PS 205: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Ronald Mitchell
Final Exam
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BASICS:
Three parts: 1 essay question (55% of grade); 2 medium answer questions (15% each for 30% of grade); 15
multiple choice questions (15% of grade).
Read whole exam first. Closed book, all work must be your own. PLEASE write legibly.
Medium answer: answer EACH in ITS OWN exam book separate from the essay book.
You will be allowed to use as many exam books as needed. On each you will have to put:
 Student ID# (NOT your name)
 Exam book number and total (e.g., 1 of 2, 2 of 2)
The exam will start at 8 am and will last two hours but will end at 10 am, regardless of what time you arrive at
the exam room.
If you have questions, you can ask a GTF or the professor for clarification.
Essay criteria: content, structure, and quality of argument. PLEASE write legibly. Make sure you write about
ONLY TWO issue areas (from the pairs allowed in the question).
CHECKLIST BEFORE HANDING IN EXAM:
Hand in four things:
 Essay exam books (1 or more -- numbered if more than 1) with ID#, not your name
 ONE medium answer exam book with question #1
 ANOTHER medium answer exam book with question #2
 Multiple choice portion of exam, with answers to 15 multiple choice questions.
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ESSAY (55% of grade)
Compare the ability of realism, institutionalism, and feminist/disenfranchised theories to explain differences across
two issue areas.
Choose one and only of the following issue pairs:
 security and human rights,
 security and environmental affairs,
 economic affairs and human rights,
 economic affairs and environmental affairs.
Your essay should address two questions (but probably should not be structured into these 2 sections):
1) for each issue area, which aspects are better explained by one theory and which are better explained by
another theory, and
2) for each theory, does it do better than, worse than, or equally as well as other theories at explaining what
happens in one issue area vs. the other issue area.
You can NOT write on “security and economics” or “environmental affairs and human rights”.
Clarification of essay question:
We will use similar criteria to those we used for the midterm.
 Make sure you include feminist/disenfranchised theories as part of your essay.
 Use examples from the lectures, readings, or newspaper articles (online or those you found yourself) to
illustrate and support your argument.
 Provide a balanced view of the values of all three theories. For example, a good approach generally would
be: “this part of what I observe in each issue area, and the differences between them is explained well by
realism; but this other part of what I observe in each issue area is explained better by institutionalism; while
disenfranchised theories help me understand this part of the differences between these issue areas.”
 You should be able to examine the patterns of international relations in both issue areas in terms of how
states actually behave, not how they should behave (i.e., the way things ARE, not the way they SHOULD
BE), and you must provide examples from both the issue areas to illustrate your argument. The best essays
will cover most of the theoretical material without simply regurgitating the basic tenets, will discuss
concepts such as power, interests, norms, types of cooperation, and security, and will link the argument to
issues from some of the readings. They will provide good theoretical reasoning in a coherent essay that
illustrates the theoretical points with examples, either real-life examples used during the term (best option)
or well-chosen hypothetical examples that involve international relations (not as good, but better than
nothing).
 A good way to structure your essay would be by tenets, i.e., first, focus; second, actors; third, goals of
actors; etc. Then, briefly lay out what each of the 3 theories says about that tenet. Then, describe some key
examples for each issue area that relate to that tenet. Choose those examples carefully so that they help you
show:
o Cases where one theory's tenets explain the examples from both issue areas
o Cases where one theory's tenets explain the examples from on issue area but not the other.
o Cases where one theory's tenets do not fit either issue area very well.
 You should expect to lose points for comments such as “we need cooperation to protect human rights, so
the focus is institutionalism” or “realist countries don't protect human rights while institutionalist countries
do” or “if we adopt realism, then everyone will only look out for themselves, so we should adopt
institutionalist views instead” or “Paraguay has pursued a realist policy while the leaders of Bhutan have
adopted a more feminist policy approach.” Remember, political scientists use theory to explain the
behavior of states; states do not generally use theory to guide their own behavior.
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Medium answer
You will be required to answer two (2) of the following five questions. Each medium answer should be answered in
its own exam book separate from the essay books. Each medium answer should be approximately 1-4 exam
book pages. You should study and have good answers developed for ALL FIVE of the following questions.
Only two of them will appear on the final exam. You must answer BOTH of the questions we include.
 Describe the Tragedy of the Commons. Explain how this intellectual model can help us understand the reallife dynamics and outcomes we see with respect to the global climate change problem.
 What are “gains from trade” and who receives them? Why, despite these benefits, do states create and
maintain protectionist trade barriers such as quotas, tariffs, and subsidies?
 What function do counterfactuals serve in international relations theory? In what ways do they contribute
to our understanding of international relations? Provide a clear example. Make sure that you describe what
counterfactuals are AND that you provide at least one clear example of a counterfactual and show how it
would help you evaluate theories of international relations. Feel free to draw graphs to illustrate your
argument if that seems useful.
 Describe the debate over whether international institutions influence the behavior of states or not. What is
the argument for them being effective? What is the argument against them being effective? Provide
examples and graphs to support both sides.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
There will be 15 multiple choice questions on the exam. This portion of the exam will be on paper (not I-Clicker)
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