The Johns Hopkins University
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Comp I - Bologna
January 2011
EUROPEAN STUDIES COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY AND IDEAS
TIME ALLOWED: FOUR (4) HOURS
SECTION I: Identify and explain the significance of TEN (10) of the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
London Economic Conference
of 1933
Boer War
Locarno Agreement of 1925
Robert Steward, Viscount
Castlereagh
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Maximilien Robespierre
Agostino Depretis
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Triple Alliance
Potsdam Conference
Maxim Litvinov
The Duke of Marlborough
The siege of Vienna (1683)
Émile Ollivier
Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz
Eduard Benes
ANSWER ONE (1) QUESTION FROM EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:
SECTION II
1. What were the main features and rational for European mercantilism in
the 17th and 18th centuries?
2. What were the causes and consequences of the Seven Years War?
3. How did the French Revolution contribute to the transition of states to
“nation states?”
SECTION III
1. What were the main issues raised by Joseph Chamberlain in the British
imperialist and tariff policy?
2. How did the Concert of powers affect the European state system after
1815?
3. What were the consequences of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire for
Europe and the global system generally?
SECTION IV
1. What was the impact of decolonization of the European nation states
and the process of European integration after 1945?
2. What were the arguments of John Maynard Keynes opposing Winston
Churchill’s decision to return Britain to the Gold Standard in 1925?
3. What was the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on the
European state system in the 1920s and 1930s?
4. Why, according to Joseph Schumpeter, does “creative destruction” lead
to socialism?
The Johns Hopkins University
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Comp I - Bologna
May 2011
EUROPEAN STUDIES COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY AND IDEAS
TIME ALLOWED: FOUR (4) HOURS
SECTION I: Identify and explain the significance of TEN (10) of the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Cardinal Mazarin
Albrecht von Wallenstein
William III
Frederick the Great
Karl Philipp Schwartzenberg
Friedrich Engels
Louis Philippe
Wilhelm II
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Sun Yat Sen
Russo-Japanese War
Boer War
Gustav Stresemann
Leon Gambetta
Giovanni Giolitti
Giuseppe Verdi
ANSWER ONE (1) QUESTION FROM EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:
SECTION II
1. What were the main features of and rationale for European mercantilism
in the 17th and 18th centuries?
2. How did England’s “Glorious Revolution” affect the European balance of
power?
3. What did the French Revolution have to do with the transition from
states into “nation states?”
SECTION III
1. “The English Reform Bill of 1832 was a conservative revolution.”
Discuss.
2. Discuss the political evolution of France under the Third Republic, until
World War I.
3. “No sooner did Bismarck make an alliance with Austria-Hungary than
he tried to escape its consequences.” Discuss.
SECTION IV
1. What were the consequences of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire for
Europe and the global system generally?
2. What was the impact of decolonization on the European nation states
and their integration after World War II?
3. Discuss the significance of the Russian front in World War II.
4. What was Keynes’ response to “Say’s Law”?
The Johns Hopkins University
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Comp I - Bologna
September 2011
EUROPEAN STUDIES COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY AND IDEAS
TIME ALLOWED: FOUR (4) HOURS
SECTION I: Identify and explain the significance of TEN (10) of the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Blitzkrieg
Battle of Stalingrad
The “Winter King”
Charles I
Louis XV
Poor Law Reform, 1834
Alfred Thayer Mahan
Count Segei Witte
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Sino-Japanese War
Franz Joseph
Dino Grandi
Pierre Laval
Walther Rathenau
Dawes Plan
Winston Churchill
ANSWER ONE (1) QUESTION FROM EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:
SECTION II
1. Compare the strengths and weaknesses of English and French
colonialism in the 17th and 18th centuries.
2. “The Habsburgs failed to transform the Holy Roman Empire into a
modern state.” Discuss.
3. “Napoleon was more ‘modern’ than his opponents.” Discuss.
SECTION III
1. Discuss the foreign policy of Napoleon III.
2. In what respects did the foreign policy of Gladstone differ from that of
Disraeli?
3. How did Bismarck unite Germany?
SECTION IV
1.
2.
3.
4.
“Everyone lost World War I.” Discuss.
Analyze the foreign and domestic policy of Neville Chamberlain.
“Thanks to Roosevelt, Stalin won World War II.” Discuss.
How did Lenin explain World War I? Does he provide a “Marxist theory
of international relations”?
