CSS Current Affairs Global Issues Syllabus

Global Issues syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Global Issues in CSS Current Affairs, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   International Security and Terrorism

   3 topics

   • International Security Architecture
   • Terrorism and Counterterrorism
   • Emerging Security Threats
2. 2

   Nuclear Politics and Proliferation

   2 topics

   • Nuclear Proliferation and Security
   • Nuclear Politics in South Asia
3. 3

   International Political Economy and Trade

   3 topics

   • Global Political Economy
   • International Trade Regimes
   • Globalization
4. 4

   Environment and Sustainable Development

   3 topics

   • Climate Change and Global Warming
   • Sustainable Development Goals
   • Population Trends and Policies
5. 5

   Energy, Resources and Maritime Affairs

   2 topics

   • Global Energy Politics
   • Maritime Cooperation and Competition
6. 6

   Human Rights and International Law

   2 topics

   • Human Rights Regime
   • International Law and Justice
7. 7

   Conflicts and Regional Flashpoints

   4 topics

   • Middle East Crisis
   • Palestine Issue
   • Kashmir Issue
   • Great Power Rivalry

Global Issues flashcards for CSS Current Affairs

23 of 51 cards from the Global Issues deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the three main pillars of the post-1945 international security architecture?

   Collective security (UN Charter/UN Security Council), alliance systems (e.g. NATO), and arms control/disarmament regimes (e.g. NPT). The UNSC, with its 5 veto-holding permanent members (US, UK, France, Russia, China), is the central body for maintaining international peace and security.

2. Define 'collective security' and contrast it with 'collective defence'.

   Collective security is an arrangement (e.g. the UN) where all members pledge to respond to aggression against any one member, treating it as aggression against all, including from within the group. Collective defence (e.g. NATO Article 5) is a pact directed against external threats to the alliance.

3. What distinguishes 'traditional' from 'non-traditional' security threats?

   Traditional security threats are state-centric and military (interstate war, invasion, nuclear attack). Non-traditional (human security) threats are transnational and non-military: terrorism, climate change, pandemics, cyberattacks, food/water insecurity, migration, and organized crime.

4. Define 'terrorism' in the commonly used analytical sense.

   The deliberate use or threat of violence against civilians/non-combatants by non-state actors (or states) to instill fear and achieve political, ideological, or religious objectives. There is no universally agreed legal definition, which complicates international counterterrorism law.

5. Distinguish 'counterterrorism' from 'counterinsurgency' (COIN).

   Counterterrorism focuses on preventing, deterring, and responding to terrorist acts (intelligence, law enforcement, targeted operations). Counterinsurgency is a broader military-political strategy to defeat an insurgency by winning population support ('hearts and minds') and providing governance, security, and development.

6. What is the difference between 'hard' and 'soft' counterterrorism approaches?

   Hard approaches use coercive/kinetic tools: military force, drone strikes, arrests, surveillance. Soft approaches address root causes through de-radicalization, counter-narratives, education, economic development, and community engagement (CVE - Countering Violent Extremism).

7. Name four major 'emerging' or non-traditional security threats of the 21st century.

   Cyber warfare/cyberattacks, climate-induced insecurity, pandemics and biosecurity, and autonomous weapons/AI-enabled warfare. Others include hybrid warfare, disinformation, and threats to critical infrastructure and space assets.

8. What is 'hybrid warfare'?

   A blended strategy combining conventional military force with irregular tactics, cyberattacks, disinformation/propaganda, economic coercion, and proxy actors to achieve objectives below the threshold of open war, exploiting ambiguity to avoid attribution and direct retaliation.

9. What is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)? When did it enter into force and on what three pillars does it rest?

   The NPT (1968, entered into force 1970) is the cornerstone treaty limiting nuclear weapons spread. Its three pillars are: non-proliferation, disarmament, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. It recognizes five nuclear-weapon states (US, Russia, UK, France, China).

