UWO Political Science 3209G

Midterm Template
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General Instructions
Date: Saturday July 8th

Time: The exam is scheduled for two hours (i.e., from 2:00 to 4:00 pm) — with
additional time for those students with Accessibility accommodation letters

Location: This test is online

Overview: The purpose of these questions is to see if you understand more than just the
broad themes and general concepts. Arguments and debates are always enhanced
when you can illustrate your arguments with specific examples and details. Note
that I generally do not ask a lot of “date” questions except in the case of certain
high-profile and significant dates — dates that I will draw particular attention to
in class.

Accessibility: If you have an accommodation through Accessibility, now is the time to let us
know. Requests for extra time to complete the midterm exam must be processed
before the date of the test.

Duration: Students will have 120 minutes to complete the test. The test will be available
for download at exactly 2:00 pm and students will have to upload their completed
exam at 4:00 pm.

Note that I will allow for a slight delay in the uploading process, but do not abuse
this consideration. For example, completed tests arriving two or three minutes
past the deadline will be accepted, but students returning completed tests beyond
this brief grace period may have their tests rejected at the discretion of the
instructor unless there is a good explanation for the delay.

Alarm: Students are encouraged to set a digital alarm on their computer or laptop so that
they do not miss the deadline for completion of the test. I would suggest you set
the alarm to go off ten minutes before the end of the exam. That way you would
have enough time to finish up your answers and upload your file.

Save File: Students are strongly encouraged to save their work at regular intervals.
Consider yourself warned. We’re all adults here, so the “I forgot to save my file
and now my work is lost” excuse is not going to cut it. Got it?

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 Special Rules for Open Book, Take-Home Exams

Studying: Just because this is an open book exam, it does not mean that you should not be
engaged in serious study of the course material before the exam begins. You
might not need to be able to remember as many specific details as you would with
a conventional exam, but the better you understand the concepts of the course
before the exam begins the better you will be able to access the relevant material
from your notes and readings and then apply these materials to your answers.

Integrity: Once you receive your exam, you are not allowed to collaborate with other
students or use the internet to answer your questions. Such actions constitute a
very serious academic offence and (if detected by the instructor directly or via
scanning technology) will result in serious penalties (e.g., you could be expelled
from the University).

When working on your exam, you are not allowed to simply cut and paste whole
sections of text from your textbook, course readings, or lectures directly into your
exam answers. This would constitute the academic offense of plagiarism.
Instead, paraphrase, interpret, and otherwise apply the information in these
sources to your answers. And if you absolutely have to include a specific quote in
your answer, be sure to include a reference. Note that since this is a timed test,
your reference can be very basic (e.g., “this quote is from page 445 of the
Bertrand Russell reading”). That sort of thing.

Grading: Because this is an open book test, the questions will be tougher than would
normally be the case for a live, in-person test. But don’t worry. If the questions
for this term’s tests end up being too hard and the class average is too low, I will
raise the class average at the end of the term. In other words, I will ensure that the
final overall average for the course will be somewhere in the 72% to 75% range.

Questions: If you have a question related to the exam, you are allowed to e-mail the
instructor for clarification. And if the question is significant and can be answered
without violating the integrity of the exam, the answer will be posted to Owl for
all members of the class to see.

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Coverage
I would estimate that you should focus 80% of your energy studying the lectures and 20% on
the readings. In terms of specific content, the test will focus on the following lectures and
reading materials:

 The test covers all course lectures from the beginning of the term up to and including

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 Section 3/Unit 1 “Canadian Foreign Policy — Overview and the Executive” inclusive

 The test also covers the following course readings:

o David A. Bell, “Donald Trump is Making the Great Man Theory of History Great
Again,” ForeignPolicy.com (January 12, 2017).
[Available in the “Fair Use” folder of the course website]

o Eliot A. Cohen, “Why We Should Stop Studying the Cuban Missile Crisis,”
National Interest, No. 2 (Winter 1985-1986), pp. 3-13.

o Michael Dobbs, Why We Should Still Study the Cuban Missile Crisis, Special
Report No. 205 (Washington: United States Institute of Peace, 2008), pp. 1-12.
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep12221>

Anything covered in these lectures or readings is fair game. Obviously, if you find there is
something from any of the other course readings that you can use on the test, you are more than
welcome to do so. But you will only be specifically tested on these readings and lectures.

