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Class 12th Political Science NCERT Solutions Part A Contemporary World Politics
Q1. Match the terms with their meaning:
i. Confidence Building Measures (CBMs)
ii. Arms Control
iii. Alliance
iv. Disarmament
a. Giving up certain types of weapons
b. A process of exchanging information on defence matters between nations on a regular basis
c. A coalition of nations meant to deter or defend against military attacks
d. Regulates the acquisition or development of weapons
Answer:-
(i).—-> (b)
(ii).—> (d)
(iii).–> (c)
(iv).—> (a)
Q2. Which among the following would you consider as a traditional security concern / non-traditional security concern / not a threat?
a. The spread of chikungunya / dengue fever
b. Inflow of workers from a neighbouring nation
c. Emergence of a group demanding nationhood for their region
d. Emergence of a group demanding autonomy for their region
e. A newspaper that is critical of the armed forces in the country
Answer:-
(a) Non- traditional threat
(b) Non- traditional threat
(c) Traditional threat.
(d) not a threat
(e) not a threat
Q3. What is the difference between traditional and non-traditional security? which category the creation and sustenance of alliances belong to?
Answer:- Traditional security means that form of security against any military or alien
intervention to a country. The traditional security is mainly formed to protect the territorial
sovereignity and political stability of the respective country.Non-traditional security means that
form of security which is exclusively not based on conventional threats as these security
measures are taken against terrorism, global poverty,diseases etc. The creation and
sustenance of alliances belongs to the former category of traditional security.
Q4. What are the differences in the threats that people in the third world face and those living in the First World face?
Answer:- The differences between the threats are :
(a) The first world mainly faces the problems regarding the traditional sources of threats. The
first world is mainly affected by the threats to their external security , from different aggressor
states.The thirld world mainly faces the problems regarding their internal security due to
secessionist movements.
(b) The first world is mainly concentrated with the non-traditional threats like terrorism but the
native problems of diseases and poverty mainly affect the third world countries.
Q5. Is terrorism a traditional or non- traditional threat to security?
Answer:- Terrorism is the non- traditional threat to security. It is considered as the
non-traditional threat as it is not the threats particularly to one country.It aims at disrupting the
state’s activities and aims at the establishment of rule of fear and terror. The traditional security
mechanisms will not work for the annihilation of terrorism and it needs the cooperation of
countries and organisations for its removal.
Q6. What are the choices available to a state when its security is threatened, according to the traditional security perspective?
Answer:- When a state is under threat , it has three options:
(a) To surrender itself to the attacking country.
(b) To make it impossible for the aggressor country to fight by raising the war-prices.
(c) To defend itself by starting the use of weapons etc to protect its sovereignty.
Q7. What is Balance of Power? How could a state achieve this?
Answer:- Balance of power is a stabilising mechanism. It is majorly exercised in a turbulent
region which is house of giant powers in terms of demographics and power.
Balance of power is imperative for the maintenance of balance on the respective region with
turbulent history .It is important for the strengthening of security mechanisms of the respective
countries.
It can be achieved by creating a system of cooperation or alliances between different countries,
which will further result in collective attack in the near future.The coalition of states and security
agreements are necessary modes by which one can achieve the ‘balance of power’ in the
region.
Q8. What are the objectives of military alliances? Give an example of a functioning military alliance with its specific objectives.
Answer:- The objectives of military alliances are:
(a) To maximise the security mechanism of the respective countries.
(b) To fight against the aggressor state altogether.
(c) To maintain the balance of power in a region.
For eg. NATO is the contemporary times is an example of military alliance.
Q9. Rapid environmental degradation is causing a serious threat to security. Do you agree with the statement? Substantiate your arguments.
Answer:- YES, the rapid environmental degradation is a serious threat to security because:
(a) It results in many non-traditional sources of threats like global diseases which mainly
happen due to the air and water pollution.
(b) It results in the threat to the economic security of countries as the respective threat affects
the ecological tourism and marine life.
(c) It affects the policy security of the nation as the state is concerned with the health of people
and other matters are vulnerable to destruction.
Q10. Nuclear weapons as deterrence or defence have limited usage against contemporary security threats to states. Explain the statement.
Answer:- The contemporary security threats mainly include terrorism, global poverty, global
migration, environmental degradation etc. These non-traditional sources of threats to security
have least impact by the accumulation of nuclear weapons by the countries, for deterrence or
preventing war. The solutions to these problems lies in the international cooperation and
delegations rather than the arms-race of the countries.
Q11. Looking at the Indian scenario, what type of security has been given priority in India, traditional or non-traditional? What examples could you cite to substantiate the argument?
Answer:- r. India has given primacy to the traditional security as:
(a) It has fought four wars(1948, 1965,1971,1999) with Pakistan and one war with China in 1962, which affected its security parameters.
(b) It started its accumulation of nuclear weapons as it did its first nuclear tests in 1994.
(c) It foreign policy is concentrated on the protection of territorial sovereignty and integrity.
Q12. Read the cartoon below and write a short note on in favour or against the connection between war and terrorism depicted in this cartoon.
Answer:- The picture describes a definite relation between war and terrorism as the war results
in the counter-attack by the indigenous groups . The main examples of the war include
USA-Afghanistan scene, which resulted in the fueling of the terrorist activities in the latter.
Extra Questions of Class 12 Political Science Chapter 7 Security in the Contemporary World
Q1. What is cooperative security?
