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Old Saturday, March 03, 2012
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I think this was a very poorly-designed paper, especially with respect to the last three questions. And once again, IR theory (realism, liberalism, Marxism, nation states, power, concepts) was largely ignored and this paper was more of a current affairs paper than one that can be called an IR exam per se. You needed around 6 hours if you had to satisfactorily answer all these questions instead of simply just dropping facts and paraphrasing your arguments.

Quote:
5.Discuss "Nationalism" and define its silent features in the post cold war situation and explain its grave consequences with reference to eastern Europe, African continent and South Asian tragic incidents. Also debate whether the UN and superpowers played any role in preventing bloodbath in the regions.
The problem with this question is that you've already been dictated exactly what to do. By "eastern" Europe, I think the framer meant the post-Yugoslavia ethnic/nationalist violence in the Balkans because I couldn't think of any examples of nationalist atrocities in Eastern Europe. By Africa, he/she meant the Rwanda genocide primarily and perhaps some other conflicts, too.. By "South Asia", the question meant the Babri Mosque incident, the Gujarat massacre and perhaps even Kashmir. In all these cases, the UN was notably absent, and in Rwanda it was a spectator to the massacres...

But the problem with the question is that the answer has already been provided to us, we just have to elaborate on it. The length of the question didn't allow for any real input from the candidate either.

Quote:
6..Discuss the strategic importance of "Indian ocean" in the post cold war scenario and analyze the role of the United States and China in the region. Also identify vital political,economic,and strategic interests of both great powers in the contemporary geopolitical situation.
Now this was a good question because both the China and USA want supremacy in the Indian Ocean. But it had too many parts, too: the importance of the Indian Ocean, the roles of China and the USA, their political, strategic and economic interests (globally or just in this region?).... By the time you're done discussing these aspects only, you would've already exhausted 40 minutes.

Quote:
7. Critically Define " American interests in Afghanistan" and explain its political strategic failure in the region and its unnecessary pressure on pakistan to "do more" which can destabilize the regional scenario rather than stabilizing the situation. Also discuss the serious impact of the American war on terror on the Pakistan's state, Society and system.
This was the worst of the lot. The candidates had to follow a dictation and there was hardly any time for their own analysis, especially since the question had already set the tone for the "correct" answer. It has 7 different aspects in it that are required to be discussed.
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