Complete solutions to all twelve exercise questions printed at the end of NCERT Class 12
Political Science, Contemporary World Politics, Chapter 4 International Organisations.
The questions are reproduced in the English edition’s own wording and numbering, and each answer
is written the way it should be written in the exam. The questions the chapter asks in its margins and under its cartoons, and its class activity, are answered at the end.
The English and the Hindi editions of this chapter do not print the same exercise.
Question 6 has four blanks in the English edition and five in the Hindi one, where an
extra blank asks for two human-rights NGOs. Question 7 labels its ten functions a to j in
English. Question 12 asks you to agree or disagree and to argue the case, where the Hindi edition
asks only for verification. These solutions answer the English edition throughout.
1 Question 1
Q. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statements about the veto power.
Answer:
| Statement | Verdict |
|---|---|
| a. Only the permanent members of the Security Council possess the veto power. | Correct |
| b. It’s a kind of negative power. | Correct |
| c. The Secretary-General uses this power when not satisfied with any decision. | Wrong |
| d. One veto can stall a Security Council resolution. | Correct |
Why each verdict.
(a) Correct. The chapter is explicit: “Most importantly, the non-permanent members do not
have the veto power.” The main privileges of the five permanent members are permanency and the
veto power, so the veto belongs to those five alone.
(b) Correct. The permanent members “can vote in a negative manner”, and the chapter names
that vote: “This negative vote is the veto.” It is a power to block, not a power to carry a
proposal, which is exactly what makes it negative.
(c) Wrong. The Secretary-General is the UN’s most visible public figure and its
representative head, and heads the Secretariat, but he is not a member of the Security Council and
has no vote in it. The veto is exercised by the five permanent member states.
(d) Correct. “Even if all other permanent and non-permanent members vote for a particular
decision, any permanent member’s negative vote can stall the decision.” A single veto is therefore
enough to stop a resolution.
2 Question 2
Q. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statements about the way the UN
functions.
Answer:
| Statement | Verdict |
|---|---|
| a. All security and peace related issues are dealt with in the Security Council. | Wrong |
| b. Humanitarian policies are implemented by the main organs and specialised agencies spread across the globe. | Correct |
| c. Having consensus among the five permanent members on security issues is vital for its implementation. | Correct |
| d. The members of the General Assembly are automatically the members of all other principal organs and specialised agencies of the UN. | Wrong |
Why each verdict.
(a) Wrong. The chapter says: “War and peace and differences between member states are
discussed in the General Assembly as well as the Security Council.” So the Security Council is not
the only place where security and peace are handled.
(b) Correct. “Social and economic issues are dealt with by many agencies including the
World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United
Nations Human Rights Commision (UNHRC), the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR),
the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), among others.” These bodies work all over the world.
(c) Correct. Any permanent member’s negative vote can stall a decision of the Security
Council. Agreement among the five is therefore essential before a security decision can be taken
and carried out.
(d) Wrong. Membership of the other organs is separate and limited. The Security Council
has fifteen members, ten of whom the General Assembly elects for two-year terms; the Economic and
Social Council has fifty-four seats filled for three-year terms; the International Court of Justice
has fifteen judges. If every General Assembly member sat on every organ automatically, none of
these elections would be needed.
3 Question 3
Q. Which among the following would give more weightage to India’s proposal for permanent
membership in the Security Council?
a. Nuclear capability
b. It has been a member of the UN since its inception
c. It is located in Asia
d. India’s growing economic power and stable political system
Answer: (d) India’s growing economic power and stable political system.
The chapter gives both halves of this option as grounds for India’s claim. On economic power it
says: “The country’s economic emergence on the world stage is another factor that perhaps justifies
India’s claim to a permanent seat in the Security Council.” On the political system it says India
“is also the world’s largest democracy”, and one of the proposed criteria for a new permanent member
is “a nation that respects democracy and human rights”.
Why the other three do not work.
(a) Nuclear capability tells against India rather than for it. The chapter says that “some
countries, for instance, are concerned about India’s nuclear weapons capabilities”, and lists this
among the reasons other states are reluctant to see India become a permanent member.
(b) India did join the UN at the beginning, on 30 October 1945, but the chapter never
offers length of membership as a ground. None of the six proposed criteria mentions it.
