International Relations - II Past Papers Analysis

I. International Relations Between Two Wars

1. What were the foundational principles of Nazism using which Hitler raised to power in Germany? (2019)

2. To what extent did the regime established in Russia by the Bolsheviks represent its revolutionary ideology for consumerism, political stability, law and order and social progress? (2018)

3. Discuss the core causes of “Bolshevik Revolution” in Russia and explain its fundamental political and socio-economic impact on the Western European politics. (2016)

II. Cold War Era

1. Cold war is considered as one of the longest peace in great powers’ history. What deterministic factors ensured relative peace in great powers’ relations during the Cold War? (2019)

2. Evaluate the strength and liabilities of “containment of world revolution policy” during the cold war. (2018)

III. Post-Cold War Era

1. Assess the implications of the revival of multipolarity for medium and small powers. How have states such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Pakistan leveraged the shifting structure of global power to pursue strategic autonomy or hedging strategies? (2026)

2. Compare and contrast Fukuyama’s “End of History” and Huntington’s “Clash of Civilization” in the backdrop of the interpretation of the post-Cold War era. Which interpretation seems more attractive in explaining international politics in the post-Cold War era? (2024)

3. John Mearsheimer blames the United States for the ongoing Ukraine Crisis. How do you assess this crisis? Support your argument by drawing empirical evidence from the conflict scenarios. (2023)

4. What are the various strand of the Indo-Pacific construct of the U.S and its allies? What are the options for Pakistan to deal with the significance assigned to India in the Indo-pacific region? (2023)

5. What are the key features of the US new info pacific strategi under Joe Biden’s administration? How does it treat China. (2022)

6. What are the Russian objectives behind the military intervention in Ukraine? Discuss whether the western sanctions can prove effective as an instruments to counter the Russian act. (2022)

7. What are China’s interest in Afghanistan? Discuss it role and options in the country following the US exit. (2022)

8. Differentiate between Washington consensus and Beijing consensus. Is Beijing consensus a challenge to the Washington consensus? (2020)

9. World orders are established by great powers in order to serve their interests. What are the foundations of existing world order(s) and how do they serve the interests of great powers? (2019)

10. An analysis of the anatomy of foreign policy is an essential pre-requisite to an understanding of the dynamics of International Relations. Analyze the central theme of Pakistan’s foreign policy in the war against terrorism? (2018)

11. The manner in which a nation’s ideology dominates its foreign policy is constantly in confusion. Explore the relationship between capitalist democracy and foreign policy of United States of America. (2018)

12. Critically analyze Samuel P. Huntington’s concept of “Clash of Civilizations”. Define its main characteristics and explain its devastating consequences on the different leading civilizations of the nations. (2016)

13. Pakistan has formally joined Saudi Arabia’s led 34-state Islamic military alliance to contain terrorism and extremism in Southwest Asia. Critically discuss whether or not Pakistan participates in the newly formed military alliance against terrorism and explain its political, socio-cultural and strategic implications on the country. (2016)

IV. International & Regional Organizations

1. How are international financial institutions i.e., FATF, IMF and multilateral organization used as tool of coercion and what are options for countries like Pakistan to safeguard their interests? (2023)

2. Why and when was the BRICS established? Which countries are part of BRICS? (2021)

3. SAARC is facing an existential crisis. How do functionalists explain the failure of SAARC as a regional organisation? (2019)

4. Determine the factors in emergence of Neoliberal Institutionalism; highlight your discussion with practices of International Financial Institutions and Pakistan. (2017)

5. Critically evaluate the effectiveness of international counter-terrorism frameworks, focusing on UN Security Council resolutions and FATF measures. Assess their impact in disrupting terrorist networks, citing specific examples of successes and challenges. (2026)

6. Critically analyze the United Nations reform proposals put forward by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, specifically focusing on Model A and Model B for Security Council restructuring. Discuss the key features, differences, and potential implications of each model for the effectiveness, legitimacy, and representativeness of the UN Security Council. In your answer, consider both the challenges and opportunities these reforms might present for global governance. (2026)

7. Critically discuss the fundamental factors of “Greece Economic Crisis” which need huge financial assistance from European Union and IMF as a debt relief to create “a breathing space” to stabilize economy and explain out-of-the-box solution for the crisis-ridden country. (2016)

V. Foreign Policy of Selected Countries

1. Under President Putin, Russian foreign policy has experienced a revival. Russia is back on the world stage and projecting its power through economic and less politico-military means. Comment. (2024)

2. Recent relationship between the US and China seems to be prey to Thucydides a trap. Can America and China escape it? Analyze it keeping in view the recent trends in international politics. (2024)

3. Graham Allison has devised different models for making choices in foreign policy decisions. Compare and contrast the Rational Actor Model and the Bureaucratic Politics Model to illustrate foreign policy decisions. Which model better explains Pakistan’s decision in 2015 to decline Saudi Arabia’s call for armed support in the Yemen war? (2024)

4. Give a critical appraisal of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy in perspective of Climate Change. (2021)

5. Discuss Russia’s return to South Asia and United States’ Indo-Pacific Strategy. (2020)

6. How do rational theories of foreign policy explain state-decision making? Discuss the tenets of the theory in light of the decision made by Pakistan in response to Saudi request of sending troops during Yemen crisis in 2015. (2019)

7. Discuss “Nuclear Factor” as one of the major determinants of international politics with reference to USA, India and Pakistan. (2017)

8. Discuss the moral imperatives of “Indian Foreign Policy” with the contending spirit of “Panchsheel” and evaluate how much it helps to strengthen diplomatic objectives of the country’s foreign policy? (2016)

9. Discuss the “Moral Dimensions of Pakistan’s Nuclear Program”. Explain its essential features and justify its offensive gesture which maintained the national and regional strategic balance. (2016)

