Final Exam

Final Exam for Ps 442/542 International Conflict
Fall 2006

DIRECTIONS: This final exam is take-home. Students are allowed to consult their notes and textbooks, but no other sources may be consulted. These are independent papers. Each student is expected to do their own work and may not consult with other students during the writing of the exam. Students should take care to cite evidence from the textbooks and their class notes. All responses are to be typed, double-spaced, with 12 point, normal font. Complete, concise, and coherent answers are expected.

NOTE: Final exams are due by Friday, December 15^th, at 11:30am in Prof. Gibler’s mailbox on the political science floor. Emailed exams will not be accepted.

Part I: Three questions (60 total points)

1.) Describe the Kantian tripod developed in Russett and Oneal’s Triangulating Peace. What evidence do they provide to support their arguments? Are the theory and evidence convincing? Why or why not?

2.) Describe the territorial explanation of conflict developed by Vasquez in The War Puzzle. What evidence does he provide to support his overall argument? Are the theory and evidence convincing? Why or why not?

3.) How do international power politics behaviors affect domestic processes and institutions? Use three examples of power politics behaviors and describe how these behaviors affect internal state institutions and/or political processes. Why is understanding the domestic level effects of international politics so important?

Part II: One question (40 points)

The Great Kingdom of Ishmaelia rests on a narrow, disputed border with Azania, its only neighbor. The President of Azania, Yogi Tuttle, heads a newly formed, democratically governed state and wishes to resolve the disputed border. However, Ishmaelia continues to stall on the negotiations. In fact, King Feral, who has ruled Ishmaelia for more than 50 years, has sought the outside aid of two powerful states in the hopes of deterring Azania. This new “Triple Alliance of the Obscenely Powerful” is a defense pact, and Ishmaelia can definitely be considered a minor state protégé of the other two states. President Tuttle, fearing reprisals at home, has begun a concerted effort to improve the military capabilities of his state, including the introduction of a military draft and a dramatic (7%) increase in weapons expenditures. This in turn has caused King Feral to move his troops to the border. Unfortunately, this entire situation reminds all watchers of the past two crises – now almost 50 years old – in which both states came so close to war.

It is not a good time for this dispute to be occurring. The world has been divided into two hostile blocs by some permanent alliances between the major states, but none of these major states have had enough capabilities to truly dominate the world system. Whatever intergovernmental organizations still remain have proven relatively ineffectual due to the numerous divisions among the major states, and numerous developing crises continue to divide the attention of the overworked heads of state.

It is into this situation that you now enter. You have been asked to independently assess the possibilities of war given the above scenario. If war is likely, you are to present evidence as to why it is likely, and how big and severe it is likely to be. Use all of the evidence you have learned this semester, and be sure not to shy away from citing every reading on the syllabus with SPECIFIC findings. Good luck.