{"id":3437,"date":"2026-08-11T20:08:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/?p=3437"},"modified":"2026-08-12T22:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:24:49","slug":"download-psir-gs2-daily-brief-11-august-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/download-psir-gs2-daily-brief-11-august-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban local bodies, a fragmenting world order, and the standing of international law \u2014 PSIR &#038; GS2 Brief, 11 August 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"bf\">\n<div class=\"bf-shell\">\n<header class=\"bf-head\">\n<p class=\"bf-stand\">Today&#8217;s brief reads three articles: urban local bodies in Brazil and India, the breaking up of the order that followed the Cold War, and the standing of international law.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bf-meta\"><b>PSIR &amp; GS2 Daily Brief \u00b7 Issue 121<\/b><span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span>11 August 2026<span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span>Paper I-B, Paper II-A, Paper II-B<span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span>Amit Pratap Singh<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"bf-get\"><b>Issue 121 as a PDF<\/b><span>The full brief, ready to print for your folder.<\/span><a href=\"\/psir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Daily-brief-Issue-121.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Download PDF<\/a><\/div>\n<section class=\"bf-item\">\n<div class=\"bf-eyebrow\">Paper I-B \u00b7 Grassroots Democracy<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"bf-h2\">In Brazil the city is a level of government. In India it is a level of administration.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"bf-src\"><b>Observer Research Foundation<\/b><span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span>Ramanath Jha<span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span>10 August 2026<span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orfonline.org\/expert-speak\/brazil-and-urban-governance-reforms-lessons-for-india\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Read the article<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Ramanath Jha compares urban local bodies in the two countries. Both were colonies. Both are founding members of BRICS. But Brazil became a city country much earlier. It reached an <span class=\"bf-term\">urbanisation rate of 32 percent<\/span> around 1940. India reached the same level, <span class=\"bf-term\">31.16 percent<\/span>, only in 2011. By 2025 Brazil was 88 percent urban, with a population of about 214 million.<\/p>\n<h4>The facts that matter<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>The <span class=\"bf-term\">Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, 1988<\/span> deals with municipalities at length. <span class=\"bf-law\">Article 18<\/span> gives urban local bodies political, administrative and financial autonomy, and places them on an equal constitutional footing with the states and the Union. A state cannot interfere in a matter the Constitution has given to the municipality.<\/li>\n<li>The Constitution also names the taxes a municipality may collect, and makes transfers from the federal and state governments compulsory.<\/li>\n<li>The <span class=\"bf-term\">mayor<\/span> is elected by the people and is the chief executive of the city. The term is four years. The mayor prepares the budget, places it before the city council and carries it out once approved.<\/li>\n<li>The <span class=\"bf-term\">City Statute, 2001<\/span> added public meetings and popular initiative to the making of planning laws. It also brought in participatory budgeting, which began in Porto Alegre in 1989 and later spread to other countries.<\/li>\n<li>In India, before the <span class=\"bf-law\">Constitution Seventy-fourth Amendment Act, 1992<\/span>, urban local bodies were created by state legislatures under the State List of the Seventh Schedule. The Constitution said nothing about them.<\/li>\n<li>The Amendment gave them a five-year term and a <span class=\"bf-term\">State Election Commission<\/span> to hold their elections. Dissolving an elected body was made difficult.<\/li>\n<li>But the <span class=\"bf-term\">municipal commissioner<\/span>, appointed by the state, remained the chief executive. Functions and finances stayed with the state. City plans still require the state&#8217;s approval.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Why it matters for PSIR<\/h4>\n<p>Two different things are being called by one name. Brazil gave its cities powers of their own, with the money and the staff to use them. India gave its cities work to do and kept the powers with the state. The first is <span class=\"bf-term\">self-government<\/span>. The second is only <span class=\"bf-term\">administration<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>This changes the answer a student writes. The common argument is that the 73rd and 74th Amendments were not carried out properly. Jha&#8217;s comparison points at the drafting itself. The Amendment left functions, funds and functionaries with the state, so the third tier could not become a government even where a state was willing.