(c) Location in Asia by itself carries no weight. Asia already has a permanent member in
China, and the chapter says it is “Africa and South America” that “must be represented in any
expansion of the permanent membership since those are the only continents not to have representation
in the present structure”.
4 Question 4
Q. The UN agency concerned with the safety and peaceful use of nuclear technology is:
a. The UN Committee on Disarmament
b. International Atomic Energy Agency
c. UN International Safeguard Committee
d. None of the above
Answer: (b) International Atomic Energy Agency.
The chapter’s box on the IAEA says it “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. IAEA teams regularly inspect nuclear
facilities all over the world to ensure that civilian reactors are not being used for military
purposes.”
The exercise’s own matching question, Question 7, pairs the IAEA with exactly this function:
“Safety and peaceful use of nuclear technology”. Options (a) and (c) are not bodies the chapter
names at all.
5 Question 5
Q. WTO is serving as the successor to which of the following organisations
a. General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs
b. General Arrangement on Trade and Tariffs
c. World Health Organisation
d. UN Development Programme
Answer: (a) General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs.
The WTO box says: “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.”
Watch option (b). It changes one word, “Arrangement” for “Agreement”, and is there to catch
a student who half-remembers the name. GATT stands for the General Agreement on Trade and
Tariffs. Options (c) and (d) are separate UN bodies with nothing to do with the WTO’s origin.
6 Question 6
Q. Fill in the blanks.
Answer:
a. The prime objective of the UN is to prevent international conflict and to facilitate
cooperation among states. The chapter’s own sentence is: “The UN’s objective is to prevent
international conflict and to facilitate cooperation among states.”
b. The highest functionary of the UN is called the Secretary-General. He is the UN’s
most visible public figure and its representative head.
c. The UN Security Council has five (5) permanent and ten (10)
non-permanent members. The five permanent members are the United States, Russia, the United
Kingdom, France and China; the ten non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for
two-year terms.
d. António Guterres is the present UN Secretary-General. He is the ninth
Secretary-General, took over on 1 January 2017, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002
and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.
7 Question 7
Q. Match the principal organs and agencies of the UN with their functions.
Answer:
| Organ or agency | Function |
|---|---|
| 1. Economic and Social Council | c. Looks into the economic and social welfare of the member countries |
| 2. International Court of Justice | e. Resolves disputes between and among member countries |
| 3. International Atomic Energy Agency | d. Safety and peaceful use of nuclear technology |
| 4. Security Council | b. Preservation of international peace and security |
| 5. UN High Commission for Refugees | f. Provides shelter and medical help during emergencies |
| 6. World Trade Organisation | j. Facilitates free trade among member countries |
| 7. International Monetary Fund | a. Oversees the global financial system |
| 8. General Assembly | g. Debates and discusses global issues |
| 9. World Health Organisation | i. Providing good health for all |
| 10. Secretariat | h. Administration and coordination of UN affairs |
The answer in one line: 1-c, 2-e, 3-d, 4-b, 5-f, 6-j, 7-a, 8-g, 9-i, 10-h.
How to be sure of the tricky pairs. Two of them look alike until you read carefully. The
Security Council preserves international peace and security and its decisions bind all UN
members, while the International Court of Justice resolves legal disputes between and among
member countries from its seat at The Hague. Similarly, the IMF “oversees those financial
institutions and regulations that act at the international level”, which is the global financial
system, while the WTO “sets the rules for global trade”, which is free trade among
members.
8 Question 8
Q. What are the functions of the Security Council?
Answer: The Security Council is the organ the chapter treats as the centre of the whole
reform debate, and its functions follow from its composition and its powers.
1. Preservation of international peace and security. This is the function the chapter’s own
exercise pairs with the Security Council, and the UN System chart gives the same job to it. War and
peace and differences between member states are discussed in the General Assembly as well as the
Security Council, but it is the Council that acts.
2. Taking binding decisions. The UN System chart records that the Security Council’s
decisions are binding on all UN members, while the General Assembly’s decisions are not binding on
them. This is what makes the Council the UN’s executive arm rather than a debating forum.
3. Deciding by vote, subject to the veto. In taking decisions the Council proceeds by
voting and all members have one vote, but any permanent member’s negative vote can stall a decision
even when every other member votes for it.
