Contemporary Centres of Power

Why this chapter matters for UPSC: "Contemporary Centres of Power" is Chapter 2 of the current Contemporary World Politics (Reprint 2026-27). Until the rationalisation of 2022-23 it was Chapter 4, titled "Alternative Centres of Power"; this site keeps the old numbering in its page order and the current title. NCERT's argument is that after bipolarity ended "alternative centres of political and economic power could limit America's dominance", and it examines three: the European Union, the Association of South East Asian Nations and China, with boxes on Japan and South Korea and a section on India-China relations. GS2 returns to the chapter every year: the West "fostering India as an alternative to reduce dependence on China's supply chain" (Mains 2024), China's use of "economic relations and positive trade surplus" to build power in Asia (Mains 2017), whether China is a graver challenge to the US than the Soviet Union was (Mains 2021), the Look East Policy "in the context of the post-Cold War international scenario" (Mains 2016), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (Mains 2021 and 2023), India-Japan (Mains 2019), the South China Sea (GS1 2016) and the India-China border (GS3 2024). Prelims tests the integration timeline, ASEAN's founders and pillars, and the dates of China's reforms. This page follows NCERT's sections in order, prints NCERT's figures first (its EU map still shows the United Kingdom; its ASEAN has ten members; its China GDP is 2017's), and dates every current count and figure to the organisation's own page or the World Bank's series as read in October 2026.

🧠 First Principles — Read This First

"Alternative" means a limit, not a rival superpower. NCERT does not claim that the EU, ASEAN or China replaced the United States. Its claim is that each developed "institutions and conventions that build a more peaceful and cooperative regional order" and transformed its region "into prosperous economies", and that the economic rise of China "has made a dramatic impact on world politics". The exam question is therefore always about limits: how far each centre can act, and where its own members or structure stop it.

Three roads to regional power. The EU is "a supranational organisation" that "has started to act more as a nation state", with "its own flag, anthem, founding date, and currency" but members whose "foreign relations and defence policies ... are often at odds". ASEAN is the opposite design: "little desire ... for supranational structures", and instead "the 'ASEAN Way', a form of interaction that is informal, non-confrontationist and cooperative", in which "the respect for national sovereignty is critical". China is a single state whose power is economic growth "since 1978" and "its economic integration into the region". Keep the three models distinct; Mains asks you to compare them.

Economics first, politics after. In all three cases NCERT's sequence is economic cooperation producing political weight: the OEEC and the EEC before the Union; the Bangkok Declaration's "social progress and cultural development" before the Security Community; China's SEZs and WTO entry before its "considerable influence with its trade partners".

PART 1 — Quick Reference

The Chapter at a Glance

Membership Counts and Figures (NCERT first; the record as read on 4 October 2026)

PART 2 — Concepts & Narrative

European Union

"As the Second World War came to an end, many of Europe's leaders grappled with the 'Question of Europe'. Should Europe be allowed to revert to its old rivalries or be reconstructed on principles and institutions that would contribute to a positive conception of international relations?" In 1945 the European states "confronted the ruin of their economies and the destruction of the assumptions and structures on which Europe had been founded".

"European integration after 1945 was aided by the Cold War." America "extended massive financial help for reviving Europe's economy under what was called the 'Marshall Plan'" and "created a new collective security structure under NATO". Under the Marshall Plan "the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) was established in 1948 to channel aid to the west European states" and "became a forum where the western European states began to cooperate on trade and economic issues"; "the Council of Europe, established in 1949, was another step forward in political cooperation". Economic integration "proceeded step by step ... leading to the formation of the European Economic Community in 1957", which "acquired a political dimension with the creation of the European Parliament". "The collapse of the Soviet bloc put Europe on a fast track and resulted in the establishment of the European Union in 1992", laying the foundation "for a common foreign and security policy, cooperation on justice and home affairs, and the creation of a single currency." The EU "has evolved over time from an economic union to an increasingly political one". "While the attempts to have a Constitution for the EU have failed" (NCERT's 2003 cartoon shows the EU as the Titanic), it has the attributes of a state listed in the key-term box, and it "has tried to expand areas of cooperation while acquiring new members, especially from the erstwhile Soviet bloc". The process "has not proved easy".

