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 countries have contributed most of the funding of the UN. The crisis of the UN during the 199 0s have to a large extent centred on the problem of striking a bala nce between influence deriving from financial contributions and influence deriving from voting power. From a report submitted to the United Nations by government representatives from North European countries, 1994. Source D In our view, the General Assem bly does not deal effectively with problems of international peace and security: indeed, in this area, the Security Council has assumed a pre-eminent and, sometimes, exclusive role which we feel was not the initial intention of the framers of the UN Charter. From a book written by a former President of the UN General Assembly, 1997. Source E The General Assembly has made numerous important contributions towards the establishment of an international framework for development cooperation. It has issued the Declaration on International Economic Cooperation, in particular the Revitalization of Economic Growth and Development of the Developing Countries, the International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade, the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s, and various consensus agreements and conventions adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. From a report by the UN Secretary-General to the General Assembly, 1994. Now answer the following question: How far do Sources A to E support the view that the UN General Assembly was ineffective in the 1990s?

4 Section B You must answer three questions from this section. 2. Which of the following had the greater impact on the development of the Cold War: the Korean War or the Cuban Missile Crisis? 3. To what extent did inter -state relations throughout the world improve with the end of the Cold War? 4. “The primary driving force for the post-war boom in the global economy is to be found among the multilateral economic institutions established after the Second World War.” How far do you agree with this statement? 5. Why was the Japanese government unable to generate economic growth in Japan between 1986 and 2000? 6. To what extent wa s the growth of religious fundamentalism a reaction against secular politics between 1945 and 2000? ______________________________________________________________________ Copyright Acknowledgements Question 1 Source A © United States Commission on Improving the Effectiveness of the United Nations, Defining Purpose - the United Nations and the Health of Nations: Final Report, 1993. Question 1 Source B © Peter Wilenski, “News and Views – Address on UN Reform to the United Nations Association of Australia, May 1991(Revised October 1991), Diplomatic World Bulletin, Vol. 22 Nos. 13 and 14. Question 1 Source C © Nordic United Nations Project, The United Nations in Development, Reform Issues in the Economic and Social Fields – a Nordic Perspective: Final Report, 1991. Question 1 Source D © Guido de Marco and Michael Bartolo , A Second Generation United Nations, Kegan Paul International, 1997. Question 1 Source E © Boutros Boutros -Ghali, An Agenda for Development , United Nations document A/48/935, 6 May 1994.