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Question 1

What is the significance of the Commerce Department and US Trade Representative (USTR) in the formulation of US foreign economic policy?

a) They allow greater congressional influence over the setting of external economic relations

b) They restrict congressional influence over the setting of external economic relations

c) They allow greater Presidential influence over the setting of external economic relations

d) They allow greater foreign influence over the setting of external economic relations

Question 2

According to the 'investment theory of American politics'... (choose the appropriate definition from below):

a) US foreign economic policy is driven by conflicts between House and Senate

b) US foreign economic policy is driven by conflicts between the Executive and Congress

c) US foreign economic policy is driven by conflicts between different US business sectors

d) US foreign economic policy is driven by the policies of other states

Question 3

How do elite theories of special economic interests differ from pluralist theories?

a) Pluralist theories stress the unequal access interest groups have to the policy-making process

b) Elite theories stress even competition between interest groups

c) Elite theories stress policy capture by special interest groups

d) Pluralist theories stress policy capture by special interest groups

Question 4

Which of these is not a feature of the Marxist explanation of US economic policy formulation as espoused by Gabriel Kolko and others?

a) The impact of popular will on the fundamentals of domestic and international economic policy

b) The centrality of the business class

c) Informal mechanisms through which the business class leads strategy and policy

d) Consensus within the business class on the fundamentals of domestic and international economic policy

Question 5

The American foreign economic policy-making system is often the site of conflictual interaction. Why?

a) Congress and strategic elites vie for influence

b) US allies frequently disagree with US economic policy

c) Republicans and Democrats have equal influence at all times

d) None of the above

Question 6

Which of these characterizations describes the 'multilateral image' of US foreign economic policy?

a) Economic nationalism combined with maintenance of tariff barriers

b) International Liberalism combined with maintenance of tariff barriers

c) International Liberalism and integration into global markets

d) Direct control of other economies

Question 7

What is meant by William Appleman Williams' term 'Open Door World'?

a) The opening of foreign markets to American capital

b) The opening of American markets to external capital

c) The acceptance of American financial aid by the Soviet Union

d) The process through which the trade winds came to affect the American economy

Question 8

How did the Cold War affect US economic status?

a) Anti-Communist alliances entailed economic commitment to the US

b) The US lost out to Western trade with the Soviet Union

c) The US lost out to Japanese trade with China

d) The US did not interfere with other economies as part of a broader strategy of balancing the USSR

Question 9

Why are the statistics on American GDP in the 1990s controversial?

a) Debt is excluded

b) The definition of 'production' is too broad

c) Calculations of US GDP include all military investment and production

d) All of the above

Question 10

Why is the post-War economic dominance of the US under threat?

a) China is a rising economic power

b) Neo-isolationist sentiment is on the rise in the US

c) Japan is a rising economic power

d) Both a and b

Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Chapter 17.

Chapter 17

Instructions