The Johns Hopkins University
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Comp I - Washington
January 2011
EUROPEAN STUDIES COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY AND IDEAS
TIME ALLOWED: FOUR (4) HOURS
SECTION I: Identify and explain the significance of TEN (10) of the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Blitzkrieg
Battle of Stalingrad
Hugo de Grote
Charles I
Louis XV
Richard Cobden
Alfred Thayer Mahan
Edmund Burke
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Sino-Japanese War
Congress of Vienna
Georges Jacques Danton
Pierre Laval
Walther Rathenau
Dawes Plan
Winston Churchill
ANSWER ONE (1) QUESTION FROM EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:
SECTION II
1. How did monarchies consolidate power in 17th and 18th Century
Europe?
2. “The Habsburgs failed to transform the Holy Roman Empire into a
modern state.” Discuss.
3. What was the rationale for European mercantilism in the 17th and 18th
Centuries?
SECTION III
1. Why was it so difficult to “modernize” the Czarist regime?
2. In what respects did the foreign policy of Gladstone differ from that of
Disraeli?
3. What was the significance of the Eastern Question to European
diplomacy in the 19th Century?
SECTION IV
1.
2.
3.
4.
Why did European states decolonize?
Analyze the foreign and domestic policy of Neville Chamberlain.
Discuss the significance of the “Eastern Front” in World War II.
What was Keynes’ response to “Say’s Law”?
Spring 2011 COMP I
Time Allowed: Four (4) hours:
Section I (Required): Identify and explain the significance of ten (10) of the following:
1. Fascism
9. Egyptian Campaign
2. Spanish Civil War
10. Treaty of Tilsit
3. Verdun
11. Creditanstalt
4.Talleyrand
12. Brest-Litovsk
5. Opium Wars
13. Brussels Pact
6. Alexander II
14. Helsinki Accords
7. Dien Bien Phu
15. Tennis Court Oath
8. Attaturk
ANSWER ONE (1) QUESTION FROM EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:
SECTION II
1. Assess France’s policy in the Seven Years War.
2. Did the American Revolution cause the French Revolution?
3. What was Louis XIV’s greatest achievement?
SECTION III
1. What caused the revolutions of 1848?
2. Why did the European powers fail to resolve the Eastern problem in the 19th century?
3. How effective was Bismarck’s foreign policy?
SECTION IV
1.
2.
3.
4.
Explain America’s policy toward the United Nations.
What were the main links between the Great Depression and World War I?
Why couldn’t Germany pay reparations?
How did Ricardo’s thinking influence Marx’s?
Fall 2011 Comp I
Time Allowed: Four (4) hours:
Section I (Required): Identify and explain the significance of ten (10) of the following:
1. Kellog-Briand Pact
9. Diplomatic Revolution of the 18th century
2. Coudenhove-Kalergi
10. Pact of Steel
3. Operation Torch
11. Jacques Rueff
4. Metternich
12. Minister Colbert
5. Trafalgar
13. Robert Schuman
6. Alexander I
14. Corn Laws
7. Battle of Algiers
15. Sobieski
8. Cecil Rhodes
ANSWER ONE (1) QUESTION FROM EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:
SECTION II
1. Who won the Seven Years War and why?
2. What was the basis of Peter the Great’s foreign policy?
3. Why was the French Revolution so violent?
SECTION III
1. Who was a better statesman, Metternich or Talleyrand?
2. What were the causes and consequences of the Great Depression of the 1870s?
3. What was the effect of the scramble for Africa?
SECTION IV
1.
2.
3.
4.
Explain America’s strategy in World War II.
Why did Churchill revalue the pound in 1925?
Why did the Schlieffen plan fail?
What was Hayek’s critique of centralized planning?
Comp II: Pan-European Political Economies
January 2011 (Bologna)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Politics and Policies
1.
Why did the Keynesian consensus break down in the early-to-mid 1970s?
2.
How important is central bank independence to explaining relative price stability in
European countries?
3.
Do electoral systems create party systems or is it the other way around?
Section II: Western Europe
4.
What is the secret to the success of the Scandinavian social model and why is it so
difficult to recreate elsewhere?
5.
Why were there no Christian Democratic parties in Britain and France after the late
1950s?
6.
What would it take for countries to leave Europe’s economic and monetary union?
Section III: Central and Eastern Europe
7.
