What is not a security challenge faced by the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Many new countries feared the US or Soviet Union more than their neighbouring countries.
Option (1) The new countries faced the prospect of military conflict with neighbouring countries. A challenge (Incorrect). This was the first way in which their challenges differed from those of Europe.
Option (2) Many new countries feared the US or Soviet Union more than their neighbouring countries. Not a challenge (Correct). It was the other way round: many new countries came to fear their neighbours even more than the US or Soviet Union or the former colonial powers.
Option (3) The new states worried about threats from separatist movements. A challenge (Incorrect). Internally, separatist movements wanted to form independent countries.
Option (4) Between 1946 and 1991, there was a twelve fold rise in the number of civil wars. A challenge (Incorrect). Internal wars were a serious challenge to the security of the new states; this twelve-fold rise was the greatest jump in 200 years.
NCERT (2025-26): “Traditional Notions: Internal … The security challenges facing the newly-independent countries of Asia and Africa were different from the challenges in Europe in two ways. For one thing, the new countries faced the prospect of military conflict with neighbouring countries. For another, they had to worry about internal military conflict. These countries faced threats not only from outside their borders, mostly from neighbours, but also from within. Many newly-independent countries came to fear their neighbours even more than they feared the US or Soviet Union or the former colonial powers. They quarrelled over borders and territories or control of people and populations or all of these simultaneously. Traditional Notions: Internal … Internally, the new states worried about threats from separatist movements which wanted to form independent countries. Sometimes, the external and internal threats merged. A neighbour might help or instigate an internal separatist movement leading to tensions between the two neighbouring countries. Internal wars now make up more than 95 per cent of all armed conflicts fought anywhere in the world. Between 1946 and 1991, there was a twelve-fold rise in the number of civil wars—the greatest jump in 200 years.…” |