CHAPTER 1 : The Cold War Era NCERT SOLUTION CLASS 12TH POLITICAL SCIENCE | EDUGROWN NOTES

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTION:

Q1. The Cold War produced an arms race as well as arms control. What were the reasons for both these developments?

Answer
The Cold War did not eliminate rivalries between the two alliances, mutual suspicions led them to arm themselves to the teeth and to constantly prepare for war. Huge stocks of arms were considered necessary to prevent wars from taking place. This was known as arms race.
Cold war also led to several shooting wars such as Korean Crisis, Berlin Crisis, Congo Crisis and several others. The two sides understood that war might occur in spite of restraint. As both powers have nuclear weapons, there will be vast devastation all over the world and left no single side as the winner. Therefore, the US and USSR decided to collaborate in limiting or eliminating certain kinds of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons. A stable balance of weapons, they decided, could be maintained through ‘arms control’.

Q2. Why did the superpowers have military alliances with smaller countries? Give three reasons.
Answer

The superpowers have military alliances with smaller countries because the smaller states were helpful for the superpowers in gaining access to • vital resources, such as oil and minerals• territory, from where the superpowers could launch their weapons and troops• locations from where they could spy on each other

Q3. Sometimes it is said that the Cold War was a simple struggle for power and that ideology had nothing to do with it. Do you agree with this? Give one example to support your position.

Answer
No, I do not agree with the statement that the Cold War was a simple struggle for power and that ideology had nothing to do with it.
• The Cold War was not simply a matter of power rivalries, of military alliances, and of the balance of power. These were accompanied by a real ideological conflict as well,• The western alliance, headed by the US, represented the ideology of liberal democracy and capitalism while
the eastern alliance, headed by the Soviet Union, was committed to the ideology of socialism and communism.
Thus, both powers trying to prove that their ideas are better than the other and most appropriate way of organising political, economic, and social life all over the world.

Q4. What was India’s foreign policy towards the US and USSR during the Cold War era? Do you think that this policy helped India’s interests?

Answer
India’s foreign policy towards the US and USSR during the Cold War era was neither negative nor passive.
• Despite being the founder member of NAM, India was in favour of actively intervening in world affairs to soften Cold War rivalries.• India tried to reduce the differences between the alliances and thereby prevent differences from escalating into a full-scale war.
• Indian diplomats and leaders were often used to communicate and mediate between Cold War rivals such as in the Korea War in the early 1950s.• During the Cold War, India repeatedly tried to activate those regional and international organisations, which were not a part of the alliances led by the US and USSR.• India’s Nehru reposed great faith in ‘a genuine commonwealth of free and cooperating nations’ that would play a positive role in softening, if not ending, the Cold War.This policy of India towards US and USSR helped India’s interest to take international decisions and stances. India was often able to balance one superpower against the other. Neither alliance system could take India for granted or bully it.

Q5. NAM was considered a ‘third option’ by Third World countries. How did this option benefit their growth during the peak of the Cold War?

Answer
The Cold War tended to divide the world into two rival alliances. It was in this context that nonalignment offered the newly decolonised countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America a third option—not to join either alliance.
The idea of a New International Economic Order (NIEO) benefited the newly decolonised countries.• It gives the Least Developed Countries (LDC) to control over their natural resources exploited by the developed Western countries,• It obtains access to Western markets so that the LDCs could sell their products and, therefore, make trade more beneficial for the poorer countries, • It reduces the cost of technology from the Western countries• It also provides the LDCs with a greater role in international economic institutions.Thus, NAM as ‘third option’ by Third World countries benefited their growth during the peak of the Cold War.

Q6. What do you think about the statement that NAM has become irrelevant today. Give reasons to support your opinion.

Answer
No, I don not think NAM has become irrelevant today. It still contains some core values and enduring ideas.
• After the end of the cold war between superpowers, it started giving more importance to economic issues than political issues.
• After the disintegration of USSR, US is the only superpower left. Now, it is essential for NAM to keep checking the US from making biased decisions.
• NAM is formed by Third World countries in which developmental task is not yet completed. It ensures that these countries liberalise their economies in order to pave way for faster development.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTION:

