BPSC 107 Solved Question Paper for the June 2026 term-end exam gives you expert answers to the full IGNOU paper on Perspectives on International Relations and World History, written the way BAPSH examiners mark them. Two complete answers are shown here so you can judge the standard first. The full file with all 8 questions is shared on WhatsApp 9899436384.
BPSC 107 key facts at a glance
- Course code: BPSC 107 (printed BPSC-107)
- Subject: Perspectives on International Relations and World History
- Programme: Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Political Science (BAPSH), second-year core course; also BAFPS
- Credits: 6 (as stated in IGNOU's BPSC 107 assignment booklets)
- Blocks and units: 4 blocks, 15 units
- Maximum marks: 100 in the term-end exam (assignments carry 30% weightage)
- Duration: 3 hours
- Questions in the June 2026 paper: 8 in two sections; attempt 5, at least 2 from each section
- Sample answers shown: 2 (Q2 and Q6)
- Questions in the paid file: All 8 questions; 6 are not shown on this page
What the BPSC 107 Solved Question Paper June 2026 covers
BPSC 107 Perspectives on International Relations and World History is a 6-credit core course in the second year of IGNOU's Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Political Science (BAPSH) programme.
The course joins two things students often study apart: IR theory, from realism and liberalism to Marxist, critical and feminist views, and twentieth-century world history, from the two world wars and the Bolshevik Revolution to fascism and the Cold War. The June 2026 paper leaned harder on theory and the global economy than most earlier sessions.
Section I asks about international relations after 1945, the defensive versus offensive realism debate, Eurocentrism, and short notes on narco-trafficking and the Thucydides thesis. Section II moves to the WTO and IMF, Huntington's clash thesis, early Soviet diplomacy, transnationalism and the dependency school.
Our IGNOU BPSC 107 Solved Question Paper answers every one of these 8 questions, including both parts of the two short-note questions. Each answer opens with a clear definition, builds the argument with thinkers and dates, and closes with a short conclusion, which is the shape IGNOU evaluators reward.
BPSC 107 sample answers: the realism debate and Huntington's clash thesis
Two June 2026 questions are fully solved below, one from each section: Q2 on defensive and offensive realism and Q6 on the Clash of Civilizations.
We picked one question from each section because the paper makes you attempt at least two from both. Read them as proof of standard; the other six questions are answered only in the full file.
Q2. Explain the differences between defensive and offensive realism
Answer
Defensive and offensive realism are the two main branches of structural realism, also called neorealism. Both grow out of Kenneth Waltz's Theory of International Politics (1979) and share its basic picture: an anarchic international system with no world government, states as the main actors, survival as their first goal and constant uncertainty about what other states intend. They split on one question: how much power does a state need to feel secure?
Defensive realism
Defensive realists, led by Waltz and developed by Robert Jervis, Stephen Van Evera, Jack Snyder and Charles Glaser, see states as security maximisers. A state should seek an appropriate amount of power, not as much as possible, because grabbing too much alarms its neighbours and triggers balancing coalitions against it. Balancing is therefore more common than bandwagoning, and the system tends to punish aggressors.
Jervis's work on the offence-defence balance (1978) adds that when defence is easier than offence, as in the nuclear age, states can be secure without expanding, and the security dilemma softens. For defensive realists, reckless expansion such as Germany's in the two world wars is a mistake, usually driven by domestic factors, which Snyder traced in Myths of Empire (1991).
Offensive realism
John Mearsheimer set out offensive realism in The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001). He starts from five assumptions: the system is anarchic, every great power has some offensive military capability, intentions can never be known for certain, survival is the primary goal and states are rational actors. From these he concludes that great powers are power maximisers, always looking for chances to gain relative power at their rivals' expense.
The safest position is hegemony. Because oceans limit how far land power can be projected, which Mearsheimer calls the stopping power of water, global hegemony is out of reach. States therefore aim at regional hegemony and try to stop a peer rival from rising in another region. The United States in the Western Hemisphere is his main example, and he argued that China's rise was unlikely to be peaceful.
| Point of difference | Defensive realism | Offensive realism |
|---|---|---|
| Basic aim of states | Security: enough power to survive | Maximum relative power, ideally regional hegemony |
| Nature of states | Status quo, security maximisers | Revisionist, power maximisers |
| Effect of anarchy | Encourages caution and balancing | Rewards opportunism and expansion |
| Offence-defence balance | Usually favours defence | Offence can pay when gains are large |
| Main cause of aggression | Domestic pressures and misperception | The structure of the system itself |
| Key thinkers and text | Waltz, Jervis, Van Evera, Snyder; Theory of International Politics (1979) | Mearsheimer; The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001) |
Conclusion
The debate matters because both schools begin from the same structure yet predict different behaviour. Defensive realism explains restraint and long periods of balance, as in the Cold War stand-off, while offensive realism explains why great powers keep competing even when they already look secure. A strong answer sets out this shared base first and then draws the contrast point by point.
