Contemporary

World Politics
Textbook in Political Science for Class XII

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 12107 – Contemporary World Politics
ISBN 81-7450-693-4
Textbook for Class XII

First Edition
February 2007 Phalguna 1928
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Reprinted  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
January 2008, March 2009 or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
January 2010, March 2013 photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the
publisher.
January 2014, December 2014
 This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of
January 2016, February 2017 trade, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the
January 2018, January 2019 publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in
December 2019, March 2021 which it is published.
December 2021, February 2022  The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page,
Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any
other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
Revised Edition
October 2022, Aashwin 1944
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION
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About the cover

The stamps on the cover page are
designed by the United Nations Publication Team
Postal Administration portraying Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
various contemporary world issues. Division
Chief Editor : Shveta Uppal
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
Officer
Chief Business : Amitabh Kumar
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT Manager (In charge)
watermark Assistant Production : Sunil Kumar
Officer
Published at the Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training, Cover and Layout Illustrations
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016 Shweta Rao Irfaan
and printed at Saraswati Offset Printers
(P) Ltd., A-5, Naraina Industrial Area,
Phase-II, Naraina, New Delhi 110 028

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 iii

Foreword

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005, recommends that children’s life
at school must be linked to their life outside the school. This principle marks a
departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system
and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks
developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They
also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries
between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly
further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National
Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school principals and
teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue
imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that given space, time and
freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on
to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination
is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored.
Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as
participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines and mode of functioning.
Flexibility in the daily timetable is as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual
calendar so that the required number of teaching days is actually devoted to teaching.
The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this
textbook proves for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than
a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem
of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages
with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching.
The textbook attempts to enhance this endeavour by giving higher priority and space
to opportunities for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and
activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) appreciates
the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this
book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Sciences,
Professor Hari Vasudevan, the Chief Advisors, Professor Yogendra Yadav and Professor
Suhas Palshikar and the Advisor, Professor Kanti Bajpai for guiding the work of
this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook;
we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the
institutions and organisations which have generously permitted us to draw upon
their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members
of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary
and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development under the

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 iv

Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G.P. Deshpande, for their
valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and
continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments
and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.

Director
New Delhi National Council of Educational
20 November 2006 Research and Training

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 Rationalisation of Content
in the Textbooks

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to reduce content load on students.

The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load
and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this
background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks
across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes
have been taken into consideration in this exercise.

Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following:

• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject areas in the same class

• Similar content included in the lower or higher class in the same subject

• Difficulty level

• Content, which is easily accessible to students without much interventions from

teachers and can be learned by children through self-learning or peer-learning

• Content, which is irrelevant in the present context

This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying out the changes given above.

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 vii

Preface
Contemporary World Politics is part of the NCERT’s effort to help students understand
politics. Other books for students of Political Science in Classes XI and XII deal with
various facets of politics — the Indian Constitution, politics in India, and political
theory. Contemporary World Politics enlarges the scope of politics to the world stage.
The new Political Science syllabus has finally given space to world politics. This
is a vital development. As India becomes more prominent in international politics
and as events outside the country influence our lives and choices, we need to know
more about the world outside. International affairs are discussed with great passion
in India, but not always with sufficient understanding. We tend to rely on the daily
newspaper, television, and casual conversation for our knowledge of how the world
works. We hope this book will help students comprehend what is happening outside
and India’s relations with it.
Before we go any further, it is necessary to say something about why the book
is titled ‘world politics’ rather than the more traditional ‘international politics’ or
‘international relations’. In this world, the relationship between governments of
different countries, or what we call international politics or international relations, is of
course crucial. In addition, though, there are vital connections between governments,
non-government institutions, and ordinary people. These are often referred to as
transnational relations. To understand the world, it is not possible any longer to
understand only the links between governments. It is necessary to understand what
happens across boundaries also — and governments are not the only agents of what
happens.
In addition, world politics includes politics within other countries, understood in
comparative perspective. For instance, the chapter on events in the “second world”
of the communist countries after the Cold War deals with internal developments in
this region. The South Asia chapter presents the state of democracy amongst India’s
neighbours. This is the field of comparative politics.
The book is concerned with world politics as it is today, more or less. It does
not deal with world politics through the 19th or 20th centuries. The politics of those
eras is dealt with in the History textbooks. We deal with the 20th century only to the
extent that it is the background to present events and trends.
How should you use this book? Our hope is that this book will serve as an
introduction to world politics. Teachers and students will use the book as a springboard
to find out more about contemporary world politics. Each chapter will give you a certain
amount of information. It will also, though, give you some useful concepts with which
to understand the world: the Cold War; international organisations; national security
and human security; environmental security; globalisation; and so on.
Each chapter begins with an overview to quickly give you an idea of what to expect.
Each chapter also has maps, tables, graphics, boxes, cartoons, and other illustrations
to enliven your reading and to get you to reflect on world politics by provoking,
challenging, or amusing you. The characters — Unni and Munni, introduced in earlier
books, reappear. They ask their innocent, often mischievous, frequently probing
questions. The chapters have suggestions on group activity (“Let’s Do It Together”)—
collecting materials together, solving an international problem, making you negotiate
as if you were a diplomat. Then there are the “plus boxes” which provide information

