain geopolitical advantages, leaving the U.S. strategically disadvantaged

Question 94

The author says that Australia finds itself in a conundrum when it comes to Cobalt – what is that conundrum?

Answer 94

whether to maintain its current role in the lithium boom or to invest and become a more high value actor and start processing and manufacturing lithium into batteries etc.

Question 95

China controls 75% of the world’s production of lithium-ion batteries – why is this problematic for the US?

Answer 95

it creates economic and geopolitical vulnerabilities

Question 96

What if China leverages its lithium-ion production capability?

Answer 96

If leveraged, China could restrict exports or manipulate markets, hindering the U.S.'s energy transition goals and economic independence