2012 PU3 H2 P2 Prelim Exam 2_final_IH

1 2012 Preliminary Examination II Pre-University 3 H2 HISTORY 9731/1 Paper 1 International History 1945-2000 14 September 2012 3 hours Additional Materials: Answer Paper READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your name, class and admission number in the spaces at the top of this page and on all the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. You may use a soft pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working. Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid. Begin each question on a fresh sheet of writing paper. Section A Answer Question 1. Section B Answer any three questions. All questions in this paper carry equal marks.

2 Section A You must answer Question 1 THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY AFTER THE COLD WAR 1. Read the sources, and then answer the question which follows. When answering Question 1 candidates are advised to pay particular attention to the interpretation and evaluation of the Sources both individually and as a group. Source A The United Nations is an organization of 184 member -governments. Notwithstanding the end of the Cold War and the momentum of the democratic revolution, the U.N. remains largely in the grip of a substantial majority of dictatorial, auth oritarian and statist regimes. This majority controls the General Assembly and therefore the allocation of U.N. resources. Only rarely can the United States and its democratic allies build a constructive coalition to promote democratic, free -market, rule -of-law principles in the face of this entrenched opposition. From a report submitted by a group of consultants to the U.S. government, 1993. Source B There is now usually a genuine search for consensus at the General Assembly and it has some recent ach ievements to its credit. The 44 th General Assembly (1989-90) adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child; adopted the Second Optional Protocol (to the Convention on Civil and Political Rights) on the Abolition of the Death Penalty; adopted by conse nsus a Declaration on Apartheid which for the first time provided a unified basis of international agreement for the abolition of apartheid; and a resolution which has effectively set the guidelines for a cessation of large scale driftnet fishing by mid-1992. From a speech by the Australian ambassador to the United Nations, 1991.

3 Source C There is a propensity of member states for raising so many issues that the agenda of the General Assembly has become overburdened and unwieldy. This is partly a consequence of the diverging interests of the member states and partly of the divided membership along a North -South and an East -West axis. The one -state- one vote principle applying in most of the UN’s assemblies has given developing countries a larg e majority whenever they act as a bloc (the Group of 77) . At the same time the industrialized cou