PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Regionalisation of World Politics
“Trump’s return to the White House is a jolt to push the European Union to invest in its own defence and economic and technological revival.” Comment.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R1 regionalism = condition + process → common sense of threat = the condition; political will = the process —. Trump's return supplies the condition, cohesion decides the rest / R2 ‘America First’ shakes the transatlantic bedrock → European defence has run through NATO since the Cold War → the autonomy question is forced open; the answer lies in Europe, not Washington
Body flow
America First scepticism towards alliances/multilateralism → NATO burden-sharing pressure + tariffs + Paris withdrawal + disdain for UN/WTO → Europe exposed, resurgent Russia in Ukraine → new regionalism: organisations “from objects to subjects” (Soderbaum-Hettne) → Europe must act as a subject → defence: strategic autonomy, European Defence Fund, PESCO → economy: single market → capital markets union + coherent external economic policy → technology: regional public power → regional industrial strategy (Hettne, developmental regionalism) → partners: India, Japan, Australia
Counter-view
the jolt does not decide the result → some member governments align with populist, pro-Russia elements → rule of law + common foreign policy weakened → liberal intergovernmentalism (Moravesik): members still set the pace and direction → Thompson: “regionalism is out, sovereignty back in” → the project turns on ideological contestation, not rational calculation
Conclusion routes
9 R1 right about the push, silent on the result → Trump supplies the shared threat; only cohesion supplies the revival / R2 condition given, process still to be built → autonomy is a political choice inside Europe, not an American gift
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
