NJC 2021 H2 HY P1 Prelims Ans

NJC Suggested Answers 1a) Compare and contrast the evidence provided in Sources C and D on the outcome of the Korean War. Sources C and D agree that the result of the Korean War was a large amount of US casualties. This is due to their similar contexts. However, Sources C and D differ in identifying who won the Korean War, with C suggesting it is the United Nations/South Korea and D suggesting it is the North Koreans. This is due to their different purposes. 1b) How far do sources A – F agree that America’s involvement in the Korean War was driven primarily by ideological concerns? Sources A, B and F agree with the hypothesis that America’s involvement in the Korean War was driven primarily by ideological concerns while Sources D and E challenge the hypot hesis suggesting that America’s involvement in the Korean War was driven by a desire to achieve to expand their control over the region.. Meanwhile, Source C also challenges the hypothesis, suggesting that America involved herself in the Korean War to primarily to defend Korea. Overall, Sources A, B and F appear to be reliable in showing that American intervention in the Korean War was indeed largely driven by American perception of communism as a monolithic bloc that posed a threat to the American way of life, thus proving that American intervention was due to ideological reasons. 2. “The most important reasons for the problems of the 1970s and 1980s can be found in the Golden Age of Capitalism.” Discuss the validity of this claim with reference to the global economy. The widespread trade liberalisation that underpinned the Golden Age of Capitalism was pivotal in causing the 1973 Oil Shocks as it caused the increasing interconnectedness of the global economy, leaving nations vulnerable to sudden supply shocks. However, the crisis was only triggered when the ME nations decided to impose an embargo on Western nations due to their support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War. It appears that it was Nixon’s decision to devalue the USD in 1973 that ushered in a floating exchange rate system and triggered the end of the Bretton Woods System, leading to the increased currency volatility and instability of the 1970s and 80s. Nonetheless, it was America’s decision to act as the engine of global growth during the GAOC which left her with an unsustainable trade deficit and a huge amount of debt.

Thus, problems from the Golden Age of Capitalism were the foundation for the Crisis Decade, while more recent actions were the trigger for the crises of the 1970s and 80s.

3. “Favourable external circumstances account for the rapid economic growth Taiwan experienced from 1970 – 1990.” How far do you agree with this statement? It appears that Taiwan’s economic miracle between the 1970s and 1990s was by due largely to external cir cumstances as international actors such as Japan invested heavily in Taiwan, enabling Taiwan’s economic growth with their FDI and tech transfer. Moreover, the favourable global trading climate which was characterised by low tariff barriers and high volumes of trade played a big part in allowing Taiwan to leverage an EOI growth model in order to achieve economic success. However, in reality, it was the government’s deliberate decision to woo overseas investment that incentivised FDI to flow into Taiwan in the first place, showing the role that internal factors played in causing external ones. Thus, internal factors were more significant in accounting for the growth of Taiwan than external ones. 4. Discuss the notion that the United Nations was successful in fulfilling its role of maintaining international peace and security from 1945 – 2000. It appeared that the UN was successful in its peacekeeping efforts as it successfully resolved interstate conflicts by taking enforcement action under in order to pro tect states against aggressors. Moreover, it appeared that the UN was able to successfully expand their peacekeeping toolkit from traditional peace enforcement by including peace-making and peacebuilding in order to address a wider range of conflicts. However, a closer examination suggests that the UN’s success was fleeting and more often than not, it failed to achieve its goals. For example, the UN was seldom able to successfully carry out peacekeeping missions due to the abuse of the veto, which stymied action in the SC.. Ultimately, the UN failed as it was only successful when its member states’ national interests coincided with those of the UN, which unfortunately occurred only infrequently. 5. To what extent do you agree that from its inception, the General Assembly was destined to fail? While the General Assembly occasionally achieved success, it is true that the flaws of the Charter doomed it to failure. It appeared as if the GA played a vital role in bringing about international peace and security as it could circumvent the Security Council deadlock by invoking Resolution 377A to convene emergency special sessions. However, the success of the General Assembly was short lived. The changing composition of the General Assembly meant that it wa s unable to circumvent the security council deadlock due to the rise of block politics and the loss of the automatic majority and moreover, 377A was arguably against the spirit of the Charter which accorded only the SC with the main ability to make decisions pertaining to international peace and security. Other resolutions passed by the GA were also not binding and hence, were ineffective. Overall, the General Assembly was designed to be a weaker body than the Security Council in order to ensure the intere sts of the Great Powers, hence explaining why it was doomed if not to total failure, then to a secondary role from the UN’s inception.