POLISCI111 - Multiple Choice

Which of the following offers the best definition of a teleological view of world politics?

a. History and politics are progressing in a certain inevitable direction that will culminate in the liberal democratic state along the lines of what we see in Europe and the United States.

b. History and politics can be best grasped through the development of precise mathematical formulas.

c. History and politics are radically contingent. The world we see today could have easily turned out otherwise.

d. History and politics are purely random events. There is no internal logic or coherence to them.

A

According to the online lecture, all histories of the modern world tell a particular story that does a particular kind of political work.

True or False

True

Which of the following are key features of an alternative history of the modern world that stand in opposition to the story of the Rise of the West?

a. Importance of China, India, the Middle East, and the New World Colonies in understanding the history of the modern world.

b. The inevitability of modern-nation states as a mode of political organization.

c. Take the entire world as the unit of analysis.

d. Emphasis on contingency and accident as important in leading to the current moment in world politics.

e. Polycentric rather than Eurocentric analysis of world history.

f. The refusal to adopt a teleological view of world history.

A, C, D, E, F

Jared Diamond's book "Guns, Germs, and Steel" is a good example of geographic/environmental explanations for the Rise of the West.

True or False

True

According to the online lecture and to Robert Marks, the story of the Rise of the West is the most appropriate one from which to understand how politics works in the world today.

True or False

False

Which of the following does the lecture argue are two key features of the modern world?

a. Imperialism and hegemonic power of a single political center.

b. The ubiquity of the modern nation-state.

c. Hollywood blockbusters.

d. Capitalism and free markets.

e. Terrorism and violent extremism.

B, D

Which of the following statements are consistent with a Eurocentric conception of world history?

a. There are multiple centers of power that have influenced the course of world history.

b. The history of the world can largely be told through the history of Europe and the United States. Other areas of the world are relevant only insofar as they interact with or are impacted by Europe and the United States

c. Europe and the United States are responsible for the majority of good things that have been brought into the world, especially free market capitalism and democracy.

d. In 1400, China was the ascendant power in the world.

e. Europe (and the United States) have been and are the major actors in world history and politics. Other areas of the world are passive respondents to actions and philosophies that originate there.

B, C, E

According to the online lecture, what is one potential problem with the history of the modern world as told by Robert Marks in his book, "Origins of the Modern World?"

a. Although Robert Marks writes a non-Eurocentric world history, his account is irrelevant because like it or not the United States is the dominant world power today and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.

b. Although Robert Marks attempts to debunk the Rise of the West narrative of world history, he is a white male professor and therefore cannot do so with any integrity.

c. Although Robert Marks attempts to offer a non-Eurocentric history, his account is still a state-centric one that focuses on centers of political power and neglects the perspectives of those who resisted control by the state.

d. Although Robert Marks writes a non-Eurocentric world history, his account is obviously biased because it's clear that Europe and the United States are indeed the primary drivers of world history.

C

Which of the following does the online lecture argue is the latest chapter in the story of the Rise of the West?

a. The collapse of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

b. The inevitability of Donald Trump becoming the next president of the United States and leader of the free world.

c. The clash of civilizations and the war on terror.

d. The exposure of Hillary Clinton using a personal server for State Department business.

e. The defeat of fascism in World War Two.

C

Which of the following are *not* one of the three common starting points for the study of comparative politics?

Select one or more:

a. The Treaty of Westphalia, circa 1648

b. The present moment

c. The founding of the United Nations.

d. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism.

e. The Industrial Revolution

f. 1400, around when Admiral Zheng He set sail from China with his Treasure Fleet

C, D, F

What are some of the reasons people escaped to the mountains to get out of the way of states?

Select one or more:

a. To avoid internet censorship.

b. States had a hard time exerting their power in difficult terrain.

c. The mountains have a better view.

d. To avoid taxation.

e. To avoid disease and starvation.

f. To avoid slavery.

B, D, E, F

What were the two kinds of relationships between barbarians and the state?

Select one or more:

a. Slavery

b. The barbarians sent letter bombs to the state

c. None, the two existed completely separate from one another

d. The state taught the barbarians how to read and write

e. Intermarriage

f. Trade

A, F

What is Zomia?

