Week 14 Quiz

In international relations, what does it mean to say that the system of states is anarchic?

Select one.

• No authority sits above sovereign states to make and enforce rules for them
• States are in constant war with one another, because no rules of any kind exist between them
• No state has a working government inside its own borders
• A world government exists, but it cannot enforce its own rules

Selvara and Ondrith are made-up states (illustrative). Each patrols a shared sea with 4 ships. Selvara adds ships for defense, Ondrith reads the new ships as a threat and adds its own, and the two keep answering each other until each has 8. Neither state planned an attack, and neither is safer. Which concept describes this?

Select one.

• The balance of power, because the two fleets end at equal size
• Collective security, because both states act on their own to keep the shared sea safe
• The security dilemma, because each defensive step looks like a threat
• The democratic peace, because neither state ever planned an attack

In Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, Book V (Crawley translation, 1874), who speaks the line "the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must"?

Select one.

• Thucydides himself, giving his own verdict on how power works
• The Athenian envoys, as Thucydides rendered them in the Melian Dialogue
• The people of Melos, pleading with Athens to spare their island
• Pericles, in the funeral oration that praises the democracy of Athens and its citizens

True or false: the democratic-peace finding holds that democracies never go to war.

True or false.

• True
• False

Selvara and Ondrith (illustrative) sign a fishing treaty and both keep it for decades. One analyst explains this by pointing to a joint commission that counts the catch and publishes the numbers, so cheating would be seen. Which paradigm does that explanation come from?

Select one.

• Realism, because each state keeps its word only so the other will
• Constructivism, because both states now treat the fishing rule as part of who they are as states
• Collective security, because both members promise to act together
• Liberalism as an international relations theory, because an institution monitors compliance

The Harbor Pact (illustrative) binds 3 states to defend one another against Ondrith, a named outside threat. What kind of agreement is it?

Select one.

• An alliance, because it is aimed at one named threat
• Collective security, because its members defend one another
• A balance of power, because it stops one state dominating
• A norm, because the members expect each other to act

The U.N. Security Council has 15 members, and 5 of them are permanent members. How many members are elected?

Select one.

• 5 members
• 14 members
• 10 members
• 15 members

Which of these statements express claims that constructivism makes? Select all that apply.

Select every option that applies.

• What anarchy means is built by how states interact with one another
• The same ships can look like a threat or like help, depending on the states' identities
• States keep treaties mainly because joint commissions monitor and publish compliance
• States pursue power because nothing above them guarantees their safety

Article 2(1) of the U.N. Charter reads: "The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members." What does sovereign equality mean?

Select one.

• Every member has an equal share of military and economic power
• Every member state counts as an equal in law, whatever its size
• Every member holds a veto over the decisions of the Security Council
• The United Nations is sovereign over each of its member states

Which idea explains why, in the international system, no state answers to a higher authority?

Select one.

• Legitimacy, because each government is believed to deserve obedience at home
• Legal-rational authority, because states follow written rules and offices
• The social contract, because each state was founded by the consent of its people
• External sovereignty, because each state claims independence from outside control