Original citation

Activity
Place the appropriate letter (a-d) in front of the theory that corresponds to each of 
the following descriptions of the Cold War: 
___Realism ___Liberalism ___The English School ___Marxism
a. The Cold War was a competition between US and Soviet institutions, with each 
side trying to make their preferred behaviours and norms the accepted bases of 
international society.
b. The Cold War was the result of insufficient interdependence between post-war US 
and Soviet spheres of influence.
c. The Cold War was an expression of the deep power ambitions that continue to 
define competition between states in the anarchic international system.
d. The Cold War was a means by which dominant socioeconomic classes imposed their 
economic and political dominance on less economically developed groups around 
the world.

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11 Introduction to international relations
26
A reminder of your learning outcomes
Having completed this chapter, and the Essential reading and activities, 
you should be able to:
• discuss what is meant by the ‘twenty years’ crisis’ 
• describe the influence of twentieth-century crises on the development 
of IR
• illustrate some of the fundamental differences between Realist, Liberal, 
English School and Postcolonial approaches to IR
• discuss the subjects with which IR should be concerned
• define the vocabulary terms in bold.
Chapter vocabulary
anarchic international system
appeasement
balance of power
bipolar
Cold War
containment
critical theorists
English School
globalisation
great powers
hegemony
institutions
interdependence
International Political Economy 
(IPE)
international society
isolationism
Liberalism
multipolarity
permanent five (P5)
Realism
revisionist states
Security Council
states
status quo
superpower
transnational
twenty years’ crisis
United Nations (UN)
unipolarity