Select one:

a. An area in the Andean mountains inhabited by descendants of the Incas.

b. A blockbuster movie about Zombies that eat Political Science professors.

c. An area in lowland Southeast Asia inhabited by non-state people groups.

d. An area in highland Southeast Asia inhabited by non-state people groups.

e. A political science concept that depicts the coming apocalypse.

D

Why don't the peoples of Zomia have written languages?

Select one or more:

a. Because there are no colleges in Zomia so people never learned how to read and write

b. Because mountain zones are too wet to preserve written texts

c. Because writing facilitates state administration and control

d. Because people in Zomia lack the necessary intelligence to learn how to read and write

e. Because people in Zomia are too busy running away from the state to learn how to read and write

f. Because oral culture is more flexible than written culture

C, F

Which crops and planting methods are best suited to evading state seizure and control?

Select one or more:

a. Industrialized mono-cropping

b. Maize

c. Root crops

d. Swidden or Slash-and-Burn agriculture

e. Corn

f. Not growing crops at all and getting pizza delivery instead

g. Wet-rice agriculture

B, C, D

Which of the following characterize societies that are not under state control?

Select one or more:

a. egalitarian social structures

b. cultural and linguistic variety

c. swidden agriculture

d. strong social-hierarchies

e. valleys

f. dispersed population

g. presence of kings

h. taxes

i. large-scale warfare

j. permanent clergies or religious authorities

k. wet-rice agriculture

A, B, C, F

Why has the autonomy of Zomia been declining since the middle of the 20th century?

Select one or more:

a. The invention of distance-demolishing technologies like all-weather roads, helicopters, and GPS systems.

b. The state felt sorry for the people in Zomia and sent development teams to improve their living conditions.

c. States realized what kinds of valuable natural resources existed in Zomia and wanted to extract them.

d. States began to extend their sovereignty to the very edges of their borders.

e. People in Zomia got tired of being called a name that sounded like Zombie and decided to apply for proper citizenship status instead.

f. People in Zomia wanted to start Facebook accounts and needed electricity.

g. The people groups of Zomia decided that drinking coca-cola was better than drinking water from mountain streams.

A, C, D

According to Scott, what is an absolute necessary condition for the creation of the state in Southeast Asia?

Select one:

a. Maize agriculture.

b. Native language translations of The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

c. Political Science professors.

d. Wet-rice agriculture.

e. Consultants from the World Bank.

f. Gunpowder from China

g. Root crop agriculture.

D

What distinguishes barbarians from the civilized?

Select one or more:

a. Barbarians don't wear clothes; civilized people wear clothes.

b. Barbarians live outside of state control; civilized people live under state control.

c. Barbarians don't have a written history; civilized people do.

d. Barbarians eat meat; civilized people are vegetarian.

e. Barbarians don't brush their teeth; civilized people do.

f. Barbarians aren't taxed by the state; civilized people are.

B, C, F

The industrial revolution made the world more of an equal place?

True or False

False

Which of the following expanded rapidly as a result of the industrial revolution?

Select one or more:

a. Human population

b. Animal and plant species

c. Forests

d. Fuel Consumption

e. Agricultural livelihoods

A, D

Globally, we use about 1 billion pounds of pesticides each year for agricultural production?

True or False

False

The poorest countries in the world are concentrated in Latin America?

True or False

False

In the United States, approximately 10 billion land animals are confined and slaughtered for food each year?

True or False

True

Acemoglu and Robinson argue that the industrial revolution was caused because institutions in Europe were extractive?

True or False

False

The seven richest people in the world have at least as much money as the 41 poorest countries combined?

True or False

True

According to Robert Marks, the Industrial Revolution was inevitable?

True or False

False

Since the industrial revolution was caused by contingent factors, we don't really need to worry about its consequences?

True or False

False

Scientific advances from the industrial revolution have allowed humans to do a better job of protecting other animal species?

True or False

False

The Green Revolution marked a decline in the use of pesticides in agriculture?

True or False

False

Max Weber argues that the Industrial Revolution was caused in large part by the European state's superior mode of organized domination?

True or False

False

Which of the following were not important contingent factors in causing the industrial revolution?

