Contemporary IR Theories and Approaches MCQs 2026

Wendt's famous claim is that

1. Aanarchy is eternal and unchangeable✓
2. Bstates cannot learn✓
3. Cideas never influence behaviour✓
4. Danarchy is what states make of it✓

Constructivists emphasize

1. Aonly GDP and missiles✓
2. Bonly geographic determinism✓
3. Cnorms, identity and discourse in shaping state interests✓
4. Donly random chance✓

A norm in constructivist terms is

1. Aonly a domestic statute✓
2. Ba shared expectation of appropriate behaviour✓
3. Conly a military unit✓
4. Donly a trade tariff✓

Identity in constructivism affects

1. Anothing at all✓
2. Bhow states define friends, enemies and interests✓
3. Conly weather patterns✓
4. Donly currency values✓

Feminist critics of realism argue it

1. Aperfectly captures gender✓
2. Brejects all war studies✓
3. Cis identical to liberalism✓
4. Dnaturalizes masculinized concepts of power and security✓

Critical theory in IR challenges

1. Aall empirical research✓
2. Bonly ancient history✓
3. Conly mathematics✓
4. Dmainstream assumptions and power structures that reproduce domination✓

The Frankfurt School influence in IR promotes

1. Astatus quo acceptance only✓
2. Bemancipation and reflection on hidden power✓
3. Cpure balance-of-power mechanics✓
4. Drejection of ethics entirely✓

Feminist IR theory highlights

1. Agendered power relations and exclusion of women in security discourse✓
2. Bonly conventional military balances✓
3. Conly trade statistics✓
4. Donly cartography✓

Feminist scholars argue traditional IR often

1. Atreats women and gender as invisible or peripheral✓
2. Bfully includes all genders equally✓
3. Crejects all security studies✓
4. Donly studies economics✓

Standpoint feminism in IR suggests

1. Aonly elite men's views matter✓
2. Bgender is irrelevant to war✓
3. Call theories are identical✓
4. Dmarginalized perspectives reveal hidden truths about power✓

Postmodernism in IR (e.g., Der Derian) questions

1. Agrand narratives, fixed truth and sovereign subjectivity✓
2. Bonly economic growth models✓
3. Conly population statistics✓
4. Donly engineering✓

Poststructuralism focuses on

1. Afixed natural laws only✓
2. Bpure material forces only✓
3. Chow discourse constitutes subjects and power relations✓
4. Donly naval strategy✓

Behaviouralism in IR (1960s) sought

1. Apure moral philosophy only✓
2. Bscientific methods, quantification and testable hypotheses✓
3. Conly literary criticism✓
4. Drejection of data✓

Systems theory in IR treats the international system as

1. Aan interacting whole with feedback and properties beyond units✓
2. Bunrelated isolated states only✓
3. Conly domestic politics✓
4. Donly individual psychology✓

Kaplan's systems models (e.g., balance of power, loose bipolar) illustrate

1. Aone universal model only✓
2. Bdomestic models only✓
3. Cdifferent structural patterns producing different politics✓
4. Dno patterns exist✓

Game theory in IR is used to model

1. Aonly natural disasters✓
2. Bstrategic interaction where outcomes depend on others' choices✓
3. Conly poetry✓
4. Donly demography alone✓

The prisoner's dilemma suggests under anarchy

1. Acooperation is always automatic✓
2. Brational actors may not cooperate even when joint gains exist✓
3. Cdefection never occurs✓
4. Dinstitutions are unnecessary✓

Rational choice institutionalism combines

1. Aonly cultural narratives✓
2. Bonly divine intervention✓
3. Conly random walks✓
4. Drational actors with institutional constraints and incentives✓

Norm life cycle (Finnemore/Sikkink) includes

1. Aonly military buildup phases✓
2. Bonly economic cycles only✓
3. Cnorm emergence, cascade and internalization✓
4. Donly electoral terms✓

Constructivists differ from neorealists because they

1. Asee ideas and identity as constitutive, not just effects of power✓
2. Bdeny any role for material forces✓
3. Creject all evidence✓
4. Dignore states✓

Marxist/critical approaches in IR analyze

1. Aonly ceremonial diplomacy✓
2. Bcapitalism, imperialism and class in global relations✓
3. Conly sport✓
4. Donly grammar✓

World-systems theory (Wallerstein) divides the world into

1. Aonly land and sea✓
2. Bonly north and south poles✓
3. Conly urban blocks✓
4. Dcore, semi-periphery and periphery✓

Postcolonial IR theory examines

1. Aonly future technologies✓
2. Bonly weather✓
3. Chow colonial histories shape contemporary global power✓
4. Donly sports leagues✓

Edward Said's Orientalism is used in IR to critique

1. Amathematical proofs only✓
2. BWestern representations that justify domination of the "East"✓
3. Ctrade balances only✓
4. Dnaval tonnage only✓

