AP US Government : AP US Government

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP US Government

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Example Questions

Example Question #57 : Public Policy

What was the first international organization that used the concept of collective security? The U.S. helped establish this organization but never actually joined.

Possible Answers:

NATO

United Nations

League of Nations

General Assembly

Security Council

Correct answer:

League of Nations

Explanation:

Woodrow Wilson saw the end of World War I as an opportune time to rethink international politics. He had a masterful moment when he made his Fourteen Point plan that focused on expanding diplomacy, peace, and international trade (two countries that are strong economic partners have a better chance at diplomatic solutions when problems arise, since both sides have more to lose).  

The Fourteen Point plan also called for the establishment of the League of Nations, which Congress was not ready or willing to join. Woodrow Wilson saw the League of Nations' founding, but it was extremely weak without the United States as a member.

Together, the members of the League of Nations decided as a whole who and what threatened international security. In other words, the member-countries collectively sought to protect each other and ensure one another's security.

Example Question #61 : Public Policy

Which of these ideas were not presented in George Kennan's "Long telegram" (1946) about the percolating conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union?

Possible Answers:

The U.S. must utilize policies of containment - resisting, but not overreacting to the rise of communism

The Soviet Union will seek an expansion of its power and all-encompassing development

The Soviet Union would provoke a global dispute between capitalism and communism

The Soviet Union is the figurehead and base for Communism for the whole planet

The U.S. must build bases throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia to prepare for a military strike against the Soviet Union

Correct answer:

The U.S. must build bases throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia to prepare for a military strike against the Soviet Union

Explanation:

George Kennan made a lot of waves in Washington when he wrote the "Long Telegram".  He did not believe that a war with the Soviet Union was the answer, and he did not promote the idea of building bases in Europe.  

Kennan believed the opposite.  We did not need to have a competition with the Soviet Union over the spreading of capitalism and communism.  His policy of containment became a political phenomenon, and the basis of the Truman Doctrine as well as America's Cold War strategy until the Reagan administration.

Example Question #62 : Public Policy

After World War II, two separate alliances divided Europe into two spheres of influence. The ________________ formed the Western alliance, and the _______________ formed the Eastern alliance. 

Possible Answers:

Mutual Defense Treaty . . . Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security

North American Treaty Organization (NATO) . . . Warsaw Pact

SEATO . . . Alliance of Tamases

Quadruple Alliance . . . Hellenic League

Five Power Defense Arrangements . . . Balkan League

Correct answer:

North American Treaty Organization (NATO) . . . Warsaw Pact

Explanation:

NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, brought West Germany into the fold after Germany's division. East Germany aligned with Russia and other communist countries through the Warsaw Pact.  Germany's division right through Berlin created two massive spheres of influence - East vs. West; communism vs. democracy - until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and Germany was officially reunified in 1990.

Example Question #27 : Policy Relations

What did the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) do?

Possible Answers:

The NPT sought to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and encouraged the safe development of nuclear capabilities

The NPT attempted to assist LDCs (less developed countries) with programs that incorporated the IMF, World Bank, and the U.S. 

The NPT was the first anti-pollution treaty drafted by the U.N., and it focused on keeping rivers, oceans, and lakes clean

The NPT was an agreement among the U.N. Security Council that placed limitations on weapons caches that each country could stockpile after the Vietnam War

The NPT effectively brought an end to the Soviet Union, which included the reunification of Germany

Correct answer:

The NPT sought to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and encouraged the safe development of nuclear capabilities

Explanation:

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), also called the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, reinforced the power of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA had been established about a decade prior to the formulation of the NPT.  The IAEA is a watchdog agency with some power, and the Non-Proliferation Treaty legitimized the IEAE's global reach.  

The NPT's creation resulted in multiple countries disbanding their nuclear weapons programs (including Brazil, South Korea, and South Africa). After the Soviet Union's collapse in the early 1990s, multiple Soviet states gave up nuclear weapons when they acquired independence (Kazakhstan and Ukraine to name a couple).

The overarching goals of the NPT is two-fold: first, to promote proper nuclear development for countries attempting to create and utilize nuclear energy for safe, moral purposes (such as generating electricity for cities). The second goal of this treaty is stop the spread of nuclear weapons, which includes reducing preexisting stockpiles of these devices.

Example Question #834 : Ap Us Government

Which term describes the concept of a country having institutions, legacy, and advancements (cultural, economic, or political), any of which sets that country apart from the rest of the world?

Possible Answers:

Conditionality

Unilateralism

Washington Consensus

Exceptionalism

Isolationism

Correct answer:

Exceptionalism

Explanation:

American exceptionalism is the concept that America stands apart from the rest of the world as the prime example of a modern society.  The values represented in the Constitution and the fruitful government-citizen relationship creates a unique profile for a country - both presently and historically.  The American profile is a colossal one that has helped to spread democratic ideals across the world, and has in turn created a sense of exceptionalism within American borders, among citizens.

Isolationism involves the concept a country separating from the rest of the world, but includes that country withdrawing from the majority of global diplomacy, international trade, and foreign wars.  Isolationism does not immediately mean that a country is exceptional.

The Washington Consensus is a set of economic policies and conditionality is a set of conditions a country must meet before receiving foreign aid - both being unrelated to this question. 

