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IASbabas International Relations Strategy/Paper 2 UPSC Mains

Examination
IASbaba

Introduction
Decoding Directives
Paper 1
Paper 2
International Relations
Paper 3
Paper 4

STRATEGY FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The syllabus of International Relations (IR) in GS Paper II is given below:

India and its neighborhood- relations.

Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting Indias interests
Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on Indias interests, Indian diaspora.
Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate.

Sources and resources:

Pax Indica by Shashi Tharoor- Voluntary
Indias Foreign Policy: Coping with the Changing World by Muchkund Dubey
World Focus Magazine
The Hindu
Live Mint
Indian Express articles by C Rajamohan
IDSA
MEA Website
MEA Annual Report

Note Do not panic about lots of sources. IASbaba will be covering them all
Any one of them will suffice.

Pax Indica and Muchkund Dubey-

Introduction
IR is the most dynamic portion of the UPSC Mains syllabus. One needs to keep a tab on all the recent developments
happening around the world that directly or indirectly affect India. IR is also one of the most analytical segments of the
syllabus. A thorough understanding is required and thus superficial knowledge is of no use as far as IR is concerned.
Many candidates find it difficult to manage IR because of its vast and contemporary nature for the simple fact that not
only one must be acquainted with history to make sense of the current developments but also be intelligent enough to
make projections for the future. Although candidates start preparing for IR with much zeal and enthusiasm but all of
that fizzles out soon for the reasons explained before. It is thus important to have a clear understanding of some basic
concepts related to the syllabus before we lay out a detailed plan for the same. You have to equip yourself with the
following static portion before you start reading and appreciating current developments in the field of IR:

1. Basic philosophy and assumptions underlying IR

2. Evolution of Indias Foreign Policy
3. How the world has changed in the past few decades; impact of those changes
4. How Indias Foreign policy has responded to those changes
5. Role being played by India on a regional, global and institutional levels in the past

The best books for this purpose are Indias Foreign Policy: Coping with the Changing World by Muchkund
Dubey or Pax Indica by Shashi Tharoor. Initial few chapters of both these books have dealt with all the basic
information that is required to expand your knowledge base with respect to IR. You shall be able to better understand
and appreciate Indias Foreign Policy (IFP) thereafter. For example:

All our policies are aligned to primarily serve Indias national interests, secure Indias borders, ensure military
and non-military security and promote global peace.
We as a nation-state believe in certain cardinal principles which include non-alignment, nuclear disarmament,
multilateralism etc.
An understanding of aforesaid philosophies and principles would make you aware of the underlying rationale
behind Indias stance on various issues, fora, events and developments.

Moreover, you shall get acquainted with the following dimensions of IR which will broaden your horizon
further:

How changes in the past few decades for example end of Cold War, disintegration of USSR, end of bipolarity,
emergence of capitalism, nuclear arms race, evolution environmental regimes etc have changed the world and
also how India responded to them.
What sort of strategies India adopts in exercise of its Foreign Policy.

After having already made a strong foundation, you can delve into the subsequent chapters of the books. We shall
recommend Pax Indica over Muchkund Dubey in this case as the former is more exhaustive, analytical and elaborate
than the later. Indias relations with various countries, groupings and sub groupings have been dealt under
following heads:
India and its neighbors
Indo-US relations
Indo-Russia relations
Indo-China relations
Arab World and rest of Asia
Europe, Africa and Latin America

Only after completing these components you should look forward to news papers. You would be able to make sense of
the editorials in a much comprehensive manner. But there is a little problem here. Even if one goes through all
these sources and develops a thorough understanding of the same, it is not possible to retain the truckload of
information and perspectives provided therein. In fact in the examination, this problem gets accentuated where
one has to write an analytical answer in less than 8 minutes.

