THIRD EDITION

Chapter Resources

Chapter 1

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Discussion questions

  • How did early-twentieth century statesmen define Great Power status? 
  • Why did the First World War become deadlocked by 1917? 
  • Make a list of the causes of the war in 1914 – which were proximate or long-term, which were necessary? 
  • How did a Balkan conflict expand into a long, total conflict? 
  • Why did the Concert of Europe break down after 1848? 
  • Among the criteria used by statesmen in 1900 for measuring state power, which do you find the best gauge of power?
  • Assess the responsibilities of the Great Powers for the outbreak of war in 1914.
  • Did war break out in 1914 as a result of errors by statesmen, or was war intended?
  • How important was overseas imperial expansion to the maintenance of peace in Europe?
  • How did arms races influence European diplomacy in the years before 1914?

Exam questions

  • Germany was responsible for the outbreak of war in 1914.  Discuss. 
  • Was the war in 1914 caused more by the immediate causes, or by long-term causes? 
  • ‘Had the assassination of an archduke not occurred in June 1914, a general European war would still have broken out within the next few years.’ Discuss.

Chapter 2

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Discussion questions

  • Was there a missed opportunity for German democracy in 1918–19? 
  • Could a just peace have been negotiated in 1919? 
  • What real-world balances were included in the League of Nations? 
  • Negotiate a peace treaty that would meet the needs of the powers in 1919.  Craft a peace plan that is durable. 
  • How far did the peace treaties reflect self-determination? 
  • Assess the goals of the Great Powers in the war, and how likely they were to being achieved.
  • Why did Germany lose the war in 1918?
  • How did contemporary circumstances influence the negotiation of peace in 1919?
  • The Second World War was inevitable after the signing of the Versailles Treaty. Discuss.
  • Was Locarno evidence of a real change in international relations or just an illusion? What was missing from the deal to make it sustainable?

Exam questions

  • Compare American war motives and those of the Bolsheviks. 
  • How did war aims change in the last year of the war, and how did they remain consistent? 
  • Who was most at fault for the punitive peace in 1919? 
  • Would a more punitive or more lenient treaty with Germany have been more likely to succeed in 1919?

Chapter 3

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Discussion questions

  • How did the First World War influence the Japanese position in East Asia? 
  • Why did Japan reverse course at Washington in 1921? 
  • How did the Japanese stance at Washington reflect internal Japanese politics? 
  • Explore Japan’s motives for intervening in Manchuria in 1931. 
  • Did Japan invade Manchuria in 1931 for defensive or offensive reasons? 
  • How did China respond to the rising challenge from Japan after 1915?
  • How did American-Japanese-British relations overlap in East Asia after 1919?
  • Did Wilsonian internationalism reduce or increase the risk of conflict in the Far East?
  • Was Japanese conflict with China inevitable? What Japanese interests favoured peace with China in the 1930s?
  • How did Japan come to align its foreign policy with Nazi Germany?

Exam questions

  • How did Japan on the one hand and the western democracies on the other misunderstand their bargaining positions in 1940–41? 
  • The roots of the Pacific War can be found largely in American–Japanese conflict.  Discuss. 
  • How did the challenges of the Great Depression make war more likely in the Pacific? 
  • How did a Japanese obsession with a Russian threat bring war with the west?

Chapter 4

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • How did the European empires evolve in the early 1900s? 
  • How did British views of imperial preference differ from those of the dominions? 
  • How did the British stance towards Ireland reflect the shifting relationship with the dominions? 
  • How did the Chinese example influence nationalism in South-East Asia? 
  • How did the Dutch experience in the East Indies mirror British experience in responding to nationalist movements? 
  • What role did empires play in maintaining the power of the imperial powers?
  • How did Wilsonian ideals of national self-determination influence empires after 1919?
  • Why didn’t the INC gain independence for India before 1939?
  • Compare and contrast European colonial rule in Africa and Asia.
  • How did forces of modernization influence African empires?

Exam questions

  • British responses to Indian nationalism ultimately weakened British rule.  Discuss. 
  • Did European empires collapse because of the Second World War or did decline predate 1939? 
  • How did the forces of modernization affect European empires in Africa? 