4. Running peacekeeping. The chart lists Peacekeeping Operations and Missions among the
Council’s subsidiary bodies, along with the Military Staff Committee and the International Criminal
Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. India’s own claim rests partly on its long and
substantial role in these peacekeeping efforts.
5. Recommending the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General is appointed by the General
Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a five-year renewable term, so the
Council effectively decides who heads the organisation.
6. Electing the judges of the International Court of Justice. The Court’s fifteen judges are
elected for nine years by an absolute majority in both the General Assembly and the Security
Council.
7. Receiving reports from the IAEA. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports to both
the Security Council and the General Assembly, so nuclear safeguards come before the Council
too.
The composition that makes this possible. Fifteen members: five permanent, that is the
United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China, with permanency and the veto; and ten
non-permanent members elected by the General Assembly for two years at a time, elected so as to
represent all continents of the world, unable to be re-elected immediately, and without the veto
power.
9 Question 9
Q. As a citizen of India, how would you support India’s candidature for the permanent
membership of the Security Council? Justify your proposal.
Answer: As a citizen of India I would support the candidature on the grounds the chapter
itself sets out, because they answer the criteria that have been proposed for new permanent
members.
1. Population. India “is the most populous country in the world comprising almost one-fifth
of the world population”. One of the proposed criteria is “a big nation in terms of its population”,
and no candidate meets it more plainly.
2. Democracy. India “is also the world’s largest democracy”. Another of the proposed
criteria is “a nation that respects democracy and human rights”, and India answers it directly.
3. Participation in the UN’s work. “India has participated in virtually all of the
initiatives of the UN. Its role in the UN’s peacekeeping efforts is a long and substantial one.”
A country that has already carried the UN’s burdens has earned a voice in its decisions.
4. Economic power. “The country’s economic emergence on the world stage is another factor
that perhaps justifies India’s claim to a permanent seat in the Security Council.” This answers the
criterion of being a major economic power.
5. A reliable contributor. “India has also made regular financial contributions to the UN
and never faltered on its payments.” This answers the criterion of being a substantial contributor
to the UN budget, and it also matters because the US influence in the UN rests partly on being the
single largest contributor.
6. Representation of the developing world. The overwhelming majority of General Assembly
members are now developing countries, and India argues they should have a role in shaping the
decisions in the Security Council which affect them. India as a permanent member would make the
Council more representative of the world’s diversity in geography, economic systems and culture.
7. The symbolic gain. India is aware that permanent membership “signifies a country’s
growing importance in world affairs”, and that “the reputation for being powerful makes you more
influential” in the conduct of foreign policy.
An honest conclusion. I would also admit what stands in the way: Pakistan’s opposition,
concerns about India’s nuclear weapons capabilities, the fear that India’s difficulties with
Pakistan would make it ineffective, and the fear that including India would force the inclusion of
Brazil, Germany, Japan and perhaps South Africa. The chapter’s own verdict is that “it may not be
very easy for India or anyone else to become a permanent member of the UN in the near future”.
10 Question 10
Q. Critically evaluate the difficulties involved in implementing the suggested reforms to
reconstruct the UN.
Answer: The case for reform has widespread support, but “getting agreement on what to do is
difficult”. The difficulties fall into five groups.
1. Agreement on the reform itself. Almost everyone agrees that both kinds of reform are
necessary, reform of structures and processes and a review of the issues within the UN’s
jurisdiction. “What they cannot agree on is precisely what is to be done, how it is to be done, and
when it is to be done.” There is little clarity and consensus on the nature of reform.
2. The criteria for new members are all contestable. Six criteria have been proposed, and
each of them has some validity, but governments saw advantages in some and disadvantages in others
depending on their own interests and aspirations. How big an economic or military power must a state
be to qualify? What level of budget contribution would let a state buy its way into the Council? Is
a big population an asset or a liability? If respect for democracy and human rights is the test,
countries with excellent records would be in line, but would they be effective Council members?
3. Representation cannot be defined. Should equitable representation mean one seat each
from Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, or should it go by regions and sub-regions
rather than continents? Why should it be decided by geography rather than by levels of economic
development? And if the developing world is to get more seats, the developing world itself “consists
of countries at many different levels of development”. Culture is harder still, because nations have
so many cultural streams within their borders that dividing the world by civilisations is not
workable.