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Test Organization
Part A — Lecture-Based Essay Questions
(2 x 20 marks = 40 marks)

 Answer 2 of 3 questions only.

 Write your answer in the box located immediately below the question. The box should
automatically expand to fit your answer. And if the box does not expand, write your
answer at the end of this document.

 You should spend approximately 60 minutes on this section (i.e., approximately 30

minutes for each question). For many students, that will allow you to write roughly two
or three pages of text (i.e., approximately 800-1,000 words) for each answer. Do not,
however, get too fixated on the length of your answer. These are only very rough
guidelines and it is more important that you cover the key aspects of the topic than to
write a specific number of words.

 Illustrate your answer with examples as appropriate.

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Sample/Practice Questions
Although there are no guarantees, don’t be surprised if one of these “practice” questions — or a

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close variant — gets used on the actual test!!!

(A1) What role did Groupthink play in the Kennedy Administration’s decision-making during
the Bay of Pigs crisis? And how can Groupthink be prevented?

[Your answer would go here. The box should automatically expand to accommodate your
complete answer. If it does not, then simply add your answer at the end of the test.]

(A2) Compare and contrast the main foreign policies of Brian Mulroney and Justin Trudeau.

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Part B — Multiple Choice/Fill-in-the-Blank Questions

(100 x 1 mark = 100 marks total)

 Answer 100 questions.

 You should spend approximately 50-60 minutes on this section (i.e., approximately 30 to
45 seconds per question).

 Most answers need only a word (e.g., True or False) or a letter (e.g., A or D) or a short
phrase (usually well under ten words).

 Write your Part B answers in the answer grid at the end of this test question paper. The
answer grid will look something like this (see below). Just be careful to put your answer
beside the correct question number!

Question Answer Grid for Questions B1-B15

B1 True
B2 C
B3 President Biden
B4 Economic factors
B5 False
B6 Bolivia
B7 D
B8 False
B9 It was highly dependent on trade with Iraq
B10 Bangladesh

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 B11 A
B12 A
B13 False
B14 Constructive engagement
B15 True
(The answers in this sample grid are made-up and are just there to illustrate the process.)

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Sample/Practice Questions
Although there are no guarantees, don’t be surprised if some of these “practice” questions — or a
close variant — gets used on the actual test!!!

(B1) Which Prime Minister significantly increased the number of women in the Canadian
Foreign Service by setting a 40% female quota for new hires?
a. Jean Chrétien
b. Stephen Harper
c. Brian Mulroney
d. Justin Trudeau
e. Pierre Trudeau

(B2) Provide one example of a “political structure” that Democratic Peace Theorists argued
constrains the foreign policy choices of democratic states when they are deciding whether
or not to go to war against another democracy.

(B3) True or False? According to David A. Bell (author of “Donald Trump is Making the
Great Man Theory Great Again”), Marxism is an example of a theory that focusses its
attention on broad social forces instead of the actions of individuals.

(B4) What was James N. Rosenau’s main contribution to the comparative study of foreign
policy?
a. He emphasized the importance of theory
b. He gathered data on military conflicts
c. He uncovered new information about the Cuban Missile Crisis
d. He used statistical models to analyze foreign policy
e. All of the above

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Returning Your Completed Test

(i) If you are using Pages or Google Docs, please (if possible) save your completed test as a
Word file (preferred option) or PDF file (second best option). (If you cannot convert it,
submit it as is and we will figure something out.)
(ii) Students should upload their completed tests to the dropbox in Owl.
(iii) If you have problems uploading your file, then e-mail it to the instructor.

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