UPSC Mains 2020 Political Science and International Relations Optional Question Papers with Model Answers
All 56 questions of the 2020 Civil Services Main Examination, PSIR Paper I and PSIR Paper II, with marks and a suggested time per part. Solve each part on paper first, then open the model answer, or send it to answer-writing practice for evaluation.
UPSC Mains 2020 Political Science and International Relations PSIR Paper I
Question 1 (50 marks)
Q1(a) · Political Theory and Theories of the State · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Post-colonial and Feminist Theories of the State
Post colonial theory of the state
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राज्य का उत्तर उपनिवेशवादी सिद्धांत
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(a)
Approach: Define the post-colonial theory of the state, explain the overdeveloped and relatively autonomous state (Alavi) and related Indian scholarship, and give a short evaluation.
The post-colonial theory of the state studies states that emerged from colonial rule. It holds that their character is shaped by the colonial legacy and cannot be explained by theories built on European experience.
Alavi’s thesis: Hamza Alavi (‘The State in Post-Colonial Societies: Pakistan and Bangladesh’, 1972) argued that the colonial state was ‘overdeveloped’ in relation to society, and that after independence its military-bureaucratic apparatus became relatively autonomous, mediating among the metropolitan bourgeoisie, the indigenous bourgeoisie and landed classes.
Indian scholarship: Pranab Bardhan identified a coalition of industrial capitalists, rich farmers and professionals; the Rudolphs saw a ‘weak-strong’ state; Partha Chatterjee showed nationalism borrowing the colonial state’s forms and later described ‘political society’. Subaltern Studies criticised elite-centred accounts.
Evaluation: the theory explains bureaucratic dominance and coercive laws inherited from colonial times, such as sedition (Section 124A IPC, held in abeyance in 2022). But India’s durable democracy and changing class structure show that colonial legacies are not destiny.Q1(b) · Justice, Equality and Rights · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Equality: Social, Political and Economic; Equality and Freedom
Equality of opportunity
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अवसर की समानता
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(b)
Approach: A short note: define equality of opportunity, distinguish formal and fair (substantive) versions with thinkers, note critiques and the Indian constitutional position.
Equality of opportunity means that positions and rewards should be open to all on the basis of ability and effort, not birth, caste, race or gender. It is the core liberal idea of equality.
Formal version: careers open to talents; legal barriers are removed and selection is by merit. Classical liberals and Hayek accept this.
Fair or substantive version: John Rawls (A Theory of Justice, 1971) argues that people with similar talents and motivation should have similar life chances whatever their class, which requires public education and support. Some go further and demand compensatory measures for historically excluded groups.
Critiques: Marxists say it legitimises a competitive hierarchy; Michael Young's satire The Rise of the Meritocracy (1958) warned of a new elite; outcome-egalitarians note that family advantage can never be fully neutralised.
In India, Article 16(1) guarantees equality of opportunity in public employment, and the Supreme Court in N.M. Thomas (1976) and Indra Sawhney (1992) held that reservations under Article 16(4) are a means to make that opportunity real.Q1(c) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Liberalism
Liberalism as a revolutionary idea
हिंदी में प्रश्न
एक क्रांतिकारी विचार के रूप में उदारवाद
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(c)
Approach: Explain how classical liberalism was revolutionary in its time, politically and economically, with Locke and Smith, and note how it later became a defence of the established order.
Classical liberalism arose in the 17th and 18th centuries as the ideology of the rising middle class against absolute monarchy, feudal privilege and church authority. In its time it was revolutionary.
It replaced divine right with government by consent and natural rights to life, liberty and property, as John Locke argued in Two Treatises of Government (1689), which defended the Glorious Revolution of 1688. It inspired the American Declaration of Independence (1776) and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789).
Economically, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776) attacked mercantilism and guild privilege. Liberalism also brought religious toleration, constitutionalism and equality before law.
Once the bourgeoisie gained power, liberalism became a defence of the market order, as Marxists note. In colonies like India, liberal ideas inspired reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy and the early nationalists.Q1(d) · Indian Political Thought · 10 marks≈ 7 min
B.R. Ambedkar
Ambedkar's ideas on constitutionalism
हिंदी में प्रश्न
संविधानवाद पर अंबेडकर के विचार
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(d)
Approach: Explain Ambedkar's constitutionalism: limited government and rule of law, constitutional morality, the constitution as an instrument of social transformation, and his warnings.
For Ambedkar, constitutionalism meant more than limited government; it meant using the constitution to transform an unequal society. As Chairman of the Drafting Committee, he gave this idea institutional form.
First, rule of law and rights: he called Article 32 the heart and soul of the Constitution, because rights without remedies are meaningless. Second, constitutional morality: borrowing from the historian Grote, he said in November 1948 that it is not a natural sentiment and must be cultivated, since Indians were essentially undemocratic; hence administrative details were placed in the Constitution itself.
Third, constitutional methods: in his last speech in the Constituent Assembly (25 November 1949) he urged abandoning satyagraha and civil disobedience, which he called the grammar of anarchy, once constitutional means exist, and warned against hero-worship.
Fourth, social democracy: political democracy would not survive without liberty, equality and fraternity in social life. The Supreme Court has invoked his idea of constitutional morality in cases such as Navtej Singh Johar (2018).Q1(e) · Western Political Thought · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Machiavelli
Machiavelli's secularism
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मैकियावेली का धर्मनिरपेक्षता
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(e)
Approach: Explain in what sense Machiavelli is secular: separation of politics from religion and Christian ethics, and his instrumental use of religion, with a brief qualification.
Machiavelli is often called the first modern political thinker because he freed politics from theology. Medieval thinkers like Aquinas placed the state under the Church and natural law; Machiavelli treated the state as an autonomous human creation governed by its own logic of power, the reason later called raison d'état.
His secularism has three aspects. First, he explains politics by human nature and history, not divine will. Second, he separates political morality from Christian private morality: a ruler must learn how not to be good when necessity demands. Third, he criticised the Papacy for keeping Italy divided and weakening civic spirit.
Yet he did not reject religion; in the Discourses he praised Roman religion as a tool of civic unity and discipline. His secularism is therefore instrumental, not anti-religious.
This makes him a forerunner of the modern secular state, though not of liberal neutrality.
Question 2 (50 marks)
Q2(a) · Justice, Equality and Rights · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Rawls' Theory of Justice
Make a comparative assessment of Greek perspective of Justice with the Rawlsian concept of Justice.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
न्याय के यूनानी परिपेक्ष्य के साथ न्याय की रावल्सियन अवधारणा का तुलनात्मक आकलन कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(a)
Approach: A comparative assessment: set out the Greek view (Plato and Aristotle) and the Rawlsian view, compare them on basis, unit, method and aim, and give a reasoned judgement.
The Greeks treated it as a virtue of the soul and the city; John Rawls, in A Theory of Justice (1971), treats it as the first virtue of social institutions.
Plato: in the Republic justice means each class doing its own work without interfering with others: rulers (reason), auxiliaries (spirit) and producers (appetite). Justice is harmony in the soul and in the polis.
Aristotle: in the Nicomachean Ethics and Politics justice is treating equals equally and unequals unequally. Distributive justice gives offices and honours in proportion to merit or contribution to the polis; corrective justice restores balance in transactions.
Rawls: justice as fairness is the outcome of a hypothetical contract in the original position behind a veil of ignorance. It yields equal basic liberties for all and permits inequalities only under fair equality of opportunity and if they benefit the least advantaged.
Comparison: (i) The Greek view is teleological and perfectionist, tied to a conception of the good life; Rawls gives priority to the right over the good and is neutral among conceptions of the good. (ii) The Greeks start from the community and functional roles; Rawls starts from free and equal individuals. (iii) Greek justice accepts natural hierarchy, slavery and unequal desert; Rawls denies that anyone deserves their natural talents. (iv) Greek justice is discovered by reason and wisdom; Rawlsian justice is constructed through consent.
Continuities: both see justice as a property of the whole social order rather than of isolated acts, and Aristotle's proportional equality survives in Rawls' acceptance of justified inequalities.
On balance, Rawls is better suited to plural democracies like India, but the Greek emphasis on civic virtue and the common good remains a corrective to a purely procedural, individualist idea of justice.Q2(b) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Models of Democracy: Representative, Participatory and Deliberative
Representative democracy ....... means the people as a body must be able to control the general direction of government policy. (J. S. Mill). Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
प्रतिनिधि लोकतंत्र ....... का अभिप्राय है कि एक निकाय के रूप में लोगों को सरकारी नीति की सामान्य दिशा को नियंत्रित करने में सक्षम होना चाहिए। (जे. एस. मिल)। टिप्पणी कीजिये।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(b)
Approach: Comment on Mill's idea of popular control: explain what the people control and what they leave to experts, his safeguards against majority tyranny, and relate the idea to Indian parliamentary practice.
J.S. Mill, in Considerations on Representative Government (1861), argued that representative government is the ideally best form because sovereignty rests in the community as a whole. The people do not govern directly; they exercise ultimate control through elected deputies over the general direction of policy.
Mill separated controlling the government from doing the work of government. Detailed legislation and administration need skill, so he wanted laws drafted by an expert commission and administration run by a trained bureaucracy, while the assembly would watch, discuss and check the government as a 'congress of opinions'.
Popular control serves two ends: protection of interests, since people are the best guardians of their own rights, and development of citizens' moral and intellectual faculties through participation.
Mill also feared the tyranny of the majority and the low level of political knowledge among voters. He therefore proposed proportional representation on Thomas Hare's scheme, plural votes for the educated, open rather than secret ballot, and literacy as a condition of voting.
His view underlies parliamentary democracy, including India's, where Parliament controls the executive through questions, debates and committees. Critics note his elitist safeguards, and Schumpeter doubted that voters control policy at all. Still, Mill's balance of popular control and expert competence remains relevant.Q2(c) · Justice, Equality and Rights · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Rights: Meaning, Theories and Kinds; Human Rights
Assess the significance of right to property in political theory.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राजनीतिक सिद्धांत में संपत्ति के अधिकार के महत्व का आकलन करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(c)
Approach: Assess significance means weighing its role: present the main theories of property (Locke, Hegel, utilitarian, Rousseau, Marx, Nozick, Macpherson), its contemporary relevance, and the Indian position.
The right to property has been central to political theory because it decides the relation between the individual, the economy and the State.
Liberal defence: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government, 1689) grounded property in mixing one's labour with nature, limited by the provisos that enough and as good is left for others and nothing spoils; protecting life, liberty and estate is the purpose of government. Hegel saw property as the external embodiment of personality. Robert Nozick (1974) made property rights near-absolute, based on self-ownership.
Critiques: Rousseau (Discourse on Inequality, 1755) traced social inequality to the first person who enclosed land and said this is mine. Proudhon (What Is Property?, 1840) answered that property is theft. Marx distinguished personal property from private ownership of the means of production, the basis of class exploitation. C.B. Macpherson (The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, 1962) showed how early liberalism made market property the essence of freedom.
Contemporary relevance: property is debated as intellectual property (TRIPS and access to medicines), land acquisition and displacement, and environmental commons.
India: after conflicts over land reform and bank nationalisation, the 44th Amendment (1978) removed property from Fundamental Rights; it is now a constitutional right under Article 300A.
Property thus remains significant both as a condition of individual independence and as a source of inequality that democratic states must regulate.