Chapter 5

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • How did the roots of Zionism reflect modernizing trends? 
  • How did the First World War create claims by Arabs and Israelis to Palestine? 
  • How did the Second World War alter the position of the United States and Britain in the Palestinian issue? 
  • Why were the Zionists more successful in creating state-building institutions than the Palestinians? 
  • How did internationalist values of decolonization and self-determination influence the position of Zionist and Palestinian publics, 1900–48? 
  • How was Palestinian nationalism a response to Zionist policy? How was it a distinct nationalist movement?
  • How did European geopolitics influence the development of the Arab-Israeli dispute?
  • Could a different approach by the British in the Palestinian Mandate in the 1920s and 1930s have prevented Arab-Israeli conflict, and if so, how?
  • Why did Britain pull out of the League Mandate in Palestine? Could a different departure have halted conflict?
  • What were the pros and cons of the 1947 UN partition plan for both Israelis and Palestinians?

Exam questions

  • What was the British approach to conflict management in Palestine, and how did this compare to British approaches in India? 
  • What does the Arab–Israeli conflict share in common with struggles for decolonization in the twentieth century, and how does it differ? 
  • How did the World wars influence the Arab–Israeli situation? 

Chapter 6

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Discussion questions

  • Why did the United States seek a larger role in the world in the late-nineteenth century? 
  • What national interests were at stake in American policies towards Latin America? 
  • Why didn’t Wilson’s moralist approach lead to different US policies in Latin America? 
  • How did the US translate economic strength into political power in Latin America in the 1920s? 
  • Why was US investment so important to Latin American economies? 
  • Was the ‘Good Neighbor’ policy a real reversal of American policies? 
  • ‘The Spanish-American War made the US a great power.’ Discuss.
  • ‘United States policy towards Latin America reflected the priorities of different presidential administrations rather than commonly-held national interests.’ Discuss.
  • How did the UN Charter address tensions between internationalist aspirations and the Monroe Doctrine?
  • How has US policy toward Latin America conflicted with US foreign policy beyond the western hemisphere?

Exam question

  • How did American regionalism conflict with internationalism? 
  • How did American policy towards Latin America reflect other United States interests from 1898 to 1945? 
  • How did European tensions influence American policy towards Latin America? 
  • Did the flag follow commerce or did commerce follow the flag in United States’ policy towards Latin America?

Chapter 7

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Discussion questions

  • What role did each of the following states play in the collapse of world trade – Britain, France, the United States? 
  • How were war debts from the First World War connected to the financial crisis of 1929? 
  • If Hitler had failed to take over in January 1933, would Germany have pursued a radically different course? 
  • How did Italy shift from the allies to Nazi German alignment? 
  • Explore British and French attitudes towards the rise of Nazi Germany. 
  • Why weren’t democracies able to unite in countering the rise of Nazi Germany?
  • ‘The problem with the Versailles Treaty was less that it was a focal point of German opposition than that it divided the Allies.’ Discuss.
  • How was the US constrained in responding to the threats of the 1930s?
  • Did the West miss an opportunity to contain Nazi Germany through a rapprochement with the Soviet Union in the 1930s?
  • Trace the responses of the following states to the rise of Nazi Germany – Britain, France, Italy, Russia, the United States.

Exam question

  • How did the diplomatic stances of the powers 1936–39 reflect material interests; how did they reflect values? 
  • Why did the powers fail to halt German expansion 1935–39? 
  • The Nazis only continued long-standing German opposition to the Versailles settlement.  Discuss. 
  • Appeasement was the best policy towards Nazi Germany in 1938. Discuss.

Chapter 8

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • Why didn’t the allies attack Germany in 1939–40? 
  • What options did Germany have after the defeat of France in 1940? 
  • How did Axis strategic planning sow the seeds of Axis defeat? 
  • How did values influence the conduct of the war by the Axis powers? 
  • How did the Grand Alliance coordination and planning compare to that of the Axis? 
  • Why did the wartime coalition not continue past 1945? 
  • How and why did the Second World War expand to new states from 1939 to 1941?
  • How did the US, USSR and Britain view the post-war world, and how did they hope to reorganize Europe?
  • Compare allied coordination and planning for the periods after the end of the First World War and then the Second World War.
  • How did experiences from the First World War shape the strategies pursued by the Great Powers in the Second World War?