So no matter how many sources you have referred to and how diverse your understanding is, if you are not able to
produce a satisfactory response to a question, all your efforts are wasted. UPSC doesnt give you consolation prize
for being a laborious aspirant!
So, what it is the way out? How one can extract maximum from his preparation to get the ultimate reward by UPSC?
The answer lies to extensive planning and execution. Basically all the subjects and topics that you are studying
are having souls. You have to try to be as close as possible to the soul of the subject and channelize your efforts in
that direction. It means you first need to identify all the dimensions of a subject in the current scheme of things. Then
you must organize them in easily understandable compartments to ease your preparation. In the age of internet,
everyone knows everything but what makes one unique is his/her ability to streamline all the scattered info to generate
a logical response. It helps you like tools and equipments. All topics of the syllabus can be prepared with the help of
different tools. But since our attention here is IR, we demonstrate to you how such tools can be developed and actually
be employed during the examination.
So, here is a word of advice for you . Although, the books referred here are systematic and lucid in their
presentation, while you read these relations from these books or any other source of your liking and of course news
papers, make sure that you compartmentalize the given wisdom in the following separate headings. In fact it would
be even better if you prepare short notes or mind maps of the same: (IASbaba will provide detailed Mind
Maps for the same)
1. Significance of the relation

2. Brief historical background i.e. major landmark moments

3. Identifying Four Cs i.e areas of Convergence, Confrontation, Competition and Cooperation
4. Projecting the future
You will be amazed to notice how simple it becomes if we further breakdown these broad headings and superimpose
relations with any country, grouping or sub grouping to extract maximum information from our memory particularly
during examination. We shall take up a case to demonstrate the same but before we do that lets expand these
headings.

Talking of significance, here are few pointers that you shall keep in mind:

1. Is the country concerned a major economic/military/nuclear power?

2. Does location of the country offer unique opportunities or may be challenges?
3. Does India have significant trade dealings with the country?
4. Does substantial foreign investment flow to India from the country in question?
5. Is there any important defence/security tie with the country?
6. Is there any dependence on the country for energy or food security?
7. Is Indian diaspora present in the country?
8. Has the country contributed in Indias growth?
9. How do events/developments/outlooks/regimes/policies in the country affect Indias interests?

Similarly pointers for the rest headings can be constructed as follows:

Historical background:

1. Immediately after independence, where did the country fit in IFP?

2. Contribution of the country in developing Indias industrial, defence and scientific base
3. Deals or treaties signed between the countries
4. Conflicts in the past and their consequences
Note- Identifying the Four Cs i.e areas of Convergence, Confrontation, Competition and Cooperation

Convergence:
1. Democratic form of government
2. Pluralistic societies
3. Development imperatives

4. Common problems

Confrontation:
1. Border disputes
2. Resource sharing
3. Cross border terrorism
4. IPR
5. Global environmental negotiations
6. Trade disputes

Competition:
1. Exploration and development of resources in different parts of the world
2. Role in sensitive areas
3. Geo-strategic competition

Cooperation:
1. Dealing with terrorism, drug trafficking, environmental pollution
2. Common stance on environmental negotiation forums and WTO
3. Defence and security ties
4. Trade development
5. Infrastructure development
6. Science and technology
7. Global peace and stability

NOTE- Remember these pointers. We will be using them below to understand the significance of them one by one
with an example.

Finally, projecting the future is something that requires in depth understanding and also the aptitude to extrapolate
history and current developments to predict the future. Dont worry about this part as for now. Once you evince interest
in the subject, you shall be able to develop this quality as well.
So, we have developed our tools. You can add upon these tools as per needs and demands of the topic.
You shall notice during preparation of IR that all the news paper reports and articles hover around these pointers only.
There is rarely a possibility of any information, views or opinions going beyond these pointers.
Since you have these pointers already, simply put the information received in the respective compartment.

For example if you have read articles on Indo-US relations in the past one year or so, you would have realized
that the issues were centered around the following components:

Convergence: Repeated reference to democracy, pluralism and equity by leaders of both nations
Cooperation: Finalization and operationalization of the Indo US Nuclear deal, deals for sharing tax information to curb
money laundering etc
Confrontation: Contentions regarding IPR and Trade Facilitation Agreement at WTO, divergence at UNFCC, Devyani
Khobragade issue etc
Competition: Their roles in Africa, Maritime Asia etc

On the basis of these pointers you can thematically examine the articles/chapters/news and prepare your own
notes/mind maps. Thereafter, your ideas shall take shape in a logical manner and you would be able to answer any
question. Similar strategy can be adopted with respect to International Organization, diaspora issues etc.
Now, we take a case to demonstrate our strategy. Consider the question that was asked in CSE 2013:

The proposed withdrawal of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from Afganistan in 2014 is fraught with
major security implications for the security of this region. Examine in light of the fact that India is faced with a plethora
of challenges and needs to safeguard its own strategic interests.