Securitization theory (Copenhagen School) studies

1. Ahow issues become framed as existential security threats✓
2. Bonly military budgets✓
3. Conly agricultural yields✓
4. Donly museum curation✓

Constructivist research often uses

1. Ahistorical case studies and discourse analysis✓
2. Bonly laboratory experiments on animals✓
3. Conly astrology✓
4. Donly fiction without evidence✓

Feminist security studies broadens security to include

1. Aonly nuclear missiles✓
2. Bonly naval bases✓
3. Ceveryday violence, economic rights and human security✓
4. Donly space lasers✓

Postmodern IR resists

1. Aall empirical inquiry categorically✓
2. Bmathematics in physics✓
3. Cfoundational claims to objective truth in world politics✓
4. Dgeography maps✓

Behavioural IR contrasted with traditionalism by prioritizing

1. Aclassical philosophy only✓
2. Bdata, measurement and middle-range theory✓
3. Conly legal hermeneutics✓
4. Donly theology✓

Cybernetics and systems approaches model

1. Aonly static billiard balls✓
2. Bfeedback, homeostasis and adaptation in politics✓
3. Conly individual whim✓
4. Donly geology✓

Agent-structure problem in IR asks

1. Ahow agents and social structures mutually constitute each other✓
2. Bonly agents matter✓
3. Conly structures matter✓
4. Dneither matters✓

Wendt identifies cultures of anarchy as

1. AHobbesian, Lockean and Kantian based on shared ideas✓
2. Bonly one eternal culture✓
3. Conly economic cultures✓
4. Donly linguistic families✓

Critical theorists like Linklater emphasize

1. Apermanent war as ideal✓
2. Bclosed nationalism only✓
3. Ccosmopolitan ethics and transformation of political community✓
4. Drejection of morality✓

Constructivism's policy insight is that

1. Aonly bigger armies matter✓
2. Bideas never change✓
3. Cleaders cannot learn✓
4. Dchanging ideas and norms can transform international outcomes✓

Behavioural approach limitation critics say it

1. Ais too interpretive✓
2. Bignores all numbers✓
3. Crejects computers✓
4. Dmay oversimplify culture and meaning✓

Systems theory equilibrium implies

1. Apermanent revolution always✓
2. Bno feedback ever✓
3. Ctendencies toward balance unless disturbed✓
4. Dstatic forever without change✓

Postmodern security studies might analyze

1. Aonly troop numbers✓
2. Bonly coal reserves✓
3. Conly rainfall✓
4. Dhow visual media construct fear and otherness✓

Feminist peace research links militarization to

1. Agendered hierarchies and masculinized security cultures✓
2. Bpure market forces only✓
3. Conly volcanic activity✓
4. Donly typography✓

Constructivist account of the end of Cold War stresses

1. Aonly NATO spending alone✓
2. Bonly geography✓
3. Conly random luck✓
4. Dnew ideas and Gorbachev's learning changing Soviet identity✓

Human security approach shifts focus to

1. Aonly tanks and bombers✓
2. Bonly space colonies✓
3. Conly corporate logos✓
4. Dprotecting individuals from multiple threats beyond state-centric war✓

The "third debate" in IR refers to

1. Arealism vs liberalism only✓
2. Beconomics vs history only✓
3. Cpositivist vs post-positivist methodological disputes✓
4. Dlaw vs medicine✓

Reflectivism labels approaches that

1. Areject all scholarship✓
2. Bquestion positivist science and emphasize interpretation✓
3. Conly run regressions✓
4. Donly study physics✓

Ontology in constructivism asks

1. Aonly chemical elements✓
2. Bwhat exists in social reality (agents, structures, ideas)✓
3. Conly planets✓
4. Donly minerals✓

Epistemology in IR debates concerns

1. Aonly military ranks✓
2. Bonly river lengths✓
3. Chow we know what we claim about world politics✓
4. Donly building heights✓

Qualitative constructivist methods include

1. Aonly mass surveys always✓
2. Bonly astrophysics✓
3. Cprocess tracing and interpretive understanding✓
4. Donly coin flipping✓

Quantitative IR methods include

1. Aonly single poems✓
2. Blarge-N statistical analysis of conflict and trade✓
3. Conly one diary entry✓
4. Donly pottery styles✓

English School overlap with constructivism appears in

1. Ashared emphasis on norms, institutions and international society✓
2. Bdenial of all norms✓
3. Cpure individual psychology✓
4. Donly econometrics✓

Postmodernists view sovereignty as

1. Aa contested discursive construct rather than a simple fact✓
2. Ba natural eternal essence✓
3. Cirrelevant fiction with no effects✓
4. Donly a military map✓

Alexander Wendt is a leading

1. Aneorealist only✓
2. Boffensive realist only✓
3. Cmercantilist economist✓
4. Dconstructivist theorist✓

Constructivism in IR argues that

1. Ainternational reality is socially constructed through ideas, norms and identities✓
2. Bonly material power matters✓
3. Cstates are born with fixed identities✓
4. Dscience ends interpretation✓