Q6. Discuss the central argument of Clash of Civilizations.
Answer
The Clash of Civilizations is the thesis of American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, first set out in a 1993 Foreign Affairs article titled The Clash of Civilizations? and expanded in his 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. It was partly a reply to Francis Fukuyama's End of History thesis, which saw the victory of liberal democracy as the end of large ideological conflict.
The central argument
Huntington argued that after the Cold War the main source of conflict in world politics would be cultural rather than ideological or economic. Nation states would remain the most powerful actors, but the key conflicts would take place between nations and groups belonging to different civilisations. The fault lines between civilisations would become the battle lines of the future.
He defined a civilisation as the broadest cultural grouping of people, marked by language, history, religion, customs and institutions, and by how people see themselves. Religion was the most important marker. In the 1993 article he named Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American and possibly African civilisations.
Why civilisations will clash
He gave several reasons. Differences of history, language and religion are basic and change slowly. Growing contact between peoples makes them more aware of their civilisational identity. Economic modernisation weakens local and national identities, and religious revival fills the gap. Western dominance produces a return to roots in non-Western societies, and economic regionalism strengthens civilisational blocs.
Two levels of conflict
At the micro level, neighbouring groups fight along fault lines, as in Bosnia and the Caucasus. At the macro level, the core states of different civilisations compete for military and economic power. Huntington described a kin-country rallying effect, where states back members of their own civilisation, and a wider pattern he called the West versus the Rest, including a possible Confucian-Islamic connection.
His advice to the West was not to try to make its values universal. Instead it should strengthen its own unity, especially between Europe and North America, and learn to live in a world of several civilisations. He also identified torn countries, such as Turkey, Mexico and Russia, whose leaders wanted to join one civilisation while their societies belonged to another.
Criticism
Critics replied quickly. Edward Said's essay The Clash of Ignorance (2001) argued that civilisations are not closed, uniform blocks. Amartya Sen, in Identity and Violence (2006), showed that people hold many identities at once. Statistical work by Bruce Russett, John Oneal and Michaelene Cox (2000) found that realist and liberal factors explained conflict better than civilisational difference.
Conclusion
The thesis stays central to BPSC 107 because it moved attention in IR from states and ideologies to culture and identity. A strong exam answer explains the argument fairly, links it to post-Cold War conflicts and then weighs it against its critics, including the charge that it repeats a Eurocentric reading of world history.
Questions answered only in the full file
These six questions from the IGNOU BPSC 107 Question Paper for June 2026 are listed exactly as printed. Their answers are not on this page.
- Discuss the evolution of international relations after the Second World War. (Section I)
- Examine the essential foundations of Eurocentrism. (Section I)
- Write notes on the following in about 200 words each : (a) Narco-Trafficking (b) Thucydides thesis (Section I)
- Analyse how International organizations WTO and the IMF favour the Global North. (Section II)
- Discuss the initiatives of Soviet government for new international relations. (Section II)
- Write notes on the following in about 200 words each : (a) Transnationalism (b) Dependency school (Section II)
BPSC 107 Perspectives on International Relations and World History block and unit wise syllabus
BPSC 107 has 4 blocks and 15 units: Studying International Relations, Historical Perspectives, Theoretical Perspectives and Contemporary International Relations.
The course moves from what IR is, to the twentieth-century history behind it, to the theories that explain it, and finally to the world order after 1945. Each row below lists topics IGNOU has actually set from that block and the June 2026 questions it feeds.
If you are revising from the IGNOU books, our BPSC 107 Study Material pairs well with this solved paper because it follows the same four-block order.
| Block | Units | Topics IGNOU has asked from this block | June 2026 questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block 1: Studying International Relations | Units 1 to 2 | Nature and scope of IR; evolution of IR after the Second World War; structural changes in IR | Q1 |
| Block 2: Historical Perspectives | Units 3 to 6 | Causes of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles; Bolshevik Revolution; rise of fascism and Nazism; causes of the Second World War | Q7 |
| Block 3: Theoretical Perspectives | Units 7 to 11 | Realism, neo-realism and defensive realism; liberalism and neo-liberal institutions; Marxist and dependency approaches; feminist view of war and security; Eurocentrism | Q2, Q3, Q4(b), Q8(a), Q8(b) |
| Block 4: Contemporary International Relations | Units 12 to 15 | Phases and end of the Cold War; decolonisation and the Non-Aligned Movement; post-Cold War order and the Clash of Civilizations; UN reform and global institutions | Q4(a), Q5, Q6 |
How the BPSC 107 June 2026 paper is set: sections, choice and marks
The BPSC 107 Question Paper for June 2026 has 8 questions in two sections; you attempt 5, at least 2 from each, for 100 marks in 3 hours.