Question 3 (50 marks)
Q3(a) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism
Explicate the ideological components of Gandhism.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
गाँधीवाद के वैचारिक घटकों का विश्लेषण करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(a)
Approach: Introduce Gandhism and its sources, set out its ideological components one by one with examples, and conclude with critiques and its continuing relevance.
Gandhism is the body of ideas drawn from M.K. Gandhi's writings and practice, chiefly Hind Swaraj (1909), his autobiography and his journals. Gandhi himself said there was no such thing as Gandhism, yet his ideas form a coherent moral and political ideology rooted in Indian tradition and influenced by Tolstoy, Ruskin and Thoreau.
Its components are: (i) Truth and non-violence: truth (satya) is God and the goal, non-violence (ahimsa) the means, and means and ends are inseparable. (ii) Satyagraha: resistance to injustice through soul-force and self-suffering, as in Champaran and the Salt March. (iii) Swaraj: not just independence but self-rule over oneself and village self-government; Gandhi saw the state as violence in a concentrated form and favoured a minimal, decentralised polity.
(iv) Sarvodaya: the welfare of all, inspired by Ruskin's Unto This Last. (v) Trusteeship: the wealthy should hold surplus wealth in trust for society. (vi) Swadeshi and bread labour: local production, khadi and manual work. (vii) Religious tolerance, the removal of untouchability and the equality of women.
Critics such as Ambedkar found his views on caste and his idealisation of the village inadequate, and Marxists saw trusteeship as protecting capitalists. Yet Gandhism shaped Articles 40 and 43 of the Directive Principles, influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, and offers resources for sustainable development and non-violent protest today.Q3(b) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Power, Hegemony, Ideology and Legitimacy
Examine the nature and meaning of power.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
शक्ति की प्रकृति और अर्थ की जाँच करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(b)
Approach: Examine power by defining it, tracing the faces-of-power debate from Dahl to Lukes and Foucault, distinguishing its forms, and linking it to authority and legitimacy.
Power is the ability of an actor to achieve desired outcomes, especially by influencing others. Weber defined it as the probability that an actor in a social relationship will be able to carry out his own will despite resistance.
Its nature has been debated through the 'faces of power'. Robert Dahl, in Who Governs? (1961), saw power in decision making: A has power over B to the extent that A can get B to do something B would not otherwise do. Peter Bachrach and Morton Baratz added a second face, non-decision making or agenda setting. Steven Lukes, in Power: A Radical View (1974), added a third face: shaping people's preferences so that conflict never arises.
Foucault saw power as diffuse, relational and productive, present in all relations; feminists such as Kate Millett saw it in patriarchy; Marxists see it as rooted in class.
Power takes the forms of force, coercion, persuasion, manipulation and authority. When it is accepted as rightful it becomes authority, which is power plus legitimacy. Hannah Arendt went further and contrasted power, the human ability to act in concert, with violence.
Power is therefore both a capacity and a relationship; in India it is visible in the state, caste and gender alike.Q3(c) · Indian Political Thought · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Dharmashastra and Arthashastra Traditions
Explain the sources of ancient Indian political thought.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
प्राचीन भारतीय राजनीतिक चिंतन के स्रोतों की व्याख्या कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(c)
Approach: Explain the main textual and non-textual sources from which ancient Indian political ideas are reconstructed, grouping them by tradition, and note the problems in using them.
Ancient India had no single treatise called political science, but ideas on kingship, law and statecraft are spread across several bodies of literature. Scholars such as K.P. Jayaswal, U.N. Ghoshal and R.S. Sharma reconstructed them from the sources below.
Vedic literature: the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda mention the sabha and samiti as popular assemblies, and the Brahmanas describe royal consecration rituals such as the rajasuya, which show the sacral basis of kingship.
Epics and Dharmashastra: the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata discusses rajadharma, the origin of kingship and matsya nyaya; the Ramayana presents the ideal of Ramarajya. The Dharmasutras and Smritis (Manu, Yajnavalkya, Narada) lay down the king's duties, law and punishment.
Arthashastra and Nitishastra: Kautilya's Arthashastra is the most systematic text on the state, administration, diplomacy and espionage; later works such as Kamandaka's Nitisara continue this tradition.
Buddhist and Jain texts: the Agganna Sutta gives a contractual account of the first king, Mahasammata, and other suttas describe the republican gana-sanghas such as the Vajjis.
Non-textual sources: Ashoka's edicts on dhamma, inscriptions such as the Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman, coins, and the accounts of foreign observers like Megasthenes' Indica.
Problems: most texts are normative and Brahmanical, describing what ought to be; dating is uncertain. Yet together they show a rich tradition combining duty-based ethics with hard-headed statecraft.
Question 4 (50 marks)
Q4(a) · Western Political Thought · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Plato and Aristotle
Trace the evolution of Western Political Thought from ancient to contemporary period.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
प्राचीन से समकालीन काल तक पाश्चात्य राजनीतिक चिंतन के क्रमागत उन्नति का अनुरेखन करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(a)
Approach: Trace the evolution chronologically in phases (Greek, medieval, Renaissance and early modern, Enlightenment and nineteenth century, twentieth century to contemporary), naming thinkers and the shift in central questions, and end with an overall pattern.
Western political thought has evolved as a continuing conversation about the nature of the good life, the basis of authority and the limits of power. Its central concern shifted from virtue to power, then to rights and consent, then to equality and identity.
Ancient Greek phase: Plato's Republic sought justice through rule by philosopher-kings; Aristotle's Politics treated man as a political animal and the polis as the means to the good life. Politics and ethics were united. Roman thinkers such as Cicero added natural law and the idea of a republic of laws.
Medieval phase: Augustine's City of God and Aquinas subordinated politics to religion; the state was a remedy for sin or part of a divinely ordered natural law, and the Church-state relationship dominated.
Renaissance and early modern phase: Machiavelli separated politics from ethics and religion, marking the birth of modern political science. Bodin and Hobbes theorised sovereignty; Hobbes and Locke grounded the state in a social contract, Locke's natural rights and consent founding liberalism; Rousseau's general will inspired popular sovereignty.
Enlightenment and nineteenth century: Bentham and J.S. Mill developed utilitarianism and liberty; Hegel idealised the state; Marx turned the focus to class, the economy and revolution.
Twentieth century to contemporary: Gramsci's hegemony and Arendt's analysis of totalitarianism responded to fascism and Stalinism; behaviouralism briefly declared political theory dead, until Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971) revived normative theory. Debates followed with Nozick, communitarians, feminists, multiculturalists, and postmodern and postcolonial critics.
The overall pattern is a move from the community to the individual and then back to questions of community, recognition and justice in diverse societies.Q4(b) · Political Theory and Theories of the State · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Approaches to Political Theory: Normative, Historical, Empirical, Behavioural and Post-behavioural
Discuss the significance of a normative approach to Political theory.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राजनीतिक सिद्धांत के लिए एक निर्देशात्मक (normative) दृष्टिकोण के महत्व पर चर्चा करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(b)
Approach: Define the normative approach and then discuss its significance under several heads (standards, critique, policy, revival), with a brief note on its limits.
The normative approach asks what political life ought to be: what makes a state legitimate, a distribution just or an obligation binding. From Plato’s Republic to Rawls’s A Theory of Justice (1971), it has been the core of political theory.
Gives standards of judgement: facts alone cannot tell us whether a law is good. Concepts such as justice, liberty and equality supply the yardsticks by which institutions are evaluated, as Rawls’s difference principle or Sen’s capability approach do for welfare policy.
Critique of power: by imagining the good society, normative theory exposes the gap between ideal and reality. Marx’s critique of capitalism, Ambedkar’s critique of caste and feminist critiques of patriarchy are normative at root.
Guides policy and constitutions: the Indian Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles embody normative choices; judgments such as Kesavananda Bharati (1973) on the basic structure and Puttaswamy (2017) on privacy reason from values.
Revival: after behaviouralism declared political philosophy dead, Rawls, Nozick, Walzer and Sandel showed that public debate needs principled argument, and post-behaviouralism admitted values back into research.
Limits: it can become abstract and utopian, and its conclusions may reflect the theorist’s culture; empirical evidence is needed to test feasibility.
The normative approach thus gives political science its purpose: facts describe the world, norms tell us how to change it.Q4(c) · Western Political Thought · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Karl Marx and Antonio Gramsci
Discuss Karl Marx's concept of class.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
कार्ल मार्क्स की 'वर्ग की अवधारणा' का वर्णन करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(c)
Approach: Discuss Marx's concept of class (definition by relation to the means of production, class in itself and for itself, class struggle and the two-class model), then its critiques and relevance to India.
For Marx, class is defined by a group's relationship to the means of production, not by income or status. In every class society one class owns the means of production and appropriates the surplus produced by another: master and slave, lord and serf, capitalist and wage-labourer.
Class struggle: the Communist Manifesto (1848) opens by declaring that the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Under capitalism society splits increasingly into two great hostile classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat; intermediate strata such as the petty bourgeoisie are pushed down into the proletariat.
Class consciousness: in The Poverty of Philosophy (1847) Marx distinguished a class 'in itself', sharing an objective position, from a class 'for itself', aware of its interests and organised politically. In The Eighteenth Brumaire he likened the French peasants to potatoes in a sack, a class without political unity. The proletariat becomes revolutionary through class consciousness and struggle.
Critiques: Max Weber added status and party as separate dimensions of stratification; the growth of the middle class contradicted polarisation; and identity-based divisions of race, gender and nation often outweigh class.
In India, the caste-class debate (Ambedkar, D.D. Kosambi, Gail Omvedt) shows that class must be combined with caste to explain inequality. Still, Marx's concept remains basic to analysing power and exploitation.
Question 5 (50 marks)
Q5(a) · Indian Nationalism and the Making of the Constitution · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Perspectives on the National Movement: Liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Radical Humanist and Dalit
Role of socialists in Indian National Movement
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारतीय राष्ट्रीय आंदोलन में समाजवादियों की भूमिका
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(a)
Approach: Explain the rise of the socialists within the national movement, their organisations, leaders and contributions to its programme, and their limits.
Socialist ideas entered the national movement in the 1920s and 1930s under the influence of the Russian Revolution, the Great Depression and growing peasant and worker unrest.
Organisations and leaders: Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose led the left within Congress; Nehru’s Lucknow presidential address (1936) declared socialism the solution to India’s problems. The Congress Socialist Party (1934) was founded by Acharya Narendra Dev, Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Minoo Masani and others.
Contributions: they gave the movement a socio-economic programme: the Karachi Resolution on Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy (1931), the Faizpur agrarian programme (1936) and the National Planning Committee (1938). They organised kisan sabhas and trade unions, and during Quit India JP, Lohia and Aruna Asaf Ali led the underground resistance.
Limits: they remained divided, between Gandhians, Marxists and democratic socialists, and could not displace the Congress right.
Their legacy is visible in the Directive Principles, planning and land reform.Q5(b) · Indian Nationalism and the Making of the Constitution · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Making of the Constitution: Legacies of British Rule and Social and Political Perspectives
Indian constitution makers' concerns on social inequality
हिंदी में प्रश्न
सामाजिक असमानता पर भारतीय संविधान निर्माताओं की चिंता
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(b)
Approach: Explain the framers’ concerns about caste, gender and economic inequality, the provisions they made in response, and the debates behind them.
