BA(GENERAL) - 3year

Political Science - International Relations

1. Critically examine Versailes treaty.

The Treaty of Versailles (French: le Traité de Versailles) was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended
the state of war betweenGermany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after
the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The otherCentral Powers on the German side of World War I were dealt with in
separate treaties.[1] Although the armistice signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of
negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of
the League of Nations on 21 October 1919, and was printed in The League of Nations Treaty Series.
Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required Germany to accept responsibility for
causing the war (along with Austria and Hungary, according to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Treaty of Trianon,
respectively) and, under the terms of articles 231–248 (later known as the War Guilt clauses), to disarm, make substantial
territorial concessions and pay heavy reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. In 1921 the total cost
of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion Marks (then $31.4 billion or £6.6 billion, roughly equivalent to US $442 billion or
UK £284 billion in 2012), a sum that many economists at the time, notably John Maynard Keynes, deemed to be excessive and
counterproductive. The argument by Keynes that the terms were too harsh—too "Carthaginian"—convinced many British and
American leaders, but left the French unmoved.[2]
The result of these competing and sometimes conflicting goals among the victors was compromise that left none contented:
Germany was notpacified or conciliated, nor permanently weakened. This would prove to be a factor leading to World War II.
Negotiations between the Allied powers started on 18 January in the Salle de l'Horloge at the French Foreign Ministry, on
the Quai d'Orsay in Paris. Initially, 70 delegates of 27 nations participated in the negotiations.[3] Having been defeated,
Germany, Austria, and Hungary were excluded from the negotiations. Russia was also excluded because it had negotiated
a separate peace with Germany in 1918, in which Germany gained a large fraction of Russia's land and resources. The treaty′s
terms were extremely harsh, as the negotiators at Versailles later pointed out.
Until March 1919, the most important role for negotiating the extremely complex and difficult terms of the peace fell to the regular
meetings of the "Council of Ten", which comprised the heads of government and foreign ministers of the five major victors
(the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, and Japan). As this unusual body proved too unwieldy and formal for
effective decision-making, Japan and—for most of the remaining conference—the foreign ministers left the main meetings, so
that only the "Big Four" remained.[4] After his territorial claims to Fiume (today Rijeka) were rejected, Italian Prime
Minister, Vittorio Orlando left the negotiations and only returned to sign in June.
The final conditions were determined by the leaders of the "Big Three" nations: British Prime Minister David Lloyd George,
French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, and American President Woodrow Wilson. Even with this smaller group it was
difficult to decide on a common position because their aims conflicted with one another. The result has been called the "unhappy
compromise".

2. Examine the influence of Fascism and Nazism in European politics.

3. Write an essay on United National Organizations.

The United Nations (abbreviated UN in English, and ONU in French and Spanish), is an international organization whose stated
aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights,
and achievement ofworld peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars
between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions.
There are 193 member states, including every internationally recognized sovereign state in the world but Vatican City. From its
offices around the world, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular
meetings held throughout the year. The organization has six principal organs: the General Assembly (the main deliberative
assembly); the Security Council (for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security); the Economic and Social Council (for
assisting in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development); the Secretariat (for providing studies,
information, and facilities needed by the UN); the International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ); and the United
Nations Trusteeship Council (which is currently inactive). Other prominent UN System agencies include the World Health
Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The UN's most
prominent position is Secretary-General which has been held by Ban Ki-moon of South Korea since 2007.
The United Nations Headquarters resides in international territory in New York City, with further main offices at Geneva, Nairobi,
and Vienna. The organization is financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, and has six official
languages: Arabic, Chinese,English, French, Russian, and Spanish
The League of Nations failed to prevent World War II (1939–1945). Because of the widespread recognition that humankind could
not afford a third world war, the United Nations was established to replace the flawed League of Nations in 1945 in order to
maintain international peace and promote cooperation in solving international economic, social and humanitarian problems. The
earliest concrete plan for a new world organization was begun under the aegis of the U.S. State Department in 1939. Franklin D.
Roosevelt first coined the term 'United Nations' as a term to describe the Allied countries. The term was first officially used on 1
January 1942, when 26 governments signed the Atlantic Charter, pledging to continue the war effort.[3]On 25 April 1945, the UN
Conference on International Organization began in San Francisco, attended by 50 governments and a number of non-
governmental organizations involved in drafting the United Nations Charter. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October
1945 upon ratification of the Charter by the five then-permanent members of the Security Council—France, the Republic of
China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States—and by a majority of the other 46 signatories. The first
meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, and the Security Council, took place in Westminster Central
Hall in London in January 1946.[4]
The organization was based at the Sperry Gyroscope Corporation's facility in Lake Success, New York, from 1946–1952, before
moving to the United Nations Headquarters building in Manhattan upon its completion.

