The chapters in this document are displayed in reversed order, with the last chapter
appearing first. This change ensures all chapters are included in the test bank.
18 Complete Chapters Included
National Security Policymaking
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Who or what is the main force behind U.S. foreign policy?
a. Congress
b. the president
c. the State Department
d. the National Security Council
Answer: b
Topic: American Foreign Policy: Instruments, Actors, and Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
2. Which of the following is most consistent with the concept of diplomacy?
a. counterintelligence
b. threats to use the military
c. negotiation
d. armed confrontation
Answer: c
Topic: Instruments of Foreign Policy
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
245
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,3. Which of the following accurately describes the United Nations?
a. The UN is an international organization formed immediately after World War I
in an effort to avoid another world war.
b. The UN was created in 1945 as an international peacekeeping organization that
also runs programs in areas including economic development and health,
education, and welfare.
c. The UN was formed in the late 1930s as an international peacekeeping
organization and has remained consistently isolationist.
d. Member nations must alter their existing laws to comply with resolutions
passed by the UN General Assembly.
Answer: b
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
4. The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are __________.
a. the United States, Germany, France, Japan, and China
b. Russia, China, India, the United States, and Great Britain
c. the United States, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy
d. China, France, Russia, Great Britain, and the United States
Answer: d
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
5. Why was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed?
a. to provide mutual defense for the United States and Western Europe
b. to promote free trade between the United States and Western Europe
c. to help rebuild war-torn Europe after World War II
d. to enhance democratic government in newly industrializing countries
Answer: a
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
246
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,6. The European Union coordinates its members’ __________.
a. judicial systems
b. military and foreign policy
c. currency
d. monetary, trade, immigration, and labor policies
Answer: d
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
7. Why have multinational corporations become forces to be reckoned with in nearly
all nations?
a. They routinely use their money to buy government officials’ votes.
b. They better understand the dangers of globalization than do most elected
officials.
c. They encourage isolationist policies in order to get complete control of
domestic governments and markets.
d. They account for a large portion of the global economy which gives them
power and influence in global and national politics.
Answer: d
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
8. Which of the following is a responsibility of the State Department?
a. command of the military
b. space exploration
c. protecting the president
d. diplomacy
Answer: d
Topic: The Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
247
Copyright © 2026
, 9. What is the primary responsibility of the secretary of defense?
a. homeland security
b. day-to-day administration of the armed forces
c. terrorism prevention
d. commander in chief of the armed forces
Answer: b
Topic: The Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
10. Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been found to be __________.
a. unable to stand up to the president when they disagree on military policy
b. no more likely than civilian advisers to promote an aggressive military policy
c. less well informed than high-level members of the State Department
d. aggressively hawkish in foreign policymaking
Answer: b
Topic: The Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
11. The National Security Council was created to __________.
a. monitor the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency
b. coordinate U.S. information and data-gathering intelligence activities abroad
c. provide alternatives to the policy advice offered by the departments of State and
Defense
d. coordinate American foreign and defense policies
Answer: d
Topic: The Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
248
Copyright © 2026
appearing first. This change ensures all chapters are included in the test bank.
18 Complete Chapters Included
National Security Policymaking
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Who or what is the main force behind U.S. foreign policy?
a. Congress
b. the president
c. the State Department
d. the National Security Council
Answer: b
Topic: American Foreign Policy: Instruments, Actors, and Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
2. Which of the following is most consistent with the concept of diplomacy?
a. counterintelligence
b. threats to use the military
c. negotiation
d. armed confrontation
Answer: c
Topic: Instruments of Foreign Policy
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
245
Copyright © 2026
,3. Which of the following accurately describes the United Nations?
a. The UN is an international organization formed immediately after World War I
in an effort to avoid another world war.
b. The UN was created in 1945 as an international peacekeeping organization that
also runs programs in areas including economic development and health,
education, and welfare.
c. The UN was formed in the late 1930s as an international peacekeeping
organization and has remained consistently isolationist.
d. Member nations must alter their existing laws to comply with resolutions
passed by the UN General Assembly.
Answer: b
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
4. The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are __________.
a. the United States, Germany, France, Japan, and China
b. Russia, China, India, the United States, and Great Britain
c. the United States, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy
d. China, France, Russia, Great Britain, and the United States
Answer: d
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
5. Why was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed?
a. to provide mutual defense for the United States and Western Europe
b. to promote free trade between the United States and Western Europe
c. to help rebuild war-torn Europe after World War II
d. to enhance democratic government in newly industrializing countries
Answer: a
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
246
Copyright © 2026
,6. The European Union coordinates its members’ __________.
a. judicial systems
b. military and foreign policy
c. currency
d. monetary, trade, immigration, and labor policies
Answer: d
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
7. Why have multinational corporations become forces to be reckoned with in nearly
all nations?
a. They routinely use their money to buy government officials’ votes.
b. They better understand the dangers of globalization than do most elected
officials.
c. They encourage isolationist policies in order to get complete control of
domestic governments and markets.
d. They account for a large portion of the global economy which gives them
power and influence in global and national politics.
Answer: d
Topic: Actors on the World Stage
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
8. Which of the following is a responsibility of the State Department?
a. command of the military
b. space exploration
c. protecting the president
d. diplomacy
Answer: d
Topic: The Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
247
Copyright © 2026
, 9. What is the primary responsibility of the secretary of defense?
a. homeland security
b. day-to-day administration of the armed forces
c. terrorism prevention
d. commander in chief of the armed forces
Answer: b
Topic: The Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
10. Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been found to be __________.
a. unable to stand up to the president when they disagree on military policy
b. no more likely than civilian advisers to promote an aggressive military policy
c. less well informed than high-level members of the State Department
d. aggressively hawkish in foreign policymaking
Answer: b
Topic: The Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
11. The National Security Council was created to __________.
a. monitor the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency
b. coordinate U.S. information and data-gathering intelligence activities abroad
c. provide alternatives to the policy advice offered by the departments of State and
Defense
d. coordinate American foreign and defense policies
Answer: d
Topic: The Policymakers
Learning Objective: 18.1 Identify the major instruments and actors in making
national security policy.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
248
Copyright © 2026
