UPSC 2014 International Relations Previous Year Questions

Question 1

Consider the following pairs: Region often in news - Country: 1. Chechnya - Russian Federation 2. Darfur - Mali 3. Swat Valley - Iraq Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?

Accepted Answer

Correct Option: A. 1 only | 2 and 3 only | 1 and 3 only | 1, 2 and 3. Chechnya is in the Russian Federation. Darfur is in Sudan, not Mali, and Swat Valley is in Pakistan, not Iraq.

Question 2

Consider the following countries: 1. Denmark 2. Japan 3. Russian Federation 4. United Kingdom 5. United States of America Which of the above are the members of the 'Arctic Council?

Accepted Answer

Correct Option: D. 1, 2 and 3 | 2, 3 and 4 | 1, 4 and 5 | 1, 3 and 5. The Arctic Council members include Arctic states such as Denmark, the Russian Federation and the United States. Japan and the United Kingdom are observers/non-Arctic states, not members.

Question 3

Recently, a series of uprisings of people referred to as 'Arab Spring' originally started from

Accepted Answer

Correct Option: D. Egypt | Lebanon | Syria | Tunisia. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia after protests triggered by Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in late 2010.

Question 4

With reference to a grouping of countries known as BRICS, consider the following statements 1. The First Summit of BRICS was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2009. 2. South Africa was the last to join the BRICS grouping. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Accepted Answer

Correct Option: B. 1 only | 2 only | Both 1 and 2 | Neither 1 nor 2. The first BRIC summit was held at Yekaterinburg, Russia in 2009, not Rio de Janeiro. South Africa joined later, making it BRICS, so statement 2 alone is correct.

UPSC 2014 International Relations PYQs with Answers