Finally, unilateralism (in regards to foreign affairs) is when a country commits an act across international borders without a consensus from other affected, regional, or world powers.

Example Question #832 : Ap Us Government

What is the name given to the oil companies that owned, operated, and distributed the majority of oil in the Middle East until the 1970s?

Possible Answers:

Middle East managers

Seven sisters

Oil barons

Blueliners

OPEC

Correct answer:

Seven sisters

Explanation:

In the 1970s, a massive amount of the world's untapped oil was underneath the Middle Eastern countries.  There was a gold rush decades earlier - efforts by western oil companies to take control of the oil operations and distribution.  

Multiple companies had signed the Red Line Agreement - so maybe the oil companies could be called Red Liners, but not "Blue Liners".  The answers "oil barons" and "Middle East managers" are not recognized monikers for any group of oil companies in this instance.  OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is the organization that was formed in order to embolden and unify the countries that had massive oil reserves and minuscule authority over their own resources.  At its point of origin, OPEC consisted of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, and from South America, Venezuela.  

The seven sisters is the name that was given to the Western oil companies that had established a considerable foothold in the Middle Eastern oil market.  The companies included: Standard Oil  of California, New Jersey (Exxon), and New York (Mobil); Texaco, Gulf, Royal Dutch / Shell, and BP (British Petroleum).

Example Question #63 : Public Policy

The Declaration of Principles was signed at the White House in 1993, which led to agreements known as the Oslo Accords. What resulted from these agreements?

Possible Answers:

Mutual recognition of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Israeli Government

Mutual recognition between the governments of Serbia and Bosnia

None of these

A temporary peace between Russia and Georgia

A lasting peace between Russia and Georgia

Correct answer:

Mutual recognition of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Israeli Government

Explanation:

In order to answer this question, you simply needed to know that the Oslo Accords, while agreed to in meetings held in the US, were concerned with the relationship between the PLO and the Israeli government. The first step, and the first imposition of the Oslo Accord, was that the two organizations needed to recognize that each other even existed (in a diplomatic sense), which they had not previously, as both contended that the other were illegitimate terrorist organizations.

Example Question #64 : Public Policy

The nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union continued to escalate but never boiled over due to _____________, and eventually the period of _____________ began to ease tensions between both sides.

Possible Answers:

political turmoil in both countries . . . idealism

the Kyoto Protocol . . . containment

MAD, or mutually assured destruction . . . détente

the collapse of the Soviet Union . . . neo-conservatism 

a global recession  . . . geo-anarchism

Correct answer:

MAD, or mutually assured destruction . . . détente

Explanation:

MAD, or mutually assured destruction, is the idea that no country would destroy itself by firing a nuclear weapon at another country armed with nuclear weapons. The attacking country would be destroyed because there would be automatic and equal retaliation from the country being attacked - mutual destruction. This means that despite all of the bravado and showing of military might, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union would launch a nuclear strike against one another, as it would spell doom for the country that launches the attack.

The period of détente is marked by agreements, treaties, and somewhat of a relaxing of hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Example Question #65 : Public Policy

Which Presidential decree defined the Cold War as a difference of lifestyles and governance?

Possible Answers:

Nixon Doctrine

Kennedy Doctrine

Reagan Doctrine

The Truman Doctrine

Monroe Doctrine

Correct answer:

The Truman Doctrine

Explanation:

The Truman Doctrine defined American living and government as the most righteous and effective in the world, and the Soviet Union had the worst, most oppressive government and ideologies.  

The policy of containment had been enacted with the invocation of the Truman Doctrine, where America's strategy was not to engage the Soviet Union in military conflict, but rather to lead the world by example and promote growth within American borders.

Both the American and Soviet government believed that each had the proper form of government and society not just for their own respective nations, but also the world.

Example Question #28 : Foreign Relations

What caused China to get involved in the Korean War?

Possible Answers:

China's pact with North Korea promised military aid in the event of a war between North and South Korea

The coalition of troops led by the U.S. came too close to the Chinese border with North Korea, prompting a Chinese military response

Fearing mass influence from the West (including capitalism and democracy), China engaged in the war to protect its interests

China's main competition in the region, India, backed South Korea, so China felt an obligation to align with North Korea

Russia and China's thin alliance during World War II had strengthened in the years after the war, and China joined in the fight on behalf of Russia

Correct answer:

The coalition of troops led by the U.S. came too close to the Chinese border with North Korea, prompting a Chinese military response

Explanation:

As the United States attempted to drive back the North Korean forces out of South Korea, General MacArthur made an arrogant play and advanced to the border of China, which provoked a massive response from the Chinese.  This conflict began in 1950, and MacArthur was removed from his post a year later.  

This was another conflict that pitted Western, democratic regimes against Eastern, communist ones. North Korea had the support of the Soviet Union while the South had the United Nations and United States.  

As the Cold War escalated, there was a series of conflicts like this one where America and the Soviet Union flexed their military might, but never fully engaged one another in combat.  These proxy wars contributed to the massive spheres of influence that formed around the world during the Cold War.  The United States and Soviet Union would test one another in several conflicts across decades, with one constantly trying to push the other to declare war.

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