Government 336

Part A: Answer five of eight (50 Points)

1. Identify and state the significance of four of the following:

a. Article 51 of the United Nations Charter

b. Article 6 of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty

c. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

d. The Uniting for Peace Resolution

e. The "Optional Clause"

f. UN Security Council Resolution 242

2. In The United Nations and the Superpowers, Stoessinger notes that "the Article 19 controversy surrounding the financing of the UN's operations in the Congo was more a political conflict than it was an economic one." Briefly explain.

3. Explain the difference between supply-side and demand-side nonproliferation and give an example of each.

4. In Swords into Ploughshares, Claude writes that "the impact of functionalism on politics may never be tested because of the impact of politics on functionalism." Briefly explain.

5. In Collective Management, Miriam Camps identifies autonomy and equity as alternatives to efficiency as goals international economic organizations ought to promote. Briefly explain why the G-77 sees these norms as being violated by the GATT system.

6. Why does Caroline Thomas see the IMF as having violated Jamaica's sovereignty? How would a defender of the IMF respond to that charge?

7. Briefly explain the US position on technology transfer with respect to (a) the Law of the Sea Treaty and (b) international agreements regarding ozone depletion.

8. In Global Environmental Politics, Porter and Brown identify certain countries as veto states with respect to the creation of international environmental regimes. Identify who were the most prominent veto states and why in one of the following areas you did not write about: (a) ozone depletion, (b) global warming, (c) acid rain.

Part B: Major Essay (50 Points) - answer one of three.

1. According to realist scholars, one of the central constraints to achieving international cooperation is the tendency of states, particularly great powers, to focus on issues of relative power position rather than the collective goals of international institutions. One of the implications of this argument is that the attenuation of great power rivalry with the end of the Cold War eliminates a major constraint to more effective international institutions.

To what extent then has the erosion of the Cold War in the late 1980s and its disappearance in the early 1990s contributed to greater collaboration in two of the following: (a) collective security, (b) peacekeeping, (c) nuclear nonproliferation. In your answer, examine the degree to which superpower competition (relative to other factors) was responsible for the limited effectiveness of international organizations during the Cold War era. Was this bipolar rivalry the primary constraint to collective action or were there other factors more responsible that would impede cooperative efforts even in a post-Cold War environment?

4. In international institutions, the United States has often rhetorically assumed the role of defender of functionalist principles, seeking to insulate cooperation in the social, economic, and humanitarian spheres from "politicization." Critically assess this position, examining U.S. policy in two of the following areas you did not write about: (a) the specialized agencies of the UN (e.g., WHO, UNESCO, the Special Fund); (b) UN activities with respect to human rights and other humanitarian activities; (c) upholding the norm of of a multinational civil service in staffing the Secretariat, or (d) the International Monetary Fund. In you answer, you should draw upon both the functionalist view of politicization and the critique of that view presented in Baldwin, Lyons, and McNemar

5. One of major impediments to cooperation through international organization has been the absence of consensus on what values and interests multilateral institutions should promote

To what extent has an absence of consensus impeded multilateral efforts in two of the following you did not write about: (a) nuclear nonproliferation, (b) human rights, (c) global warming, (d) ozone depletion, (e) acid rain, or (f) the New World Information and Communications Order. How have major initiatives attempted to reconcile competing values and interests? Why have they succeeded or failed? In your conclusion, indicate whether you think it is possible to establish a framework which can reconcile these divergent national interests with the interest of the larger community of nations. Or is there a fundamental incompatibility which precludes cooperation?

Extra Credit (3 Points) if you can correctly answer six of the following

1. Boutros Ghali's immediate predecessor as Secretary General

2. The current US Ambassador to the United Nations

3. The country in which UN peacekeepers are to monitor elections from May 23-28

4. The US Ambassador to the UN who later went on to be Director of the CIA

5. The US Ambassador to the UN who is currently in the Senate

6. The only country to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty

7. The country which recently received the largest IMF loan in its history

8. The environmental treaty President Clinton signed on April 16