21 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 markAt its most basic, what does security imply?
(A) Freedom from threats(B) Freedom from poverty(C) The absence of core values(D) Superiority in military strength - 1 markSecurity policy that is concerned with preventing war is called:
(A) Defence(B) Deterrence(C) Balance of power(D) Disarmament - 1 markHow many states acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention?
(A) More than 155(B) 160(C) 193(D) Nearly 200 - 1 markAccording to the chapter, during the last 100 years more people have been killed by:
(A) Natural disasters than by war(B) International terrorism than by genocide(C) Epidemics than by armed conflict(D) Their own governments than by foreign armies - 1 markIn which year did India first test a nuclear device?
(A) 1962(B) 1974(C) 1990(D) 1998 - 1 markWhich example does the chapter give to show that alliances change when national interests change?
(A) The French fighting in Vietnam in the 1950s(B) The British fighting in Kenya in the 1950s and the early 1960s(C) The Indonesian military’s killing of people in East Timor(D) The US backing the Islamic militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and later attacking them
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): In the traditional conception of security, the greatest danger to a country is from military threats.
Reason (R): The source of that danger is another country which, by threatening military action, endangers the core values of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
(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 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 limited the number of countries that could have nuclear weapons.
Reason (R): The Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 allowed both the United States and the Soviet Union to deploy a very limited number of defensive systems.
(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): Traditional security holds that a state’s security is best served by protecting individuals and communities rather than the state itself.
Reason (R): Human security is about the protection of people more than the protection of states.
(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 term in List I with its meaning in List II.
List I: (i) Confidence Building Measures, (ii) Arms Control, (iii) Alliance, (iv) Disarmament
List II: (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
(A) (i)-A, (ii)-B, (iii)-C, (iv)-D(B) (i)-B, (ii)-D, (iii)-C, (iv)-A(C) (i)-C, (ii)-A, (iii)-D, (iv)-B(D) (i)-D, (ii)-C, (iii)-B, (iv)-A - 1 markMatch the country in List I with what the chapter says about it in List II.
List I: (i) Bangladesh, (ii) The Maldives, (iii) Thailand, (iv) Botswana
List II: (A) One in three adults has HIV-AIDS, (B) 20 percent of it would be flooded, (C) Nearly half its population would be threatened, (D) Most of it would be inundated
(A) (i)-C, (ii)-A, (iii)-B, (iv)-D(B) (i)-A, (ii)-C, (iii)-D, (iv)-B(C) (i)-D, (ii)-B, (iii)-A, (iv)-C(D) (i)-B, (ii)-D, (iii)-C, (iv)-A
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markConsider the following statements about the wars of the post-Second World War period.
(i) The Cold War between the two superpowers was responsible for approximately half of them.
(ii) Most of these wars were fought in the Third World.
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 markRead the two claims below about how far HIV-AIDS had spread by 2003.
(i) An estimated 4 crore people were infected worldwide.
(ii) Africa held two-thirds of that total.
Which of these claims 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) Al Qaeda’s terrorist strikes against America
(ii) India’s nuclear tests that the government justified in terms of safeguarding national security
(iii) The genocide in Rwanda
(iv) The Kyoto Protocol
(A) (iii), (ii), (iv), (i)(B) (iv), (iii), (ii), (i)(C) (iii), (iv), (i), (ii)(D) (iii), (iv), (ii), (i) - 1 markArrange the following in the correct chronological order.
(i) India first tests a nuclear device
(ii) India’s conflict with China
(iii) The Kyoto Protocol
(iv) India’s nuclear tests that the government justified in terms of safeguarding national security
(A) (ii), (i), (iii), (iv)(B) (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)(C) (ii), (i), (iv), (iii)(D) (ii), (iii), (i), (iv)
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 mark“Security relates only to extremely dangerous threats—threats that could so endanger core values that those values would be damaged ________ if we did not do something to deal with the situation.”
(A) beyond repair(B) beyond measure(C) beyond doubt(D) beyond recognition - 1 mark‘India joined ______ countries that have signed and ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.’
(A) 120(B) 155(C) 160(D) 193
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markThree of these are named by the chapter as new and poorly understood diseases that have emerged. Which is the odd one out?
(A) Ebola virus(B) Hantavirus(C) Malaria(D) Hepatitis C
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
At its most basic, security implies freedom from threats. Human existence and the life of a country are full of threats. Does that mean that every single threat counts as a security threat? Every time a person steps out of his or her house, there is some degree of threat to their existence and way of life. Our world would be saturated with security issues if we took such a broad view of what is threatening. Those who study security, therefore, generally say that only those things that threaten ‘core values’ should be regarded as being of interest in discussions of security.
- 1 markWhy does the passage say our world would be saturated with security issues?
(A) Because there is no central authority in world politics(B) Because governments deliberately exaggerate the threats they face(C) Because the media reports every conflict(D) Because human existence and the life of a country are full of threats, so on a broad view every single threat would count
Passage
We can see that dealing with many of these non-traditional threats to security require cooperation rather than military confrontation. Military force may have a role to play in combating terrorism or in enforcing human rights (and even here there is a limit to what force can achieve), but it is difficult to see what force would do to help alleviate poverty, manage migration and refugee movements, and control epidemics. Indeed, in most cases, the use of military force would only make matters worse! Far more effective is to devise strategies that involve international cooperation. Cooperation may be bilateral (i.e. between any two countries), regional, continental, or global.
- 1 markAccording to the passage, where may military force still have a role to play?
