B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Political Science (International Relations and Organisation) 2013 Dec Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: an introduction (the word "international", Bentham, printed 1780; a working definition); the nature of international relations as eight features, each explained with an example: a society without a government (Hobbes's "state and posture of Gladiators"), the state as the main but not the only actor, conflict and cooperation together, the constant presence of power (Morgenthau, 1948; Carr, 1939), an interdisciplinary subject (Palmer and Perkins, 1954), both empirical and normative, "a very inexact science", and a subject in constant change (51 UN members in 1945, 99 in 1960, 193 by 2011); the debate on its nature (realists against idealists; science or art); its importance at four levels: for humanity (war and peace; the Charter's "scourge of war"), for the state (security and prosperity), for the citizen (daily life and democratic control; Wilson's "open covenants"), and for the law student (Constitution arts. 51, 73 and 253; Vishaka); its limits; a conclusion.

1. It studies a society without a government. Inside India there is a Parliament to make laws, a police force to enforce them and courts to settle disputes. Between states there is no world parliament, no world police and no court that can summon a state without its consent. Thomas Hobbes wrote in Leviathan that kings and sovereigns, "because of their Independency", live "in the state and posture of Gladiators". Writers call this condition anarchy. In IR, anarchy means the absence of a ruler above the states, not disorder. There are rules and treaties; what is missing is an authority to enforce them on an unwilling state.

2. The state is the main actor, but not the only one. States make treaties, declare war, sit in the UN and issue passports. But companies, banks, campaigning bodies, religious groups and terrorist networks also act across borders. A large share of what crosses borders today is done by them. The balance between the state and these other actors is one of the subject's central questions.

6. It is both empirical and normative. An empirical question asks what is: why did a war happen? A normative question asks what ought to be: should states intervene to stop a massacre? IR asks both kinds, and a careful student keeps them apart.

7. It is an inexact science. Palmer and Perkins called international politics "a very inexact science". It deals in probabilities, not certainties. It cannot run experiments, because there was only one First World War and no one can repeat it with different leaders. So IR explains much but predicts little.

8. It is constantly changing. The United Nations began in 1945 with 51 members. It had 99 in 1960, as colonies became free, and 193 by 2011. New technologies, new actors and new problems such as climate change and pandemics keep changing what the subject must explain.

The debate about its nature

Scholars have long disagreed about the nature of IR.

1. For humanity: war and peace. The UN Charter opens with the resolve "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind". Those two wars are why the discipline was founded. Wars have not stopped since 1945, and some states now hold weapons able to destroy cities in minutes. A subject whose central question is why wars happen and how they can be prevented matters to every person.

2. For the state: security and prosperity. No state controls its own fate completely. A government can set its own taxes, but not the world price of crude oil. It can make its own health rules, but it cannot stop a disease at the border by passing a law. To protect its security and its economy, a state needs leaders and officials who understand how other states think and act. Sound foreign policy rests on sound knowledge of IR.

The leading case is Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1997 SC 3011, (1997) 6 SCC 241. There was then no Indian law on sexual harassment at the workplace. India was a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. On 13 August 1997 the Supreme Court held that an international convention consistent with the fundamental rights must be read into them. It relied on articles 51(c) and 253 and laid down binding guidelines until Parliament legislated. A lawyer who did not know which conventions India had joined could not have argued the case.

Limits of the subject

IR has its own weaknesses. Its early definitions were drawn almost wholly from European and American experience. Its state-centred approach long ignored companies, campaigners and armed groups. Its claim to be a science is still disputed, because it deals in probabilities. These limits do not lessen its importance, but they warn the student against easy predictions.