Six questions are long answers of about 400 words for 20 marks. Questions 4 and 8 are short-note pairs, with two notes of about 200 words each; earlier BPSC 107 papers print these as 10 + 10 marks.
| Part | Questions | Type | Length | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section I | Q1 to Q3 | Long answer | About 400 words | 20 each |
| Section I | Q4 (a) and (b) | Two short notes | About 200 words each | 20 (10 + 10) |
| Section II | Q5 to Q7 | Long answer | About 400 words | 20 each |
| Section II | Q8 (a) and (b) | Two short notes | About 200 words each | 20 (10 + 10) |
| What you attempt | 5 questions, at least 2 per section | Your choice of mix | About 2,000 words | 100 |
The same two-section, five-answer format runs through recent BAPSH Question Paper sets, so practising with it prepares you for any session, not just this one.
Choice matters. Theory-minded students usually find Q2, Q3 and Q6 easier to score on, while students stronger in history tend to prefer Q1 and Q7. Short notes are a safe way to complete the minimum of two per section.
BPSC 107 topics IGNOU keeps asking: six official papers compared
Fascism and Nazism, the Cold War and the United Nations each appeared in 5 of the 6 official BPSC 107 papers we checked, from June 2022 to December 2025.
We compared the official IGNOU papers for June 2022, June 2023, December 2023, June 2024, December 2024 and December 2025. We could not find the December 2022 and June 2025 papers on IGNOU's websites, so they are not counted.
| Topic | Sessions asked | Count (of 6) | Link to June 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fascism and Nazism | June 2022, June 2023, December 2023, June 2024, December 2025 | 5 | Not set; strong chance next time |
| Cold War: origins, phases, crises and end | June 2022, June 2023, December 2023, June 2024, December 2024 | 5 | Background to Q1 |
| United Nations, Security Council and reform | June 2022, June 2023, December 2023, June 2024, December 2024 | 5 | Not set; strong chance next time |
| Realism, neo-realism and defensive realism | June 2022, June 2024, December 2024, December 2025 | 4 | Q2 and Q4(b) |
| Liberalism and neo-liberalism | June 2022, June 2023, June 2024, December 2024 | 4 | Linked to Q8(a) |
| First World War and the Treaty of Versailles | June 2022, December 2023, December 2024, December 2025 | 4 | Not set |
| Evolution and scope of IR | June 2023, December 2023, June 2024 | 3 | Q1 repeats June 2023 Q1 |
| Clash of Civilizations | December 2023, June 2024 | 2 | Q6, now a full question |
| Dependency school and world system theory | June 2023, December 2024 | 2 | Q8(b) |
| Bolshevik Revolution | June 2022, December 2025 | 2 | Linked to Q7 |
| Security dilemma | December 2024, December 2025 | 2 | Linked to Q2 |
| Eurocentrism | December 2023 | 1 | Q3, now a full question |
For December 2026 practice, pair this table with our IGNOU Important Questions sets, which rank topics by how often IGNOU brings them back.
How our BPSC 107 answers are written and checked
Every BPSC 107 answer is written by Prateek Talwar to IGNOU's 400-word and 200-word limits and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola before it goes into the file.
Writers start from how this course frames the subject: the main IR theories, the critique from the Global South and the twentieth-century events behind them. Each answer names the right thinkers and texts with correct dates, as the two samples above show with Waltz, Mearsheimer and Huntington.
Answers follow a fixed shape: a definition line, a body with clear sub-headings, at least one example or case, and a short conclusion. Short notes define the key term in the first sentence and stay close to 200 words.
We also check each June 2026 question against the IGNOU Previous Year Question Paper archive, so the file flags repeats and keeps the answers in line with what IGNOU has asked before.
BPSC 107 solved file index: every June 2026 question mapped
The full file answers all 8 BPSC 107 June 2026 questions: 2 are shown on this page and 6 are in the full file only.
| Q no. | Section | Question topic | Course block | Where to read it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | International relations after the Second World War | Block 1 | Full file only |
| 2 | I | Defensive and offensive realism | Block 3 | On this page |
| 3 | I | Foundations of Eurocentrism | Block 3 | Full file only |
| 4 (a), (b) | I | Narco-trafficking; Thucydides thesis | Block 4; Block 3 | Full file only |
| 5 | II | WTO, IMF and the Global North | Block 4 | Full file only |
| 6 | II | Clash of Civilizations | Block 4 | On this page |
| 7 | II | Soviet initiatives for new international relations | Block 2 | Full file only |
| 8 (a), (b) | II | Transnationalism; dependency school | Block 3 | Full file only |
The block column follows the syllabus table above, so you can see that Block 3 alone feeds four of the eight June 2026 questions.