The Constitution makers inherited a society marked by caste hierarchy, untouchability, gender discrimination and mass poverty. Ambedkar, in his speech of 25 November 1949, warned that India was entering a life of contradictions: equality in politics but inequality in social and economic life.
Caste and untouchability: Article 17 abolished untouchability; Articles 15 and 16(4) allowed special provisions and reservations; Articles 330 and 332 reserved seats in legislatures; Article 46 directed the state to promote the interests of weaker sections.
Gender: equality before law (Article 14), non-discrimination on grounds of sex (Article 15), equal pay for equal work (Article 39(d)) and universal franchise for women from the start.
Economic inequality: the Directive Principles (Articles 38 and 39) call for reducing inequality and preventing concentration of wealth.
Debates: members argued over the time limit for reservations, and Ambedkar’s Hindu Code Bill met resistance. The concern for social equality nonetheless made the Constitution a charter of social justice.Q5(c) · The Constitution and the Organs of Government · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, and Directive Principles
Right to constitutional remedies in India
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत में संवैधानिक उपचारों के अधिकार
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(c)
Approach: The question asks about the right to constitutional remedies, so the answer explains its content and significance, shows how courts widened it, and notes current problems.
The right to constitutional remedies under Article 32 makes the enforcement of Fundamental Rights itself a Fundamental Right. Ambedkar called it the very soul and heart of the Constitution.
Content: a person may move the Supreme Court directly, which can issue directions, orders or writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto. High Courts have a parallel and wider power under Article 226, which also covers legal rights.
Expansion: through public interest litigation the Court relaxed locus standi, accepted letters as petitions and protected bonded labourers and prisoners (Bandhua Mukti Morcha, 1984; Sunil Batra, 1978). It awarded compensation for custodial violations (Nilabati Behera, 1993).
Limits and concerns: enforcement can be suspended under Article 359 during an emergency, though not for Articles 20 and 21 after the 44th Amendment. Pendency and cost limit access for the poor.
Article 32 remains the guarantee that makes Part III real, and it is part of the basic structure.Q5(d) · The Constitution and the Organs of Government · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Supreme Court: Envisaged Role and Actual Working
Judicial overreach in India
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत में न्यायिक अतिक्रमण (overreach)
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(d)
Approach: The question asks for a short note on judicial overreach, so the answer defines it, separates it from activism, gives examples and suggests a balance.
Judicial overreach occurs when courts go beyond interpreting law and protecting rights and enter the domain of the legislature or executive. It is the excess of judicial activism, which is legitimate when it fills gaps to protect rights.
Instances: the ban on liquor sales within 500 metres of highways (2016); the interim order making the national anthem compulsory in cinemas (2016), later relaxed; the order to interlink rivers (2012); and the takeover of cricket administration through committees after the Lodha Committee report.
Concerns: it violates the separation of powers, makes policy without expertise or accountability, and raises the counter-majoritarian difficulty described by Alexander Bickel. In Aravali Golf Club (2007) the Supreme Court itself warned judges against encroaching on other organs.
Reasons: legislative inaction, executive failure and public faith in courts encourage it.
The answer lies in judicial restraint and accountable institutions, so that courts remain guardians and not substitutes.Q5(e) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Integrationist Tendencies, Regional Aspirations and Inter-State Disputes
Mechanism for settling inter-state disputes
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अंतर राज्य विवादों को निपटाने के लिए तंत्र
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(e)
Approach: A short note: list the constitutional, statutory and political mechanisms for settling inter-state disputes, with examples, and assess their effectiveness.
Judicial mechanism: under Article 131 the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in legal disputes between the Union and states or among states.
River water: Article 262 and the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 provide tribunals, as for the Cauvery, Krishna, Narmada and Mahadayi, whose awards are binding; the River Boards Act, 1956 allows advisory boards.
Deliberative forums: the Inter-State Council (Article 263), five Zonal Councils under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, chaired by the Union Home Minister, and the North Eastern Council promote consultation.
Political and administrative means: boundary commissions such as the Mahajan Commission (1966) on Belagavi, and central mediation in disputes like those between Assam and its neighbours.
These mechanisms suffer from delays, weak enforcement, as with the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, and political resistance; time-bound tribunals and active use of the Inter-State Council would make cooperative federalism more effective.
Question 6 (50 marks)
Q6(a) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Election Commission, CAG, Finance Commission and UPSC
Examine the role and functioning of the Election Commission of India and the Comptroller and Auditor General in the last two decades.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
विगत दो दशकों में भारतीय चुनाव आयोग, और नियंत्रक एवं महालेखा परीक्षक की भूमिका एवं कार्य का परीक्षण करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(a)
Approach: Examine both institutions over roughly 2000-2020: their constitutional role, key contributions and controversies in that period, and a comparative conclusion on their independence and effectiveness.
The Election Commission (Articles 324-329) and the Comptroller and Auditor General (Articles 148-151) are what Guillermo O'Donnell calls agencies of horizontal accountability: one guards the fairness of elections, the other the legality and prudence of public spending.
Election Commission, contributions: nationwide use of EVMs from 2004 and VVPAT in all constituencies by 2019; enforcement of court-ordered disclosure of candidates' assets and criminal records (2002-03); expenditure observers; voter education under SVEEP (from 2009); and record turnout in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.
Election Commission, concerns: during 2019 critics questioned uneven action on Model Code complaints, and Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa's dissents were not recorded in orders; doubts about EVMs, long schedules, and the inability to curb money power or deregister parties persisted.
CAG, contributions: under Vinod Rai the CAG's reports on the 2G spectrum allocation (2010), the Commonwealth Games (2011) and coal blocks (2012) exposed irregularities, shaped public debate and led to judicial action; performance audit expanded into social sector schemes.
CAG, concerns: critics said its presumptive loss figures strayed into policy judgment; later, reports were said to be delayed or fewer in number, the 2019 report on the Rafale purchase was criticised for redacting prices, and the Public Accounts Committee often acts slowly.
Both institutions enjoy security of tenure but their heads are chosen by the executive, which affects perception of neutrality.
Over two decades both strengthened India's accountability framework, but their record shows that independence depends on appointment processes, transparency and the willingness of Parliament and courts to act on their work.Q6(b) · Indian Nationalism and the Making of the Constitution · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Revolutionary, Peasant and Workers' Movements
Trace the role of militant and revolutionary movements in Indian national movement.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारतीय राष्ट्रीय आंदोलन में उग्रवादी और क्रांतिकारी आंदोलनों की भूमिका का अनुरेखन करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(b)
Approach: Trace the two phases of the revolutionary movement and the INA, with organisations, leaders and actions, then assess their role and contribution relative to the Gandhian mainstream.
Alongside constitutional and Gandhian methods, a militant stream believed that colonial rule could be ended only by armed action and heroic sacrifice.
First phase (1897–1918): the Chapekar brothers killed the plague commissioner Rand (1897); Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar in Bengal and Savarkar’s Abhinav Bharat drew on the Swadeshi upsurge. Khudiram Bose’s attempt at Muzaffarpur (1908) led to the Alipore bomb case. Abroad, the Ghadar Party (1913) planned a mutiny among Indian soldiers during the First World War.
Second phase (1920s–1930s): disillusioned by the withdrawal of Non-Cooperation, the Hindustan Republican Association carried out the Kakori robbery (1925). It became the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (1928) under Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, which threw bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly (1929) to ‘make the deaf hear’ and turned trials into propaganda. Surya Sen led the Chittagong armoury raid (1930).
Later phase: Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (1943) and the INA trials (1945–46) roused nationwide sympathy, followed by the Royal Indian Navy mutiny (1946).
Role: they inspired youth, spread socialist and secular ideas and showed the limits of British control. But individual terrorism could not mobilise masses and was crushed by repression.
Their courage complemented the mass movement and hastened the end of the Raj.Q6(c) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Panchayati Raj, Municipal Government and the 73rd and 74th Amendments
To what extent has 73rd and 74th amendments of the Indian Constitution enhanced women's empowerment?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारतीय संविधान के 73 वें और 74 वें संशोधनों ने किस हद तक महिला सशक्तिकरण को बढ़ावा दिया है?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(c)
Approach: Assess "to what extent": outline the reservation provisions for women in both amendments, show gains in political, social and developmental empowerment, then the limits, and give a measured conclusion.
Articles 243D and 243T, added by the 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992), reserve not less than one-third of seats and chairperson posts in panchayats and municipalities for women, including within SC and ST quotas; Bihar (2006) led many states to raise this to 50 percent.
Political empowerment: women now form close to half of elected panchayat members, a scale of entry into public office without parallel in the world, and the experience prepared the ground for the 106th Amendment (2023) reserving seats in legislatures.
Developmental impact: Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2004) found that women-led panchayats invested more in drinking water and other goods that women had demanded; women leaders have campaigned against liquor, child marriage and open defecation.
Social empowerment: holding office has raised self-confidence and visibility, weakened purdah in some regions, and offered role models to girls; self-help group networks such as Kudumbashree in Kerala linked economic and political agency.
Limits: the sarpanch-pati or proxy phenomenon, rotation of reserved seats that prevents re-election, low literacy, violence against assertive Dalit women, and the weak powers of local bodies themselves restrict real influence.
The amendments have thus substantially advanced descriptive representation and partly substantive empowerment; the remaining gap calls for longer reservation cycles, training, women's sabhas and genuine devolution of funds and functions.
Question 7 (50 marks)
Q7(a) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Federalism: Constitutional Provisions and Changing Centre-State Relations
Does the functioning of the federalism in India tend to make it appear as a unitary state in practice?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या भारत में संघवाद, अपने कार्य प्रणाली में एकात्मक राज्य के रूप में प्रतीत होता है?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(a)
Approach: Assess whether India appears unitary in practice: set out the unitary features and practices, then the federal features and countervailing trends, and conclude with a characterisation.
Ambedkar told the Constituent Assembly that the Constitution could be both unitary and federal according to the requirements of time and circumstances; Article 1 calls India a Union of States, and K.C. Wheare called it quasi-federal.
Features that make it appear unitary: Parliament can reshape states under Article 3; the Union has residuary powers and can legislate on State List subjects under Articles 249-253; Governors are appointed by the Centre and can reserve bills; All India Services and an integrated judiciary run through both levels; and emergencies convert the system into a unitary one.
Practices that reinforce the impression: frequent use of Article 356 before 1994, centrally sponsored schemes in state subjects, the Centre's dominance in revenue collection, and, more recently, the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories in 2019 and the handling of the COVID-19 lockdown under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
Yet the federal core is real: the Seventh Schedule gives states exclusive fields such as police, public order, agriculture and health; the Finance Commission transfers a constitutionally fixed share of central taxes; and S.R. Bommai (1994) made federalism part of the basic structure and subjected Article 356 to judicial review.
The GST Council, where states hold two-thirds of the votes, institutionalises shared sovereignty, and Alfred Stepan described India as a holding-together federation that accommodates diversity through asymmetry.
