About International Affairs
International affairs is a smaller part of the paper than national affairs and a more rewarding one, because the same dozen organisations and relationships appear year after year. What changes is the event; what stays is the structure - which body does what, who its members are, and where it sits. This page has no practice questions, deliberately. Questions written about the events of one year are wrong within months, and a bank of them would need rebuilding every season. What is taught here is the part that stays useful: what to read, how to keep it, and how it is asked.
What you need to understand
- Learn the organisations by what they do and where they sit. The United Nations and its agencies, the financial institutions, the regional groupings and the trading blocs cover almost everything that is asked.
- Summits are asked about by grouping: the G20, the BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Commonwealth and the regional bodies each meet on a known cycle, and each has a host and a declaration.
- Bilateral relations are asked about through agreements rather than through meetings. A defence agreement or a trade agreement is a fact that can be learned, while a visit usually is not.
- The United Nations system is worth learning properly once: the principal organs, the specialised agencies and the peacekeeping arrangement. Questions about a specific agency are then easy.
- Membership changes are a favourite subject: a new member of a grouping, a new observer, or a country that has left. These are the items that are most often asked about a body you already know.
- Reports and indices from international bodies - the Human Development Index, the ease-of-doing-business measures and the climate assessments - are published on a schedule and are asked about in form even when the rankings change.
- Treaties and conventions are asked as a pairing of a name with a subject: which convention deals with which kind of weapon, or which agreement with which kind of trade.
- Do not try to learn the internal politics of other countries. What is asked is the position a country takes on a matter that concerns India or a global body.
- Keep a short list of the countries that appear repeatedly in the news, with the capital and the head of government, because a question about an event often carries one of those as its answer.
- Where a dispute is long-running, learn the outlines: who claims what, and which body has been asked to settle it.
- In an interview, being able to say what an organisation does is worth more than naming its latest meeting.
- The static part of this subject - what the World Trade Organization is for, which body confers the Nobel Peace Prize - belongs to the general knowledge topics on this site, and the two are best studied together.
- Keep the date with every item. An international item without a year is a fact about nothing in particular.
How to work through these questions
- Read one newspaper a day rather than five on a Sunday. The habit is what works, and the same item seen three times in three sources is remembered without effort.
- Keep a single notebook, physical or digital, divided by the same headings as this section: national, international, economy, science and technology, sports and awards.
- Write four lines per item at most: what happened, who was involved, where, and why it matters. More than that and the notebook becomes unreadable by the third month.
- Revise the notebook monthly rather than reading it daily. The monthly pass is what turns a list of items into a shape.
- For examinations, the previous six months matter more than the last six days. A paper set in June draws on the year to March.
- In an interview, follow one story through rather than listing ten. An interviewer can tell the difference immediately.
Mistakes that cost marks
- Collecting material without ever revising it, so that the folder grows and nothing is retained.
- Reading only the headlines, which gives the subject of an event and not what happened.
- Learning figures without the year they belong to, so that last year's number is quoted for this year.
- Trusting a single source for a disputed fact, particularly on figures and on appointments.
- Spending time on items that no examination asks about, such as individual match results, while missing appointments and policy decisions.
- Revising in the last week only, which works for facts and fails for the connections between them.
- Reading about an event without knowing where it happened, which is the commonest half-knowledge in a viva.
- Treating an announced policy as an event that has taken place, when the announcement and the implementation are usually months apart.
Worked example
What is the most useful way to record a summit meeting in the notebook?
- Name the grouping and say what it is for, which is the part that does not change.
- Record the host country and the year, which is what the question usually asks.
- Note one outcome - a declaration, a membership decision, a joint statement - rather than a list of everything discussed.
- Note any membership change separately, because that is asked about even when the meeting is not.
Answer: The grouping and its purpose, the host and the year, and one outcome
Practice questions with answers
A few International Affairs questions with the full solution shown, so you can see
how the method is applied before you attempt the timed set.
Question 1
What is the purpose of the World Bank?
