20 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in every exam-style shape used in the paper. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markOn which date was the United Nations founded, the date now celebrated as UN Day?
(A) 26 June 1945(B) 24 October 1945(C) 15 October 1945(D) 30 October 1945 - 1 markThe Tehran Conference Declaration of December 1943 was a declaration of the Three Powers. Which were they?
(A) The US, Britain and France(B) The US, Britain and China(C) The US, Britain and the Soviet Union(D) Britain, France and the Soviet Union - 1 markWho is the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations?
(A) António Guterres(B) Ban Ki-moon(C) Kofi A. Annan(D) Boutros Boutros-Ghali - 1 markWhat was India’s share of the UN regular budget for 2019?
(A) 2.4 per cent(B) 2.2 per cent(C) 1.1 per cent(D) 0.8 per cent - 1 markThe IAEA came into being to implement whose proposal?
(A) Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘Four Freedoms’ proposal(B) US President Dwight Eisenhower’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ proposal(C) Winston Churchill’s Atlantic Charter proposal(D) Dag Hammarskjold’s disarmament proposal - 1 markAccording to the chapter, which are the only continents without representation in the present permanent membership of the Security Council?
(A) Asia and Africa(B) Africa and Europe(C) Africa and South America(D) South America and Asia
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): The non-permanent members of the Security Council do not have the veto power.
Reason (R): The main privileges of the five permanent members are permanency and the veto power.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true but R is false(D) A is false but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): The membership of the UN Security Council was expanded from 11 to 15 in 1965.
Reason (R): The number of permanent members of the Security Council was increased at the same time.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true but R is false(D) A is false but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): The UN is not a great balance to the US.
Reason (R): As the single largest contributor the US has unmatched financial power, and with its veto it can stop any moves that it finds annoying or damaging to its interests.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true but R is false(D) A is false but R is true
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch the organ or agency in List I with its function in List II.
List I: (i) Security Council, (ii) International Court of Justice, (iii) World Health Organisation, (iv) Secretariat
List II: (P) Administration and coordination of UN affairs, (Q) Providing good health for all, (R) Preservation of international peace and security, (S) Resolves disputes between and among member countries
(A) (i)-P, (ii)-Q, (iii)-R, (iv)-S(B) (i)-Q, (ii)-R, (iii)-S, (iv)-P(C) (i)-S, (ii)-P, (iii)-Q, (iv)-R(D) (i)-R, (ii)-S, (iii)-Q, (iv)-P - 1 markMatch the organisation in List I with the year in List II.
List I: (i) World Bank, (ii) World Trade Organisation, (iii) International Atomic Energy Agency, (iv) United Nations
List II: (P) 1945, (Q) 1944, (R) 1957, (S) 1995
(A) (i)-Q, (ii)-S, (iii)-R, (iv)-P(B) (i)-P, (ii)-Q, (iii)-S, (iv)-R(C) (i)-R, (ii)-P, (iii)-Q, (iv)-S(D) (i)-S, (ii)-R, (iii)-P, (iv)-Q
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markConsider the following statements about an international organisation.
(i) It is a super-state with authority over its members.
(ii) It comes into being when states agree to its creation.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(A) Only (i)(B) Only (ii)(C) Both (i) and (ii)(D) Neither (i) nor (ii) - 1 markConsider the following statements about the World Trade Organisation.
(i) It was set up in 1990 as the successor to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs.
(ii) All its decisions are taken by a two-thirds majority.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(A) Only (i)(B) Only (ii)(C) Both (i) and (ii)(D) Neither (i) nor (ii)
5 Chronological Ordering
Chronological Ordering
- 1 markArrange the following in the correct chronological order.
(i) The Yalta Conference of the ‘Big Three’
(ii) India joins the UN
(iii) Signing of the Atlantic Charter
(iv) The Tehran Conference Declaration of the Three Powers
(A) (iv), (iii), (i), (ii)(B) (iii), (i), (iv), (ii)(C) (iii), (iv), (i), (ii)(D) (i), (iii), (ii), (iv)
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 mark‘The United Nations was not created to take humanity to ________, but to save it from hell.’
(A) peace(B) heaven(C) safety(D) glory - 1 markThe UN Charter was signed by ________ nations on 26 June 1945.
(A) 26(B) 51(C) 193(D) 50
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markThree of these are permanent members of the Security Council. Which is the odd one out?
(A) France(B) China(C) Germany(D) Russia
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
An international organisation is not a super-state with authority over its members. It is created by and responds to states. It comes into being when states agree to its creation. Once created, it can help member states resolve their problems peacefully. International organisations are helpful in another way. Nations can usually see that there are some things they must do together. There are issues that are so challenging that they can only be dealt with when everyone works together. Disease is an example. Some diseases can only be eradicated if everyone in the world cooperates in inoculating or vaccinating their populations.
- 1 markThe passage begins by denying something about international organisations. What does it say an international organisation is not?
(A) A forum for discussion(B) A super-state with authority over its members(C) A creation of states(D) A body that helps resolve problems peacefully
Passage
Secondly, within the UN, the influence of the US is considerable. As the single largest contributor to the UN, the US has unmatched financial power. The fact that the UN is physically located within the US territory gives Washington additional sources of influence. The US also has many nationals in the UN bureaucracy. In addition, with its veto power the US can stop any moves that it finds annoying or damaging to its interests or the interests of its friends and allies. The power of the US and its veto within the organisation also ensure that Washington has a considerable degree of say in the choice of the Secretary General of the UN.