Why are Bulgaria and Romania so much more prone to corruption than the other
countries of Central and Eastern Europe?
8.
Why was Slovakia able to enter into the eurozone in 2009 while the Czech Republic
was not?
9.
To what extent did economic liberalization between East and West in the 1970s
contribute to the breakdown of communism in the 1980s?
Comp II: Pan-European Political Economies
May 2011 (Bologna)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Politics and Policies
1.
Does privatization help fight corruption or help to encourage it?
2.
How do parliamentary systems differ in terms of political stability from presidential
ones?
3.
How has the European Court of Justice changed the conduct of jurisprudence in
Europe?
Section II: Western Europe
4.
“There is not one West European social model, but several.” Discuss.
5.
How did the difference in British and German financial institutions affect their
economic performance in the 1950s and 1960s?
6.
Why was left-wing extremism more important in Germany than in France after the
end of the Cold War?
Section III: Central and Eastern Europe
7.
“The former communists were not the obstacles to successful transition to a liberal
market economy, they were the essential participants.” Discuss.
8.
Why did “Solidarity” style labor unrest initiate in Poland rather than elsewhere in the
early 1980s?
9.
Why did Hungary and the Czech Republic move from success to difficulty in the
post-communist transition period?
Comp II: Pan-European Political Economies
September 2011 (Bologna)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Politics and Policies
1.
“Keynesianism may have failed in Europe, but monetarism certainly hasn’t
succeeded.” Discuss.
2.
“Value change destabilized the countries of Western Europe; the Helsinki Final Act
destabilized the countries of the East.” Discuss.
3.
Has globalization supported or undermined the European welfare state?
Section II: Western Europe
4.
Why did Italy and Greece join the eurozone while Britain and Denmark did not?
5.
To what extent is the Common Agricultural Policy still important to the process of
European integration?
6.
“The ‘Third Way’ in Tony Blair’s Britain meant one thing, but in Lionel Jospin’s
France and Gerhard Schroeder’s Germany it meant another.” Discuss.
Section III: Central and Eastern Europe
7.
Why was shock therapy more successful in Poland than in Russia in the 1990s?
8.
Why was Slovakia able to enter into the eurozone in 2009 while the Czech Republic
was not?
9.
How have political minorities influenced the development of politics within and
between any two Central and East European countries?
Comp II: Pan-European Political Economies
January 2011 (Washington)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Politics and Policies
1.
Is constitutional decentralization stabilizing or destabilizing?
2.
How have the European Court of Justice and its attendant case law changed judicial
procedures across Europe?
3.
How important is central bank independence to explaining relative price stability in
European countries?
Section II: Western Europe
4.
“There is not one West European social model, but several.” Discuss.
5.
Why did the small country “miracles” of the 1990s (like Denmark and the
Netherlands) do so much worse in the 21st Century?
6.
Why were there no Christian Democratic parties in Britain and France after the late
1950s?
Section III: Central and Eastern Europe
7.
How did the promulgation of human rights norms through the 1975 Helsinki Final
Act help to hasten the downfall of communism?
8.
“The idea of EU membership was a great boon to economic reform in Central and
Eastern Europe; the reality of being a member was not.” Discuss.
9.
Why is corruption more difficult to tackle in some Central and East European
countries than in others?
Comp II: Pan-European Political Economies
May 2011 (Washington)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Politics and Policies
1.
Why are political parties so important for the functioning of democracy in Europe?
2.
Why do smaller states tend to be more corporatist than their larger neighbors?
3.
Why are some countries more prone to inflation than others?
Section II: Western Europe
4.
To what extent do the different patterns of industry-finance relations in France and
Great Britain explain the differences in the economic performance of the two
countries during the 1950s and 1960s?
5.
‘If Franco-German cooperation is necessary for the European integration, AngloFrench cooperation is more important for European security.’ Discuss.
6.
What explains the rise of Die Linke in Germany and the relative decline of the Social
Democratic Party in the 2009 election? Is the German party system changing in
fundamental ways?
Section III: Central and Eastern Europe
7.
How have political minorities influenced the development of politics within and
between any two Central and East European countries?
8.
Why did ‘Solidarity’-style labor unrest initiate in Poland rather than Hungary or
Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s?
9.
Why was European Union ‘conditionality’ during the accession process more
effective in some countries than in others?
Comp II: Pan-European Political Economies
September 2011 (Washington)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Politics and Policies
1.