NCERT's timeline of European integration, a Prelims regular: April 1951, six states (France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) "sign the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)"; 25 March 1957, the same six "sign the Treaties of Rome establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)"; January 1973, "Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join"; June 1979, "first direct elections to the European Parliament"; January 1981, Greece; June 1985, "the Schengen Agreement abolishes border controls among the EEC members"; January 1986, Spain and Portugal; October 1990, "unification of Germany"; 7 February 1992, "the Treaty of Maastricht was signed establishing the European Union (EU)"; January 1993, "European Economic Community (EEC) was renamed the European Community (EC)"; January 1995, Austria, Finland, Sweden; January 2002, "Euro, the new currency, was introduced in the 12 EU members"; May 2004, ten new members (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia); January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania, and "Slovenia adopts the Euro"; December 2009, "the Lisbon Treaty came into force"; 2012, "the EU is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize"; 2013, "Croatia becomes the 28th member of the EU"; 2016, "referendum in Britain, 51.9 per cent voters decide that Britain exit (Brexit) from the EU".

Strengths. "The EU has economic, political and diplomatic, and military influence." Economic: "the European Union's GDP is projected to be approximately $19.35 trillion in the year 2024. Its currency, the euro, can pose a threat to the dominance of the US dollar. Its share of world trade is much larger than that of the United States allowing it to be more assertive in trade disputes with the US and China." It "functions as an important bloc in international economic organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO)". Political and diplomatic: "one member of the EU, France, holds permanent seat on the UN Security Council", and "the EU includes several non-permanent members of the UNSC", which "has enabled the EU to influence some US policies such as the current US position on Iran's nuclear programme"; its "use of diplomacy, economic investments, and negotiations rather than coercion and military force has been effective as in the case of its dialogue with China on human rights and environmental degradation". Military: "the EU's combined armed forces are the second largest in the world. Its total spending on defence is second after the US. One EU member state, France, also has nuclear arsenals of approximately 335 nuclear warheads. It is also the world's second most important source of space and communications technology."

Limits. Member states' foreign and defence policies "are often at odds with each other": "Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair was America's partner in the Iraq invasion, and many of the EU's newer members made up the US-led 'coalition of the willing' whereas Germany and France opposed American policy." "There is also a deep-seated 'Euro-skepticism' in some parts of Europe about the EU's integrationist agenda": "Britain's former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, kept the UK out of the European Market. Denmark and Sweden have resisted the Maastricht Treaty and the adoption of the euro." This "limits the ability of the EU to act in matters of foreign relations and defence".

Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)

"Before and during the Second World War, this region of Asia suffered the economic and political consequences of repeated colonialisms, both European and Japanese." After the war it "confronted problems of nation-building, the ravages of poverty and economic backwardness and the pressure to align with one great power or another during the Cold War", "a recipe for conflict, which the countries of Southeast Asia could ill afford". Efforts at Asian and Third World unity "such as the Bandung Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement, were ineffective in establishing the conventions for informal cooperation and interaction. Hence, the Southeast Asian alternative."

"ASEAN was established in 1967 by five countries of this region — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand — by signing the Bangkok Declaration." Its objectives "were primarily to accelerate economic growth and through that 'social progress and cultural development'"; a "secondary objective was to promote regional peace and stability based on the rule of law and the principles of the United Nations Charter". "Over the years, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar (Burma) and Cambodia joined ASEAN taking its strength to ten." The ASEAN Way is in the key-term box. "With some of the fastest growing economies in the world, ASEAN broadened its objectives beyond the economic and social spheres. In 2003, ASEAN moved along the path of the EU by agreeing to establish an ASEAN Community comprising three pillars, namely, the ASEAN Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community."

"The ASEAN security community was based on the conviction that outstanding territorial disputes should not escalate into armed confrontation. By 2003, ASEAN had several agreements in place by which member states promised to uphold peace, neutrality, cooperation, non-interference, and respect for national differences and sovereign rights. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which was established in 1994, is the organisation that carries out coordination of security and foreign policy." Economically, "the ASEAN region as a whole is a much smaller economy compared to the US, the EU, and Japan", but "its economy is growing much faster than all these"; the Economic Community's objectives "are to create a common market and production base within ASEAN states and to aid social and economic development", to improve "the existing ASEAN Dispute Settlement Mechanism", and to create "a Free Trade Area (FTA) for investment, labour, and services"; "the US and China have already moved fast to negotiate FTAs with ASEAN". Its Vision 2020 "has defined an outward-looking role for ASEAN in the international community"; ASEAN "has mediated the end of the Cambodian conflict, the East Timor crisis, and meets annually to discuss East Asian cooperation".