Select one or more:

a. The availability of oil in Britain.

b. The British victory over France in the Seven Year's War.

c. The availability of cheap coal in Britain's New World colonies.

d. China's demand for silver.

e. The Great Dying

f. The failure of Spain to consolidate an Empire in Europe.

g. The availability of cotton in France.

A, C, G

The industrial revolution has resulted in rising income and standards of living in every region in the world, albeit unevenly?

True or False

False

The Constitution of India recognizes 12 different languages?

True or False

False

Following the economic liberalization initiated by Deng Xiaping, China's political system has also liberalized, allowing for multi-party competition in elections?

True or False

False

Which of the following statements would likely be supported by Yadav?

Select one or more:

a. India offers an important example of democracy because it shows that even impoverished countries can be democratic.

b. India offers an important example of democracy because it shows that even deeply diverse countries can be democratic.

c. India is a critical case from which we can learn much about how to deal with religious, ethnic, and linguistic divisions in other parts of the world.

d. The problems in the Kashmir Valley show that democracy won't work everywhere.

e. Studies of democracy have been too limited to a narrow range of examples from Europe and North America.

B, C, E

According to Yadav, which of the following countries are a good fit for the nation-state approach?

Select one or more:

a. Japan

b. Sweden

c. Afghanistan

d. India

e. Syria

f. The United States

A, B

Which of the following statements are true statements about population growth in India and China?

Select one or more:

a. China is currently the most populous country on earth.

b. India is currently the third most populous country on earth, after China and Nigeria.

c. China has plans to combine several cities in the southeast of the country into a single gigantic city with a population of at least 42 million people.

d. India and China will continue to have indefinite population growth.

e. India is likely to overtake China as the most populous country in the world around the year 2028.

f. Because of overcrowding in its cities, China is predicted to have an increasingly rural population as people try to escape the city for the country.

A, C, E

Which of the following are consistent with a nation-state approach?

Select one or more:

a. Each cultural or linguistic group should have its own political state.

b. Each state should be in charge of one cultural or linguistic community, not multiple cultural or linguistic communities.

c. If there are cultural or linguistic minorities in a state they should be converted to the dominant culture, driven out of the territory ruled by the state, or exterminated via ethnic cleansing.

d. None of the above.

A, B, C

Gandhi was assassinated by a Muslim extremist who wanted a country that was independent of India?

True or False

False

China is predicted to become the world's largest economy in a few as five years?

True or False

True

80% of people living in the Kashmir Valley would rather not be a part of India?

True or False

True

Which of the following are not listed by Yogrenda Yadav as a part of the Indian model fo democracy?

Select one or more:

a. A non-assimilationist cultural policy.

b. Constitutional guarantees of minority linguistic rights.

c. Asymmetrical federalism.

d. Redistribution of land from the wealthy castes to the untouchables.

e. An assimilationist cultural policy.

f. Symmetrical federalism.

g. A political system that allows for regional differences to be recognized and articulated.

D, E, F

In China, the Tiananmen Square massacre is widely memorialized each June?

True or False

False

Deng Xiaping initiated the Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s, causing severe famines throughout China?

True or False

False

Which of the following are consistent with a state-nation approach?

Select one or more:

a. There can be many linguistic, cultural, or religious communities that co-exist within a single state.

b. Political boundaries should not coincide with cultural, linguistic, or religious boundaries.

c. Power should be distributed as widely as possible, including but not limited to the possibility of asymmetric federalism in which different political sub-units are given different protections depending on their unique circumstances.

d. If there are cultural or religious communities that are troublesome, martial law may be imposed to deal with them.

e. All of the above.

A, B, C

What does it mean when we say that the study of authoritarian regimes has been limited by a teleological framework?

Select one:

a. The implicit or explicit belief that all regimes will or should ultimately transition to being a democracy has kept scholars from paying sufficient attention to authoritarian regimes in their own right.

b. Scholars who study authoritarian regimes are blinded by the propaganda produced by those regimes into believing that the regimes are democracies when they are in fact authoritarian.

c. Scholars are afraid that if they study authoritarian regimes, they will be marginalized by their peers because they study bad and ugly forms of government instead of good ones like democracies.

d. The implicit or explicit belief that authoritarian regimes are incorrigible instances of barbarism that are unlikely to change or alter has kept scholars from paying sufficient attention to authoritarian regimes in their own right.