How have the European Court of Justice and its attendant case law changed judicial
procedures across Europe?
2.
“Keynesianism may have failed in Europe, but monetarism certainly hasn’t
succeeded.” Discuss.
3.
Does privatization help fight corruption or help to encourage it?
Section II: Western Europe
4.
How has the structure of the trade union movement influenced the pattern of
economic policymaking in Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe?
5.
How has the structure of the banking industry influenced the pattern of economic
policymaking in Germany and elsewhere in Western Europe since the end of the
Second World War?
6.
Why were France and Germany so keen to form an economic and monetary union in
the 1990s?
Section III: Central and Eastern Europe
7.
How did the promulgation of human rights norms through the 1975 Helsinki Final
Act help to hasten the downfall of communism?
8.
“The idea of EU membership was a great boon to economic reform in Central and
Eastern Europe; the reality of being a member was not.” Discuss.
9.
“The challenge for many Central and East European countries is not emigration or
immigration, but both emigration and immigration at the same time.” Discuss.
Comp III: Europe and the World Since 1945
January 2011 (Bologna)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Europe in the Global Economy
1.
“The Common Agricultural Policy has been a blessing when it comes to forging intraEuropean bloc relations, but a curse in Europe’s relations with the outside world.”
Discuss.
2.
“The Euro is unlikely to survive unless the EU takes further steps toward economic
and political union.” Discuss.
3.
Why did European monetary integration take a major step forward in the late 1970s?
Section II: European Foreign and Security Policy
4.
What was French President Charles de Gaulle’s objection to flexible response? Why
did the UK and West Germany go along with the new approach?
5.
“Extending NATO to Eastern and Central Europe after the Cold War was a case of
‘empire by invitation’ but it has proved to be a mistake.” Discuss.
6.
Why did the European powers diverge in their reactions to the U.S. war on terror
(including the invasion of Iraq) and with what consequences for the EU?
Section III: Comparative European Foreign Policy
7.
“Italy did not have a foreign policy during the Cold War. It had several, and the same
is true today” Discuss.
8.
Compare German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s views on the future of Europe and
its relationship with the United States to French President Charles de Gaulle’s.
9.
“Margaret Thatcher, in the final analysis, proved to be a better European than Tony
Blair.” Discuss.
Comp III: Europe and the World Since 1945
May 2011 (Bologna)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Europe in the Global Economy
1.
To what extent was European integration important to the success of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in the 1960s and 1970s?
2.
To what extent has Europe succeeded in becoming a global leader in the production of
voluntary industrial standards?
3.
To what extent has European Competition Policy become a second pillar of anti-trust
activity in the United States?
Section II: European Foreign and Security Policy
4.
Why does the European Union have such difficulty formulating a common policy
toward Russia and the Middle East?
5.
To what extent does the European Union’s Common Security and Defense Policy
rival or balance the United States?
6.
Why was the West European Union created in the 1950s, rejuvenated in the 1980s,
promoted in the early 1990s, and then dissolved by the end of that decade?
Section III: Comparative European Foreign Policy
7.
“If any country has a special relationship with the United States, it is France and not
Britain.” Discuss.
8.
“If Germany was an economic superpower but a political dwarf during much of the
Cold War period, Italy was simply non-existent as a foreign policy actor.” Discuss.
9.
What does it mean for countries like Austria, Ireland, Sweden, or Switzerland to
remain neutral in a post-Cold War world?
Comp III: Europe and the World Since 1945
September 2011 (Bologna)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Europe in the Global Economy
1.
Why did European monetary integration fail in the mid-1970s?
2.
To what extent has the European Union emerged as a leader in global debates about
the protection of the environment?
3.
Why does the European Union find it so difficult to forge a common strategy toward
the rise of China as an economic superpower?
Section II: European Foreign and Security Policy
4.
To what extent was intermediation in the Russia-Georgia conflict of August 2008 a
success for the European Union and to what extent was it really only a success for
France?
5.
To what extent was European Political Cooperation a success in the 1970s and to
what extent was it a failure?
6.
“North-South migration used to be an economic concern for the European Union; now
it is more a matter of security.” Discuss.
Section III: Comparative European Foreign Policy
7.
Why do countries like Poland and the Baltic States continue to dwell on the legacy of
Soviet occupation while countries like Bulgaria and Romania seem less concerned
with the past?
8.
