MI H1 HIST P1 Answer

Answer Scheme for 2015 Promotional Examination 2 PU2 H2 History Paper 1 Setter: Jake Answer Scheme: Adilah How far do Sources A to E support the view that the Cold War enhanced the ability of the UN Secretary General to maintain international peace and stability? Sources L2/3 (Analysis) L4/5 (CK/CR) L4/5 (Tone/Provenance/Purpose/u sefulness) A- From an essay by an America n professo r of law, publishe d in 1995. S – “It was the institutional paralysis created by the Cold War which gave the Secretary-General the elbow room for bold initiatives” such as Trygve Lie used the communist infiltration in Greece to establish a legitimate and impartial role for his office. By mid-eigthies, “the office of the Secretary General had gained in stature in relation to other UN organs.” CR – Source C Role of Sec -Gen expanded through the dispute settlement role “that was clearly separate from other UN political organs”. Source C mentioned about the creative interpretations of his role and expansion of his scope of responsibility, which can be seen in Source A’s Trygve Lie usin g the dispute settlement role in Greece. CK – the time of 1995 can be said to be the post-Cold War period and thus a period of optimism under the ‘new world order’ especially for US. Being American, the writer might be reflecting the mood of his time, due to the expansion of the role of the Unite d Nations and the closer relations between US and UN during this time as well, with its scope enlarging to humanitarian efforts as well. This can be further seen in the fact that the author described how the UN and the Security Council was “constrained by Cold War politics” even up Provenance: As a professor of law, he would have done in depth research and would thus be accurate in his analysis. Usefulness: However, being in 1995, it is also known that the UN had largely failed in the African region, for example in 1994 the Security Council passed a resolution to withdraw troops from Rwanda. In Somalia two UN operations broke down in failure such that Boutros Boutros-Ghali called for a new division of labour between UN and regional forces. Thus this source is limited by its time in showing the subsequent failures of the UN Sec-Gen.

2 Sources L2/3 (Analysis) L4/5 (CK/CR) L4/5 (Tone/Provenance/Purpose/u sefulness) till the mid -eighties, thus Cold War having ended by the time this source was written, the ‘constraints’ would no longer be there. B- From a book written by a retired British ambassa dor to the United Nations, 1995. C – The Secretary - Generals did not receive the “minimal support” they needed such as Da g Hammorsjkold who if he had not died in 1961, would have been a cause for failure attributed by the Soviet Union. The source mentioned that subsequent Secretary - Generals “went out of their way to avoid giving offence to major UN players, in particular the two superpowers.” CR – Source B mentioned that U Thant went out of his way to avoid offending the superpowers. However, Source E counters this in showing that due to U Thant’s mediation, Khruschev accepted his proposals to stop shipping missiles to Cuba a nd US agreed to suspend its blockade. This could however, explain that the success for U Thant in this case was less due to his credibility but due to the willingness of Kennedy and Khruschev to avoid a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Provenance: Being a former British ambassador to the United Nations, the author would have had the relevant experience and expertise to share his views and analysis on the role of the Secretary General during the Cold War. Furthermore, the source being n 1995 whi ch was the end of the Cold War, the author would no longer have the vested interest to defend the United Nations and could thus be relating his opinions on hindsight. C- From a book written by a UN administr ator, 2006. S- In spite of the problem of dead lock in the Security Council, the Secretary Generals could overcome this “through creative interpretations of his role” and thus played an essential role in being “the only channel of communication between the parties concerned”. CR – Source A similarly t alked about the “pacific settlement of disputes” which was used by the Secretary General to expand his role, and this can be seen in Source A’s “Past UN Secretary - Generals created a dispute settlement role that was clearly separate from other UN political organs”. Source D similarly talked about the constraints of deadlock and “paralysis” of Cold War politics when “powerful states Provenance: Being from a book written by a UN administrator, the author would thus be biased towards defending UN and past Sec-Gens. The source would also have vested interest to defend in light of the fact that the book is meant to be read by public audience. Tone: The positive portrayal can be backed up by the tone of the source which emphasised the very significant role of the Sec-Gen through phrases such as “undefined good offices role of the Secretary -General.” And being “the ONLY channel of communication”.

3 Sources L2/3 (Analysis) L4/5 (CK/CR) L4/5 (Tone/Provenance/Purpose/u sefulness) increasingly put the UN in the periphery of their foreign policy.” Thus D contradicts Source C in saying that the Sec -Gens were not able to overcome the constraints placed by Cold War antagonisms after all. D- From an article written by an academi c from the United Nations Universit y at Tokyo, 2007. The source described the multitudes of problems faced by past Secretary Generals such as U Thant, Kurt Waldheim and Javier Perez de Cuellar, as a result of po werful states putting UN “at the periphery of their foreign policy”, meaning that the UN was constantly put under a quagmire due to the differing national interests of the various states whether great power or Third World. CR – Source B also mentioned the issue of great power politics in hampering the effectiveness of the Sec-Gen in the example of Dag Hammarsjkold’s relationship with the Soviet Union. Due to this therefore, Sec - Gens were forced to acquiesce to major UN players. In fact Source D, though s upporting the hypothesis, reflects this issue of UN Sec - Gen being subjected to the whims of major players, as seen in the Cuban Missile Crisis were U Thant’s proposals could only work when the superpowers felt that it was in their own domestic interests to cooperate to avoid a nuclear fallout. Provenance: Being from an academic at the UN university in Tokyo, the source can be relied on to be impartial and credible in having done in depth research to provide accurate analysis. Furthermore, the author is in no way affiliated to the United Nations and thus can be counted on to be academically objective. The year 2007 also places some historical distance between the Cold War and the time of the source. Tone: Tone of the source can be said the quite criticisin g of the UN Sec -Gen, using words such as “quagmire of paralysis” “hampered” and “thwarted”. However, this could simply be the opinion of the author and has nothing to do with vested interests. E – From a newspap er report written at the time of the CMC, 1962. The superpowers could be seen cooperating and agreeing to U Thant’s proposals “under which the US would suspend its blockade for two or three weeks, while the Soviet Union stopped shipping it s missile to CK – Based on Contextual Knowledge, we know that the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis at this time was largely a result of th e two superpowers separate negotiations with each other Provenance: Being a newspaper report from during the Cuban Missile Crisis itse