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 viii

not so much for tests and examination questions but rather to fill out knowledge,
to summarise information that would burden the text, and, sometimes, to urge you
to think further about the subject. The exercises at the end of each chapter should
help review materials that you have read and take you beyond what has been said
in the chapter.
You will notice also that the book is filled with maps. It is difficult if not impossible
to understand world politics without a sense of where various places are located,
who lives next door to whom, where boundaries, rivers, and other political and
geographical features are in relation to each other. We have, therefore, been quite
liberal in providing maps. These maps are to help orient you, to visualise the political
and geographical spaces that you read about. They are not intended to be things you
have to draw and memorise for tests!
This brings us to a crucial point about how to use the book. We have made a
conscious effort not to load you down with information—with names, dates, events.
We have tried to keep these to a minimum. The idea is not for you to become an expert
on world politics but instead to begin to grapple with the complexity and urgency of
this new world around us. At the same time, should you wish to know more about
world politics, you can consult the various sources mentioned separately under, “If
you want to read more…”.
If the book succeeds in stimulating you, in making you ask even more questions
than we have posed for you, and in making you impatient with what you have read
here, then we have succeeded! We sincerely hope that you will like this book and find
it engaging and useful.
We are grateful to Professor Krishna Kumar, Director, NCERT, for his support and
guidance in the preparation of this book. He encouraged us in making this book as
student-friendly as possible. He also patiently waited for the final draft of the book.
Contemporary World Politics would not have been possible without the valuable
time and academic expertise of the members of the Textbook Development Committee.
Each of the members gave us their precious time and set aside prior commitments
at various junctures. Professor Sanjay Chaturvedi and Dr. Siddharth Mallavarapu
deserve our special thanks for their help in selecting maps and in editing the text. We
are grateful for the devotion and sincerity of Dr. M. V. S. V. Prasad, the coordinator of
this textbook from the NCERT, as also Mr. Alex M. George and Mr. Pankaj Pushkar
who worked day and night to ensure the quality of the text, the authenticity of the
contents, and above all, the readability of this book. Ms. Padmavathi worked on all
the exercises. The designer of this book, Ms. Shweta Rao, gave the book the attractive
look and feel that it has. Without their unstinting and creative help, we could not
have produced the book in its present form.

Kanti Bajpai Yogendra Yadav, Suhas Palshikar

Advisor Chief Advisors

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 ix

Textbook Development Committee

Chairperson, Advisory Committee for Textbooks at the Senior Secondary Level

Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata

Chief Advisors
Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS),
Delhi

Suhas Palshikar, Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration,

University of Pune, Pune

Advisor
Kanti P. Bajpai, Headmaster, The Doon School, Dehradun

Members
Alex M. George, Independent Researcher, Eruvatty, District Kannur, Kerala
Anuradha M. Chenoy, Professor, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, SIS,
JNU, New Delhi
Madhu Bhalla, Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi
Navnita Chadha Behera, Reader, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi,
Delhi
Padmavathi, B.S., Faculty, Social Sciences, International Academy for Creative
Teaching (iACT), Bangalore
Pankaj Pushkar, Senior Lecturer, Directorate of Higher Education (Uttarakhand),
Haldwani
Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, Reader, Department of Political Science, Rabindra
Bharati University, Kolkata
Samir Das, Reader, Department of Political Science, University of Calcutta, Kolkata
Sanjay Chaturvedi, Reader, Centre for Study of Geopolitics, Department of Political
Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh
Sanjay Dubey, Reader, DESSH, NCERT
Shibashis Chatterjee, Lecturer, Department of International Relations, Jadavpur
University, Kolkata
Siddharth Mallavarapu, Assistant Professor, Centre for International Politics,
Organisation and Disarmament, SIS, JNU, New Delhi
Varun Sahni, Professor, Centre for International Politics, Organisation and
Disarmament, SIS, JNU, New Delhi

Member-coordinator
Malla V. S. V. Prasad, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social Sciences and
Humanities (DESSH), NCERT, New Delhi

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Acknowledgements

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) acknowledges all
those who contributed – directly and indirectly – to the development of this textbook.

We offer thanks to Professor Savita Sinha, Head, DESSH for her support. We gratefully
acknowledge the efforts of the administrative staff of DESSH.

