Introduction to International Relations

Study Questions for the Second Exam

Chapter 6

Understand the different between the two different types of International Organizations (IGOs and NGOs).   

Understand the evolution and history of the United Nations.  What was its precursor?  How can you characterize its functioning during the Cold War?  How can you characterize it now?

Know the system and structure of the various UN organs.  Which organs deal with which issues?

How does voting take place in the Security Council?

What are the issues associated with restructuring the Security Council?

What does the IMF and World Bank do?  What are the differences between the two IOs?

What does "supranational" and "pooled sovereignty" mean?

Know the organizational components and decision making procedures of the EU. 

Who are members of the EU?

What are some other regional International Organizations?

What does the term "fourth world" mean?

Define ethnocentrism

Be able to identify examples of non-governmental actors.

What do ethnopolitical groups want?

What are the characteristics of extreme militant religious movements?

What is the clash of civilizations and what does it say?

What are the pros and cons of MNC investment in the Third World?

Chapter 10

What is carry capacity?

What is fertility rate? What regions are characterized by which type of fertility rate? What causes high fertility rates?

What is the tragedy of the commons?  Be able to explain it.

What is population momentum?

Explain demographic transitions.  What are some of the characteristics for the global north and south?

What affects does population have on security, the environment, and food?

What do neo-Malthusians say?  What do Cornucopians contend?

What are some of the solutions to the world's population problem?

What is sustainable development?

What happened at the Earth Summit?

What is the pattern of energy consumption?

What affect has oil had on the international community?

What are some of the alternatives to reliance on oil?

What characterizes climate change and what are the results?

What international conference dealt with issues of climate change?  What was the result?

What is happening to the ozone layer?  What can we do about it?

What is biodiversity and deforestation?  How does one affect the other?  What can we do about it?

Chapter 11

Know the changing character of armed conflict between states.

What are the causes of armed conflict?

Understand the differences between how ethnologists and social scientists explain reasons for human aggression.

What are the internal characteristics of a state that make it more likely to go to war?

What does the diversionary theory of war say?

What leads to civil war?

What are the characteristics of civil wars?

What are the characteristics of terrorism?

What does genocide mean?

What were the precursors to the Rwandan genocide?

What were some ways that  “dehumanization” occurred?

What is going on in the Sudan today?

Also, be sure you know the characteristics of the various states in our simulation and that you have read, and know, the rules of the game.

 

Essay Questions:

1. According to some commentators, the state “is becoming too small for the big problems of life, and too big for the small problems of life.” Others caution that the state cannot be easily dismissed: it retains enormous capacity to shape global welfare.  Write an essay in which you assess whether the state is ill-suited for dealing with the transnational policy problems that face the world today, such as environmental issues, terrorism, population explosion to name a few.
2. Former President Bill Clinton stated, “We don’t want to run off into the future all by ourselves.  That means the United States will have to work responsibly though international organizations.” Do you agree or disagree with Clinton’s assessment?  Can the US “go it alone” like the Bush Administration thinks or does it need to use international organizations?  Use empirical evidence (referring to the utility of international organizations to solve global and state problems) to support your answers.
3. Neo-Malthusians and Cornucopians are the labels given to different schools of thought about the impact of population growth on economic development and environmental quality.  Write an essay in which you contrast the position taken by these two schools on the demographic future of the human species.  Based on the available evidence on current population and resource trends, which school of thought do you find more convincing? Why?