PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Changing International Political Order

Discuss the evolution of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in the post-Cold War period.

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

Route 1 regime built for two-power management after 1991 agenda widens, authority does not that gap = the evolution

Route 2 post-1991 record = new treaties, new summits, a prohibition none of them binds the states holding the weapons

Body flow

NPT stays the core 1995 indefinite extension = permanence Perkovich: India, Pakistan outside, non-recognition 1995 freezes the exclusion deepening stalls: CTBT (1996) not in force, FMCT blocked by US + other weapon states growth turns sideways GICNT (2006): non-state actors, nuclear terrorism Obama push: Prague (2009), UNSC 1887, four Nuclear Security Summits energy renewed, arsenals stay 2017 prohibition treaty: first comprehensive ban, no nuclear power inside

Counter-view

Waltz: weapons kept the Cold War cold holders will not disarm what they credit with peace US–Russia competition revived, New START expiring 2026

Conclusion routes

Route 1 Simpson: under-delivery since the 1990s (Iran, North Korea) universal, verifiable, non-discriminatory process non-proliferation now, disarmament later

Route 2 the period added instruments, not authority the regime grew in law while consent stayed where 1991 left it

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2016, Changing International Political Order