NCERT Solutions For Class 12 Political Science Chapter 12 Security in the Contemporary world

Terrorism is a non-traditional threat to security as it is goal-oriented political weapon. It is war against democracy and a crime against humanity.

• Terrorism refers to political violence to target civilians and army deliberately and indiscriminately.
• Civilians are targeted to be terrorised, to use them as a weapon into a war.
• Even the US superpower could not escape itself from terrorism and it became a global phenomenon, i.e. terrorist attack on World Trade Center on 11^th September, 2011.

• Nuclear weapons have limited usage due to arms-control method of cooperation. One of the arms-control treaty was the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 to regulate the acquisition of nuclear weapons.
• As per this treaty those countries that had tested and manufactured nuclear weapons before 1967 were allowed to keep their weapons and those that had not done so were to give up the right to acquire them.
• The NPT did not abolish nuclear weapons rather it limited the number of countries that could have them.

• Yes, the statement is correct because in some situations one country may have to disproportionately bear the brunt of a global problem,i.e. environmental degradation causing a serious threat to security.
• For example - Due to global warming, the rise in the sea level by 1.5 - 2.0 meters would flood 20% of Bangladesh, inundate most of Maldives and threaten nearly half the population of Thailand. Hence, international cooperation is vital due to global nature of these problems.
• The Kyoto protocol in 1997 worked out a roadmap to put a check on global warming through reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases. India also joined 160 nations that have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

Traditional security perspective focuses on compromises to limit the violence by giving following choices to the state if its security is threatened.

• Surrendering when actually confronted by war, but they will not advertise this as policy of country.
• Preventing the other side from attacking by promising to raise the costs of wars to an unacceptable level.
• Defending to protect itself when war actually breaks out so as to deny the attacking country its objectives and to turn back or to defeat the attacking forces altogether.
• Hence, state’s security policy is to prevent war which is called deterrence and with limiting or heading war called defence.

Terrorism is a non-traditional threat to derail the peace and order in the country.

• Terrorism refers to forceful and unlawful political violence to target civilians, army personnel, political figure, etc. deliberately and indiscriminately.
• Civilians are usually terrorised to be it as a weapon against national governments and other parties in conflict.
• Terrorism involves hijacking planes, killing, blackmailing, intimidation, planting bombs in public or crowded places, cafes, markets, public transport, etc.
• After the 9/11 attack, the other governments and public have also became sensitive to the issue of terrorism.

Following are the objectives of the military alliances:

• Alliance building is a critical component to deal traditional security threats between states and nations to deter or defend against military attacks.
• Most alliances are formalised in written treaties and identification of who constitutes the threats.
• Alliances are formed to increase their effective power relative to another alliance.
• Alliances are based on national interests and can change when national interest change.
• For example:
  • The US first backed the Islamic militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
  • Later they attacked them when Al Qaeda—a group of Islamic militants led by Osama bin Laden—launched terrorist strikes against America on 11 September 2001.

• It is balance between bigger and smaller countries by cooperating with each other economically and technologically.
• When countries look around them, they see that some countries are bigger and stronger. This is a clue to who might be a threat in the future. For instance, a neighbouring country may not say it is preparing for attack.
• There may be no obvious reason for attack. But the fact that this country is very powerful is a sign that at some point in the future it may choose to be aggressive.
• Governments are, therefore, very sensitive to the balance of power between their country and other countries.
• They do work hard to maintain a favourable balance of power with other countries, especially those close by, those with whom they have differences, or with those they have had conflicts in the past.

A good part of maintaining a balance of power is to build up one’s military power, although economic and technological power are also important since they are the basis for military power.

The differences in the threats that people in the Third world and those living in the First world face are presented below:

• The newly independent countries faced the military conflicts even with their neighbouring states.
• These countries faced threats not only from outside their borders, mostly from neighbours, but also from within.
• Internally, new states worried about threats from separatist movements which wanted to form independent countries.
• Sometimes, the external and internal threats merged.
• For the new states, external wars with neighbours and internal wars posed a serious challenge to their security.

In India, the traditional security has been given more priority due to threats from within as well as outside its borders. This can be substantiated from the following:

1. Strengthening the military capability is the basic norm of traditional security.

• In the past, India has faced conflicts with its neighbour like Pakistan in 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and 1999 and with China in 1962.
• India conducted nuclear test in 1998 to justify its stand against nuclear armed countries of South Asian Region.

2. To strengthen international norms and institutions, is also a component of traditional security. It is cooperative security that India seeks. India has so far failed in her efforts to attain non-traditional security. This is because eradication of poverty, setting up social justice and economic justice, tackling migration problems and mitigation of health epidemics are components of non-traditional security.
3. To meet security challenges within the country
4. To develop its economy.

a. Non-Traditional Security Concern

b. Non-Traditional Security Concern

c. Traditional

d. Not a Threat

e. Not a Threat