Exam questions

  • Can the Allied victory in World War II be seen more as the outcome of Axis failings or of Allied successes? 
  • How did Great Power strategies change in response to the German campaign in France in 1940? 
  • Material differences rather than values explain the Allied victory over the Axis.  Discuss. 

Chapter 9

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Discussion questions

  • Why and how did the Soviet Union take control of Eastern Europe? 
  • What concerns underlay Soviet expansion in the East? 
  • How did the US hope to learn from the mistakes of the 1919 settlement in its post-1945 policies? 
  • How did the US convince an isolationist public to accept a broader role in Europe and heavier military expenditures after 1945? 
  • How did technological progress influence Cold War policies of the US and the Soviet Union? 
  • How useful was propaganda in the early Cold War to 1960? 
  • What role did Germany play in the early Cold War?
  • How did American and Soviet perceptions of each other’s actions influence the early Cold War?
  • What major milestones locked the superpowers in mutual hostility, and what opportunities for a thaw in relations occurred before 1960?  
  • How did nuclear weapons alter rivalry in the Cold War?

Exam questions

  • How did East–West competition influence patterns of European integration? 
  • How did competition evolve between West and East, and what forms did it take in Europe to 1961? 
  • Was the beginning of the Cold War more the fault of one side or the other? 
  • The vacuum in Europe created by the collapse of Germany, rather than ideological differences, lay at the heart of superpower rivalry in the Cold War. Discuss.
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Chapter 10

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • How did India gain independence, and how did its road to freedom differ from the rest of the Asian colonies? 
  • How did colonial powers view possessions after 1945? 
  • How did US policy towards the colonial powers reflect American goals? 
  • How did the superpowers view security in the East Asian region after the war? 
  • How was China drawn into Cold War diplomacy – were local circumstances more important than superpower rivalries? 
  • Did the US ‘lose’ China? 
  • Compare the routes to decolonization of British, Dutch and French possessions in Asia.
  • The Dutch, unlike the French, failed to keep Indonesia as they failed to provide a Cold War rationale for crushing independence movements. Discuss.
  • How did US support for a revived Japan influence geopolitics in East Asia?
  • How did misperceptions by the superpowers contribute to rivalry in East and Southeast Asia?

Exam questions

  • How did the Korean War alter American perceptions of Cold War Asia? 
  • How might American foreign policy in Asia have fared better by focussing less on the Cold War? 
  • How did the Chinese domestic situation influence independence movements in Asia after 1945?

Chapter 11

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • How close was the world to war in 1962? 
  • How was emerging superpower détente evidenced in the 1960s, and how could arms buildups contribute to the peace? 
  • Why did Europe shift away from the US in the 1960s, and how was this shift manifested? 
  • What influence did de Gaulle’s policies have on East–West European relations? 
  • How did tensions in the Eastern bloc differ from those in the West? 
  • How did European détente differ from the superpower détente? 
  • Why did détente break down, and how did each side perceive the actions of the other? 
  • How did the arms race and arms control reflect the relationship between the superpowers?
  • How did the Vietnam War contribute to détente policies?
  • Explore the steps in the 1970s that led to the breakdown of détente. Were Soviet actions more important than shifts within domestic American politics in how each step undermined détente?

Exam questions

  • Was détente doomed to failure given diverging interests and perceptions by the superpowers? 
  • Did détente arise more from superpower initiatives or events in the world beyond superpower control? 
  • Why didn’t détente end the Cold War?
  • Why didn’t either the western or eastern blocs disintegrate during détente?

Chapter 12

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • Why was the US unable to win the Vietnam War?
  • How did Sino-Soviet tensions influence the war in Vietnam?
  • How did Laos and Cambodia influence the Vietnam War?
  • To what extent did American policy in Vietnam reflect beliefs in technological superiority?
  • Could the US have won the Vietnam War?
  • What were the interests of the powers in Vietnam, 1945–54? 
  • How did US involvement in Vietnam increase, and at what stages were there opportunities for different policies? 
  • How did the war reflect the Sino-Soviet–American dynamic in the 1960s? 
  • What did the US achieve from its presence in Vietnam? 
  • Why didn’t Vietnam settle down after its 1975 unification? 