India and ASEAN, in NCERT: "During the Cold War years Indian foreign policy did not pay adequate attention to ASEAN. But in recent years, India has tried to make amends. It signed trade agreements with three ASEAN members, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The ASEAN-India FTA came into effect in 2010." The margin note: "India's 'Look East' Policy since the early 1990s and 'Act East' Policy since 2014 have led to greater economic interaction with the East Asian nations (ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea)", and the photo records the stamps released on 25 January 2018 for the silver jubilee of the partnership. A margin question asks "Why did ASEAN succeed whereas SAARC did not?", which is the next chapter's subject.

The Rise of the Chinese Economy

"China's economic success since 1978 has been linked to its rise as a great power. China has been the fastest growing economy since the reforms first began there. It is projected to overtake the US as the world's largest economy by 2040." (NCERT's projection; the World Bank's figures are in the table above.) Its "economic integration into the region makes it the driver of East Asian growth", and "the strength of its economy, together with other factors such as population, land mass, resources, regional location and political influence, adds to its power in significant ways".

The Soviet model and its crisis. "After the inception of the People's Republic of China in 1949, following the communist revolution under the leadership of Mao, its economy was based on the Soviet model." Communist China "chose to sever its links with the capitalist world" and had "little choice but to fall back on its own resources and, for a brief period, on Soviet aid and advice". The model "was to create a state-owned heavy industries sector from the capital accumulated from agriculture", substituting imports with domestic goods because of the shortage of foreign exchange. It "allowed China to use its resources to establish the foundations of an industrial economy on a scale that did not exist before"; "employment and social welfare was assured to all citizens, and China moved ahead of most developing countries in educating its citizens and ensuring better health for them". But growth of "5-6 per cent" against population growth of "2-3 per cent" was "insufficient to meet the needs of a growing population"; agriculture "was not sufficient to generate a surplus for industry"; "industrial production was not growing fast enough, international trade was minimal and per capita income was very low". NCERT compares it to the crisis of the Soviet economy in chapter 1.

The decisions of the 1970s. "China ended its political and economic isolation with the establishment of relations with the United States in 1972. Premier Zhou Enlai proposed the 'four modernisations' (agriculture, industry, science and technology and military) in 1973. By 1978, the then leader Deng Xiaoping announced the 'open door' policy and economic reforms in China. The policy was to generate higher productivity by investments of capital and technology from abroad." China "did not go for 'shock therapy' but opened their economy step by step. The privatisation of agriculture in 1982 was followed by the privatisation of industry in 1998. Trade barriers were eliminated only in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) where foreign investors could set up enterprises. In China, the state played and continues to play a central role in setting up a market economy."

Results. Privatisation of agriculture "led to a remarkable rise in agricultural production and rural incomes"; "high personal savings in the rural economy lead to an exponential growth in rural industry"; new trading laws and SEZs "led to a phenomenal rise in foreign trade"; China "has become the most important destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) anywhere in the world"; its "large foreign exchange reserves ... now allow it to make big investment in other countries". "China's accession to the WTO in 2001 has been a further step in its opening to the outside world." NCERT's margin note contrasts "a total of 6 SEZs in China and more than 200 approved SEZs in India".

Costs and influence. "Not everyone in China has received the benefits of the reforms. Unemployment has risen in China with nearly 100 million people looking for jobs. Female employment and conditions of work are as bad as in Europe of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Environmental degradation and corruption have increased besides a rise in economic inequality between rural and urban residents and coastal and inland provinces." Yet "regionally and globally, China has become an economic power to reckon with"; the interdependence its integration created "has enabled China to have considerable influence with its trade partners", so that "its outstanding issues with Japan, the US, ASEAN, and Russia have been tempered by economic considerations". "It hopes to resolve its differences with Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, by integrating it closely into its economy." Fears of its rise "have also been mitigated by its contributions to the stability of the ASEAN economies after the 1997 financial crisis", and its "more outward looking investment and aid policies in Latin America and Africa are increasingly projecting it as a global player on the side of developing economies".

