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Political Science (International Relations and Organisation)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 4
2026 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Political Science (International Relations and Organisation) 2026 Jan Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2026 Jan examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2026 Jan examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2026 Jan examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all five Units. (2) One essay type question and short note is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Define Nationality. Explain the elements of Nationality.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: a definition of nationality (J. S. Mill, Renan) and how it differs from nationality as a legal status; the elements of nationality, also called its determinants or the factors that promote it: common descent, language, religion, geography, history, culture, economic interests, political aspirations and a common struggle; the point that no single element is essential (Switzerland, India); nationality in international law (Nottebohm); a conclusion.
What nationality means
Nationality is a feeling of oneness among a group of people. They believe they belong together and are different from others. They want to live under a common government of their own.
The classic definition is by J. S. Mill in Considerations on Representative Government (1861). He wrote: "A portion of mankind may be said to constitute a nationality if they are united among themselves by common sympathies which do not exist between them and any others". These sympathies "make them co-operate with each other more willingly than with other people". They also make them "desire to be under the same government".
The French scholar Ernest Renan gave a second famous definition in 1882. He said: "A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle." One part of it lies in the past, a shared store of memories. The other part lies in the present, the wish to go on living together. Renan called the existence of a nation "a daily plebiscite". A plebiscite is a vote of the whole people. So a nationality lasts only as long as its people keep choosing to stay together.
Two points follow from these definitions. First, nationality is psychological and spiritual, not merely physical. Second, a nationality is not yet a state. When a nationality becomes politically organised and seeks or gains statehood, it becomes a nation.
The elements of nationality
The elements are the factors that create nationality and help it grow. Books also call them the determinants of nationality. Mill named the main ones. Nationality may be "the effect of identity of race and descent. Community of language and community of religion greatly contribute to it. Geographical limits are one of its causes." Writers since Mill add others.
- Common race and descent. People who believe they share ancestors feel close to one another. The early Germans and Japanese stressed common blood. But modern peoples are mixed, so race alone is a weak base.
- Common language. A shared language is perhaps the strongest outward bond. It carries literature, songs and ideas. Language movements built Italian and German nationality in the nineteenth century.
- Common religion. Shared faith gives shared values and festivals. It played a part in the national feeling of Poland and Ireland. Yet many nationalities hold several religions.
- Geographical unity. A clear homeland with natural frontiers, such as an island or a land ringed by mountains, helps a people feel separate. Britain and Japan are examples.
- Common history. Mill called this "the strongest of all": "the possession of a national history, and consequent community of recollections; collective pride and humiliation, pleasure and regret". Shared victories, defeats and heroes bind a people.
- Common culture and traditions. Shared customs, dress, food, art and ways of life build a sense of "we".
- Common economic interests. A single market, trade and shared economic life tie regions together. The German customs union of the nineteenth century prepared the way for German unity.
- Common political aspirations. The wish to live under one government of one's own is the political core of nationality. This is Renan's "daily plebiscite".
- Common subjection and struggle. Foreign rule often creates nationality. The Indian national movement against British rule turned many communities into one people.
No single element is essential
Mill himself warned: "None of these circumstances, however, are either indispensable or necessarily sufficient by themselves." He gave Switzerland as proof. It has "a strong sentiment of nationality, though the cantons are of different races, different languages, and different religions".
India is a second proof. Its Constitution lists 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule, and its people follow many faiths. Yet a common history of the freedom struggle, a common Constitution and common aspirations make one Indian nationality. So the elements work together. The subjective will to live together matters more than any objective bond.
Nationality as a legal status
In law, nationality also means the legal bond between a person and a state. The International Court of Justice linked this legal bond to the social facts described above.
In Nottebohm Case (Liechtenstein v. Guatemala), Second Phase, Judgment of 6 April 1955, the facts were these. Friedrich Nottebohm, born in Hamburg, was a German national who had lived and done business in Guatemala since 1905. In October 1939, after the Second World War began, he quickly obtained Liechtenstein nationality on a brief visit. Liechtenstein later sued Guatemala on his behalf.
The Court held, by eleven votes to three, that the claim was inadmissible. It said that, according to state practice, nationality is "the juridical expression of the fact that an individual is more closely connected with the population of a particular State". It looked at "habitual residence", "the centre of his interests, his family ties, his participation in public life". Nottebohm's ties with Liechtenstein were "extremely tenuous", while his real links were with Guatemala.
The case bears on this question because it shows that even law treats nationality as a matter of real attachment. A legal status that lacks the social elements of nationality may not be respected by other states.
Conclusion. Nationality is a group's sense of oneness and its wish to live under a government of its own. It grows from race, language, religion, geography, history, culture, economic ties, common aspirations and common struggle. Mill showed that none of these is indispensable, and Switzerland and India prove it. What matters most is the shared memory and the present will to live together, Renan's "daily plebiscite". International law, in Nottebohm, also asks for this genuine attachment.
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