India therefore appears unitary in its constitutional design and in moments of crisis or one-party dominance, but in normal practice it works as a centralised, bargaining federation; Morris-Jones's idea of bargaining federalism captures this better than the label of a unitary state.Q7(b) · The Constitution and the Organs of Government · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Union Executive and Parliament: Envisaged Role and Actual Working
Has the thrust of government tilted towards executive in contemporary Indian Politics? Give your arguments.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या समकालीन भारतीय राजनीति में सरकार का झुकाव कार्यकारी की तरफ बढ़ा है? अपने तर्क दें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(b)
Approach: The question asks whether contemporary Indian politics has tilted towards the executive, so the answer presents the evidence for executive dominance, the counter-evidence, and a conclusion.
In a parliamentary system the executive is drawn from and responsible to the legislature. Walter Bagehot called this fusion the efficient secret of the English Constitution, and Richard Crossman later argued that cabinet government had become prime-ministerial government. Indian politics since 2014 shows a similar tilt.
Arguments for a tilt: single-party majorities in 2014 and 2019 concentrated power in the Prime Minister and the PMO. Parliament sits fewer days, fewer bills go to committees, and major laws such as the farm laws (2020) passed with little debate. The money bill route for the Aadhaar Act (2016), frequent ordinances, wide delegated legislation and the anti-defection law, which binds MPs to the party whip, weaken legislative control.
Federal dimension: the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir (2019) and disputes over Governors and central agencies show the Union executive's reach over states.
Counter-arguments: executive dominance is not new; it marked the Indira Gandhi years. The judiciary still checks power, as in Puttaswamy (2017), and opposition-ruled states, a free press and elections remain powerful constraints.
The thrust of government has tilted towards the executive, a structural trend of parliamentary democracy intensified by large majorities. Strong committees, regular sittings and independent institutions are needed to restore balance.Q7(c) · Planning, Social Cleavages, Party System and Social Movements · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Green Revolution, Land Reforms, Agrarian Relations and Liberalisation
'Liberalisation of Indian Economy has not been accompanied with adequate reforms'. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
'भारतीय अर्थव्यवस्था का उदारीकरण पर्याप्त आर्थिक सुधारों के साथ नहीं हुआ है'। टिप्पणी करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(c)
Approach: Comment on the statement: show what liberalisation achieved, identify the reforms that lagged (factor markets, agriculture, state capacity, social sector), and give a balanced conclusion.
The 1991 reforms dismantled industrial licensing, lowered tariffs, opened the economy to foreign investment and liberalised finance. Rob Jenkins, in Democratic Politics and Economic Reform in India (1999), showed they were pushed through largely by stealth, which made them durable but partial.
The statement is largely valid. Factor market reforms lagged: land acquisition remained contentious, and labour law reform moved slowly, keeping firms small and employment informal. Agriculture was left out, as the repeal of the farm laws in 2021 showed.
Second-generation reforms in the judiciary, police, bureaucracy and regulation trailed behind, so contract enforcement and delivery stayed weak. Human development lagged too; Drèze and Sen argue that India liberalised without the health and education base that East Asia built first.
However, important later reforms did come: the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (2016), GST (2017), direct benefit transfers through the JAM trinity, and the opening of new sectors to private investment.
The politics of reform explains the gap: in a coalition-based, federal and electorally competitive democracy, reforms that hurt organised groups such as farmers, workers or state governments are hardest to pass.
Thus liberalisation was real but uneven; completing the institutional and social reforms is necessary for growth to become broad-based.
Question 8 (50 marks)
Q8(a) · Planning, Social Cleavages, Party System and Social Movements · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Party System, Coalition Politics and Pressure Groups
To what extent has the inadequate intra-party democracy affected the functioning of Indian Democracy?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अपर्याप्त अंतर-दलीय लोकतंत्र ने भारतीय लोकतंत्र के काम काज को किस हद तक प्रभावित किया है?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(a)
Approach: Assess the extent of the effect: define intra-party democracy, show its deficit in Indian parties with causes, trace its effects on democratic functioning, and suggest reforms.
Intra-party democracy means that a party's leaders are chosen, candidates selected and policies decided through open, rule-based participation of members. Robert Michels, in Political Parties (1911), warned of an iron law of oligarchy in which organisations inevitably fall under the control of a few.
The deficit in India: internal elections are rare or ritual; candidates are chosen by a high command; many parties are family-controlled, and Kanchan Chandra's Democratic Dynasties (2016) documents the large share of dynastic MPs. The Election Commission cannot deregister a party for failing to hold internal elections.
Causes: the anti-defection law (Tenth Schedule, 1985), upheld in Kihoto Hollohan (1992), binds legislators to the party whip, concentrating power in leaders. Personality cults, money-intensive elections and the absence of a law regulating parties add to it.
Effects on democracy: legislators cannot represent constituents freely, weakening parliamentary debate; capable newcomers, women and the poor find it hard to enter; criminalisation grows because tickets go to those who can win and pay; and dissent leads to splits rather than internal debate.
However, the effect should not be exaggerated: Indian democracy has remained competitive, with high turnout and regular alternation of power, and cadre-based parties such as the CPI(M) and BJP have internal mechanisms.
Reforms: the Law Commission (170th Report, 1999) and the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2002) recommended legal requirements for internal elections and financial audits; the Tenth Schedule could be confined to confidence and money votes.
Inadequate intra-party democracy has thus significantly weakened the quality of representation, even if it has not undermined electoral democracy itself; democratising parties is the next step in deepening Indian democracy.Q8(b) · Planning, Social Cleavages, Party System and Social Movements · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics
Examine the role of religion in Indian Electoral Politics in the contemporary times.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
समकालीन समय में भारतीय चुनावी राजनीति में धर्म की भूमिका की जांच करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(b)
Approach: Examine how religion shapes contemporary electoral politics (mobilisation, polarisation, minority voting, legal limits), with evidence, and evaluate its implications for secular democracy.
India's Constitution is secular, yet religion has always influenced voting. Since the Ram Janmabhoomi movement of the late 1980s, and decisively since 2014, religion has become a central axis of electoral competition.
Majoritarian mobilisation: the BJP's Hindutva agenda, Ram temple, Article 370 and the uniform civil code, has helped consolidate Hindu voters across caste lines. Christophe Jaffrelot, in Modi's India (2021), describes this as ethnic democracy.
Minority voting: Muslim voters often vote strategically for the party best placed to defeat the BJP, and parties such as AIMIM and the IUML mobilise on minority identity. Critics of the Congress and regional parties alleged minority appeasement, which itself became a majoritarian campaign theme.
Religion in regional politics: the Akali Dal's Panthic politics in Punjab and community-based alliances in Kerala show that religion shapes politics beyond the Hindi belt.
Legal limits: Section 123(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 makes appeals on grounds of religion a corrupt practice; in Abhiram Singh v. C.D. Commachen (2017), the Supreme Court held this covers appeals to the religion of voters too. But enforcement by the Election Commission is weak against coded messages and social media.
Religion's electoral role threatens the secularism upheld in S.R. Bommai (1994) only when it turns into polarisation and exclusion; Rajeev Bhargava's principled distance offers a framework for keeping faith in public life without making it the basis of citizenship.Q8(c) · Planning, Social Cleavages, Party System and Social Movements · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Social Movements: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Women's and Environmental Movements
Examine the nature of the civil liberty movement in India.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत में नागरिक स्वतंत्रता आंदोलन की प्रकृति का परीक्षण करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(c)
Approach: Examine the nature of the civil liberties movement: its origins, organisations, methods, achievements and limitations, ending with its significance today.
The civil liberties movement in India seeks to protect individuals against abuse of state power: arbitrary detention, custodial torture, encounter killings, censorship and repressive laws.
Origins: early groups emerged in Andhra Pradesh in the 1970s amid state repression of Naxalite movements. The Emergency (1975-77) was the turning point: Jayaprakash Narayan founded the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights in 1976, which became the PUCL in 1980, with Rajni Kothari among its later presidents; the People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) emerged in Delhi.
Methods: fact-finding reports, public interest litigation, campaigns against preventive detention, AFSPA and sedition, and legal aid. Its litigation shaped constitutional law: PUDR's Asiad workers case (1982) expanded labour rights, PUCL cases led to safeguards on telephone tapping (1997), the right to food orders (from 2001), disclosure of candidates' backgrounds and NOTA (2013); D.K. Basu (1997) laid down arrest guidelines.
Nature: it is largely middle-class, urban and legalistic, works through courts more than mass mobilisation, and has split between liberal civil liberties and Marxist democratic rights perspectives.
Limitations: the state often portrays activists as sympathisers of insurgents; laws such as UAPA have been used against them; and the movement is criticised for selective focus on state violence rather than violence by non-state actors.
It remains the conscience of Indian constitutionalism, keeping the state accountable to Article 21.
UPSC Mains 2020 Political Science and International Relations PSIR Paper II
Question 1 (50 marks)
Q1(a) · Comparative Politics · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Comparative Politics: Nature, Major Approaches and Limitations of the Comparative Method
Discuss the subject matter of comparative politics. Outline the limitations of comparative political analysis.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
तुलनात्मक राजनीति की विषयवस्तु की विवेचना कीजिए। तुलनात्मक राजनीतिक विश्लेषण की सीमाओं को रेखांकित कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(a)
Approach: The question has two parts, so the answer first sets out the subject matter of comparative politics and then outlines the limitations of comparative analysis, with a short conclusion.
Comparative politics is the systematic study of political systems across countries and over time, to explain why politics takes different forms. Its subject matter has widened from formal constitutions to the whole political process.
Subject matter: (i) institutions — constitutions, executives, legislatures, courts, federal arrangements; (ii) processes — parties, pressure groups, elections, social movements; (iii) political culture and socialisation, as in Almond and Verba; (iv) the state and its relation to the economy and society; (v) regime change, democratisation and development, including non-Western states after decolonisation.
Limitations: the small number of cases and many variables (Lijphart); conceptual stretching (Sartori); ethnocentric models that treat Western democracy as the norm; Galton's problem of diffusion; unreliable data; and the uniqueness of historical contexts, which limits generalisation.
Despite these limits, comparison remains the closest political science gets to the experimental method, and careful case selection keeps it useful.Q1(b) · Comparative Politics · 10 marks≈ 7 min
The State in Comparative Perspective
Analyze the contribution of liberal democratic principles in the democratization of Indian polity.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारतीय राज्यव्यवस्था के जनतंत्रीकरण में उदार लोकतांत्रिक सिद्धांतों के योगदान का विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(b)
Approach: The question asks for an analysis of the contribution of liberal democratic principles, so the answer identifies the principles in the Constitution, shows how each democratised the polity, and notes the limits and Indian adaptations.
Liberal democracy combines popular rule with constitutional limits on power: universal franchise, individual rights, rule of law, separation of powers and free competition for office. India's Constitution adopted these principles in a hierarchical, largely illiterate society.
Contribution: universal adult franchise from 1950 gave political equality to every adult and, over time, mobilised lower castes, women and the poor. Fundamental rights and judicial review protected dissent; the basic structure doctrine (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973) shielded democracy from majorities. An independent Election Commission, free press and federalism dispersed power, while the 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) carried democracy to villages and towns. The Right to Information Act, 2005 strengthened accountability.
Indian adaptation and limits: liberal individualism was tempered by group rights such as reservations and minority protections. The Emergency (1975–77) showed the fragility of liberal safeguards, and Partha Chatterjee notes that many poor citizens engage the state through 'political society' rather than liberal civil society.