India-China Relations

"India and China were great powers in Asia before the advent of Western imperialism." China's "tributary system" gave it influence over "Mongolia, Korea, parts of Indo-China, and Tibet"; Indian kingdoms "also extended their influence beyond their borders"; but "the regions where India and China exercised influence rarely ever overlapped", so "neither country was very familiar with the other", and in the twentieth century "they had some difficulty evolving a foreign policy to deal with each other".

After 1947 and 1949 "there was hope that both would come together to shape the future of the developing world and of Asia particularly. For a brief while, the slogan of 'Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai' was popular. However, Chinese aggression on the Indian border has marred that hope." (The 2020-21 edition read "military conflict over a border dispute between the two countries marred that hope"; the rationalised text uses "Chinese aggression".) "Soon after independence, both states were involved in differences arising from the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1950 and the final settlement of the Sino-Indian border. China and India were involved in a border conflict in 1962 over competing territorial claims principally in Arunachal Pradesh and in the Aksai Chin region of Ladakh. The conflict of 1962, in which India suffered military reverses, had long-term implications for India–China relations. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were downgraded until 1976." Thereafter relations "began to improve slowly"; China's policy "became more pragmatic and less ideological" and it "was prepared to put off the settlement of contentious issues while improving relations with India"; "a series of talks to resolve the border issue were also initiated in 1981".

"Rajiv Gandhi's visit to China in December 1988 provided the impetus for an improvement in India–China relations." Since then "both governments have taken measures to contain conflict and maintain 'peace and tranquility' on the border", signed agreements on culture and science and technology, and "opened four border posts for trade". "With India–China trade growing at 30 per cent per year since 1999, a more positive perspective on relations with China has emerged. Bilateral trade between India and China has increased from $338 million in 1992 to more than $84 billion in 2017." Both "have adopted similar policies in international economic institutions like the World Trade Organisation" and agreed to cooperate "in areas that could otherwise create conflict ... such as bidding for energy deals abroad". NCERT lists the irritants ("China was seen as contributing to the build up of Pakistan's nuclear programme"; its "military relations with Bangladesh and Myanmar") and judges that "none of these issues is likely to lead to conflict", citing uninterrupted boundary talks and growing military-to-military cooperation. The rationalised text ends with a new paragraph: "Recently the relation between the two countries has taken a downslide. Border disputes, China-Pakistan economic corridor and China's support to Pakistan in UN against India's move to counter terrorism are some of the factors for it." The margin note records Xi Jinping's visit to India in 2019 and Narendra Modi's to China in 2018.

Japan and South Korea

NCERT's two boxes, added in the rationalised edition's predecessor, carry the facts Prelims uses. Japan: "very few natural resources and imports most of its raw materials", yet "progressed rapidly after the end of the Second World War"; "became a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1964"; "in 2017, it is the third largest economy in the world"; "the only Asian member of the G-7"; "the eleventh most populous nation"; "the only nation that suffered the destruction caused by nuclear bombs"; "the second largest contributor to the regular budget of the UN, contributing almost 10 per cent" (NCERT's 2019 budget table in chapter 4 puts Japan third, at 8.5 per cent, behind China's 12.0: the two NCERT statements are of different years); "a security alliance with the US since 1951"; Article 9 of its Constitution: "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes"; military expenditure "only one per cent of its GDP" yet "the seventh largest in the world". NCERT asks whether Japan "can effectively function as an alternative centre of power".

South Korea: the peninsula "was divided into South Korea (Republic of Korea) and North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) at the end of the Second World War along the 38th Parallel"; the Korean War of 1950-53 "and dynamics of the Cold War era further intensified the rivalries"; "both the Koreas finally became Members of the UN on 17 September 1991" (the UN's member-states list gives the same date). South Korea's development "between the 1960s and the 1980s" is "termed as 'Miracle on the Han River'"; it "became a Member of the OECD in 1996"; "in 2017, its economy is the eleventh largest in the world and its military expenditure is the tenth largest"; its HDI rank was 18 in the Human Development Report 2016, which credited "successful land reforms, rural development, extensive human resources development and rapid equitable economic growth", export orientation, redistribution, infrastructure and institutions. NCERT names Samsung, LG and Hyundai as brands "renowned in India". The GDP ranks are NCERT's for 2017; the latest ranks belong to the IMF's World Economic Outlook, which could not be opened for this page, so they are not restated here.