<\/p>\n<p>Use it in questions on grassroots democracy, and in the federalism answer on why the third tier is the weakest of the three.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bf-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;Brazil&#8217;s experience provides a useful template for moving from constitutional recognition to substantive reforms that strengthen India&#8217;s cities and urban governance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><cite>Ramanath Jha<\/cite><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bf-item\">\n<div class=\"bf-eyebrow\">Paper II-B \u00b7 India and the World<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"bf-h2\">The four supports of the post-Cold War order have weakened. Strategic autonomy is now a question of capacity.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"bf-src\"><b>Vivekananda International Foundation<\/b><span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span>Prerna Gandhi<span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span>10 August 2026<span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vifindia.org\/article\/2026\/august\/10\/Navigating-a-Changing-World-Order-for-India\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Read the article<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Prerna Gandhi writes that the calm of the years after 1991 was rare in human history, and that it rested on four things holding at the same time: military preeminence of the United States, dominance of the dollar, the scale of Chinese manufacturing, and stable maritime commons. Countries could plan for efficiency because the international system carried the security cost. That is no longer the case.<\/p>\n<h4>The facts that matter<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>The IMF used the term <span class=\"bf-term\">geoeconomic fragmentation<\/span> in 2023. It does not mean that trade will shrink. It means that trade will be reorganised for reasons of national security, and that the reorganisation will differ from country to country and from sector to sector.<\/li>\n<li>NITI Aayog launched the <span class=\"bf-term\">DPI@2047<\/span> roadmap in April 2026. The goal it sets is an economy of 30 trillion dollars with a per capita income of 18,000 dollars by 2047.<\/li>\n<li>The Indian Ocean overlooks one third of India&#8217;s periphery. The nine coastal states contribute about half of India&#8217;s GDP.<\/li>\n<li>The author reads statecraft of the present day through the four Kautilyan principles of <span class=\"bf-term\">saam, daam, dand and bhed<\/span>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Why it matters for PSIR<\/h4>\n<p>The article gives a structure for the standard question on the changing world order. Name the four supports, then show which of them has given way. That is a firmer answer than a list of trends.<\/p>\n<p>It also changes what <span class=\"bf-term\">strategic autonomy<\/span> means. Under non-alignment it was a position India took. Here it is a capacity India has to build, in critical technologies, in manufacturing and in defence production. A country that cannot make a thing cannot refuse to buy it.<\/p>\n<p>This is the material for the 2024 question that speaks of &#8220;multi-alignment&#8221;.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bf-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;The old global consensus has collapsed. India must anticipate geopolitical shifts and use strategic autonomy as an anchor to traverse the unsettled waters.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><cite>Prerna Gandhi<\/cite><\/div>\n<div class=\"bf-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;Not all growth translates into industrial depth or technological capabilities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><cite>Prerna Gandhi<\/cite><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bf-item\">\n<div class=\"bf-eyebrow\">Paper II-A \u00b7 International Relations<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"bf-h2\">Violations of international law are reported. Compliance is not.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"bf-src\"><b>The Hindu<\/b><span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span>11 August 2026<span class=\"d\">\u00b7<\/span><em>link to be added<\/em><\/div>\n<p>Ukraine, Gaza and West Asia have made international institutions look powerless, and the common verdict is that international law is dead. The article holds that this verdict measures the wrong thing. Breaches are few and loud. Compliance is large and silent, and it does not become news.<\/p>\n<h4>The facts that matter<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"bf-sch\">Abram Chayes<\/span> and <span class=\"bf-sch\">Antonia Handler Chayes<\/span> explained obedience in this manner. States keep to a treaty less from fear of punishment and more because of the working of the <span class=\"bf-term\">treaty regime<\/span> itself, which makes them report, explain and meet again.<\/li>\n<li>Law-making has not stopped. The <span class=\"bf-term\">High Seas Treaty<\/span>, the efforts towards <span class=\"bf-term\">pandemic preparedness<\/span> and the <span class=\"bf-term\">United Nations convention against cybercrime<\/span> all belong to the present.