VI. South Asian Region

1. How did Operation Bunyan-ul-Marsoos illustrate shifts in conventional military posture and nuclear deterrence dynamics between India and Pakistan? Critically evaluate the strategic, operational, and diplomatic successes of Pakistan during the May 2025 Four-Day War with reference to escalation control, signaling, and crisis-stability mechanisms. (2026)

2. Provide the key provisions of the 2020 Doha Agreement and critically analyze the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Evaluate whether the Doha framework functioned as a peace settlement, an exit strategy, or a negotiated surrender. Support your discussion with reference to power asymmetries, Afghan state capacity, and regional geopolitical calculations. (2026)

3. Pakistan and India are nuclear-armed neighbours. The normalization of the bilateral relationship between them has not become possible despite several peace initiatives like the Simla Accord and the Composite Dialogue. Is sustained peace possible between them? (2024)

4. Write detailed note on evolving domestic political dynamics of Afghanistan in the wake of U.S. withdrawal from the country. Discuss key constraints to Pakistan’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan. (2023)

5. How has Indian’s scrapping of its constitutional law (articles 370 and 35A) that grants special status to the Indian-administered Kashmir impacted the legal standing of Kashmir dispute? (2023)

6. Why does South Asia remain the least integrated region in the World? What lessons can SAARC draw from the EU and ASEAN experience in regional integration? (2022)

7. How has the nuclear doctrines of India and Pakistan evolved? What do their current doctrines imply for deterrence Stability in South Asia? (2022)

8. Comment in detail on mechanism of conflict resolution between Pakistan and Afghanistan and on Durand line issue. (2020)

9. One of the most serious dilemmas of the South-Asian politics is the contentious relations between Pakistan and India. What measures would you consider for normalization between the two neighbours? (2018)

10. The most compelling challenge facing Afghanistan today is, dealing with Afghan Taliban. What do you think of a political engagement and accommodation between Afghan government and Taliban giving way to stability in the region? (2018)

11. Evaluate the significance of conflict between India and Pakistan in global perspective of terrorism. (2017)

12. How can the energy Crisis of Pakistan be resolved? Emphasize your discussion vis-a-vis China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. (2017)

13. Evaluate the significance of water conflict between India and Pakistan in perspective of Indus Water Treaty. (2017)

14. Critically discuss main political, socio-economic and strategic hurdles between “Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations” and how can both countries come out from the Cold War scenario? (2016)

VII. Weapons of Mass Destruction

1. What benefits India might have gained by joining Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)? Highlight possible impacts it may have upon strategic stability in South Asia. (2019)

VIII. Contemporary Issues

1. With the Abraham Accords between Israel and some Arab states, how has the October 2023 Israel-Gaza war impacted the broader dynamics of the Arab-Israeli conflict particularly prospects for the two-state solution? (2024)

2. With the evolving situation in Afghanistan, how does China engage with Pakistan to ensure stability in the region, and what are the shared strategic interests and potential divergences between the two countries in the context of post-withdrawal Afghanistan? (2024)

3. What could be the reasons of emerging water conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan? (2021)

4. Discuss National Energy Policy of Pakistan in the context of CPEC signed in 2015. (2021)

5. Prepare a study in which you assess the possibility of settlement of the Kashmir conflict such as in the case of East Timor or Bosnian crisis? (2018)

IX. Other Issues

1. How is a trade war defined in contemporary international relations? Assess the economic and strategic consequences of the US-China trade war. Analyze how it has affected global trade flows, investment patterns, and technology transfer. Support your answer with relevant examples and evidence. (2026)

2. China currently controls the overwhelming majority of global rare earth mining and processing capacity. Analyze how this near-monopoly shapes the strategic, technological, and defense vulnerabilities of the United States and Europe. Support your discussion with relevant examples of rare earth elements and their critical applications. (2026)

3. Pakistan is reckoned among the top 10 most vulnerable countries to climate change. What urgent policy measures Pakistan need to initiate to mitigate the climate effects? (2023)

4. Pakistan has affirmed its commitment to the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How modest is Pakistan’s progress on SDGs and what are the challenges that Pakistan faces in realizing these goals? (2023)

5. Define “Balancing Act” in international relations. What are Pakistan imperatives and constraints with regard to maintaining balancing in relations with the major powers. (2022)

6. Examine the achievements and challenges in EU Pakistan relations form the Perspective of international political economy. (2022)

7. Examine China Strategic Vision behind ‘The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)’, also known as the One Belt One Road (OBOR). (2021)

8. What is pandemic? How can the pandemic management strategy be made part of the governance systems of Pakistan? (2021)

9. How can Pakistan develop credible capabilities to deter ‘Hybrid’ warfare? (2021)

10. What are the multidimensional and multi faced impacts of climate change on multiple dimensions of security? Identify each, discuss and analyze under the theoretical framework of Security and International Relations. (2020)

11. What are the four essentials of Resource Management? When does a resource become an element of power “OR” a resource curse? Discuss the Reko-Diq case in this context. (2020)

12. Why is difficult to define terrorism? Elaborate upon the following: (a) Feminization of terrorism (b) Criminalization of terrorism (c) Commercialization of terrorism (d) State-terrorism (2020)

13. Explain the following diagram in the light of multi-track diplomacy. Which is the most important track of diplomacy and why? (2020)

14. What are the major prescriptions of structural adjustment and stabilisation of the World Bank and IMF vis-a-vis Pakistan. (2019)

15. Elaborate Systems Thinking Theory in view of Pakistan and Globalization. (2017)

16. Pakistan is one of the top 10 countries hit by global climate change trends: what can be the ways and means to manage climate change trends? (2017)

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