4. What are the Factors influencing India.s Foreign Policy.

India has formal diplomatic relations with most nations; it is the world's second most populous country, the world's most-populous
democracy and one of the fastest growing major economies in the world.[1] With the world's seventh largest military expenditure,
[2]
ninth largest economy by nominal rates and third largest by purchasing power parity, India is a regional power[3] and a potential
superpower. India's growing international influence gives it a prominent voice in global affairs. It has moved beyond its traditional
interest in South Asia to a greater involvement in East Asia.
India is a newly industrialized country, it has a long history of collaboration with several countries and is considered a leader of
the developing world.[4][5] India was one of the founding members of several international organizations, most notably the United
Nations, the Asian Development Bank, G20 industrial nations and the founder of the Non-aligned movement. India has also
played an important and influential role in other international organizations like East Asia Summit,[6] World Trade Organization,
[7]
International Monetary Fund (IMF),[8] G8+5[9] and IBSA Dialogue Forum.[10] Regionally, India is a part of SAARC and BIMSTEC.
India has taken part in several UN peacekeeping missions and in 2007, it was the second-largest troop contributor to the United
Nations.[11] India is currently seeking a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, along with the G4 nations.
Even before independence, the Government of British India maintained semi-autonomous diplomatic relations. It had colonies
(such as the Aden Settlement), sent and received full diplomatic missions,[13] and was a founder member of both the League of
Nations[14] and the United Nations.[15] After India gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, it soon joined
theCommonwealth of Nations and strongly supported independence movements in other colonies, like the Indonesian National
Revolution.[16] The partition and various territorial disputes, particularly that over Kashmir, would strain its relations with
Pakistan for years to come. During the Cold War, India adopted a foreign policy of not aligning itself with any major power bloc.
However, India developed close ties with the Soviet Union and received extensive military support from it.
The end of the Cold War significantly affected India's foreign policy, as it did for much of the world. The country now seeks to
strengthen its diplomatic and economic ties with the United States,[17] the People's Republic of China,[18] the European Union,
[19]
Japan,[20] Israel,[21] Mexico,[22] and Brazil.[23] India has also forged close ties with the member states of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations,[24] the African Union,[25] the Arab League[26] and Iran.[27]
Though India continues to have a military relationship with Russia,[28] Israel has emerged as India's second largest military
partner[25] while India has built a strong strategic partnership with the United States.[17][29] The Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement,
signed and implemented in 2008, highlighted the growing sophistication of the Indo-American relations.

5. What is meant by Cold War? Discuss its impact and consequences in the world politics.
Contribution of Nehru in the Non-alignment Movement in the world.

The Cold War, often dated from 1947–1991, was a sustained state of political and military tension between the powers of
the Western world, led by theUnited States and its NATO allies, and the communist world, led by the Soviet Union, its satellite
states and allies. This began after the success of their temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and
the US as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences. The Soviet Union created the Eastern Bloc with the
eastern European countries it occupied, maintaining these as satellite states. The post-war recovery of Western Europe was
facilitated by the United States' Marshall Plan, while the Soviet Union, wary of the conditions attached, declined and set
upCOMECON with its Eastern allies. The United States forged NATO, a military alliance using containment of communism as a
main strategy through theTruman Doctrine, in 1949, while the Soviet bloc formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955. Some countries
aligned with either of the two powers, whilst others chose to remain neutral with the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Cold War was so named as it never featured direct military action, since both sides possessed nuclear weapons, and
because their use would probably guarantee their mutual assured destruction. Cycles of relative calm would be followed by high
tension which could have led to war. The most tense involved the Berlin Blockade (1948–1949), the Korean War (1950–1953),
the Suez Crisis (1956), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Vietnam War (1959–1975), the Yom Kippur
War (1973), the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989), the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (1983), and the “Able
Archer” NATO military exercises (1983). The conflict was instead expressed through military coalitions, strategic conventional
force deployments, extensive aid to client states, espionage, massive propaganda campaigns, conventional and nuclear arms
races, appeals to neutral nations, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race. The US and
USSR fought proxy wars of various types: in Latin America and Southeast Asia, the USSR assisted and helped foster communist
revolutions, opposed by several Western countries and their regional allies; some the U.S. attempted to roll back through
subversion and warfare, with mixed results. To alleviate the risk of a potential nuclear war, both sides sought détente in the
1970s to relieve political tensions.
In the 1980s, the United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when the
communist nation was already suffering from economic stagnation. In the mid 1980s, the new Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev introduced the liberalizing reforms of perestroika("reconstruction", "reorganization", 1987) and glasnost ("openness",
ca. 1985). This opened the country and its satellite states to a mostly peaceful wave of revolutions which culminated in
the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, leaving the United States as the dominant military power. The Cold War and its events
have left a significant legacy, and it is often referred to in popular culture, especially in media featuring themes of espionage and
the threat of nuclear warfare.

6. Construction and functions of Security Council.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the
maintenance ofinternational peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment
of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action. Its powers are
exercised through United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, Westminster, London. Since its first meeting, the
Council, which exists in continuous session, has travelled widely, holding meetings in many cities, such as Paris and Addis
Ababa, as well as at its current permanent home at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
There are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of five veto-wielding permanent members—China, France, Russia,
the United Kingdom, and the United States—based on the great powers that were the victors of World War II,[1] and 10 elected
non-permanent members with two-year terms. This basic structure is set out in Chapter V of the UN Charter. Security Council
members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the Security Council can meet at any time. This
requirement of the United Nations Charter was adopted to address a weakness of theLeague of Nations since that organization
was often unable to respond quickly to a crisis.
Ten other members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms starting on 1 January, with five replaced each year.
The members are chosen by regional groups and confirmed by theUnited Nations General Assembly. To be approved, a
candidate must receive at least 2/3 of all votes cast for that seat, which can result in deadlock if there are two roughly evenly
matched candidates; in 1979, a standoff between Cuba and Colombia only ended after three months and 154 rounds of voting,
when both withdrew in favor of Mexico as a compromise candidate.[3]
The African bloc is represented by three members; the Latin America and the Caribbean, Asian, and Western European and
Others blocs by two members each; and the Eastern European bloc by one member. Also, one of the members is an
"Arab country," alternately from the Asian or African bloc.[4] Currently, elections for terms beginning in even-numbered years
select two African members, and one each within Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Additionally, the
Arab state is represented in this group (Libya within Africa in 2008, Lebanon within Asia in 2010). Terms beginning in odd-
numbered years consist of two Western European and Other members, and one within each of Latin America and the Caribbean,
Asia, and Africa.

7. Trace out the reasons for the declining influence of Russia in International Relations.
8. Explain the problems faced by the third world countries.