Exam questions

  • Why did the US continually escalate its presence in the Vietnam War? 
  • Was the Vietnam War more an anti-colonial or a Cold War conflict? 
  • How did American conduct of the war influence the US position outside South-East Asia? 

Chapter 13

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • How did the superpowers react to the Non-Aligned Movement?
  • Why wasn’t the Non-Aligned Movement able to fundamentally shift international politics away from the focus on the Cold War?
  • Compare and contrast neutrality and non-alignment policies in Africa, Asia and Europe.
  • Assess the accomplishments of the Non-Aligned Movement. How do these compare with its agenda?
  • What were the various routes to neutrality taken by European states in the early Cold War? 
  • How did Asian non-alignment differ from European neutrality? 
  • How did power politics intrude on Indian plans for the Non-Aligned Movement? 
  • Why did the developed states shift their views towards development in 194570? 
  • How did views on development shift in the 1970s and 1980s? 
  • How have developing world states diverged since the 1980s? 

Exam questions

  • Why did the Non-Aligned Movement take a more radical stance on development in the 1960s and what were the results? 
  • How did tensions develop within the grouping of newly independent African and Asian states? 
  • Why has the third world remained united on environmental issues, while dividing on political and economic ones? 

Chapter 14

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • Why can’t the lessons of the ‘economic miracle’ of East Asia be applied to other regions? 
  • How did US Cold War attitudes manifest themselves in policies towards Japan? 
  • How did security negotiations influence Japanese politics, 1945–60? 
  • Was the Japanese economic boom due more to internal or external factors in the 1950s and 1960s? 
  • Why did US policies towards Japan eventually shift in the 1960s–70s? 
  • How did Japan respond to shifting US diplomatic pressure in the 1970s and 1980s? 
  • Through what stages have American opinions towards Japan evolved since 1945?
  • How much have Japan’s post-1945 fortunes been driven by Cold War politics and how much by domestic factors?
  • Assess the goals of Japanese post-war foreign policy, and to what extent these have been achieved.
  • Compare and contrast the shifts towards democracy in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea since 1945.

Exam questions

  • Were local circumstances or Cold War rivalries more important to the development of the East Asian tigers? 
  • How has Japanese prosperity been tied to the American relationship since 1945? 
  • Have regional economies developed as a result of the Cold War, or despite the Cold War? 
  • How has the rise of Korea and Taiwan paralleled that of Japan, and how have they differed? 

Chapter 15

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • How did security interests lead to different Russian and Chinese policies? 
  • What were the concrete accomplishments of the opening of China? 
  • How did the ‘Four Modernizations’ influence Chinese relations with Japan, the US, and Great Britain? 
  • How has China’s rise influenced other regional powers since 1989? 
  • How did China react to the fall of the Soviet Union? 
  • How has the North Korean experience differed from that of China and the Asian tigers since 1953? 
  • Assess the domestic and international causes of the Sino-Soviet split. Which causes were more important in causing the divide, and could they have been avoided?
  • In what ways has post-Maoist Chinese domestic policy been consistent with policies pursued under Mao? In what ways have they differed?
  • Compare and contrast the routes towards modernization taken by China, North Korea and Japan.
  • How has the division of Korea influenced the East Asian relations of China, Russia, Japan and the United States?

Exam questions

  • How did Chinese policies differ from Soviet policies in the Third World? 
  • Were Chinese relations with the world driven more by domestic circumstances or its relations with Russia? 
  • Have North Korean policies been more influenced by irrational leadership, ideology, or foreign threats? 
  • To what extent has Chinese foreign policy been influenced by Communist ideology, and to what extent has it been driven by nationalism?