Liberal principles have thus provided the framework within which the Indian polity has steadily deepened.Q1(c) · Comparative Politics · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Political Economy and Political Sociology Perspectives
Has the increased participation of the underprivileged in the political process of the developing societies strengthened democracy or created political chaos and conflict? Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या विकासशील समाजों में वंचितों की राजनीतिक प्रक्रिया में बढ़ती हुई भागीदारी ने प्रजातंत्र को सुदृढ़ता प्रदान की है या इससे राजनीतिक अराजकता एवं संघर्ष की स्थिति उत्पन्न हुई है? टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(c)
Approach: The question asks for a comment on whether rising participation of the underprivileged strengthens democracy or causes disorder, so the answer presents both views with thinkers and examples and gives a balanced judgement.
Since the 1990s, developing societies have seen a surge in the political participation of the poor, lower castes, indigenous peoples and women — what Yogendra Yadav called India's second democratic upsurge.
Strengthening democracy: participation has widened representation and legitimacy. In India, the rise of the BSP, OBC-based parties and panchayat reservations for women brought new groups into power; in Bolivia, Evo Morales became the first indigenous president in 2006. Such inclusion makes policy more responsive, as welfare schemes targeted at the poor show.
Chaos and conflict: Samuel Huntington (Political Order in Changing Societies, 1968) warned that when participation outruns institutionalisation, the result is political decay. Identity-based mobilisation can sharpen caste and ethnic conflict, encourage populism and clientelism, and produce electoral violence, as in Kenya in 2007–08.
On balance, participation has deepened democracy; disorder arises mainly where institutions such as parties, courts and election bodies are weak. The remedy is stronger institutions, not restricted participation.Q1(d) · Comparative Politics · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Globalisation: Responses from Developed and Developing Societies
Critically examine the impact of the process of globalization from the perspective of the countries of the Global South.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
दक्षिण वैश्विक राष्ट्रों के परिप्रेक्ष्य से उन पर पड़नेवाले वैश्वीकरण की प्रक्रिया के प्रभावों का समालोचनात्मक परीक्षण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(d)
Approach: The question asks for a critical examination from the Global South's perspective, so the answer weighs the gains and the costs of globalisation for Southern countries with examples and concludes with the South's agenda for reform.
The Global South — the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America — experienced globalisation largely through the Washington Consensus of liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation from the 1980s onwards.
Gains: integration brought rapid growth to China, India, Vietnam and others, a historic fall in extreme poverty, foreign investment, technology and access to world markets. India's post-1991 IT boom is an example.
Costs: structural adjustment programmes in Africa and Latin America cut public spending and produced a 'lost decade' in the 1980s; financial liberalisation exposed economies to crises such as the 1997 Asian crisis; TRIPS raised the cost of medicines; rich-country agricultural subsidies hurt Southern farmers; and brain drain, informal jobs and environmental damage followed. Dependency and world-systems theorists see this as continued core-periphery inequality.
Critical view: the gains were concentrated in Asia, while much of Africa remained commodity-dependent. The COVID-19 vaccine divide reinforced Southern grievances.
The South therefore seeks not to reject globalisation but to democratise it through reform of the WTO, IMF and World Bank and stronger South-South cooperation.Q1(e) · Approaches and Key Concepts in International Relations · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Idealist and Realist Approaches
What are the core assumptions of idealism as an approach to study International Relations? Explain its continuing relevance in peace building.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अंतर्राष्ट्रीय संबंधों के अध्ययन के लिए आदर्शवाद के दृष्टिकोण की मूल मान्यताएँ क्या हैं? शांति स्थापना के लिए इसकी सतत प्रासंगिकता की व्याख्या कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(e)
Approach: State the core assumptions of idealism, then explain how they continue to shape peace building today (UN, international law, peacekeeping, democratic peace), noting limits.
Idealism, the first formal approach to IR after 1919, drew on Kant's Perpetual Peace (1795) and Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and sought to make war obsolete.
Core assumptions: (i) human nature is good and improvable by reason and education; (ii) war stems from bad institutions, secret diplomacy and autocracy; (iii) nations share a harmony of interests, and Norman Angell argued that war does not pay; (iv) international law, disarmament and League-based collective security can replace the balance of power; (v) democracy and public opinion restrain governments.
Relevance in peace building: Boutros-Ghali's An Agenda for Peace (1992) and liberal peace building in Namibia, Cambodia and Timor-Leste assume that elections, rule of law and institutions produce lasting peace. The UN Peacebuilding Commission (2005) and the democratic peace thesis continue this, as does India's large contribution to UN peacekeeping.
Its limits show where peace is imposed without local ownership, as in Afghanistan and Libya; idealism works best when tempered by attention to power and context.
Question 2 (50 marks)
Q2(a) · Approaches and Key Concepts in International Relations · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Balance of Power and Deterrence
Explain the concept of balance of power. What are the various techniques of maintaining balance of power?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
शक्ति के संतुलन की संकल्पना की व्याख्या कीजिए। शक्ति के संतुलन को बनाए रखने के लिए कौन-कौन सी विभिन्न तकनीकें अपनाई जाती हैं?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q2(a)
Approach: Two parts: explain the concept (meanings, assumptions, forms, history) and then the techniques of maintaining it, with examples, ending with an assessment of its relevance.
The balance of power is among the oldest ideas in IR. It refers to a distribution of power among states such that no single state or bloc can dominate the rest, and to the policies that preserve it. David Hume traced it to ancient Greece, and it was the organising principle of the European states system from the Peace of Westphalia (1648) through the Concert of Europe after 1815.
Assumptions: states seek to preserve their independence; a would-be hegemon threatens all; and states will combine against it. Morgenthau saw it as a universal social principle arising from the struggle for power, while Waltz saw it as an automatic outcome of anarchy. It may be simple (two sides) or complex (several powers), and local, regional or global.
Techniques: (i) Alliances and counter-alliances, the most common, such as the Triple Entente against the Triple Alliance, and NATO against the Warsaw Pact. (ii) Armaments and arms races, and conversely disarmament agreements that freeze a balance. (iii) Divide and rule, keeping rivals divided. (iv) Compensations, territorial adjustments such as the partitions of Poland. (v) Buffer states, such as Afghanistan in the Great Game. (vi) Intervention to change or prop up regimes. (vii) The balancer, a power like nineteenth-century Britain that shifts its weight to the weaker side.
Waltz summarised these as internal and external balancing, and Stephen Walt showed that states balance against threats rather than power alone.
Relevance: critics such as Inis Claude found the concept vague, and nuclear weapons, institutions and interdependence have changed its working. Yet the Quad's response to China's rise and India's multi-alignment show that balancing remains central to world politics.Q2(b) · Approaches and Key Concepts in International Relations · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Transnational Actors and Collective Security
Enumerate the challenges in the operation of the principles related to collective security in the UN Charter.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
सामूहिक सुरक्षा को लेकर यू० एन० चार्टर के सिद्धांतों के प्रचालन से संबंधित चुनौतियों का वर्णन कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q2(b)
Approach: Briefly state the Charter's collective security scheme (Chapter VII), then enumerate the challenges in its operation, structural, political and practical, with examples, and close with reform needs.
The UN Charter gives the Security Council primary responsibility for peace. Under Chapter VII it determines threats to peace and acts of aggression (Article 39), and may order sanctions (Article 41) or military action (Article 42), with forces to be provided under Article 43.
Challenges: (i) The veto (Article 27): no action is possible against a permanent member or its protégé, as with the USSR in Hungary (1956), the US in Iraq (2003), and Russia in Ukraine (2022). (ii) Article 43 agreements were never concluded and the Military Staff Committee never functioned, so the UN has no standing force and relies on coalitions of the willing, as in Korea (1950) and Kuwait (1991). (iii) There is no binding definition of aggression for the Council; General Assembly Resolution 3314 (1974) is only a guide.
(iv) Selectivity: action depends on great-power interest, as the contrast between Kuwait and Rwanda (1994) shows. (v) Article 51 self-defence is stretched to justify unilateral force. (vi) An outdated Council membership weakens legitimacy. (vii) Limited finances and capacity strain peace operations.
The Uniting for Peace resolution (1950) and peacekeeping were improvised responses. India argues that Council reform and expanded membership are needed to make collective security credible.Q2(c) · The Changing International Order and the International Economic System · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Collapse of the Soviet Union, Unipolarity and the Relevance of Non-alignment
Critically analyze the implications of Sino-American strategic rivalry for the South and South-East Asian region.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
चीन एवं अमेरिका के बीच की रणनीतिक प्रतिद्वन्द्विता की दक्षिण एवं दक्षिण-पूर्व एशियाई क्षेत्र के लिए विवक्षा (मंशा) क्या है, समालोचनात्मक विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q2(c)
Approach: Critically analyse: explain the nature of Sino-American rivalry, its security, economic and political implications for South and South-East Asia, the strategies of regional states, and both risks and opportunities.
The Sino-American strategic rivalry spans trade, technology, military power and ideas. The US Indo-Pacific strategy and China's Belt and Road Initiative have made South and South-East Asia a central arena of this contest.
Security implications: in the South China Sea, China's island-building and rejection of the 2016 arbitral award in the Philippines' case conflict with US freedom of navigation operations, threatening Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. The revived Quad (2017) and stronger US ties with India reflect balancing; India's clash with China in Galwan (2020) sharpened this.
Economic implications: the US-China trade war since 2018 has led firms to diversify supply chains to Vietnam, India and Indonesia, an opportunity for the region. Yet dependence on Chinese trade and BRI loans, as in Sri Lanka's Hambantota and Pakistan's CPEC, raises concerns of debt and leverage.
Political implications: ASEAN unity is strained, as members like Cambodia and Laos lean towards China while others look to the US; ASEAN centrality is under pressure. Smaller South Asian states such as Nepal, Bangladesh and the Maldives play the two powers, and India, against each other.
Regional strategies: most states practise hedging, avoiding a binary choice. India pursues strategic autonomy and multi-alignment.
The rivalry thus brings both risk of conflict and coercion, and opportunities for investment and leverage. A stable outcome depends on ASEAN-led institutions and a multipolar balance in which India plays a central role.
Question 3 (50 marks)
Q3(a) · The Changing International Order and the International Economic System · 20 marks≈ 14 min
The Non-Aligned Movement: Aims and Achievements
Discuss the ways to strengthen the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to enable it to address the challenges faced by the developing countries.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
विकासशील देशों के समक्ष चुनौतियों को संबोधित करने के लिए गुटनिरपेक्ष आन्दोलन (नाम) को सुदृढ़ करने के तरीकों की विवेचना कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q3(a)
Approach: Identify the challenges facing developing countries and NAM's present weaknesses, then propose concrete institutional, agenda and partnership reforms, ending with India's role.
With 120 members, the Non-Aligned Movement is the largest grouping of states after the UN. Yet since the Cold War ended it has struggled to define its purpose, even as developing countries face new challenges.
Challenges for the developing world: pandemics and unequal access to vaccines, as COVID-19 showed in 2020; climate change and climate finance; debt distress; terrorism; technological divides; protectionism and the weakening of the WTO; and great-power rivalry between the US and China that pressures smaller states to choose sides.
NAM's weaknesses: no permanent secretariat, a rotating chair with limited capacity, consensus-bound declarations that are long and rarely implemented, internal conflicts among members, and the absence of top leaders at summits.
