PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Changing International Political Order
The changing global order and ongoing regional conflicts, with the global powers taking sides, have
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
the past. Comment.
Body flow
R1 disarmament was a product of structure → parity + dialogue + shared institutions → those supports withdrawn → statement holds R2 past gains came when rivals could still bargain → present order removes the bargaining floor → jeopardy is real
Counter-view
détente converts parity into treaties (SALT, ABM, hotline, START) — non- aligned push carries PTBT 1963 → that machinery gone → both arsenals modernising → New START lapse (Feb 2026), no cap in fifty-plus years → CTBT / FMCT / 2017 ban treaty blocked or boycotted → Ukraine destroys parity, dialogue, institutions → side-taking in regional wars: West Asia arms supplies + Iran-Saudi → South Asia standoff → doubtful US umbrella → Japan / South Korea / Gulf may revisit non-nuclear status (Perkovich & Acton) → side-taking spreads weapons
Conclusion routes
failure predates these wars → Simpson: under-delivery since the 1990s, blocked by the nuclear powers themselves → Mearsheimer: a thin order still carries arms control CONCLUSION ROUTES R1 machinery of bargaining collapsed; restraint has not → India's No First Use → verifiable, non-discriminatory framework R2 the statement describes a real reversal, not a permanent fate — rebuild the missing supports: verification, non-discrimination, dialogue
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