Chapter 16

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Discussion questions

  • Explore the Latin American relationship with the US after 1945, and other options for Latin American trade. 
  • How did the US role in the Guatemalan coup influence Latin American views of the US? 
  • How did the Guatemalan intervention influence Cuban and American decision-making after the 1959 revolution? 
  • Why didn’t the Alliance for Progress meet its development goals? 
  • South America has prospered under the Washington Consensus, with higher exports and less reliance on the US.  Discuss. 
  • To what extent was Latin America a field for Cold War competition?
  • Compare and contrast the US role in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Chile and Cuba since 1945.
  • Revolution and reform in Latin America after 1945 was driven more by local dynamics and tensions than by opposition to the US regional role. Discuss.
  • How have changes in economic fortunes influenced relations between the US and Latin America?

Exam questions

  • How did the US square its regional role in Latin America with internationalist policies? 
  • Only unpopular American intervention in Latin American domestic politics could have brought the conditions necessary for real reform and growth.  Discuss. 
  • How did the end of the Cold War influence conflicts in Central America? 

Chapter 17

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Discussion questions

  • Why did Europe rapidly exit Africa after planning as late as 1945 on holding onto the region? 
  • Was Pan-Africanism really a viable solution to African challenges in 1960? 
  • How did apartheid develop from a minority view to the predominant white position in South Africa? 
  • Why did African revolutionaries turn to Cold War parties in 1960s and 1970s? 
  • Why didn’t a full Cold War division emerge in Africa in the 1970s? 
  • Explore the post-war rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa.  Would the system have fallen more rapidly without the Cold War background? 
  • What struggles has Africa faced since the end of the Cold War? 
  • Africa struggles as much with western perceptions as with colonial legacies.  Discuss. 
  • To what extent have African problems been generated by the outside world (colonization, Cold War), and to what extent have problems been local?
  • Compare and contrast British and French attitudes towards independence movements in Africa after 1945.

Exam questions

  • Why have the promises of independence been difficult for the state to deliver in Africa? 
  • What choices did the European powers have in 1945 in retaining colonial rule, and how successful were colonial power strategies? 
  • Independence was too early for the good of the states.  Discuss. 
  • How have economic fluctuations influenced the position of Africa in the world since 1945?

Chapter 18

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • Why was Israel unable to negotiate a final peace in 1953? 
  • How did Israel defeat the combined Arab forces in 1967? 
  • Did limited Egyptian aims in the early 1970s influence its military strategy? 
  • How did the 1982 war differ from the earlier conflicts in 1956, 1967 and 1973? 
  • How could a different approach by Palestine or Israel have prevented the peace process from unravelling? 
  • How have peace negotiations shifted with the end of the Cold War? 
  • How have Arab attitudes towards Israel evolved since the 1950s, and why?
  • How have Israeli policies towards Palestine and its Arab neighbours been influenced by Israel’s geographic position?
  • It was not the end of the Cold War, but Israeli military victory in 1973 that fundamentally shifted Arab-Israeli diplomacy. Discuss.
  • Assess the reasons for continued Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What goals does each side have and how do these goals conflict or coincide?

Exam questions

  • What strategies has the PLO employed to win freedom? 
  • How did the superpowers influence the conduct of the Arab–Israeli wars? 
  • How have conservative politics in Israel altered the peace process since 1994? 

Chapter 19

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Discussion questions

  • How did Iranian modernizing reforms bring together a coalition against the Shah? 
  • How did the Iranian revolution and subsequent Iranian foreign policy compare and contrast with that of the early Soviet Union in the 1920s? 
  • Detail one movement that reacted to modernization and westernization, and how it fared in achieving development needs of people. 
  • How did Taliban rule differ from Iranian revolutionary rule? 
  • Compare and contrast Hizb’allah, Hamas and Laskar Jihad. 

Exam questions

  • How have the different aims of political Islam been reflected in different states and different movements? 
  • How was political Islam a response to Western nationalism? 
  • How did the Cold War contribute to global Islam? 
  • Trace the roots of Political Islam. How are the origins of the movement unique to Islam, and what do they have in common with Western political philosophies?
  • Compare and contrast the exercise of Political Islam in Afghanistan, Iran, and within the Hamas movement.
  • The Afghani Taliban movement owes more to the Cold War than to Political Islam. Discuss.
  • How effective have attempts at exporting Islamic revolution been?
  • What role has Political Islam played in the Syrian civil war?

