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AP U.S. History 1.4 Period 9: 1980-Present 214 Views


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AP U.S. History: Populism Drill 1, Problem 1. In this AP U.S. History question figure out which answer best describes the foriegn policy of America between the collapse of the Soviet Union and the attacks of September 11th. 

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by deescalation,

00:06

the movement to eliminate escalators.

00:09

Yeah. We're going for elevators instead.

00:11

These things. Yeah. All right.

00:13

All right, give this excerpt a read.

00:15

[ mumbles in rasping voice ]

00:18

[ raspy mumbling continues ] Well, Nancy.

00:21

[ mumbling ] Just say no.

00:25

Okay, and the question:

00:26

In between the collapse of the Soviet Union and the attacks of September 11th,

00:31

the United States' foreign policy could best be characterized as one that... what?

00:35

And here are your potential answers.

00:36

[ mumbling ]

00:42

All right, well, here we go.

00:43

When the Cold War ended, the U.S. breathed a huge sigh of relief,

00:47

but with the removal of the Soviet Union as a major power,

00:50

the geopolitical landscape encountered

00:52

some major remodeling.

00:54

Let's take a look at the answers and see which one best describes this

00:57

foreign policy face lift.

00:59

Hmm.

01:00

Was a major change in U.S. foreign policy between the collapse

01:04

of the Soviet Union and the attacks of September 11th that it

01:08

A - was strictly isolationist? Hmm.

01:11

Well, remember that first Iraq war?

01:13

President George H.W. Bush led a

01:16

coalition of nations against Saddam Hussein

01:18

after he invaded Kuwait. So sayonara, isolationism.

01:23

Could the shift in foreign policy have been that the U.S. B -

01:27

required an increase in military spending?

01:30

Well, after decades of military preparedness and the production

01:33

of nuclear weapon stockpiles,

01:35

the U.S. could finally decrease its military spending

01:38

given that the Soviet Union was, well, out of the picture.

01:41

So scud missile that. Reverse it. Yeah, goes away.

01:44

Was the shift in foreign policy that the U.S. D -

01:47

recognized the multipolar nature of the global landscape?

01:52

Well, following the collapse of the Soviet Union,

01:54

America suddenly became the world's only superpower belle of the ball.

01:58

So it was unipolar, not multipolar.

02:01

Heh. Talk about dancing by yourself.

02:03

Which means that between the collapse of the Soviet Union

02:07

and the attacks of September 11th, the U.S. C -

02:10

intervened when American interests were at risk.

02:13

Duh. Back to the first Iraq war.

02:15

Though the U.S.-led coalition was

02:17

fighting to protect the territorial integrity of Kuwait,

02:21

we were also coming to the aid of Saudi Arabia, a key regional ally

02:24

that felt threatened by Hussein's expansionist tactics.

02:27

So C is the right answer.

02:29

And you know what they call siblings forced to clean the house together?

02:32

A coalition of the unwilling.

02:34

[ children grunting ] We know that movie.

02:37

[ glass clattering ]

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