TUJ International Politics - Fall 2010 - Paul Bacon

Classwork questions for Nye, Chapter Four

1. What is the legacy of WWII?

2. In what ways was Germany punished at the end of WWI?

3. In which ways and to what extent could the League of Nations be considered a failure?

4. What was AJP Taylor’s theory about the significance of Adolf Hitler? Does Nye agree with Taylor?

5. What were the four options available to Hitler, and which one did he take?

6. What were the four phases through which Hitler moved?

7. What were the most events of Phase One?

8. What were the most events of Phase Two?

9. What were the most events of Phase Three?

10. What were the most events of Phase Four?

11. How does Nye evaluate the significance of Hitler as an individual in each of the phases?

12. What overall conclusion does Nye reach about the significance of Hitler?

13. At the systemic, or third image/level, what were the main structural causes of WWII?

14. At the systemic, or third image/level, what were the main process-level causes of WWII?

15. What were the second image/level causes of WWII?

16. What was the deep cause of WWII?

17. What were the intermediate causes of WWII?

18. What was the precipitating cause of WWII?

19. Which counterfactuals, discussed by Nye, might have had an impact on the outbreak of WWII?

20. What were the three options available to Japan from 1940 onwards?

21. What was the strategic rationale behind Japan’s decision to attack the United States?

22. Do you think that this was a wise decision?

23. What were the third image/level causes of the war in the Pacific?

24. What were the second image/level causes of the war in the Pacific?

25. What were the first image/level causes of the war in the Pacific?

26. What were the deep, intermediate and precipitating causes of the Pacific War?

27. At the end of this chapter, Nye discusses three situations where a group of states had to make a group

decision about whether to appease or deter an enemy. What conclusions does he draw about these

three decisions?