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Why it matters for PSIR<\/h4>\n<p>There is an argument here that a student can use as it stands. A state that breaks a rule still defends itself by naming a rule. It claims <span class=\"bf-term\">self-defence<\/span>, or <span class=\"bf-term\">sovereignty<\/span>, or <span class=\"bf-term\">humanitarian law<\/span>. Nobody prepares such a defence in a court he believes has been abolished. The plea admits the law even while breaking it.<\/p>\n<p>For India and for the developing countries the point is practical. A rules-based order lets a middle power argue its case. Without it, disputes are settled by strength, and India is not the strongest party in most rooms in which it sits.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bf-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;A rules-based international order provides an opportunity to developing states to protect and advance their interests through negotiations rather than power alone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><cite>The Hindu, 11 August 2026<\/cite><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bf-syl\">\n<h3>Where this sits in your syllabus<\/h3>\n<p class=\"s\">Open the note and read the full topic.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bf-chips\"><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/panchayati-raj\/\">Panchayati Raj<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/73rd-and-74th-amendments\/\">73rd and 74th Amendments<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/municipal-government\/\">Municipal Government<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/constitutional-provisions-on-federalism\/\">Constitutional provisions on federalism<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/determinants-of-foreign-policy\/\">Determinants of foreign policy<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/continuity-and-change-in-indian-foreign-policy\/\">Continuity and change in Indian foreign policy<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/india-and-nam-current-role\/\">India and NAM: current role<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/national-interest-security-and-power\/\">National interest, security and power<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/idealist-approach\/\">Idealist approach<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/realist-approach\/\">Realist approach<\/a><a class=\"bf-chip\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/need-for-un-reforms\/\">Need for UN reforms<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bf-q\">\n<h3>The questions this feeds<\/h3>\n<p class=\"s\">Questions from earlier years that today&#8217;s reading speaks to. Where the answer is written, the red link opens it. The full set is in the <a href=\"\/psir\/pyq-vault\/\">PYQ Vault<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>PSIR Paper II \u00b7 2025<\/b>Collective security and responsibility to protect (R2P) are similar but different in scope, goals and methods. Explain.<\/li>\n<li><b>PSIR Paper II \u00b7 2025<\/b>Critically analyse the different phases of India\u2019s foreign policy since independence; how justified is S. Jaishankar\u2019s classification of the current phase as \u201cenergetic diplomacy\u201d.<a class=\"ans\" href=\"\/psir\/psir-pyq\/critically-analyze-the-different-phases-of-indias-foreign-policy-upsc-psir-2025-3910\/\">Answer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><b>GS Paper II \u00b7 2025<\/b>\u201cIn contemporary development models, decision-making and problem-solving responsibilities are not located close to the source of information and execution, defeating the objectives of development.\u201d Critically evaluate.<\/li>\n<li><b>GS Paper II \u00b7 2025<\/b>\u201cThe reform process in the United Nations remains unresolved, because of the delicate imbalance of East and West and entanglement of the USA vs. Russo-Chinese alliance.\u201d Examine.<\/li>\n<li><b>PSIR Paper II \u00b7 2024<\/b>\u201cIndia has of late, chosen to debunk non-alignment in its pursuit of multi-alignment.\u201d Comment.<a class=\"ans\" href=\"\/psir\/psir-pyq\/india-has-of-late-chosen-to-debunk-non-alignment-in-its-pursuit-upsc-psir-2024-4005\/\">Answer<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"bf-foot\">A new brief on every working day. Facts and quotes are taken from the articles linked above.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three articles read for the PSIR and GS Paper II syllabus on 11 August 2026: what Brazil\u2019s municipalities show about the 74th Amendment, which supports of the post-Cold War order have weakened, and why the verdict that international law is dead measures the wrong thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"fx_brief_v2":"1","fx_brief_issue":"121","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psir-gs-2-daily-brief"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3437"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3895,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3437\/revisions\/3895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}