Answer:- Cooperative security means to achieve security with the help of cooperation among the countries at the bilateral, regional or global level. It may include International Organisations, NGO’s, trade unions etc.
Q2. What is meant by disarmament?
Answer:- Disarmament requires all states to give up certain types of weapons. For instance, the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) banned the production and possession of these weapons.
Q3. Mention any two human rights in political field.
Answer:-
- Freedom of speech and expression.
- Freedom to assemble in a peaceful manner.
Q4. Define cooperative security.
Answer:- Cooperative security is the involvement of international cooperation depending on the nature of the threat and the willingness and ability of countries to respond.
Q5. Which is the greatest danger to a security as per traditional notion of security?
Answer:- It is from military threats which lies in another country to endanger the core values of sovereignty, independence and territorial integration of a country.
Q6. What is balance of power?
Answer:- Balance of power refers to the maintenance of balance of military power in comparison to a neighbouring country. The governments have to be very careful regarding balance of power between nations, as at some point of time in future any government can opt to be aggressive.
Q7. How is alliance building a component of traditional security?
Answer:- An association or an alliance is a partnership of states that coordinate with each other to deter and defend against military attack. This is done to increases the effective power in comparison of other countries.
Q8. Why human security is more important in the contemporary world than territorial security?
Answer:- Human security has been given priority over territorial security because a secured state does not imply secured people. If we look into the last 100 years, maximum number of people have been killed by their own governments rather than foreign armies.
Q9. What is Global Poverty?
Answer:- Global Poverty signifies a condition available in the states to be suffered from low incomes and less economic growth i.e. developing or underdeveloped countries.
Q10. Is the same notion of security applicable to all the states?
Answer:- All states do not experience the same threats at a time, hence security is grouped into two as per requirements:
(a) Traditional conception
(b) Non-traditional conception
Q11. What is military threat?
Answer:- Military threat refers to military action from another country to endanger the core values of country’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. Military action often targets the men and women i.e. ordinary citizens.
Q12. State any one measure to deal with terrorism as a new source of threat to security.
Answer:- Terrorism is a new source of threat to security. International cooperation can work in dealing with terrorism.
Q13. What in meant by global security? Delhi 2009;
Answer:- Global security means international cooperation to combat various international issues. The idea of global security emerged in the 1990s in response to threats like global warming, terrorism, AIDS, etc.
Q14. Human security stresses on “freedom from want” and “freedom from fear”. Justify the statement.
Answer:-
- ‘Freedom from want’ refers to economic equality i.e. equal opportunity and economic privileges.
- ‘Freedom from fear’ refers to protection from hunger, disease, natural disaster, military threats, genocide and terrorism.
Q15. Explain Non-traditional concept of security.
Answer: Non-traditional concept of security includes human and global security covering a wide range of threats affecting human existence:
- It does not cover the states only but also the individual and communities.
- It emphasises on security on nature of threat and right approach to deal with the threat.
Q16. How is global poverty a source of insecurity? Explain.
Answer:- Global poverty refers to low economic growth, low national income and low standard of living of developing or least developed countries. It is a source of insecurity because:
- Half the world’s population growth occurs in just six countries- India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia, considered developing countries and even in poorest countries population is expected to triple in next 50 years.
- Globally, this disparity contributes to the gap between the northern and southern countries of the world.
- Poverty in south has also led a large migration to seek a better economic opportunities in the north.
- All these created international political friction as international law and norms make a distinction between migrants and refugees as they do not get ready to accept migrants.
Q17. Which third weapon both the superpowers did not want to give up under the concept of disarmament?
Answer:- Disarmament requires all states to give up certain kinds of weapons i.e. the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) banned the production and possession of these weapons. Despite the US and Soviet Union were not ready to give up the third type of weapons of mass-destruction namely nuclear weapons.
Q18. What is the relationship between traditional security and cooperation?
Answer:- Traditional security is closely related with cooperation as it recognises the need for cooperation to limit violence. This limit directly relates to both means and ends of the war. It has been universally accepted that countries should go to war for genuine reasons, say self-defence or to protect other people from genocide.
Q19. Explain the concept of human security.
Answer:- The concept of human security is concerned with protection of people. Though, human security and state security are often considered the same, but secure states do not mean secure people. Protection of citizens from foreign attack is necessary condition for the security of people, but not a sufficient one. During the last 100 years, there have been more killing by their own governments rather than foreign armies.
According to proponents (supporters) of human security, the basic goal is the protection of individuals. There are however, differences over the threats from which individuals are to be protected. There are basically two categories of proponents.
They are :
Narrow concept
Broad concept
Q20. Write a note on Arms control.
Answer: Arms control regulates the acquisition or development of weapons by adopting following measures:
- The Anti Ballistic Missiles Treaty in 1992 stopped the US and Soviet Union from using ballistic missiles to limit large scale production.
- Other arms control treaties were also signed i.e. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty and Nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) to limit the weapons which many bring large scale destruction.
- NPT regulated the acquisition of nuclear weapons in 1968.
- NPT did not abolish nuclear weapons rather it limited number of countries that could have them.
NCERT Lessons for Class 12 Political Science Part. 1
Contemporary World Politics
- Lesson 1 The Cold War Era
- Lesson 2 The End of Bipolarity
- Lesson 3 US Hegemony in World Politics
- Lesson 4 Alternative Centres of Power
- Lesson 5 Contemporary South Asia
- Lesson 6 International Organisations
- Lesson 7 Security in the Contemporary World
- Lesson 8 Environment and Natural Resources
- Lesson 9 Globalisation