To what extent is the emergence of a Common Foreign and Security Policy hindered
by the triangular relationship between Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey?
9.
How did Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik affect the foreign policies of Great Britain and
France?
Comp III: Europe and the World Since 1945
February 2011 (Washington)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Europe in the Global Economy
1.
Why is investment more important than trade to the transatlantic economic
relationship?
2.
Why has the European Union had fewer difficulties with China’s managed exchange
rate policy than the United States?
3.
How did the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s undermine
Europe’s first attempt at monetary union?
Section II: European Foreign and Security Policy
4.
To what extent does the experience of the Cold War continue to shape the Common
Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union today?
5.
To what extent is the Common Security and Defense Policy more effective in Africa
than in the Middle East?
6.
Why was the breakdown of Yugoslavia so important to Europe’s Common Foreign
and Security Policy?
Section III: Comparative European Foreign Policy
7.
To what extent has Britain’s relationship with the United States ever been more
special than relations between the United States and Germany or France?
8.
Why were Germany and Britain so enthusiastic about European Union enlargement
while France was not?
9.
How does the concept of “neutrality” continue to influence the foreign policies of EU
member states?
Comp III: Europe and the World Since 1945
January 2011 (Washington)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Europe in the Global Economy
1.
Why is Europe less sensitive to the rise of China than the United States?
2.
To what extent did East-West trade and capital flows contribute to the end of the Cold
War?
3.
To what extent did the difficulties confronting Europe in the Uruguay Round of
GATT negotiations anticipate the problems Europeans would face in the Doha Round
of WTO talks?
Section II: European Foreign and Security Policy
4.
Why did the St. Malo declaration of 1998 fail to result in a more effective European
Security and Defense Policy?
5.
Why is the European Union not a more effective actor in the Middle East?
6.
To what extent did the European Political Cooperation of the early 1970s anticipate
the G-7 and G-8 great power summits of today?
Section III: Comparative European Foreign Policy
7.
Why was the legacy of Suez (1956) so different for Great Britain and France?
8.
Why are the Central and East European countries more enthusiastic about further
NATO enlargement than many of their West European counterparts?
9.
Why were Germany and Britain so enthusiastic about European Union enlargement
while France was not?
Comp III: Europe and the World Since 1945
May 2011 (Washington)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Europe in the Global Economy
1.
To what extent does Europe’s sovereign debt crisis signal the weakness of the euro as
a rival to the dollar?
2.
How has immigration affected politics and party systems in Europe since the end of
the Cold War?
3.
To what extent was the relaunching of Europe in the 1980s a reaction to the economic
challenges coming out of the United States and Asia?
Section II: European Foreign and Security Policy
4.
Why has there been tension between the preservation of NATO and the development
of an autonomous Common Security and Defense Policy?
5.
What were the obstacles to effective European intervention in Yugoslavia in the
1990s? Have they been remedied?
6.
Did the enlargement of the European Union strengthen or weaken the Common
Foreign and Security Policy?
Section III: Comparative European Foreign Policy
7.
Have German and French policies toward the Middle East converged or diverged
since the first Gulf War?
8.
Why did France and Italy have such different relationships to the United States during
the Cold War?
9.
How have British and German policies toward Russia changed since the end of the
Cold War?
Comp III: Europe and the World Since 1945
September 2011 (Washington)
Please write essays in response to four (4) of the following nine (9) questions, including at
least one (1) question from each of the three (3) sections. You have four (4) hours to
complete the examination.
Section I: Europe in the Global Economy
1.
To what extent does the euro threaten to replace the dollar as the world’s major
currency?
2.
Why was the European Snake System a failure while the European Monetary System
was such a success?
3.
To what extent has the European Union played a more constructive role in
international development than the United States since the end of the Cold War?
Section II: European Foreign and Security Policy
4.
“NATO was re-forged in Kosovo and yet broken in Afghanistan and Libya.” Discuss.
5.
To what extent did the European Political Cooperation of the early 1970s anticipate
the G-7 and G-8 great power summits of today?
6.
Why is the European Union not a more effective actor in the Middle East?
Section III: Comparative European Foreign Policy
7.
Why did France and Italy have such different relationships to the United States during
the Cold War?
8.
“France has one view of Europe’s role in the world; Germany has another.” Discuss.
9.
Why are the Central and East European countries more enthusiastic about further
NATO enlargement than many of their West European counterparts?