D

Putin maintains authoritarian power in Russia through strict control and censorship of all media outlets?

True or False

False

The primary characteristic of a tutelary regime is one in which a charismatic leader holds all of the power.

True or False

False

Which of the following are NOT examples of authoritarian regimes ruled by leaders motivated by greed?

Select one or more:

a. China under Mao

b. The Philippines under Marcos

c. Indonesia under Suharto

d. Afghanistan under the Taliban

e. Zaire under Mobutu

A, D

Up to 60% of people living in the world today could be said to be living under conditions that are not free or only partly free.

True or False

True

Which of the following is an example of an authoritarian regime ruled by the clergy?

Select one:

a. Pakistan

b. China

c. Thailand

d. Iran

e. Rwanda

D

What does it mean when we say that scholarship on authoritarian regimes have treated authoritarian regimes like a black box?

Select one:

a. Authoritarian regimes dislike being studied by scholars and send assassination squads and/or computer viruses to stop the work of scholars who study them.

b. By defining them only in relation to what they are not (democracies), scholars have failed to grasp the complexity, diversity, and variety of different kinds of authoritarian regimes.

c. States are like airplanes, and authoritarian regimes are the black boxes that record flight data.

d. Scholars can't understand authoritarian regimes because they are by nature hidden and opaque and it's just not possible to gather enough data about how they work.

B

What level of institutional analysis does the study of authoritarian countries belong to?

Select one:

a. Regime

b. Government

c. State

A

One key characteristic of competitive authoritarian regimes is that they do not allow for elections of any kind.

True or False

False

What does "The Great Cannon" refer to?

Select one:

a. A special extra-military death squad secretly developed by Putin to carry out the assassination of opposition figures in Russia.

b. A new nuclear weapon delivery system developed by North Korea.

c. A new warlord group that has recently formed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

d. A new offensive tool developed by China for policing internet activity.

e. A body of religious texts used by the religious authorities of Iran.

D

What does e-authoritarianism refer to?

Select one:

a. The decreasing capacity of authoritarian regimes to regulate the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes.

b. The increasing capacity of states to exercise control over their citizens' activities in the digital realm.

c. The increasing capacity of authoritarian regimes to build computers that take market share away from Apple and Microsoft.

d. The capacity of authoritarian regimes to use advanced mind control technology to gain mass compliance to their wishes.

B

Which of the following authoritarian regimes have low or non-existent state capacity?

Select one or more:

a. China

b. Vietnam

c. Sierre Leone

d. Saudi Arabia

e. Democratic Republic of the Congo

f. Somalia

g. Russia

h. North Korea

C, E, F

Which of the following is NOT one of the four questions we should ask in order to better understand authoritarian regimes?

Select one:

a. Who rules?

b. How do the rulers rule?

c. Why do the rulers rule?

d. How much do the rulers rule?

e. How often do the rulers arbitrarily subject their own citizens to arbitrary arrest?

E

The Pussy Riot is seen as a threat to the Russian state.

True or False

True

Which of the following is an example of a country ruled by the military?

Select one:

a. Burundi

b. China

c. Thailand

d. North Korea

e. Iran

C

Which of the following is an example of an authoritarian regime that is ruled by party elites?

Select one:

a. Thailand

b. North Korea

c. Iran

d. Saudi Arabia

e. China

E

Although it may take several decades or even centuries, world history makes it clear that all regimes will eventually transition into democracies.

True or False

False

Someone who believes that children should have the right to vote would see every country in the world as a constitutional oligarchy.

True or False

True

There was a spike of competitive authoritarian regimes in the years immediately following World War 2, but the last decade has seen a sharp decline in competitive authoritarian regimes.

True or False

False

Which of the following is an example of an authoritarian regime ruled by a monarch or a sultan?

Select one:

a. Russia

b. Iran

c. Brunei

d. Britain

e. Egypt

C

Which of the following is an example of a country rules by a non-traditional personal leader?

Select one:

a. North Korea

b. Brunei

c. Iran

d. Rwanda

e. China

A

GONGO is an acronym for government organized non-governmental organization. It is one of the tools used by competitive authoritarian regimes to create an illusion of democratic participation.

True or False

True