Ways to strengthen it: (i) Institutional: a small permanent secretariat and working groups to monitor implementation. (ii) Agenda: focus on a few priorities such as health equity, climate justice, debt relief, reform of the UN Security Council, the IMF and the WTO, and counter-terrorism. (iii) Coordination: act jointly with the G-77 and China in UN negotiations and draw on South-South cooperation and new institutions like the New Development Bank. (iv) Issue-based coalitions: allow sub-groups of willing members to act on specific issues. (v) Reaffirm Bandung principles of sovereignty and non-intervention to resist bloc pressures.
India's role: after the 2016 and 2019 summits were attended below head-of-government level, Prime Minister Modi joined the NAM Contact Group online summit on COVID-19 in May 2020, signalling renewed engagement through strategic autonomy and vaccine diplomacy.
A reformed NAM can become a platform for the Global South to shape rules rather than merely protest against them.Q3(b) · The Changing International Order and the International Economic System · 15 marks≈ 11 min
From Bretton Woods to the WTO
Critically evaluate the role of the United States of America in the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism and its implications for the future of the WTO.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
विश्व व्यापार संगठन के विवाद निष्पादन तंत्र में अमेरिका की भूमिका का समालोचनात्मक मूल्यांकन कीजिए तथा विश्व व्यापार संगठन के भविष्य के लिए इसकी मंशा (निहितार्थ) बताइए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q3(b)
Approach: Critically evaluate: explain the US role in creating the WTO dispute settlement system, its specific objections and the blocking of Appellate Body appointments, assess the merit of US criticisms, and discuss implications for the WTO.
The WTO's two-tier dispute settlement mechanism, panels and a standing Appellate Body, was created in 1995 largely at US insistence, to replace GATT's weak, consensus-based system. The US was among its most frequent users.
US objections: successive US administrations, especially under Trump, argued that the Appellate Body engaged in judicial overreach by filling gaps in agreements and creating obligations members never accepted; that it ignored the 90-day deadline for appeals; that it treated its rulings as binding precedent; and that its findings on trade remedies and subsidies hampered action against China's practices.
Action: the US blocked new appointments, and from 11 December 2019 the Appellate Body lost its quorum. Losing parties can now appeal into the void, leaving panel rulings without effect.
Evaluation: some US criticisms, such as delays and gap-filling, are shared by other members and deserve reform. But blocking the body rather than negotiating changes undermines the rule of law in trade and suits a power preferring unilateral leverage, as with the national security tariffs of 2018.
Implications: weaker enforcement encourages protectionism and unilateralism; small and developing countries lose their main defence against powerful states; and the EU, China and others have created the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (2020) as a stopgap.
Without restoring a binding, two-tier system with reforms acceptable to the US, the WTO risks becoming a negotiating forum without teeth.Q3(c) · The Changing International Order and the International Economic System · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Socialist Economies, the CMEA and the Demand for a New International Economic Order
Explain the significance and importance of the demand raised by the developing countries for a New International Economic Order (NIEO). Are they likely to achieve their objectives of NIEO in foreseeable future?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
विकासशील राष्ट्रों द्वारा नव अंतर्राष्ट्रीय अर्थव्यवस्था [न्यू इंटरनैशनल इकनॉमिक ऑर्डर (एन० आइ० ई० ओ०)] की माँग की सार्थकता एवं महत्त्व की व्याख्या कीजिए। क्या वे भावी भविष्य में एन० आइ० ई० ओ० के उद्देश्यों को प्राप्त कर सकते हैं?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q3(c)
Approach: Two parts: explain the background, content and significance of the NIEO demand, then assess whether its objectives can be achieved in the foreseeable future, with reasons.
The demand for a New International Economic Order (NIEO) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in May 1974 and followed by the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States (December 1974). It drew on dependency theory and the work of Raúl Prebisch, which argued that terms of trade turn against primary commodity exporters.
Main demands: stable and fair commodity prices; permanent sovereignty over natural resources, including the right to nationalise; regulation of multinationals; transfer of technology; preferential market access; debt relief and more aid; and democratic reform of the IMF and World Bank.
Significance: it was the first collective attempt by the Global South to reshape the rules of the world economy rather than merely seek aid. It gave economic content to decolonisation, strengthened the G-77 and NAM, and placed North-South inequality on the global agenda.
Prospects: full achievement is unlikely in the foreseeable future, because (i) the developed countries still dominate finance and technology; (ii) the South is divided between emerging economies like China and India and least developed countries; (iii) market-led globalisation and investment treaties have replaced state-led bargaining; (iv) the WTO is weakened and great-power rivalry dominates.
However, partial objectives are being pursued through BRICS institutions, climate finance, debt relief initiatives and pressure for reform of global governance. The NIEO's goals thus survive as an agenda for gradual reform.
Question 4 (50 marks)
Q4(a) · The United Nations, Regionalism and Global Concerns · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Specialised Agencies and UN Reforms
Discuss the significance and urgency of the UN Security Council reforms. Explain the relevance of the reform proposals made by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres for the developing countries.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघ के सुरक्षा परिषद् में सुधारों के महत्त्व एवं इसकी तात्कालिकता की विवेचना कीजिए। संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघ के महासचिव अंतोनियो गुटेरस द्वारा विकासशील राष्ट्रों के लिए दिए गए सुधार प्रस्ताव की प्रासंगिकता की व्याख्या कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q4(a)
Approach: Explain why Security Council reform is significant and urgent, outline the main reform positions, then relate Guterres's reform agenda (development system, management, peace and security, call for a fairer global order) to developing countries, and conclude with India's stake.
The Security Council still reflects the power distribution of 1945: five permanent members with a veto, no permanent seat for Africa or Latin America, and Asia represented only by China.
Significance: legitimacy depends on representation, and a Council in which the Global South, home to most of humanity and most items on the Council's agenda, lacks a permanent voice is seen as unrepresentative.
Urgency: the veto has blocked action on Syria, peacekeeping mandates are written without enough consultation with troop contributors such as India. Rising powers are turning to alternatives such as BRICS and the New Development Bank, and an unreformed Council risks irrelevance.
Positions: the G4 (India, Brazil, Germany, Japan) seek permanent seats; Africa's Ezulwini Consensus demands two permanent seats with the veto; the Uniting for Consensus group opposes new permanent members.
Guterres's proposals: since 2017 he has repositioned the UN development system, separating Resident Coordinators from UNDP to support national SDG plans; restructured the peace and security pillar to focus on prevention. In his 2020 Nelson Mandela Lecture he called for a New Global Deal and argued that those who came out on top after 1945 have refused reforms that would change power relations in the Council and the Bretton Woods institutions.
Relevance for developing countries: these reforms promise better delivery on the 2030 Agenda, more voice in global economic governance, and a stronger focus on conflict prevention in their regions. However, Council reform itself is in the hands of member states, not the Secretary-General.
For India, a permanent seat would reflect its population, economy and peacekeeping record. Reform is the condition for the UN's continued legitimacy.Q4(b) · The United Nations, Regionalism and Global Concerns · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC and NAFTA
Critically analyze the role of ASEAN in the promotion of regional peace and security through economic cooperation and trade.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
आर्थिक सहयोग एवं व्यापार के माध्यम से क्षेत्रीय शांति एवं सुरक्षा को बढ़ावा देने के लिए आसियान की भूमिका का समालोचनात्मक विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q4(b)
Approach: Critically analyse: explain the liberal logic that trade and economic cooperation promote peace, show how ASEAN applied it with examples, then point out its limits in security, and conclude.
Liberal theorists from Kant to Keohane and Nye argue that complex interdependence raises the cost of conflict and builds trust. ASEAN, founded in 1967 amid Cold War tensions, has pursued regional peace largely through this economic route.
Role in promoting peace: economic integration through the ASEAN Free Trade Area (1992) and the ASEAN Economic Community (2015) tied members' prosperity together, so that disputes such as the Thailand-Cambodia border clash over Preah Vihear (2008-11) did not escalate into wider war. Free trade agreements with China, Japan, Korea, India and Australia-New Zealand drew external powers into a cooperative web, and the RCEP negotiations extended it. The ASEAN Regional Forum and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, signed by major powers, added norms of peaceful settlement.
Limits: trade with China has not prevented tensions in the South China Sea: the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (2002) is non-binding, a Code of Conduct remains unfinished, and in 2012 ASEAN failed to issue a joint communiqué for the first time because Cambodia blocked mention of the dispute. China's economic leverage divides ASEAN. The principle of non-interference left it silent on the Rohingya crisis of 2017.
ASEAN has thus kept peace among its members and engaged great powers, but economic cooperation alone cannot manage hard security; it needs stronger institutions and a binding code of conduct.Q4(c) · The United Nations, Regionalism and Global Concerns · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Global Concerns: Environment
Examine the role of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other major efforts by the UN to address the global environmental crisis.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
वैश्विक पर्यावरण संकट का सामना करने हेतु जलवायु परिवर्तन पर संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघ के फ्रेमवर्क कन्वेंशन (यू० एन० एफ० सी० सी० सी०) की भूमिका तथा संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघ के अन्य मुख्य प्रयासों का परीक्षण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q4(c)
Approach: Examine the UNFCCC's role through its principles and its milestones (Kyoto, Copenhagen, Paris), assess strengths and weaknesses, then add other UN efforts on the environment, and conclude.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and in force since 1994, aims to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that prevents dangerous interference with the climate system. Its principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities recognises the historical responsibility of developed countries.
Role and milestones: the Kyoto Protocol (1997) set binding emission targets for developed (Annex I) countries and created market mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism, from which India benefited. The Copenhagen conference (2009) failed to agree a successor treaty, but the Cancún meeting (2010) created the Green Climate Fund. The Paris Agreement (2015) brought all countries under nationally determined contributions, with the aim of keeping warming well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C, and a five-yearly global stocktake.
Weaknesses: commitments are voluntary and insufficient; the US left Kyoto and announced withdrawal from Paris; the promise of 100 billion dollars a year in climate finance by 2020 was not met.
Other UN efforts: UNEP, created after the 1972 Stockholm Conference; the IPCC (1988), whose assessments guide negotiations; the Montreal Protocol (1987), the most successful environmental treaty; and the conventions on biodiversity and desertification.
The UN remains the only universal forum for the environment, but needs stronger finance and ambition.
Question 5 (50 marks)
Q5(a) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants, Institutions, Continuity and Change
Describe the structure and function of the National Security Council of India. What role does it play in the formulation of Indian foreign policy?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत के राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा परिषद् की संरचना एवं उसके प्रकार्य का वर्णन कीजिए। भारत की विदेश नीति के निर्माण में इसकी क्या भूमिका रहती है?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(a)
Approach: Describe the NSC's structure and functions, then assess its role in foreign policy formulation, noting both contributions and limitations.
The National Security Council (NSC) was created in November 1998, after the nuclear tests, to give integrated assessment of internal and external security.
Structure: it is chaired by the Prime Minister, with the ministers of Defence, External Affairs, Home and Finance. The National Security Adviser heads the National Security Council Secretariat, which absorbed the Joint Intelligence Committee. Below are the Strategic Policy Group of top secretaries and service chiefs, chaired by the NSA since 2018, and the National Security Advisory Board of outside experts.