- 1 markThe passage calls the United States the single largest contributor to the UN. What does it say this gives Washington?
(A) Unmatched financial power(B) A permanent seat on the Security Council(C) The right to choose the Secretary General on its own(D) Control of the UN bureaucracy
9 True / False
True / False
- 1 mark(i) The UN was founded as a successor to the League of Nations.
(ii) The League of Nations prevented the Second World War.
(A) Both statements are true(B) Both statements are untrue(C) (i) is true and (ii) is untrue(D) (i) is untrue and (ii) is true
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions
- (B) The chapter’s founding timeline records: ‘1945 October 24: the UN was founded (hence October 24 is celebrated as UN Day)’. 26 June 1945 is the date the Charter was signed, 15 October is the date Poland signed it, and 30 October 1945 is the date India joined.
- (C) The founding timeline carries the entry ‘1943 December: Tehran Conference Declaration of the Three Powers (US, Britain and Soviet Union)’.
- (A) The chapter says the present Secretary-General ‘is António Guterres. He is the ninth Secretary-General of the UN. He took over as the Secretary-General on 1 January 2017.’ Ban Ki-moon was the eighth and Kofi Annan the seventh.
- (D) In the table of major contributors to the UN regular budget for 2019, India stands twenty-first at 0.8 per cent. The largest contributors are the USA at 22.0 and China at 12.0.
- (B) The IAEA box says the agency ‘was established in 1957. It came into being to implement US President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” proposal.’ It seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to prevent its use for military purposes.
- (C) The chapter says some feel ‘that Africa and South America must be represented in any expansion of the permanent membership since those are the only continents not to have representation in the present structure’. Asia and Europe are already represented by China, and by the UK, France and Russia.
Assertion-Reason
- (B) Both statements are the chapter’s own. It says ‘Most importantly, the non-permanent members do not have the veto power’, and ‘The main privileges of the five permanent members are permanency and the veto power.’ Both are true, but R only restates A from the other side: saying the veto is a privilege of the five permanent members is the same fact as saying the other ten do not have it. R gives no reason for A, so R does not explain A.
- (C) A is the chapter’s own sentence: ‘the membership of the UN Security Council was expanded from 11 to 15 in 1965’. Read it carefully, because it is the Security Council that grew from 11 to 15, not the UN, which already had 51 members in 1945. The very next sentence settles R: ‘But, there was no change in the number of permanent members. Since then, the size of the Council has remained stationary.’
- (A) A is the chapter’s conclusion, stated as ‘The UN is not therefore a great balance to the US.’ R is one of the reasons the chapter gives: financial power and the veto. The chapter’s full list also includes the UN’s location on US soil and US nationals in its bureaucracy, but R states two of the four sources, which is enough for R to explain A.
Match the Following
- (D) These are the pairings the chapter’s own exercise sets: Security Council with the preservation of international peace and security; the International Court of Justice with resolving disputes between and among member countries; the WHO with providing good health for all; and the Secretariat with the administration and coordination of UN affairs.
- (A) The World Bank was created during the Second World War in 1944; the WTO was set up in 1995 as the successor to GATT; the IAEA was established in 1957; and the UN was founded on 24 October 1945.
Statement-Based Questions
- (B) The chapter opens this definition with a denial: ‘An international organisation is not a super-state with authority over its members.’ It then gives the second statement as printed: ‘It is created by and responds to states. It comes into being when states agree to its creation.’
- (D) Each statement carries a planted error. The chapter dates the WTO to 1995: ‘This organisation was set up in 1995 as the successor to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) created after the Second World War.’ And on its procedure it says ‘All decisions are taken unanimously’, while the two-thirds majority belongs to major decisions of the General Assembly.
Chronological Ordering
- (C) The founding timeline runs: August 1941 the Atlantic Charter (iii), December 1943 the Tehran Conference Declaration (iv), February 1945 the Yalta Conference (i), and 30 October 1945 India joins the UN (ii).
Fill in the Blanks
- (B) The line is quoted in the chapter and attributed to Dag Hammarskjold, the UN’s second Secretary-General.
- (D) The timeline reads ‘1945 June 26: Signing of the UN Charter by 50 nations’. The 51 is the count of original founding members once Poland signed on 15 October, and 26 is the number of Allied nations that met in Washington in January 1942.
Odd One Out
- (C) The five permanent members are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China. Germany is named elsewhere in the chapter, as one of the emerging powers that would have to be accommodated if India were included.
Passage-Based Questions
- (B) The passage opens with exactly this denial: ‘An international organisation is not a super-state with authority over its members.’ The other three describe what it is.
- (A) The passage says: ‘As the single largest contributor to the UN, the US has unmatched financial power.’ Its permanent seat comes from the Charter, and on the choice of Secretary General the passage claims only ‘a considerable degree of say’, not a sole right.
True / False
- (C) The chapter states the first plainly: ‘The UN was founded as a successor to the League of Nations.’ On the second it says that despite its initial success the League ‘could not prevent the Second World War (1939-45)’, in which many more people died and were wounded than ever before.
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