PART 3 — UPSC Integration

Three Frameworks

1. Three models of regional power. Supranational integration (the EU: pooled sovereignty, a currency, a parliament; limits in foreign and defence policy); consensual association (ASEAN: sovereignty respected, informal, economic first; limits where consensus fails); a single rising state (China: growth as power; limits in inequality, environment and the fears of neighbours). Use the triad for any "compare regional organisations" or "can X be an alternative centre" question, and for NCERT's own margin question on ASEAN against SAARC.

2. Economics before politics. OEEC to EEC to EU; Bangkok Declaration to Community pillars; SEZs and WTO to "a global player". The sequence explains why each centre's political reach lags its economic weight, and why NCERT's EU is "assertive in trade disputes" but divided on Iraq.

3. NCERT first, then the dated record. Every current figure in this chapter has moved since NCERT's edition: 28 members to 27, ten to eleven, 2017's trade and GDP ranks to 2025's series, "downslide" to the 2024-26 disengagement sequence. Write NCERT's statement, then the record with its date and source; examiners reward the pairing, and Prelims statements can test either.

Confused Pairs

• ECSC (Paris, 1951) vs EEC and Euratom (Rome, 25 March 1957) vs EU (Maastricht, signed 1992, in force 1 November 1993) vs Lisbon (in force 1 December 2009).
• EU member states (27) vs euro area (21) vs Schengen area (29, including four non-EU states).
• ASEAN founders (five, 1967) vs ASEAN today (eleven, October 2025); ARF (1994, security coordination) vs ASEAN Community (agreed 2003 in the Bali Concord II, formally established 2015; three pillars).
• Four modernisations (Zhou, 1973) vs open door (Deng, 1978); agriculture privatised (1982) vs industry (1998).
• China the largest economy at PPP vs the second at market exchange rates (World Bank, 2025).
• Aksai Chin (Ladakh, occupied by China) vs Arunachal Pradesh (claimed by China; an integral part of India).
• Look East (early 1990s) vs Act East (2014); India's trade agreements with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand vs the ASEAN-India FTA (in effect 2010).

Exam Strategy

• Prelims: memorise NCERT's integration timeline and its EU strengths and limits in NCERT's phrases; the five ASEAN founders, the five later entrants and Timor-Leste; the ARF (1994) and the three pillars (agreed 2003, Community formally established 2015); China's reform dates; NCERT's India-China dates (1950, 1962, 1976, 1981, December 1988); the Japan and Korea boxes; the counts in the table above with their dates.
• Mains: open with NCERT's thesis (alternative centres "could limit America's dominance"); compare the three models; quote the ASEAN Way and the supranational description; date every figure; for India-China, the MEA's 2024-26 sequence.
• Avoid: "the EU has 28 members"; "ASEAN has ten members"; "China is the world's largest economy" without "at PPP"; "the ASEAN Charter created the ARF" (the ARF is 1994); "Maastricht created the EU in 1992" without the 1993 entry into force; "the Merger Treaty merged the three Communities"; "Saudi Arabia is not in BRICS" or "is a founding member" (it is listed by the 2026 chair among eleven members; it joined in the 2024 expansion).
• Cross-reading: page 1 (the Cold War's Marshall Plan and NATO); page 2 (the Soviet model China first copied, and the shock therapy it avoided); page 5 (SAARC against ASEAN); page 9 (China and globalisation); the sister book's "India's External Relations" (1962 and Panchsheel).

