SRJC_08 JC2 P1 Prelims_QNS

SERANGOON JUNIOR COLLEGE JC2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2008 HISTORY Higher 1 / Higher 2 8814 / 9731 Paper 1 Friday 22 August 2008 3 hr Additional materials: Answer paper Cover page INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES • Write your name and civics tutorial group in the spaces provided on the cover page and on every answer. • Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. • Do not use staples, paper clips, highl ighters, glue or correction fluid. • Write your answers on the separate answer paper provided. • Candidates are to answer Question 1 in Section A, and answer any 3 questions in Section B. INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES • You are reminded of the need for good Eng lish and clear presentation in your answers. This question paper consists of 4 printed pages.

Section A You must answer Question 1 UN PEACEKEEPING IN THE POST-COLD WAR WORLD 1. Read the sources and then answer the question Source A There can be little doubt that the worst days for the organization are behind it. During the Cold War, the Security Counc il could never function as in tended, because the Soviet Union used its veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council to thwart actions opposed by its client st ates or by General Assembly blocs that Soviet diplomacy sought to estrange from America and the West. Deadlock in the Security Council was not the only result of the Cold War. A ‘nonaligned’ bloc of Asian, African and Lat in American countries sought to exploit the rivalry between the Western alliance and t he Soviet bloc. As long as their defections to the Soviet camp were a credible threat, Third World countries could attempt to extort concessions from the USA and its allies. Michael Lind, ‘The New World Order: Opposing Viewpoints’, 1994 Source B Never before in the history of the Organiza tion (since 1988) were there so many new insights gained about the varied tasks of keeping, making or building the peace in areas riven or threatened by conflict. Never before were such precedents set as has been done, in different ways, in Nami bia, Haiti, Angola , Nicaragua and now, most notably, in Central America, particularly El Salvador. Indeed, today, the Organization is conducting some missions that were unthinkable in the previous era. The UN Secretary-General, Perez de Cueller in 1991 Source C The weakness of the UN is a reflection of bot h the structure of the international system and of the individual states. Since the mid-1980s, member states have requested services from the UN to an extent which is totally out of propor tion to what they are willing to contribute, and is more or less systematically undermined by the action of some of the members themselves – particularly th e five permanent Security Council members. Consequently, the UN has failed, more or less, to stick