Chapter 20

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • How did Soviet policies and the situation in Afghanistan compare and contrast with that of the US in Vietnam? 
  • Why did the Soviet Union collapse? 
  • Gorbachev’s actions, rather than Western pressure, led to the end of the Cold War.  Discuss. 
  • How did Hussein miscalculate so starkly in invading Kuwait? 
  • Did the west miss an opportunity to integrate Russia in the 1990s? 
  • Did the US ‘win’ the Cold War?
  • Is 1989 a better ending date for the Cold War than 1991? Why or why not?
  • Assess the causes and outcomes of conflicts in the 1990s in Ireland, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Israel and Iraq. How did the end of the Cold War influence these conflicts?
  • How and why did the US reshape or revitalize international institutions after the end of the Cold War?
  • After the Cold War, US foreign policy shifted away from collective security to unilateral goals. Discuss.

Exam questions

  • Did the end of the Cold War create more conflicts, or did it merely keep them from being obscured by superpower politics? 
  • To what extent did the end of the Cold War lead to greater US actions in the world in the 1990s? 
  • What was the decisive shift leading to the end of the Cold War? 
  • Reagan’s policies merely revitalized long-standing containment policies rather than creating new methods of countering the Soviet Union. Discuss.

Chapter 21

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Discussion questions

  • How did the idea of European integration take root? 
  • How did German rearmament influence the nature of integration? 
  • Explore the motives of old and new members for joining the EU. 
  • How has the common currency introduced new tensions within Europe? 
  • What are the limits to applying the European integration model to other regions? 
  • How has the Franco-German relationship shaped European integration?
  • What were the advantages and disadvantages of EU enlargement in the 1990s?
  • The destruction of the European balance of power was essential for European integration. Discuss.
  • Compare and contrast the forms of integration in the Rome, Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties.
  • Compare and contrast the forms of economic integration within the EU, ASEAN, NAFTA and MERCOSUR.

Exam questions

  • How did Europe respond to the challenges of the Cold War? 
  • The power politics of the member states were ended by entry into the EEC.  Discuss.   
  • How did skepticism of European integration manifest itself? 
  • The end of the Cold War was a more decisive event for European integration than the Second World War. Discuss.

Chapter 22

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Discussion questions

  • How did the advocacy of human rights reflect Great Power interests before 1914? 
  • How successful was the application of self-determination by the League in protecting minority rights? 
  • Why was there a shift from collective to individual rights in the founding of the UN? 
  • Why didn’t the post-1945 treaties on human rights have a bigger effect on international behaviour? 
  • How were human rights politicized within the US? 
  • Why did human rights become a larger international issue after the Second World War rather than after the First World War?
  • Why have the rules of war played such a central role in human rights treaties?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of defending collective human rights rather than individual rights?
  • Did détente make human rights more or less important to superpower relations?
  • The end of the Cold War altered the Responsibility to Protect from a theoretical responsibility to a practical doctrine. Discuss.

Exam questions

  • What influence did human rights advocacy have on the ending of the Cold War, 1976–91? 
  • How have human rights claims clashed with sovereignty, or with Great Power politics? 
  • ‘He who invokes human rights merely wants to cheat’.  Discuss. 

Chapter 23

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Discussion questions and exam questions

Discussion questions

  • How was the UN utilized by the US and other states in the buildup to the Iraq war in 2003? 
  • Compare and contrast US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001. 
  • How has the Iraq war influenced Arab populations during the varied revolutions of the Arab Spring? 
  • How have anti-terrorism methods differed in South-East Asia, and what have been the results? 
  • What lessons did Libya, Iran and North Korea learn from the invasion of Iraq? 
  • The US declined as a result of imperial overstretch. Discuss.
  • How has the role of the UN Security Council evolved since 2000?
  • Could the US have ever halted a North Korean nuclear program? Why or why not?
  • How have changes in the world economy influenced the US geopolitical position?
  • How have US presidential politics altered US foreign policies?

Exam questions

  • Has the American approach to foreign relations fundamentally changed under Obama? 
  • Does the rise of China present a fundamentally new challenge to the American position? 
  • Have the events since 2001 evidenced a decline in American power?