Q1. Describe any six factors responsible for the disintegration of USSR.
Or
What is meant by New International Economic Order? Mention any four reforms of the global trading system proposed by UNCTAD in 1972.
Answer: Six factors responsible for the disintegration of USSR are—
(i) The internal weaknesses of Soviet political and economic institutions failed to meet the aspirations of the people.
(ii) Economic stagnation for many years led to severe consumer shortages and a large section of Soviet society began to doubt and question the system and to do so openly.
(iii) The Soviet Union had become stagnant in an administrative and political sense as well. The Communist Party that had ruled the Soviet Union for over 70 years was not accountable to the people. Ordinary people were alienated by slow and stifling administration, rampant corruption, the inability of the system to correct mistakes it had made, the unwillingness to allow more openness in government and the centralisation of authority in a-vast land.
(iv) The Soviet economy used much of its resources in maintaining a nuclear and military arsenal and the development of its satellite states in Eastern Europe and within the Soviet system. This led a huge economic burden that the system could not cope with.
(v) When Gorbachev became the President, he carried out reforms and loosened the system. He set in motion forces and expectations that few could have predicted and became virtually impossible to control. There were sections of Soviet society which felt that Gorbachev should have moved much faster and were disappointed and impatient with his methods. Others, especially members of the Communist Party and those who were served by the system, took exactly the opposite view. In this tug of war, Gorbachev lost support on all sides.
(vi) The rise of nationalism and the desire for sovereignty within various republics including Russia and the Baltic Republics, Ukraine, Georgia, and others proved to be the final and most immediate cause for the disintegration of the USSR.
Or
The non-aligned countries were more than merely mediators during the’ Cold War. The challenge for most of the non-aligned countries — a majority of them were categorised as the Least
Developed Countries (LDCs) — was to be more developed economically and to lift their people out of poverty. Economic development was also vital for the independence of the new countries. Without sustained development, a country could not be truly free. It would remain dependent on the richer countries including the colonial powers from which political freedom had been achieved. The idea of a New International Economic Order (NIEO) originated with this realisation.
The UNCTAD brought out a report in 1972 entitled Towards a New Trade Policy for Development. The report proposed a reform of the global trading system so as to:
(i) give the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) control over their natural resources exploited by the developed western countries.
(ii) obtain access to western markets so that LDCs would sell their products and, therefore, make trade more beneficial for the poorer countries.
(iii) reduce the cost of technology from the western countries, and
(iv) provide the LDCs with a greater role in international economic institutions.

Q2. What led to the emergence of bipolar world? What were the arenas of Cold War between the two power blocs?
Answer: Emergence of bipolar world:
1. Two superpowers expanded their own spheres of influence in different parts of the world.
2. It divided the world into two alliances namely Western and Eastern alliance headed by the US and Soviet Union respectively.
3. The smaller states in alliances got the promise of protection of weapons and economic aid against their local rivals, hence they remained tied to its protective superpowers to limit influence of other superpower and its allies.
Arenas of Cold War:
1. Crisis and war occurred between alliance systems but did not cross certain limits.
2. Many lives were lost in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan, but world was spared from nuclear war and global hostilities.
3. The Cold War led to several shooting wars but it did not lead to another World War despite direct confrontations in Korea (1950-53), Berlin (1958-62) and the Congo (the early 1960s).

Q3. How did Europe become main arena of conflict between the superpowers?
Answer: 1. Superpowersusedtheirmilitarypower to bring countries into their respective alliances.
2. Soviet Union used its influence in Eastern Europe so that the eastern half of Europe remained within its sphere of influence.
3. In East and Southeast Asia and in West Asia, the US built an alliance called South East Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO) and the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO).
4. The Soviet Union responded by having close relations with regional countries such as North Vietnam, North Korea and Iraq.

Q4. “India’s policy of non-alignment was criticised on a number of counts.” Explain.
Answer: A non-aligned posture also served India’s interests very directly as well as India intervened in world affairs to soften cold war rivalries by reducing differences between the alliances and from escalating into a full scale war. Though India’s policy of non-alignment was criticised on a number of counts:
1. India’s non-alignment was said to be ‘unprincipled’ in the name of persuing in national interest.
2. India often refused to take firm stand on crucial international issues.
! 3. Sometimes India took contradictory postures, having criticised others for joining alliances, Indian signed the Treaty of friendship in August 1971 with the USSR for 29 years
4. During Bangladesh crisis also India developed good relations even with the US in the name of diplomatic and military support.

Q5. Explain various arms control treaties.
Or
Define the various treaties to control arms.
Answer: 1. Limited Test Ban Treaty: Banned nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water signed by the US, UK and USSR in Moscow on 5 August 1963 came into force on 10 October, 1963.
2. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty:
It allows only nuclear weapon states to have nuclear weapons and stops others from acquiring them. A nuclear weapon state is one which had manufactured and exploded nuclear explosive device prior to 1 Janaury, 1967. So there are five nuclear weapon states: US, USSR, Britain, France and China.
3. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks I and II (Salt I and II): The first round began in November 1969. The Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev and the US President Kichard Nixon signed the following in Moscow on 26 May 1972— (a) Anti Ballistic Missile System Treaty, (b) Interim Agreement on limitation of strategic offensive arms.
It came into force on 3 October, 1972. The second round started in November 1972. The US President Jimmy Carter and the Soviet leader Brezhnev signed Treaty on limiting strategic offensive arms in Vienna on 18 June, 1979.
4. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty I and II (START I and II): Treaty I signed by the USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev and the’ US president George Bush (Senior) on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms in Moscow on 31 July 1991.
Treaty II was signed for same purpose in Moscow on 3 January, 1993 between Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the US President George Bush (Senior).