Role in foreign policy: long-term strategic assessment; the Advisory Board drafted the nuclear doctrine (1999); the NSA is India's Special Representative for boundary talks with China and handles sensitive contacts with major powers.
Limitations: the full Council rarely meets, so influence rests on the NSA's closeness to the Prime Minister; it lacks statutory backing, and India has no published national security strategy.
A statutory basis and a formal strategy would make its role more institutional and accountable.Q5(b) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 10 marks≈ 7 min
SAARC and South Asia as a Free Trade Area
Outline the reasons of low volume of trade in the SAARC region.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
सार्क क्षेत्र में व्यापार के कम मात्रा के होने के कारणों को रेखांकित कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(b)
Approach: Outline the reasons for low intra-SAARC trade: start with the scale of the problem, then political, policy, structural and infrastructural causes, and conclude.
Intra-regional trade in South Asia is only about five per cent of the region's total trade, far below ASEAN's, and a World Bank study (A Glass Half Full, 2018) estimated that it is only about a third of its potential.
Political reasons: India-Pakistan hostility; Pakistan never granted India the most-favoured-nation status India gave it in 1996, and trade was suspended after 2019.
Policy barriers: long sensitive lists under SAFTA, para-tariffs and non-tariff barriers such as testing, certification and licensing.
Structural factors: similar export baskets (textiles, agricultural goods) limit complementarity; smaller economies fear Indian goods flooding their markets.
Infrastructure: poor road and rail links, congested land ports and slow customs make it cheaper for some neighbours to trade with distant countries than with each other; much trade is informal.
Better trade facilitation, connectivity and political trust could unlock much of this unrealised potential.Q5(c) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Impediments to Regional Cooperation: Rivers, Migration, Insurgencies and Borders
Analyze the impact of hydropolitics on Indo-Bangladesh relations.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत एवं बांग्लादेश के संबंधों पर जल-राजनीति (हाइड्रोपॉलिटिक्स) के प्रभाव का विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(c)
Approach: Analyse hydropolitics in India-Bangladesh relations: the shared rivers, the Farakka-Ganga and Teesta cases, the political effects on both sides, and the way forward.
Hydropolitics refers to the politics of shared water resources. India is the upper riparian on most of the 54 rivers it shares with Bangladesh, which makes water a sensitive issue in Dhaka.
Farakka and the Ganga: the Farakka Barrage, commissioned in 1975 to keep Kolkata port navigable, reduced lean-season flows downstream and became a long-running grievance; the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty eased it for 30 years.
Teesta: a sharing agreement was ready in 2011 but blocked by West Bengal, becoming a symbol in Bangladesh of Indian unreliability and giving China an opening through its offer to fund a Teesta management project.
Political impact: water disputes feed anti-India sentiment in Bangladeshi politics, while in India federal politics constrains the Centre.
Positive trends: the 2022 Kushiyara interim agreement, flood-data sharing and inland waterway cooperation show that progress is possible.
Treating rivers as shared basins, rather than as zero-sum quotas, can turn hydropolitics into hydro-cooperation.Q5(d) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 10 marks≈ 7 min
India and Its Neighbours: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Myanmar
Discuss the future prospects of Indo-Nepal relations in the context of the recent publication of new Nepalese map wrongly claiming Indian territory.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
नए नेपाली मानचित्र के हाल के प्रकाशन में गलत तरीके से भारतीय भूखंड को नेपाल का हिस्सा दर्शाया गया है। इस संदर्भ में भारत एवं नेपाल के संबंधों के भविष्य की संभावनाओं की विवेचना कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(d)
Approach: Discuss the prospects of India-Nepal ties after Nepal's 2020 map: explain the dispute and its trigger, its impact, the strong foundations of the relationship, and the way forward.
In May 2020, after India opened a road to the Lipulekh pass on the Kailash Mansarovar route, Nepal issued a new political map showing Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as Nepali territory, and amended its Constitution in June 2020 to adopt it. India called it an untenable, artificial enlargement of claims.
Roots: the Treaty of Sugauli (1816) made the Kali river the boundary, but the two sides disagree on its source. Nationalism in Nepal, memories of the 2015 border blockade and China's growing role sharpened the dispute.
Strong foundations: the open border under the 1950 treaty, millions of Nepalis working in India, Gorkha soldiers in the Indian Army, 'roti-beti' family ties, India's position as Nepal's largest trade partner, and energy links such as the Motihari-Amlekhgunj pipeline.
The map has hardened positions but cannot undo interdependence. Quiet boundary talks, faster delivery of projects and non-interference in Nepal's politics offer a positive future.Q5(e) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Impediments to Regional Cooperation: Rivers, Migration, Insurgencies and Borders
How does cross-border terrorism impede the achievements of peace and security in South Asia?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
सीमापार आतंकवाद (क्रॉस-बॉर्डर टेररिज़्म) कैसे दक्षिण एशिया में शांति एवं सुरक्षा की उपलब्धियों को बाधित करता है?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(e)
Approach: Analyse how cross-border terrorism blocks peace and security in South Asia: bilateral, regional and economic effects with examples, and conclude.
Cross-border terrorism, violence by groups based in one state against another, often with state support or tolerance, is the single biggest obstacle to peace in South Asia.
Derailing dialogue: India-Pakistan peace processes have repeatedly collapsed after attacks: the Lahore process after Kargil (1999), the Composite Dialogue after the Mumbai attacks (2008), and the planned engagement after Pathankot (2016). Pulwama (2019) led to the Balakot strike and suspension of trade.
Paralysing regional bodies: the 2016 SAARC summit in Islamabad was cancelled after the Uri attack.
Escalation risk: attacks provoke military responses between nuclear-armed neighbours.
Wider effects: Afghanistan's instability, sanctuaries for groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, and links with drug and arms smuggling spread insecurity; investment and connectivity suffer.
Regional instruments such as the SAARC convention on terrorism (1987) remain weak. Lasting peace requires dismantling terror infrastructure, accountability through bodies like the FATF, and intelligence cooperation.
Question 6 (50 marks)
Q6(a) · India and the World · 20 marks≈ 14 min
India and the Global South: Africa, Latin America, NIEO and WTO Negotiations
How do the guiding principles of India-Africa relations seek to enhance harmony and mutual cooperation between India and Africa?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत-अफ्रीका संबंधों के मार्गदर्शक सिद्धांत किस तरह से भारत तथा अफ्रीका के मध्य सामंजस्य एवं आपसी सहयोग बढ़ाते हैं?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q6(a)
Approach: The question asks how the guiding principles of India-Africa ties promote harmony and cooperation, so the answer explains the Kampala Principles one by one and links each to concrete practice, ending with gaps.
India's Africa policy was given formal shape by Prime Minister Modi's address to the Parliament of Uganda in July 2018, which set out ten guiding principles, the Kampala Principles. They build on older values of anti-colonial solidarity and South-South cooperation, and present India as a partner, not a patron.
Africa at the centre and on Africa's terms: India promised to keep Africa a top priority and to make its partnership driven by African priorities, so projects are chosen by African governments; this sets it apart from donor-driven aid.
Building local capacity: India would use local talent, create local jobs and build as much local capacity as possible, seen in ITEC training, the Pan-African e-Network and its successors, and vocational and IT centres.
Opening markets and digital revolution: duty-free tariff preferences for least developed countries and the sharing of India's digital experience aim at inclusive growth rather than resource extraction.
Agriculture and climate: cooperation on food security, and the International Solar Alliance, reflect shared developmental and climate concerns.
Security and the oceans: cooperation against terrorism and extremism and for an open and free Indian Ocean link India's security with Africa's.
A just world order: India and Africa would work together for democratic global institutions and against a scramble for Africa; India's push for African Union membership of the G20 in 2023 gave this principle practical form.
Together the principles promote harmony by stressing equality, consultation and mutual benefit; their credibility depends on timely completion of projects and the long-delayed fourth India-Africa Forum Summit.Q6(b) · India and the World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
India, the European Union and Japan
What are the notable features of the recently concluded pact or the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) between India and Japan? How is it likely to address the security concerns of India?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत एवं जापान के बीच हाल ही में हुई संधि या एक्विजिशन ऐन्ड क्रॉस-सर्विसिंग अग्रीमेन्ट (ए० सी० एस० ए०) की उल्लेखनीय विशेषताएँ क्या हैं? यह भारत की सुरक्षा चिंता का समाधान कैसे करेगा?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q6(b)
Approach: The question has two parts, so the answer first describes the features of the India-Japan ACSA and then explains how it addresses India's security concerns, with a brief note on limits.
India and Japan signed the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) in September 2020, a logistics pact between their armed forces. It is similar to India's LEMOA with the US and logistics agreements with France, Singapore and Australia.
Features: it provides a framework for reciprocal provision of supplies and services such as food, water, fuel, transport, spare parts, medical services, maintenance and use of airport and port facilities.
It applies during bilateral exercises and training, UN peacekeeping operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and other mutually agreed activities; costs are settled through reciprocal payment or exchange.
It is not an alliance: it creates no obligation to defend each other and no permanent bases.
Security benefits for India: Indian ships and aircraft can refuel and be serviced at Japanese facilities, including Djibouti, extending their reach towards the western Pacific; Japanese forces can use Indian facilities such as those in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, strengthening joint presence near the Malacca Strait.
It improves interoperability in exercises such as JIMEX and Malabar, supports maritime domain awareness and quick humanitarian response, and signals closer India-Japan-Quad coordination after the Galwan clash, adding to deterrence against China in the Indo-Pacific.
Limits: it depends on case-by-case approval and Japan's constitutional limits on the use of force.
Still, ACSA marks a practical step from economic partnership to operational defence cooperation.Q6(c) · India and the World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
India and the USA
Discuss the significance of Indo-US strategic partnership and its implications for India's security and national defence.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत एवं अमेरिका की सामरिक साझेदारी (पार्टनरशिप) के महत्त्व तथा भारत की सुरक्षा एवं राष्ट्रीय प्रतिरक्षा के लिए इसके निहितार्थ की विवेचना कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q6(c)
Approach: The question asks for the significance of the strategic partnership and its implications for India's security and defence, so the answer traces its growth, explains its benefits for security and defence, and notes the risks.
The India-US relationship, transformed by the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (2004) and the civil nuclear deal (2005-08), became a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership in 2020. Its driving logic is shared concern about China and shared interest in a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Defence technology and supply: India now operates US platforms such as the C-17, C-130J, P-8I, Apache and Chinook; Major Defence Partner status (2016) and STA-1 (2018) ease access to sensitive technology, and the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative seeks co-development.
Interoperability: LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA allow logistics support, secure communications and geospatial data sharing; exercises like Malabar, Yudh Abhyas and Cope India improve joint capability.
Security implications: intelligence sharing and maritime domain awareness strengthen India against Chinese pressure on the LAC and in the Indian Ocean; the US voiced support for India during the 2020 Ladakh standoff.
Counter-terrorism: cooperation after 26/11 and US pressure on Pakistan over terror groups serve India's internal security.
Risks: CAATSA sanctions over the S-400, dependence on US supply chains, US ties with Pakistan and policy swings in Washington.
On balance, the partnership greatly strengthens India's deterrence and military modernisation, provided India preserves strategic autonomy and builds its own defence industry.