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A
the orderly and humane management of migration
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B
environmental assessment, policy and the coordination of environmental work
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C
food security, nutrition and agricultural development
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D
long-term finance for development and the reduction of poverty
Answer: Option D — with explanation
the World Bank exists for long-term finance for development and the reduction of poverty.
Organisations are best learned by their purpose, treaties by their subject, and reports by the body that publishes them. A report is remembered much more easily once you know which organisation would have produced it.
Common mistakes
- this is the purpose of a different organisation: the orderly and humane management of migration
- this is the purpose of a different organisation
- this is the purpose of a different organisation: food security, nutrition and agricultural development
Question 2
The the Ramsar Convention deals with which of these?
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A
the international trade in endangered species of plants and animals
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B
the conservation and wise use of wetlands
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C
the rights and responsibilities of states in the oceans
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D
the prohibition of biological and toxin weapons
Answer: Option B — with explanation
the Ramsar Convention concerns the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
Organisations are best learned by their purpose, treaties by their subject, and reports by the body that publishes them. A report is remembered much more easily once you know which organisation would have produced it.
Common mistakes
- this is the subject of a different instrument: the prohibition of biological and toxin weapons
- this is the subject of a different instrument: the rights and responsibilities of states in the oceans
- this is the subject of a different instrument
Question 3
the International Maritime Organization exists for which of these purposes?
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A
the unity, peace and development of the African states
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B
energy security and the coordination of energy policy
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C
the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of pollution from ships
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D
international public health and the control of disease
Answer: Option C — with explanation
the International Maritime Organization exists for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of pollution from ships.
Organisations are best learned by their purpose, treaties by their subject, and reports by the body that publishes them. A report is remembered much more easily once you know which organisation would have produced it.
Common mistakes
- this is the purpose of a different organisation: the unity, peace and development of the African states
- this is the purpose of a different organisation: international public health and the control of disease
- this is the purpose of a different organisation: energy security and the coordination of energy policy
Question 4
the Antarctic Treaty is an agreement about which of these?
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A
the rights of women and the removal of discrimination against them
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B
the use of Antarctica for peaceful and scientific purposes
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C
the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide
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D
financing for sustainable development
Answer: Option B — with explanation
the Antarctic Treaty concerns the use of Antarctica for peaceful and scientific purposes.
Organisations are best learned by their purpose, treaties by their subject, and reports by the body that publishes them. A report is remembered much more easily once you know which organisation would have produced it.
Common mistakes
- this is the subject of a different instrument: the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide
- this is the subject of a different instrument
- this is the subject of a different instrument: financing for sustainable development
Question 5
the Convention on Biological Diversity is an agreement about which of these?
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A
the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity
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B
the establishment of the International Criminal Court
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C
the rights of women and the removal of discrimination against them
-
D
financing for sustainable development
Answer: Option A — with explanation
the Convention on Biological Diversity concerns the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
Organisations are best learned by their purpose, treaties by their subject, and reports by the body that publishes them. A report is remembered much more easily once you know which organisation would have produced it.
Common mistakes
- this is the subject of a different instrument: the establishment of the International Criminal Court
- this is the subject of a different instrument
- this is the subject of a different instrument: financing for sustainable development
Frequently asked questions
Why are there no questions on this page?
For the same reason as the other current affairs pages: questions about particular events date within months. The organisations, their purposes and their addresses are covered instead in the general knowledge topics on this site.
How much international affairs is asked?
Usually a quarter of the current affairs section. The questions are mostly about organisations, summits and agreements rather than about politics within other countries.
Do I need to know the leaders of other countries?
The heads of government of the countries that appear repeatedly in the news are worth knowing, and so are the capitals. Alliances and elections elsewhere are asked far less.
Which organisations matter most?
The United Nations and its agencies, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the regional bodies such as SAARC, BIMSTEC and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Should I learn the rankings?
Learn what each index measures and which body publishes it, and keep the latest ranking with its year. The measure outlives the ranking, and the year is what makes the figure usable.
