International Studies Exam #1 Essay Questions

Explain the formation of Early Modern States

• States were mainly formed through wars, dynastic marriages, conquest, and the expansion of powerful monarchies

• Kings and rulers often gained territory and strengthened centralized governments, creating larger, more unified states

Explain the formation of Late Modern States

• In the Late Modern Period, states formed through nationalism, decolonization, and the breakup of empires.

• Many new countries emerged as colonies gained independence and people demanded self-government.

• Additionally, the decline of European empires after the World Wars and the establishment of the UN allowed many new independent states to emerge

How is the formation of states during the early and late modern periods different in this regard?

These processes were different because political ideas had changed, with national sovereignty becoming more important than rule by monarchs.

What are the different roles of “functions” of states in the world today?

• Controlling

• Protecting

• Monitoring

• Investing

Controlling Function

Creating and enforcing laws to regulate people and businesses.

Protecting Function

Defending citizens and the country from threats, such as crime or foreign attacks.

Monitoring Function

Keeping track of activities within the country to maintain security and make sure laws are followed.

Investing Function

• Split up between people and things

Investing in People

Providing education, healthcare, and other services that improve citizens’ lives.

Investing in Things

Building infrastructure, such as roads, schools, hospitals, and public transportation

Global Interactions

The movement and exchange of people, things, ideas, and money across national borders.

Global Tensions

The conflicts or disagreements that can result from these global interactions.

How do Global Interactions and Tensions relate to each other?

• Countries may interact through international organizations like the ICC, but tensions can arise when countries disagree about human rights, laws, or how much power international organizations should have.

• These concepts relate because increased interaction can create both cooperation and conflict between countries and people.

How do global interactions and tensions relate to the Inside-out/Outside-In approach to International Studies?

• Looks at how events within a country can affect the outside world (inside-out) and how international events and interactions can affect what happens within a country (outside-in).

• Together, these ideas show that countries are connected through constant interactions, and those connections can create both opportunities for cooperation but also sources of global tension.

What is the crisis that sets off the neoliberal “push”?

• The crisis that led to the rise of neoliberalism was the economic crisis of the 1970s, with the 1973 oil crisis being a major part of it.

What happened during the 1973 oil crisis?

• Oil prices rose dramatically, causing high costs for businesses and consumers, while many countries also experienced high inflation and unemployment, which is known as stagflation.

• At the same time, oil-producing countries earned enormous amounts of U.S. dollars and deposited them in major banks in Europe and the United States.

• These banks then lent large amounts of money to developing countries, which was borrowed to build infrastructure such as railways, ports, electricity grids, and schools.

• This was a significant role in accelerating the 2nd age of globalization

What was the solution to the oil crisis?

As these economic problems continued, neoliberalism became more popular in the 1980s as a solution, promoting less government intervention, deregulation, privatization, and freer trade.

How does the solution to the crisis relate to the 2nd age of globalization?

These policies helped accelerate the 2nd age of globalization by allowing money, goods, businesses, and investments to move more freely across national borders

What is populism?

• Populism focuses on the conflict between elites and ordinary people

• Populism often includes anti-intellectualism, where experts and educated elites are viewed as disconnected from ordinary people

What is nationalism?

• Nationalism focuses on protecting the nation and retreating from the global economy.

• Nationalism can involve economic nationalism, which favors protecting domestic businesses and workers from foreign competition.

How are populism and nationalism similar to critiques of “globalization”?

• Both can be seen as critiques of globalization because globalization can be viewed as benefiting elites, corporations, and wealthy countries more than ordinary people.

What are the pressures within globalization that tend to give credibility to the nationalist and populist backlash to globalization?

• Globalization can also create pressures such as job losses, economic inequality, immigration, and increased foreign competition.

• These pressures can make people more likely to support populist and nationalist movements that promise to protect ordinary citizens and put the nation's interests first.

What are the different global forces?

• Global Markets

• Information/Communication Technology

• Shifting Centers of Global Power

• Global Governance

Global Markets

The movement of goods, services, money, and investments across countries.

Information/Communication Technology

• Allows information, ideas, and communication to move quickly around the world through things like the internet, smartphones, and social media

• Good because it weakens government control and makes information easily available.

• Bad because attention deficits are greatly increasing, misinformation and propaganda are constantly being spread, and media revolutions have come into existence.

Shifting Centers of Global Power

• Economic and political power moving between countries and regions. It’s because of this force where the belief that we are moving into a “multipolar” moment comes from.

• This means no one power dominates the world, multiple do.

Global Governance

The way countries and international organizations work together to address global issues such as trade, security, human rights, and climate change.