Practice Questions

NCERT's exercises, worked

1. (b) Establishment of the EEC (1957); (c) establishment of the EU (1992); (d) birth of the ARF (1994); (a) China's accession to the WTO (2001).
2. (b) a form of interaction among ASEAN members that is informal and cooperative.
3. (a) China.
4. (a) Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin; (b) 1994; (c) the United States; (d) Marshall; (e) the ASEAN Regional Forum (the Security Community is the pillar; the ARF carries out coordination).
5. To accelerate economic growth and social progress; to promote regional peace and stability; to resolve historical enmities through institutions and conventions; to give member states a collective weight against great powers (NCERT's "forces to reckon with").
6. Proximity creates shared threats and shared markets (Europe's "old rivalries"; Southeast Asia's "repeated colonialisms"), makes trade and infrastructure integration feasible, and gives neighbours a common interest in keeping disputes from "escalat[ing] into armed confrontation".
7. An "outward-looking role for ASEAN in the international community", building on "the existing ASEAN policy to encourage negotiation over conflicts in the region" (Cambodia, East Timor, East Asian cooperation).
8. Security Community (disputes not to escalate; peace, neutrality, cooperation, non-interference, sovereign rights; the ARF coordinates); Economic Community (common market and production base; social and economic development; a Dispute Settlement Mechanism; an FTA for investment, labour and services); Socio-Cultural Community (the third pillar NCERT names without elaboration).
9. Then: state ownership, heavy industry from agricultural surplus, import substitution, minimal trade, assured employment and welfare. Now: step-by-step opening, private agriculture (1982) and industry (1998), SEZs, FDI, WTO membership, large reserves and outward investment, with the state still "central".
10. Through the Marshall Plan and the OEEC (1948), the Council of Europe (1949), the ECSC (1951), the EEC and Euratom (1957), direct elections (1979), enlargements, the Schengen Agreement (1985), Maastricht (1992), the euro (2002), Lisbon (2009): NCERT's timeline.
11. Economic weight (GDP, the euro, trade share, WTO bloc), diplomatic weight (France's permanent seat, the non-permanent members, dialogue rather than coercion), military weight (second largest combined forces and spending; France's warheads; space technology), and supranational institutions; limited by divergent foreign policies and Euroscepticism.
12. Yes, in part: NCERT's China is already "an economic power to reckon with" and the World Bank's PPP series puts it first; India's growth and the India-EU and ASEAN partnerships add weight; but NCERT's own account of China's costs, the India-China border record and the US's structural power (page 3) argue that "challenge" has not yet meant "replace".
13. Justify with the EU's record ("a more peaceful and cooperative regional order", prosperity) and ASEAN's (no inter-member war, "fastest growing economies"), and qualify with SAARC (the next chapter) where political conflict has stalled the economics.
14. The boundary (Aksai Chin; Arunachal Pradesh); China-Pakistan ties including the economic corridor through Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir; China's position in the UN on terrorism; trade imbalance; water and Tibet. Suggestions from the record: the patrolling and disengagement arrangements of October 2024, the Special Representatives' rounds, the Working Mechanism, resumed pilgrimage and flights, economic engagement with reciprocity, and multilateral forums (SCO, BRICS) alongside the bilateral track.

Practice (UPSC-pattern, not past papers)

15. "The EU has started to act more as a nation state." Examine the statement against NCERT's account of the Union's strengths and limits, and the record since the United Kingdom's withdrawal. (GS2, 15 marks)
16. Compare the "ASEAN Way" with the EU's supranational model as routes to regional order. What does Timor-Leste's admission in 2025 say about ASEAN's priorities? (GS2, 10 marks)
17. China avoided "shock therapy" and opened "step by step". Compare the outcomes NCERT describes for China with those it describes for Russia, and draw one lesson for India. (GS2/GS3, 15 marks)
18. Trace India-China relations from "Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai" to the disengagement arrangements of 2024-26, stating the Government of India's position on the territories in dispute. (GS2, 15 marks)

📦 Revision Capsule

Sources

• NCERT, Contemporary World Politics (Class XII), ch. 2 "Contemporary Centres of Power", Reprint 2026-27: ncert.nic.in PDF; the 2020-21 edition ("Alternative Centres of Power", Chapter 4) via the Wayback copy of 9 April 2022.
• European Union, Countries using the euro, EU countries, History of the EU: 1960-69, 1990-99, 2000-09; European Commission, Schengen area and EU trade relations with India; PIB, 27 January 2026: pib.gov.in.
• ASEAN, ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together (2015), with the Kuala Lumpur Declaration of 22 November 2015 on "the formal establishment of the ASEAN Community 2015": asean.org PDF.
• ASEAN, Chairman's Statement of the 47th ASEAN Summit, Kuala Lumpur, October 2025: asean.org PDF; the ASEAN Charter: asean.org PDF.
• World Bank, World Development Indicators (data updated 13 July 2026): GDP (current US$), GDP, PPP (current international $), Manufacturing, value added (current US$).
• State Administration of Foreign Exchange, "SAFE Releases Data on China's Foreign Exchange Reserve at the End of August 2026", 7 September 2026: safe.gov.cn.
• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, About SCO; BRICS India 2026, brics2026.gov.in.
• Ministry of External Affairs, India-China bilateral brief, July 2026: MEA PDF.
• United Nations, Member States (dates of admission of Japan, the two Koreas and Timor-Leste).