The asked question was in news during that time and anyone regular with the newspapers and some background
could answer the question without much difficulty. Let us apply our strategy here to answer the same question.

The question is talking of strategic interests of India in the region. It means we have to first identify its strategic
interests and only then we could answer the main question that is the challenges that ensue after the departure of
ISAF. If you remember, we talked about significance. Now refer to those pointers and identify the most suitable ones
for this question. You would accept that except points 2,6 and 7 all other points are irrelevant for this question. Let us
enumerate these points and expand them to have a fair idea:

Pointer 2. Does location of the country offer unique opportunities or may be challenges?

Afganistan is gateway to Central Asia and West Asia and a natural frontier in the North west of South Asian landmass.
This location has created potential to develop a hub of energy trade and transport corridors. It means that the region
is strategic to Indias energy security.
The region has mostly been a fertile ground for terrorist activities. ISAF withdrawal would leave a void that can be

seized by terrorists again jeopardizing Indias security i.e. fertile ground for ISI, resurgence of Taliban, another
Kandhar hijack type incidents etc
Pakistan may seize the opportunity provided by US withdrawal to devour the regime that compromises with them.

Pointer 6. Is there any dependence on the country for energy or food security?
Already discussed above.

Pointer 7. Is Indian diaspora present in the country?

Yes. A number of engineers, doctors, teachers and many other professionals are present in this region involved in the
reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afganistan. Their lives would be severely under threat of security in the region is
not ensured.
So, more than half of our job is done by merely recollecting information from our pointers. Now we can frame the
answer by being a bit suggestive i.e. How we can secure our interests? For framing this part also, we can refer to our
headings of the Four Cs. Clearly, we have to focus upon cooperation here as all other Cs are irrelevant.

Let us examine it further. Have a close view of what pointers 1, 3 and 5 say.

1. Dealing with terrorism, drug trafficking, environmental pollution

India must work to improve state capacity of Afganistan to combat terrorism and reduce vulnerability for extremist
takeover.

3. Defence and security ties

Capacity building and up gradation of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to ensure peace and stability in the
region.

5. Infrastructure development
To ensure prosperity in the region that shall ensure long term stability in the region.

Finally let us consolidate all the information to produce our answer:

Afghanistan is gateway to Central Asia and West Asia and a natural frontier in the North West of South Asian
landmass.
This location has great potential to develop as a hub of energy trade and transport corridors. It means that the region
is strategic to Indias energy security.
However, the region has mostly been a fertile ground for terrorist activities. ISAF withdrawal would leave a void that
can be seized by terrorists again jeopardizing Indias security i.e. fertile ground for ISI, resurgence of Taliban, another
Kandhar hijack type incidents etc
In fact, Pakistan may seize the opportunity provided by US withdrawal to devour the regime that compromises with
them.
Moreover, a number of engineers, doctors, teachers and many other professionals are present in this region involved
in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan. Their lives would be severely under threat if security in the
region is not ensured.
Therefore, India must work to improve state capacity of Afghanistan to combat terrorism and reduce vulnerability for
extremist takeover.
Also, India can contribute to capacity building and up-gradation of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to
ensure peace and stability in the region.
Finally, India must continue the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the region to ensure prosperity in the region
that shall ensure long term stability in the region.

End Note Similarly, pointers for other parts of the syllabus can be developed to streamline our understanding of the
topic and help us recollect information in a quick and efficient manner. We shall come up with similar strategies and
more detailed Mind Maps to make your preparation exciting and easy. Hook for more strategies and expert guidance
on other aspects of Mains preparation to be aggressively covered after PRELIMS 2015.

Share you thoughts and feedback. Your appreciation and participation is the only prerequisite for IASbaba to continue
unhindered. Best Wishes