Which IGNOU programme studies BPSC 107 International Relations
BPSC 107 is a core course of IGNOU's BA (Honours) Political Science (BAPSH), studied in the second year of the programme; it is also a core course for BAFPS.
Students on the IGNOU Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Political Science take BPSC 107 alongside their other core political science courses, and the June 2026 paper is printed under the BAPSH code.
Students on BAFPS, IGNOU's Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) under the four-year NEP 2020 structure, also study BPSC 107 as a core course and sit the same paper.
BA General (BAG) students meet international relations through a different course, BPSC 134 Introduction to International Relations, which has its own paper. Check the code on your hall ticket before ordering, as the two are separate papers.
The official course material is listed on the IGNOU eGyanKosh page for BPSC 107.
Get the full BPSC 107 Solved Question Paper on WhatsApp
Message WhatsApp 9899436384 to get the full BPSC 107 Solved Question Paper with answers to all 8 June 2026 questions.
The file covers the 2 answers shown here plus the 6 questions answered only in the full file, including both parts of Q4 and Q8. Send the code BPSC 107 and the session June 2026, and our team will share the details.
It also suits students preparing for December 2026, because the June 2026 paper brings back several themes IGNOU has set in BPSC 107 since 2022.
BPSC 107 FAQs: International Relations and World History solved paper
Quick answers to what BPSC 107 students ask most about this solved paper.
How many BPSC 107 June 2026 answers can I read on this page?
You can read 2 complete answers on this page: Q2 on defensive and offensive realism and Q6 on the central argument of the Clash of Civilizations. They are full exam-length answers, not summaries. The other 6 questions from the June 2026 paper are listed as text only, and their answers sit in the full file available on WhatsApp 9899436384.
How do I get the full BPSC 107 solved paper on WhatsApp?
Send a message to WhatsApp 9899436384 with the code BPSC 107 and the session June 2026. Our team will share the full solved file, which answers all 8 questions in the paper: the 2 shown on this page and the 6 answered only in the file, with both parts of the short-note questions 4 and 8 written in about 200 words each.
Which BPSC 107 topics repeat most often in IGNOU exams?
In the six official BPSC 107 papers we checked, from June 2022 to December 2025, fascism and Nazism, the Cold War and the United Nations each appeared in 5 papers. Realism, liberalism and the First World War appeared in 4 each. The June 2026 Q1 on international relations after the Second World War repeats June 2023 Q1 almost word for word.
How long should a BPSC 107 answer be in the term-end exam?
The BPSC 107 paper asks for about 400 words for each long answer worth 20 marks. Questions 4 and 8 are short-note pairs, so each note needs about 200 words. You attempt 5 questions in 3 hours, at least 2 from each section, which means roughly 2,000 words in total. Our answers are written to these same limits.
Is BPSC 107 Perspectives on International Relations and World History a BAPSH course?
Yes. BPSC 107 is a 6-credit core course in the second year of IGNOU's BA (Honours) Political Science, and the June 2026 paper is printed under the BAPSH code. BA General students study a separate international relations course, BPSC 134, which has its own question paper. Check the code on your hall ticket so you order the right solved paper.
Who writes and checks the BPSC 107 solved answers?
The BPSC 107 answers are written by Prateek Talwar and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola at Unnati Educations. Each answer is checked for the right thinkers, texts and dates, for the IGNOU word limit, and for a clear structure with an introduction, body and conclusion. Questions that repeat earlier IGNOU papers are flagged in the file so you know which topics return.
Can the BPSC 107 June 2026 solved paper help for December 2026?
Yes, it is a strong revision base. IGNOU repeats BPSC 107 themes often: realism, the Cold War, fascism, the United Nations and Huntington's thesis have all returned across sessions since 2022. Working through a full recent paper also trains you to pick 5 questions across two sections and write to the 400-word and 200-word limits within 3 hours.
Which June 2026 BPSC 107 questions were asked in earlier papers?
Several were. Q1 on international relations after the Second World War repeats June 2023 Q1. Eurocentrism was a short note in December 2023, the Clash of Civilizations was a note in December 2023 and June 2024, and the dependency school was a note in June 2023. Defensive realism was a short note in December 2025 before becoming a full question here.