4. The veto is the hardest knot. Many perceive the veto to be in conflict with the concept
of democracy and sovereign equality and think it is no longer right or relevant, yet the permanent
members are unlikely to agree to give it up, and the world may not be ready for such a radical step.
Removing it also carries a real risk: as in 1945, the great powers might lose interest in the world
body, do what they pleased outside it, and leave the organisation ineffective without their support
and involvement.
5. The rivalries between the claimants. Even among those who want expansion there is no
agreement on who should come in. Pakistan opposes India; some states worry about India’s nuclear
weapons capabilities; others resist India because its entry would open the door to Brazil, Germany,
Japan and perhaps South Africa; and still others insist that Africa and South America must come
first, as the only continents with no representation at present.
Evaluation. The difficulty is therefore not a shortage of proposals but the structure of
the problem: the states that would have to approve reform are the very states whose privileges the
reform would reduce, and the criteria on which reform could proceed are the very criteria on which
the members cannot agree. That is why the chapter concludes that permanent membership for India or
anyone else is not likely in the near future.
11 Question 11
Q. Though the UN has failed in preventing wars and related miseries, nations prefer its
continuation. What makes the UN an indispensable organisation?
Answer: The chapter’s own verdict is: “The UN is an imperfect body, but without it the
world would be worse off.” Six reasons make it indispensable.
1. It is the one place where everyone can talk. Shashi Tharoor’s answer to the charge that
the UN is a talking shop is that it is better to have one place where all the countries in the world
can get together and bore each other with words rather than bore holes into each other on the
battlefield. Dag Hammarskjold put the same point differently: “The United Nations was not created to
take humanity to heaven, but to save it from hell.”
2. Most conflicts really are settled without war. Countries have conflicts and differences,
but that does not mean they must go to war. They can discuss contentious issues and find peaceful
solutions, and although it is rarely noticed, most conflicts and differences are resolved without
going to war.
3. Some problems can be solved in no other way. Diseases can only be eradicated if everyone
in the world cooperates in inoculating or vaccinating their populations. Global warming can only be
stopped if at least all of the major industrial powers cooperate. No single state, however powerful,
can do either alone.
4. It makes cooperation practicable. Nations can recognise the need to cooperate and still
fail to agree on how to share the costs, how to divide the benefits justly, and how to stop others
cheating on an agreement. The UN produces information and ideas about how to cooperate, and provides
mechanisms, rules and a bureaucracy that give members confidence the terms will be honoured.
5. It is a check on the sole superpower. The UN is not a great balance to the US, but it
can and has served to bring the US and the rest of the world into discussions. US leaders, in spite
of their frequent criticism of the UN, do see it as serving a purpose in bringing together over 190
nations. For the rest of the world it “provides a space within which arguments against specific US
attitudes and policies are heard and compromises and concessions can be shaped”.
6. Interdependence is growing, so the need will grow. Given the growing connections and
links between societies and issues, which we often call interdependence, “it is hard to imagine how
more than seven billion people would live together without an organisation such as the UN”.
Technology promises to increase planetary interdependence, and therefore the importance of the UN
will only increase.
12 Question 12
Q. ‘Reforming the UN means restructuring of the Security Council’. Do you agree with this
statement? Give arguments for or against this position.
Answer: I agree only in part. Restructuring the Security Council is the largest single item
in UN reform, but the chapter treats it as one of two kinds of reform, not as the whole of it.
Arguments FOR the statement.
1. It is where the biggest argument is. “On the reform of structures and processes, the
biggest discussion has been on the functioning of the Security Council.”
2. The 1992 resolution was about the Council. All three complaints it reflected were
complaints about the Security Council: that it no longer represents contemporary political
realities, that its decisions reflect only Western values and interests and are dominated by a few
powers, and that it lacks equitable representation.
3. Annan’s 1997 inquiry framed the question that way. The example the chapter gives of what
the inquiry had to settle is “How, for instance, should new Security Council members be chosen?”
4. It is where the power sits. The Council’s decisions are binding on all UN members and
its permanent members hold the veto, so a reform that leaves the Council untouched leaves the
distribution of power in the UN exactly as it was in 1945.