Question 7 (50 marks)
Q7(a) · India and the World · 20 marks≈ 14 min
India and China
Explain the defence and foreign policy options of India to address the challenges emerging out of the current India-China standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
हिंदी में प्रश्न
वास्तविक नियंत्रण रेखा [लाइन ऑफ ऐक्चुअल कंट्रोल (एल० ए० सी०)] पर हाल की भारत एवं चीन के बीच उभरती हुई चुनौतियों से निपटने के लिए भारत की रक्षा एवं विदेश नीति के विकल्पों की व्याख्या कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q7(a)
Approach: The question asks for India's defence and foreign policy options in the 2020 LAC standoff, so the answer briefly describes the crisis and then sets out military, diplomatic, economic and partnership options, weighing each, and concludes with a calibrated strategy.
In April-May 2020 Chinese troops moved into areas along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, including the Galwan valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra-Hot Springs and Depsang. The clash at Galwan on 15 June 2020 killed 20 Indian soldiers, the first deaths on the border since 1975, and broke the framework of the 1993 and 1996 agreements.
Military options: India mirrored the Chinese build-up, deployed tens of thousands of troops and armour, and in late August 2020 occupied heights on the Kailash range south of Pangong Tso, gaining leverage. Continued forward deployment, faster border infrastructure, surveillance, and modernisation are needed for credible deterrence by denial.
Diplomatic options: corps commander talks, the Special Representatives mechanism and foreign ministers' meetings (such as the five-point consensus in Moscow, September 2020) aim at disengagement and restoration of the status quo ante; India's line is that peace on the border is the basis for normal ties.
Economic options: banning Chinese apps, screening investment from neighbouring countries (Press Note 3, 2020), excluding Chinese firms from sensitive sectors such as 5G, and building domestic capacity through production-linked incentives reduce leverage and dependence.
Partnership options: deepening the Quad, defence cooperation with the US, France, Japan and Australia, and support in the Indian Ocean raise the costs for China; India can also signal on Taiwan, Tibet and the South China Sea, though carefully.
Multilateral options: keep engaging China in BRICS and the SCO to keep channels open while building coalitions in the WTO and UN.
Risks: escalation with a stronger adversary, a two-front threat with Pakistan, and economic costs of decoupling.
The best path is a calibrated mix: firm military deterrence on the ground, patient diplomacy for disengagement, selective economic de-risking and wider partnerships, without abandoning strategic autonomy.Q7(b) · India and the World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
India and the UN: Peacekeeping and the Security Council
Explain the importance of India's claim for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघ के सुरक्षा परिषद् की स्थायी सदस्यता हेतु भारत के दावे के महत्त्व की व्याख्या कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q7(b)
Approach: The question asks why the claim is important, so the answer explains what a permanent seat would give India and the UN system, covering status, security interests, the Global South and Council legitimacy, with a note on obstacles.
The Security Council is the only UN body whose decisions bind all members under Chapter VII. India's demand for permanent membership, pursued with the G4 since 2004, is central to its foreign policy goal of reformed multilateralism.
For India's security: a permanent seat would let India shape decisions on terrorism, sanctions and conflicts that affect it; for example, terrorist listings in the 1267 sanctions committee were long blocked by China, and as a permanent member India would no longer be dependent on others.
For status and autonomy: it would recognise India's rise as a major power and give it a lasting voice on peace and security, not only during occasional elected terms; Prime Minister Modi asked the General Assembly in 2020 how long India would be kept out of the UN's decision-making structures.
For the Global South: India would represent developing countries, troop contributors and democracies of Asia, narrowing the gap between the Council and the world it governs.
For the UN's legitimacy: a Council that excludes about one-sixth of humanity and a major economy loses authority; inclusion would strengthen compliance with its decisions.
Obstacles: Article 108 requires P5 ratification, China is opposed, the Uniting for Consensus group rejects new permanent seats, and the African Union insists on its own model.
The claim matters not only to India but to the credibility of the UN itself in a multipolar world.Q7(c) · India and the World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
India and the Nuclear Question
Discuss the efficacy of India's 'no first use' policy (nuclear weapons) in the context of the evolving strategic challenges from its neighbours.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत के पड़ोस से उभरती हुई सामरिक चुनौतियों के संदर्भ में, भारत द्वारा परमाणु हथियारों के प्रथम प्रयोग न करने (नो फर्स्ट यूज़) की नीति की प्रभाविकता की विवेचना कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q7(c)
Approach: The question asks about the efficacy of no first use given challenges from China and Pakistan, so the answer explains the doctrine and its logic, tests it against each neighbour's challenge, and concludes on whether it remains effective.
India's nuclear doctrine (January 2003) commits to no first use (NFU): nuclear weapons will be used only in retaliation against a nuclear attack on Indian territory or forces anywhere, with massive retaliation designed to inflict unacceptable damage.
Logic: NFU supports credible minimum deterrence, requires a smaller, survivable arsenal rather than a hair-trigger posture, reduces the risk of accidental war, and strengthens India's image as a responsible power.
Against China: China also has an NFU pledge, so the doctrine is mutually stabilising; the real challenge is conventional, as the 2020 LAC standoff shows, which nuclear first use could not solve.
Against Pakistan: Pakistan has no NFU and has developed tactical weapons such as Nasr to deter Indian conventional responses; critics argue NFU lets Pakistan sponsor terrorism under a nuclear shield. But the surgical strikes (2016) and Balakot (2019) showed that India retains space for conventional action below the nuclear threshold.
Efficacy depends on credibility: a survivable second strike through the triad, completed with INS Arihant's patrol (2018), and a clear threat of massive retaliation even against tactical use.
Debate: in 2019 Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the future of NFU would depend on circumstances, signalling ambiguity without formal change.
NFU remains efficacious as long as India's second-strike capability is credible; its value lies in stability and legitimacy, while conventional and sub-conventional threats need conventional answers.
Question 8 (50 marks)
Q8(a) · India and the World · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Recent Developments: Afghanistan, Iraq, West Asia, Israel and a New World Order
"The war in Afghanistan is crucial from the point of view of India's national security. If the Americans withdraw and Jihadis emerge with a sense of triumphalism, India will face increasing onslaught of terrorism." Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"भारत की राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा के लिए अफ़ग़ानिस्तान की युद्ध-स्थिति अत्यन्त ही महत्त्वपूर्ण है। यदि अमेरिका, अफ़ग़ानिस्तान से निकल गया एवं जिहादी वहाँ विजित हुए, तो भारत को उभरते हुए आतंकवाद का सामना करना पड़ेगा।" टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q8(a)
Approach: The statement asks for a comment on why Afghanistan is crucial to India's security and whether a US withdrawal would increase terrorism against India, so the answer explains India's stakes, assesses the risk scenario realistically, and suggests India's options.
Afghanistan sits at the crossroads of South and Central Asia. Its stability matters to India because hostile control of Kabul has historically meant sanctuaries for groups targeting India, as during Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, when the hijacked IC-814 was taken to Kandahar and militants including Masood Azhar were freed.
Why the war is crucial: since 2001 India has invested about three billion US dollars in roads, power, the Salma Dam and the Parliament building, signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement (2011) and trained Afghan officers, building goodwill and denying Pakistan a pliant client. A Taliban victory would undo this.
The 2020 context: the US-Taliban Doha agreement (February 2020) set a timetable for US withdrawal in return for counter-terrorism assurances, while India was left outside the process.
Risk of increased terrorism: a Taliban triumph could inspire jihadist groups; Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed fighters could find training space; Pakistan's 'strategic depth' strategy would gain; and the narrative of defeating a superpower could fuel radicalisation in the region, including Kashmir.
Counter-arguments: the Taliban of 2020 seek recognition and aid, are wary of Pakistani dominance, and have stated that they will not allow their soil to be used against other countries; India's internal security capacity is far stronger than in the 1990s.
India's options: engage all Afghan stakeholders, including through quiet contacts; support an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace process; continue development aid; work with Iran, Russia, Central Asia and the US; and strengthen border and counter-terror capacity.
Multilateral tools: push for sanctions on terror groups at the UN and pressure through the FATF.
The statement is largely valid as a warning; India must prepare for a post-US Afghanistan through pragmatic engagement rather than isolation.Q8(b) · India and the World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
India and West Asia: The Gulf, Iran, Israel and Palestine
Identify the key sectors of cooperation between India and Israel since 2014. Examine their significance in strengthening the bilateral ties between the two countries.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत एवं इज़राइल के बीच 2014 से सहयोग के मुख्य क्षेत्रों (सेक्टरों) को चिह्नित कीजिए। दोनों राष्ट्रों के बीच द्विपक्षीय संबंधों को सुदृढ़ बनाने में इनके सहयोग के महत्त्व का परीक्षण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q8(b)
Approach: The question has two parts, so the answer first identifies the key sectors of India-Israel cooperation since 2014 and then examines how each strengthens bilateral ties.
Since 2014 India-Israel ties have become open and high-profile: Prime Minister Modi's visit to Israel (July 2017) and Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to India (January 2018) raised them to a strategic partnership.
Defence and security: Israel is a leading arms supplier, providing drones, radars, missiles and the jointly developed Barak-8 air defence system; joint ventures produce equipment in India; Spice bombs were reportedly used at Balakot (2019). This gives the relationship its strategic core.
Agriculture: Indo-Israel Centres of Excellence across many states demonstrate drip irrigation, protected cultivation and high-yield horticulture, bringing benefits to farmers.
Water: cooperation on water conservation, desalination and recycling, including a 2017 MoU on national water conservation, addresses India's water stress.
Innovation and technology: the India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (2017), start-up links, cyber security and space cooperation connect the two innovation ecosystems.
People and culture: direct flights, tourism and academic exchanges have grown.
Significance: these sectors broaden the relationship beyond arms trade, create constituencies among Indian farmers and businesses, and support Make in India, making the partnership durable while India keeps supporting Palestinian statehood.Q8(c) · India and the World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Recent Developments: Afghanistan, Iraq, West Asia, Israel and a New World Order
Critically examine the role of India in shaping the emerging world order.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
उभरती हुई वैश्विक व्यवस्था (वर्ल्ड ऑर्डर) को दिशा एवं स्वरूप प्रदान करने में भारत की भूमिका का समालोचनात्मक परीक्षण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q8(c)
Approach: The question asks for a critical examination of India's role in shaping the emerging order, so the answer identifies the features of the emerging order, India's contributions, and the limits of its influence.
The emerging world order is marked by US-China rivalry, the weakening of multilateral institutions, the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of minilateral groupings. India seeks to shape it as a leading power rather than merely adjust to it.
Balancing and multi-alignment: India has deepened the Quad and its Indo-Pacific vision, while remaining in BRICS and the SCO; this helps prevent a bipolar division of Asia.
Global public goods: the International Solar Alliance (2015) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (2019) show India setting agendas; during the pandemic India supplied medicines such as hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol to many countries and backed a TRIPS waiver.
Reformed multilateralism: India won a non-permanent UNSC seat for 2021-22 with a large majority and campaigns for reform of the UN and WTO.
Neighbourhood and Indian Ocean: SAGAR, humanitarian assistance and the SAARC COVID fund (2020) present India as a first responder.
Limits: economic slowdown, the LAC standoff with China, withdrawal from RCEP (2019), limited development finance and stalled UN reform constrain India; critics say it is a rule-taker more than a rule-maker.
India's role is therefore significant but still emerging; its influence depends on economic growth, credible defence and coalition-building.