We want to record our sincere appreciation of the generous institutional support

provided by the Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
(CSDS). We would like to thank Professor Peter R. De Souza, Director, Lokniti, in
particular.

The Council gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the following individuals and
institutions: Mr. Robert W. Gray, Chief, United Nations Postal Administration, New
York for granting approval to use UN stamps; Professor K. C. Suri for valuable inputs;
Cagle Cartoons Inc. for providing copyrights of the cartoons of Andy Singer, Angel
Boligan, Ares, Cam Cardow, Christo Komarnitski, Deng Coy Miel, Harry Harrison,
Mike Lane, Milt Priggee, Pat Bagley, Petar Pismestrovic and Tab; Mr. Kutty (Laughing
with Kutty), The Hindu, and Pakistan Tribune for the cartoons; cartoonist Irfaan
Khan for the drawings; M/s. Cartographic Designs for providing two maps (India
and its neighbours and the world map); the Parliament Library, the United Nations
Information Centre, New Delhi and Gobar Times (Down to Earth supplements) for
providing materials; and wikipedia and flickr.com (downloaded before 31 Dec 2006)
for providing images.

The production of the book benefited greatly from the efforts of the Publications
Department. Our special thanks to Purnendu Kumar Barik, Copy Editor, and
Neelam Walecha, DTP Operator.

The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for analysing syllabi, textbooks and
the content proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Kavita Jain, PGT, Political
Science, G.D. Goenka Public School, Model Town, New Delhi; Maneesha Pandey,
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Hindu College, Delhi University;
Shankar Saran, Professor, DESS, NCERT, New Delhi; Vanthangpui Khobung,
Assistant Professor, DESS, NCERT, New Delhi; and Sunita Kathuria, PGT, Political
Science, MCL Saraswati Bal Mandir, New Delhi.

Request for Feedback

How did you like this textbook? What was your experience in reading or using this? What were the difficulties you
faced? What changes would you like to see in the next version of this book?
Write to us on all these and any other matter related to this textbook. You could be a teacher, a parent, a student
or just a general reader. We value any and every feedback.
Please write to:
Coordinator (Political Science)
DESS, NCERT, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016

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 xi

Contents

Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Preface vii

Chapter 1
The End of Bipolarity 1

Chapter 2
Contemporary Centres of Power 15

Chapter 3
Contemporary South Asia 29

Chapter 4
International Organisations 45

Chapter 5
Security in the Contemporary World 63

Chapter 6
Environment and Natural Resources 81

Chapter 7
Globalisation 99

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 If You Want to Read More ...

Where can you read more on contemporary world politics? There are hundreds of
thousands of sources, but here are a few suggestions. We focus here on English
language sources. These are by no means the only good sources, but they are easier
for Indian students to access.
Wikipedia (on the net) often has interesting entries on many of the subjects,
countries, people, and events referred to in the book. Encyclopaedias such as the
Encyclopaedia Britannica are rich sources of information. There are many more
advanced introductory books on world politics. Some useful and fairly contemporary
ones include The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International
Relations edited by John Baylis, Steve Smith and Patricia Owens (Oxford University
Press, 2004), The Global Future: A Brief Introduction to World Politics by Charles W.
Kegley and Gregory A. Raymond (Wadsworth Publishing, 2007), United States and
the Great Powers: World Politics in the Twenty-First Century by Barry Buzan (Polity
Press, 2004), International Relations by Joshua S. Goldstein and Jon C. Pevehouse
(Longman, 2005) and World Politics by Peter Calvocoressi (Longman, 2001).
Among the magazines you could read regularly are Frontline, India Today, Outlook
and The Week, all Indian publications. Also in India, there are more academic journals
such as China Report, Economic and Political Weekly, India International Centre
Quarterly, India Quarterly, International Studies, Seminar, South Asian Survey, Strategic
Analysis and World Affairs. Outside India, there are a huge number of journals but
the most popular include the following US and British journals: Atlantic Monthly, The
Economist, The National Interest, Newsweek and Time. The American journals, Foreign
Affairs and Foreign Policy will give you an idea how leading US thinkers regard the
world. Among the academic journals, internationally, are Alternatives, Arms Control
Today, Asian Security, Asian Survey, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, China Quarterly,
Comparative Politics, European Journal of International Relations, Global Governance,
Harvard International Review, India Review, International Affairs, International Journal,
International Organization, International Security, Millennium, Orbis, Pacific Affairs,
Review of International Studies, Russian Review, Survival, Security Dialogue, Security
Studies, Slavic Review, World Policy Journal, World Politics and YaleGlobal Online.
Of course, you should get into the habit of reading the daily newspaper and
keeping up with what is going on in the world. The television news channels also
report regularly on world events: do watch the world unfold before your eyes!

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