5. It is what the claimants are asking for. India’s demands, and the demands from Africa
and South America, are all demands about the Council’s membership.
Arguments AGAINST the statement.
1. There are two kinds of reform, not one. Besides reform of structures and processes there
is “a review of the issues that fall within the jurisdiction of the organisation”, and “almost
everyone is agreed that both aspects of reform are necessary”.
2. The 2005 agenda was almost entirely about jurisdiction. The seven steps decided at the
sixtieth anniversary were the Peacebuilding Commission, the responsibility of the international
community where national governments fail to protect their citizens, the Human Rights Council, the
Millennium Development Goals, the condemnation of terrorism, the Democracy Fund and the winding up
of the Trusteeship Council. Not one of them restructures the Security Council.
3. Budget and administration are reform too. The US and other Western countries want
improvements in the UN’s budgetary procedures and its administration.
4. India’s own case is wider than a seat. India believes that development should be central
to the UN’s agenda as it is a vital precondition for the maintenance of international peace and
security, and supports an enhanced role for the UN in promoting development and cooperation among
states. That is a demand about jurisdiction, not about the Council’s composition.
My position. Restructuring the Security Council is the most difficult and the most visible
part of UN reform, so the statement captures where the political fight is. But it is not the whole of
reform: a UN that expanded its Council and did nothing about development, human rights, peacebuilding
or its own budget would not have been reformed in the sense the member states themselves have asked
for. The statement is therefore a useful half-truth rather than a full description.
13 In-text Questions (asked within the chapter)
The chapter also asks questions in its margins, under its cartoons and in one class activity. They are not in the exercise list, but they test the same ideas, so an answer to each is given here in the order the book prints them.
In-text Q1. (Margin, beside the two cartoons on the UN in the 2006 Lebanon crisis) “That’s what they say about the parliament too — a talking shop. Does it mean that we need talking shops?”
Answer: Yes, in the sense the chapter explains. The two cartoons comment on the UN’s ineffectiveness in the Lebanon crisis: Israel attacked Lebanon in June 2006, the UN passed a resolution only in August and the Israeli army withdrew only in October. But a place for talk has its own value. Shashi Tharoor’s answer, quoted in the chapter, is that “jaw-jaw is better than war-war”: it is better to have one place where all countries can meet and bore each other with words rather than bore holes into each other on the battlefield. Countries in conflict can discuss contentious issues there and find peaceful solutions, and most conflicts are in fact resolved without war. Like a parliament, the UN is useful even when it is slow, because talking is the alternative to fighting.
In-text Q2. Make a list of issues or problems (other than the ones mentioned in the text) that cannot be handled by any one country and require an international organisation.
Answer: The text gives disease and global warming. Others that no single country can handle: international terrorism; drug trafficking and cyber crime across borders; refugee flows from wars and disasters; pollution of the oceans and of rivers that cross borders; nuclear proliferation and the safety of nuclear reactors (the IAEA’s work); regulating international trade (the WTO’s work) and the global financial system (the IMF’s work); natural disasters such as tsunamis that strike many countries at once; and the protection of human rights. In each case the chapter’s reasoning applies: countries may see the need to cooperate but disagree on how, on sharing the costs and benefits, and on trusting others to keep their side of the bargain, and an international organisation provides the information, rules and mechanisms that make cooperation work.
In-text Q3. Search for at least one news item about the activities of each of the UN agencies mentioned on this page.
How to do it: This is a research activity, so the news items are your own. The agencies the chapter names on this page are the WHO, the UNDP, the UNHRC, the UNHCR, the UNICEF and the UNESCO. For each, note the date, the country and what the agency did: for example a WHO vaccination or disease-control programme, a UNDP development project, a UNHCR operation for refugees, a UNICEF programme for children’s health or schooling, or a UNESCO decision on world heritage or education. This links to the chapter’s point that the UN deals with social and economic issues, not only war and peace.
In-text Q4. (Margin) “Cold War or no Cold War, one reform is needed above all. Only democratic leaders should be allowed to represent their countries in the UN. How can they allow dictators to speak in the name of the people of their country?”
