Final

Mitchell, JA

POLITICAL SCIENC 420c

FINAL EXAMINATION

PLEASE ANSWER TWO OF THE FOLLOWING ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Select two of the nations from the Central European region. Discuss their principal foreign policy objectives. Why have they ordered those objectives in the fashion that you have indicated? Did the Bush Doctrine and the post-9/11 world order had any significant impact on their policy choice? Were those policy objectives the same a decade ago? Why, why not? Be sure to incorporate levels-of-analysis in your discussion. Did the Obama Administration’s posture change their approach? Explain.

2. Would you say that the “shock therapy” prescriptions of the IMF for macroeconomic development in the CEE region have had a stabilizing or destabilizing impact on their transition? Explain using a nation from the region as your case study. Be sure to consider social and political, as well as economic ramifications. If you feel that another alternative would be more appropriate, describe that alternative. In your view, do the CEE nations have a choice?

3. Select any nation from the CEE region. Describe the path it has taken in the transition process from the end of the cold war to the present time. Would you say that the transition has been progressing successfully or unsuccessfully? What are the chances of the nation that you selected returning to authoritarian politics? What are the chances that it will return to communist economics? What is the chance that it will assume a xenophobic posture?

4. What are the prospects for intraregional relationships in the CEE approaching the cordiality that we have seen in Western Europe? Discuss an intraregional relationship, either bilateral or multilateral, to illustrate your point. Would your assessment have been the same a decade ago or not? Will trends in the Atlantic Community hasten, or hinder, that process?

5. In your opinion which nation in the CEE region has achieved the most success thus far in making the transition from what it was during the cold war to the present day? Which has been the least successful? How do you account for their differing results? Were they in the same position vis-à-vis each other during the cold war? If so, why, if not what has accounted for the change in fortunes.

6. The legacy of colonialism in Africa is still felt today. Political instability in Africa

has, in part, resulted from the way colonial powers divided people from one another and combined them with others unlike themselves. Would you say that the nations of Central Eastern Europe were affected the same way by colonialism? Why/why not?

7. The Obama Administration has recalibrated the central European missile deployment plan of former President Bush. Was this idea prudent or, imprudent, in your view? Explain. Remember to consider the rationale advanced in support of the original deployment plan, in providing your assessment. The Polish government expressed dismay over the Obama announcement. Why do you imagine that was? How should Obama have moved to mollify the Poles?

8. What would you suggest are the prospects for the US forging cordial relations with Russia in the near-term? Explain. Be sure to consider the most recent presidential results in the US and Russian elections, as well as variables at both levels-of-analysis. Would you suggest that Russian cooperation with NATO is a sound idea, given recent developments? Explain. Be should to consider variables at each level for both nations.

9. What would suggest is the biggest problem in the Eastern European region today? Explain. Is there a plausible solution to the problem in your opinion? Explain. Would that problem be closer to a solution with or, without, US intervention? Explain. Be sure to be analytical.

10. Was the Russian annexation of Crimea justified, in your view? Should sanctions imposed upon Russia by the US and the international community be repealed? Explain. Be sure to be analytical. Should Russian activities in Eastern Ukraine be viewed the same way as the situation with Crimea? Explain.