NCERT Political Science Class 12 Notes In
English
PART-A Contemporary World Politics
● Chapter 1 The Cold War Era
● Chapter 2 The End of Bipolarity
● Chapter 3 US Hegemony in World Politics
● Chapter 4 Alternative Centres of Power
● Chapter 5 Contemporary South Asia
● Chapter 6 International Organisations
● Chapter 7 Security in the Contemporary World
● Chapter 8 Environment and Natural Resources
● Chapter 9 Globalisation
PART-B Politics in India since Independence
● Chapter 10 Challenges of Nation Building
● Chapter 11 Era of One-Party Dominance
● Chapter 12 Politics of Planned Development
● Chapter 13 India’s External Relations
● Chapter 14 Challenges to and Restoration of Congress System
● Chapter 15 The Crisis of Democratic Order
● Chapter 16 Rise of Popular Movements
● Chapter 17 Regional Aspirations
● Chapter 18 Recent Developments in Indian Politics
Chapter 1 The Cold War Era
Cuban Missile Crisis
● Cuba was an ally of the Soviet Union and received diplomatic and financial
aid from it. In April 1961, leaders of the USSR were worried that the United
States of America would invade communist-ruled Cuba and overthrow its
President Fidel Castro.
● In 1962, the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, placed nuclear
missiles in Cuba for converting it into a Russian base.
● Three weeks later, Americans became aware of it. The US President John F.
Kennedy and his advisers tried to find a solution to avoid full-scale nuclear
war. But they were determined to get Khrushchev to remove the missiles
and nuclear weapons from Cuba.
● Kennedy ordered American warships to intercept any Soviet ships heading
to Cuba as a way of warning the USSR. This clash between the USA and the
USSR came to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. It made the whole
world nervous.
● The Cuban Missile Crisis was a high point which came to be known as the
Cold War. It refers to the competition, the tensions and a series of
confrontations between the United States and Soviet Union.
Cold War
● The Cold War was the war of ideologies. The US followed the ideology of
liberal democracy and capitalism while the USSR backed the ideology of
socialism and communism.
● The Second World War (1939-1945) came to an end with the defeat of the
Axis powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan by the Allied forces led by the
US, Soviet Union, Britain and France.
● It marked the beginning of the Cold War. The Second World War ended
when the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, causing Japan to surrender.
● This decision of the US was both criticised and supported. But the
consequence of the end of the Second World War was the rise of two new
powers on the global stage.
● The United States and the Soviet Union became the greatest powers in the
world with the ability to influence events anywhere on Earth.
● But the Cold War inspite of being an intense form of rivalry between great
powers, remained a ‘cold’ and not hot or shooting war. It was due to the
‘logic of deterrence’.
● The ‘logic of deterrence’ means when both sides have the capacity to
respond against an attack and to cause so much destruction that neither
can afford to initiate war.
● The two superpowers and their allies were expected to behave as rational
and responsible actors.
The Emergence of Two Power Blocs
● The two superpowers i.e. the US and USSR wanted to expand their spheres
of influence in different parts of the world. Hence, they decided to take help
of the smaller countries.
● These smaller states got the promise of protection, weapons and economic
aid against their local rivals, mostly regional neighbours.
● The first division took place in Europe. Most countries of Western Europe
sided with the US and thus, came to be known as ‘Western alliance.
● The countries of the Eastern Europe joined the Soviet camp and came to be
known as ‘Eastern alliance.’
● The Western alliance formed itself into an organisation, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation (NATO). It came into existence in April, 1949 with
twelve states.
● The NATO declared that armed attack on any one of them in Europe or
North America would be regarded as an attack on all of them.
● The Eastern alliance, also known as the Warsaw Pact, was led by the Soviet
Union. It was established in 1955. Its principle function was to counter
NATO’s forces in Europe.
● In East and South East Asia and in West Asia (Middle East), the United
States built an alliance system called the South-East Asian Treaty
Organisation (SEATO) and the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO).
● Many newly independent countries were worried of losing their freedom.
Cracks and splits within the alliances were quick to appear.
● Communist China quarrelled with the USSR towards the late 1950s. The
other important development was the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
● The smaller countries were of more help to the superpowers because they
were the means to gain
vital resources such as oil and minerals; locations to spy each other and to
launch weapons.
Arenas of the Cold War
● The arenas of the Cold War refer to areas where crisis and war occurred or
threatened to occur between the alliance systems but did not cross certain
limits.
● The Cold War was also responsible for several shooting wars.
● The two superpowers were poised for direct encounter in Korea (1950-53),
Berlin
(1958-62), the Congo (the early 1960s) and in several other places.
● Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the key leader of NAM played a key role in
mediating between the two Koreas. In the Congo crisis, the UN Secretary
General played a key mediatory role.
● The US and USSR decided to collaborate in limiting or eliminating certain
kinds of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons.
● The two sides signed three significant agreements within a decade. These
were :
● Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT).
● Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
● Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABMT)
Challenge to Bipolarity
● Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) offered the newly decolonised countries of
Asia, Africa and Latin America a third option i.e. not to join any of the
alliances.
● NAM was founded by three leaders-Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito, India’s
Jawaharlal Nehru and Egypt’s leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Indonesia’s
Sukarno and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah strongly supported them. The first
NAM summit was held in 1961 at Belgrade.
● Non-Alignment neither means isolationism nor neutrality. It played a role in
mediating between the two rival alliances.