Answer: The idea is attractive, but the chapter shows why it is hard to apply. An international organisation is not a super-state with authority over its members; it is created by and responds to states, and it brings almost all independent states together. If only democracies could be represented, many countries would be shut out, and the UN would lose its value as the one place where all countries, friends and enemies alike, can talk. Deciding which governments count as democratic would itself become a contested political question. The chapter makes a similar point about the proposed criterion of “respect for democracy and human rights” for Security Council membership: such countries would be in line, but would they be effective? Respect for democracy can be encouraged in other ways, for example through the Democracy Fund agreed in 2005.
Class activity (Steps). Divide the class into six groups, each following one of the six criteria proposed for permanent membership of the Security Council; each group makes its own list of permanent members based on its criterion (for example the five most populous countries) and presents its list and the reasons why its criterion should be accepted.
How to do it: This is a role-play, so there is no single answer. The six criteria are: a major economic power, a major military power, a substantial contributor to the UN budget, a big nation in terms of population, a nation that respects democracy and human rights, and a country that would make the Council more representative of the world’s diversity. The chapter’s own tables help: the budget group can use the table of major contributors to the UN regular budget for 2019 (USA 22.0, China 12.0, Japan 8.5 per cent and so on). Compare the lists, count how many names are common and how often India features, and end with a discussion of which criterion should be adopted, keeping in mind the chapter’s questions about each criterion.
In-text Q5. (Margin) “That’s very unfair! It’s actually the weaker countries who need a veto, not those who already have so much power.”
Answer: The remark echoes the criticism the chapter records: many see the veto as in conflict with the concept of democracy and sovereign equality in the UN, and think it is no longer right or relevant. The weaker countries have no such protection against decisions that harm them. But the chapter also gives the other side: the permanent members are unlikely to agree to abolish it, the world may not be ready for such a radical step, and without the veto there is the danger, as in 1945, that the great powers would lose interest in the world body, do what they pleased outside it, and leave it ineffective. The veto was given to the permanent members to bring about stability after the Second World War, not to protect the weak.
In-text Q6. Find out about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
How to do it: Research activity. The chapter mentions the SDGs twice: Ban Ki-moon focused on the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals, and the chapter asks how realistic it is for the UN to achieve such an ambitious set of goals when so many countries are still part of the developing world. Find out how many goals there are, the year by which they are to be met, and two or three of the goals themselves (for example on poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality and climate action), and what India is doing to meet them.
In-text Q7. (Cartoon on Darfur) The humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan since 2003 has attracted empty promises by the International Community. How do you think the UN can intervene in situations like this? Would that require a change in its jurisdiction?
Answer: The UN can act through the Security Council: by passing resolutions, imposing sanctions, sending peacekeeping missions with the consent of the parties, and supporting relief through agencies such as the UNHCR and UNICEF. The 2005 meeting accepted the responsibility of the international community in case of failures of national governments to protect their own citizens from atrocities, and created a Peacebuilding Commission, which already widens what the UN may do. But the chapter shows the limits: which conflicts should it intervene in, and is it possible or even desirable to intervene in every one? Who decides the level of human rights violations and the course of action? Since any permanent member’s veto can stall a decision, effective intervention needs agreement among the permanent members and, arguably, a clearer jurisdiction to act inside a country when its government fails its own people.
In-text Q8. (Margin) “Do we want to oppose the bossism of the big five or do we want to join them and become another boss?”
Answer: The question points to a tension in India’s position. India argues that the Security Council’s composition has remained static while the General Assembly has expanded, that this has harmed its representative character, and that developing countries should have a role in shaping its decisions. At the same time India wants to be a permanent member, and permanent membership is also a symbol of power that “makes you more influential”. A consistent answer would combine both: India’s claim rests on making the Council more representative and broad-based (more developing countries, representation for Africa and South America), and on India’s own record (population, the world’s largest democracy, peacekeeping, regular payments), rather than on simply acquiring the privileges of the big five.
In-text Q9. (Margin) “What happens if the UN invites someone to New York but the US does not issue visa?”
Answer: The person cannot attend, and the UN’s work is obstructed. This illustrates one of the sources of US influence that the chapter lists: the UN is physically located within US territory, which gives Washington additional sources of influence. Together with its position as the single largest contributor, its many nationals in the UN bureaucracy and its veto, this is why the chapter concludes that the UN is not a great balance to the US, even though it remains an arena where the rest of the world can discuss issues with the US and try to modify its attitudes and policies.