(A) In combating terrorism or in enforcing human rights(B) In alleviating poverty(C) In managing migration and refugee movements(D) In controlling epidemics
9 True / False
True / False
- 1 mark(i) The world refugee map tallies almost perfectly with the world conflicts map.
(ii) In the 1990s, every one of the 60 refugee flows coincided with an internal armed conflict.
(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
- (A) The chapter opens the definition with this exact sentence: ‘At its most basic, security implies freedom from threats.’ Poverty and military strength come later in the chapter, and neither is offered as the basic meaning of the word.
- (B) The chapter splits security policy in two: it is ‘concerned with preventing war, which is called deterrence, and with limiting or ending war, which is called defence’.
- (C) The chapter gives both figures in one sentence: ‘More than 155 states acceded to the BWC and 193 states acceded to the CWC.’ The figure 160 belongs to the Kyoto Protocol.
- (D) This is the chapter’s argument that a secure state does not automatically mean a secure people: ‘Indeed, during the last 100 years, more people have been killed by their own governments than by foreign armies.’
- (B) The chapter ends the paragraph on India’s military capabilities with: ‘India first tested a nuclear device in 1974.’ The 1998 tests came later and were justified by the government in terms of safeguarding national security; 1962 is the year of the conflict with China.
- (D) Alliances are based on national interests and can change when those interests change. The chapter’s own illustration is that the US backed the Islamic militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, but later attacked them when Al Qaeda, a group of Islamic militants led by Osama bin Laden, launched terrorist strikes against America on 11 September 2001. The other three are colonial and human-rights examples from elsewhere in the chapter.
Assertion-Reason
- (A) Both sentences are the chapter’s own, and they belong together. The chapter first says the greatest danger is from military threats, then gives the reason in the very next sentence by naming the source of that danger and the core values it puts at risk. R therefore explains A.
- (B) Both are stated in the chapter. On the NPT: it ‘did not abolish nuclear weapons; rather, it limited the number of countries that could have them.’ On the ABM Treaty: ‘While it did allow both countries to deploy a very limited number of defensive systems, it stopped them from large-scale production of those systems.’ The two facts belong to two separate treaties doing two separate jobs, so R stands on its own and leaves A unexplained.
- (D) R is the chapter’s definition of human security, which is a non-traditional idea. A puts that same idea inside the traditional conception, where the chapter places the opposite: there ‘the referent is the state with its territory and governing institutions’. So R stands and A falls.
Match the Following
- (B) These are the chapter’s own definitions. Confidence building is a process in which countries share ideas and information with their rivals; arms control regulates the acquisition or development of weapons; an alliance is a coalition of states that coordinate their actions to deter or defend against military attack; and disarmament requires all states to give up certain kinds of weapons.
- (D) The first three come from one sentence on global warming: a sea level rise of 1.5 to 2.0 metres ‘would flood 20 percent of Bangladesh, inundate most of the Maldives, and threaten nearly half the population of Thailand’. Botswana appears in the section on the limiting principle, where in Southern Africa one in six adults has HIV-AIDS and Botswana is the worst case at one in three.
Statement-Based Questions
- (B) The chapter’s share is one-third, not half: ‘The Cold War between the two superpowers was responsible for approximately one-third of all wars in the post-Second World War period.’ The very next sentence confirms statement (ii): ‘Most of these wars were fought in the Third World.’
- (C) Both belong to the same sentence: ‘By 2003, an estimated 4 crore people were infected with HIV-AIDS worldwide, two-thirds of them in Africa and half of the rest in South Asia.’
Chronological Ordering
- (D) Four distinct years, each given in the chapter: Rwanda in 1994 (iii), the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 (iv), India’s nuclear tests in 1998 (ii), and the strikes on America on 11 September 2001 (i).
- (A) The chapter dates each of these: the conflict with China in 1962 (ii), India’s first nuclear device in 1974 (i), the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 (iii), and the nuclear tests of 1998 (iv).
Fill in the Blanks
- (A) This is the conclusion the chapter reaches after asking whose core values are at stake and how intense a threat has to be. Damage beyond repair is the test: a threat counts as a security threat only when the harm it would do to core values could not be undone.
- (C) The chapter says India joined 160 countries that have signed and ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which provides a roadmap for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases to check global warming. The figures 155 and 193 belong to the BWC and the CWC.
Odd One Out
- (C) The chapter puts these in two separate lists. The new and poorly understood diseases are Corona, ebola virus, hantavirus and hepatitis C. Malaria belongs to the other list, of old diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, dengue fever and cholera that have mutated into drug resistant forms that are difficult to treat.
Passage-Based Questions
- (D) The passage builds the point in three steps: human existence and the life of a country are full of threats; every time a person steps out of the house there is some degree of threat; and so ‘Our world would be saturated with security issues if we took such a broad view of what is threatening.’ That is why the study of security narrows the field to core values.
- (A) The passage grants force one limited role and denies it three others: ‘Military force may have a role to play in combating terrorism or in enforcing human rights (and even here there is a limit to what force can achieve), but it is difficult to see what force would do to help alleviate poverty, manage migration and refugee movements, and control epidemics.’
True / False
- (C) The chapter states the first plainly, and gives the reason: wars and armed conflicts in the South have generated millions of refugees seeking safe haven. On the second it is more precise than the statement: ‘in the 1990s, all but three of the 60 refugee flows coincided with an internal armed conflict.’ Three of the sixty did not.
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