New International Economic Order
● The challenge for the newly decolonised countries was to become more
developed economically and to lift their people out of poverty. The idea
of a New International Economic Order (NIEO) originated with this
realisation.
● The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
brought out a report in 1972 entitled ‘Towards a New Trade Policy for
Development’.
● The nature of Non-Alignment changed to give greater importance to
economic issues. As a result,
NAM became an economic pressure group.
India and the Cold War
● India followed a two way policy regarding the Cold War. It did not join any of
the alliances and raised
voice against the newly decolonised countries becoming part of these
alliances.
● The policy of India was not ‘fleeing away’ but was in favour of actively
intervening in world affairs to soften Cold War rivalries.
● The Non-Alignment gave India the power to take international decisions and
to balance one superpower against the other.
● India’s policy of Non-Alignment was criticised on a number of counts. But
still it has become both as an international movement and a core of India’s
foreign policy.
FACTS THAT MATTER
1. Cuban Missile Crisis made whole world nervous by creating clashes between the two
superpowers, the US and Soviet Union namely Cold War.
2. Cold War referred to competitions, tensions and series of confrontations between the
US and USSR.
3. In 1945, with the end of Second World War, Cold War began when the US dropped
bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in diplomatic manner to warn Soviet Union.
4. Both the powers became reluctant to initiate war to protect world from large scale
destruction as they were [Link] that it will not lead only political aim to them.
5. The greed of expansion of their spheres of influence divided the world into alliances.
The
US built NATO, South East Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO) and Central Treaty
Organisation (CENTO).
6. The Soviet UnrIri created Eastern alliance known as WARSAW PACT.
7. Smaller states „Maine either the alliance to get the promise of protection, weapons
and economic aid against their local rivals.
8. Superpower required them to gain on access to vital resources, territory to launch
weapons and troops, to spy on each other and economic support.
9. Despite of occurring crisis in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan, both the superpowers
behaved rationally and responsibly.
10. Both the superpowers maintained ‘arms control’ by signing various treaties as
Limited Test Ban Treaty, Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty.
11. Countries outside the two blocs known as NAM (Non-Aligned Movement), joined by
decolonised countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, played a crucial role in
reducing cold war conflicts to maintain peace and stability all over the world.
12. Five founder members of NAM were Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito, India’s JL Nehru,
Egypt’s leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, Indonesia’s Sukarno and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah.
13. The majority of NAM members was categorised as Least Developed Countries
(LDCs) which initiated economic development under the head of New International
Economic Order (NIEO).
14. The United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) brought out a
report in 1972 to propose to give the LDCs control over their natural resources, to make
western market available to them to reduce cost of technology and to provide greater
role in international economic institutions.
15. India responded to growth of Cold War into two fold. First, it stayed away from
alliances and secondary, it raised voice against newly decolonised countries becoming
part of either the alliance.
16. NAM served India’s interests also to participate in international decisions and
maintained balance between two superpowers.
17. India’s policy was criticised on grounds of possessing contradictory postures i.e.
signed treaty of friendship with the USSR in August 1971 for 20 years and developed
good relations with the US during Bangladesh crisis.
18. It is said that NAM has lost its relevance after disintegration of USSR and end of
cold war in 1991.
19. NAM is based on a resolve to democratise international system to redress existing
inequities that poor and very small countries need not to follow any of the big powers
instead they can pursue an independent foreign policy also.
20. These core values make NAM relevant even in today’s scenario as it has stood of
adverse circumstances and served an important purpose of protecting the interests of
third world countries.
WORDS THAT MATTER
1. Cold War: Cold war referred to competitions, tensions and a series of
confrontations between the US and USSR.
2. Cuban Missile Crisis: It created tensions between the US and USSR when
Soviet Union (USSR) installed missiles in Cuba to make it a Russian base.
3. Allied Forces: Allied forces were one of the two camps during second world
war including the US, Soviet Union, Britain and France.
4. Axis Power: It was another camp against allied forces led by German” Italy
and Japan.
5. Alliance System: Alliance system was created by the two superpowers to
expand their sphere of influence all over the world.
6. Deterrence: It was a logic followed by both the superpowers to avoid large
scale destruction
i. e. not to take place hot war between them because both of them had the
capacity to retaliate.
7. Neutrality: Neutrality is a condition not to participate in world affairs or
make oneself aloof from world.
8. Decolonisation: To make colonised states free from the rule of mother
country.
TIMELINE
● 1947 American President Harry Truman’s Doctrine about containment of
communism.
● 1947-52 Marshall Plan: US aid for reconstruction of Western Europe.
● 1948-49 Berlin blockade by the Soviet Union.
● 1950-53 Korean War
● 1954 Defeat of the French by Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu; Signing of
Geneva Accord; Division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel formation of
SEATO.
● 1954-75 American intervention in Vietnam.
● 1955 Signing of Baghdad Pact, later CENTO.
● 1956 Soviet intervention in Hungary.
● 1961 US-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba construction of Berlin
Wall.
● 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
● 1965 American Intervention in the Dominican Republic
● 1968 Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia.
● 1972 US President Richard Nixon’s visit to China
● 1978-89 Vietnamese intervention in Cambodia
● 1979-89 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan
● 1985 Gorbachev becomes the president of the USSR and begins reform
process.
● 1989 Fall of Berlin Wall
● 1990 Unification of Germany
● 1991 Disintegration of Soviet Union, End of the Cold War era.