10. Which states have nuclear weapons but are NOT parties to the NPT?

    India, Pakistan, and Israel (never signed), plus North Korea (withdrew in 2003). India, Pakistan, and North Korea have openly tested nuclear weapons; Israel maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity (neither confirms nor denies).

11. What is the difference between 'horizontal' and 'vertical' nuclear proliferation?

    Horizontal proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons to additional states/actors that did not previously have them. Vertical proliferation is the increase in the size, sophistication, or stockpile of nuclear weapons by states that already possess them.

12. What is the CTBT, and what is its key obstacle?

    The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (1996) bans all nuclear test explosions. It has not entered into force because key 'Annex 2' states (including the US, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Egypt, Iran) have not all ratified it.

13. In South Asia, what years did India and Pakistan conduct their nuclear tests, making their capabilities overt?

    India tested in May 1998 (Pokhran-II, 'Operation Shakti'); Pakistan responded later in May 1998 (Chagai-I and Chagai-II). India's first test was Pokhran-I ('Smiling Buddha') in 1974.

14. What is the core difference between India's and Pakistan's declared nuclear doctrines?

    India declares 'No First Use' (NFU) with credible minimum deterrence. Pakistan has NOT adopted NFU; it maintains 'full spectrum deterrence' and reserves first use, partly to offset India's conventional military superiority, including tactical/battlefield nuclear weapons.

15. What is the 'stability-instability paradox' in the South Asian nuclear context?

    The idea that nuclear deterrence creates stability at the strategic level (preventing all-out war) but enables instability at lower levels, emboldening sub-conventional conflict, proxy wars, and limited skirmishes (e.g. Kargil 1999) because both sides assume escalation will be capped.

16. Define 'global political economy' (GPE) / international political economy (IPE).

    The study of the interaction between political and economic forces at the global level — how states, markets, and institutions shape (and are shaped by) trade, finance, production, and development. Its three classic perspectives are liberalism, mercantilism/economic nationalism, and Marxism/structuralism.

17. Name the three Bretton Woods institutions and their primary functions.

    IMF (International Monetary Fund) - global monetary stability and balance-of-payments support; World Bank (IBRD) - development financing/poverty reduction; and the GATT, later the WTO - rules-based liberalization of international trade. Established at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference.

18. What is the difference between GATT and the WTO?

    GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1947) was a provisional treaty/forum for reducing tariffs through negotiation rounds. The WTO (World Trade Organization, 1995, founded after the Uruguay Round) is a permanent institution with broader scope (services, IP) and a binding dispute-settlement mechanism.

19. Define the WTO's 'Most Favoured Nation' (MFN) and 'National Treatment' principles.

    MFN: a country must extend any trade advantage granted to one member to all WTO members equally (non-discrimination among trading partners). National Treatment: imported goods, once in the market, must be treated no less favourably than domestically produced goods.

20. What was the Doha Development Round, and why did it stall?

    Launched in 2001, the Doha Round aimed to lower trade barriers with a focus on development for poorer countries (agriculture, services). It largely stalled/collapsed due to deadlock between developed and developing nations, especially over agricultural subsidies and market access.

21. Define 'globalization' and list its main dimensions.

    Globalization is the increasing interconnection and interdependence of the world through flows of goods, services, capital, people, technology, and ideas. Its main dimensions are economic, political, cultural, technological, and environmental.

22. Distinguish 'comparative advantage' from 'absolute advantage' in trade theory.

    Absolute advantage (Adam Smith): a country produces a good more efficiently (lower cost) than another. Comparative advantage (David Ricardo): a country should specialize in goods where its opportunity cost is lowest, enabling mutually beneficial trade even if one country is absolutely more efficient at everything.

23. What is the difference between a free trade area, a customs union, and a common market?

    Free trade area: removes internal tariffs but each member keeps its own external tariffs (e.g. NAFTA/USMCA). Customs union: free internal trade plus a common external tariff (e.g. early EEC). Common market: a customs union plus free movement of factors (labour and capital), as in the EU single market.

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