International Relations and Organisations — CLAT Current Affairs & GK
A passage reports "the resolution failed after a permanent member exercised its veto." CLAT asks which body, which members hold the veto, or where that body sits. Foreign-affairs passages assume you know the UN system, the major groupings, and India's neighbourhood. This chapter maps that world so the linked questions become recall rather than a shrug.
1. The United Nations — the core structure
The UN, headquartered in New York, has six principal organs. The two CLAT tests most:
| Organ | What it does |
|---|---|
| General Assembly | All member states, one vote each; deliberative |
| Security Council | 15 members; primary responsibility for peace and security |
| International Court of Justice | The UN's court, seated at The Hague |
| Secretariat | Run by the Secretary-General |
- The Security Council has five permanent members (P5) — USA, UK, France, Russia, China — each with a veto over substantive resolutions, plus ten elected members.
The veto is the P5's power to block any substantive Security Council resolution — a favourite CLAT hook.
2. UN specialised agencies — body and city
CLAT loves the agency-and-headquarters match:
| Agency | Field | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|
| WHO | Health | Geneva |
| UNESCO | Education, science, culture | Paris |
| ILO | Labour | Geneva |
| FAO | Food & agriculture | Rome |
| IMF & World Bank | Finance & development | Washington, D.C. |
| WTO | Global trade rules | Geneva |
| IAEA | Atomic energy | Vienna |
3. The major groupings
| Grouping | Who |
|---|---|
| G7 | Seven advanced economies (US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada) |
| G20 | 19 major economies + the EU (+ the African Union) |
| BRICS | Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (later expanded) |
| QUAD | India, USA, Japan, Australia |
| SCO | Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (incl. India, China, Russia) |
| ASEAN | South-East Asian nations |
| SAARC | South Asian nations (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan) |
Read the members to name the group: "Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa" ⇒ BRICS; "India, US, Japan, Australia" ⇒ Quad.
4. India's neighbourhood and diplomacy
- India's land neighbours include Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar (and Afghanistan via PoK); maritime neighbours include Sri Lanka and Maldives.
- India follows a "Neighbourhood First" and "Act East" orientation, and is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
- Watch for summits India hosts or attends and bilateral agreements in the news.
5. Reading a foreign-affairs passage
- Identify the event — a summit, a treaty, a vote, a visit.
- Find the body or grouping named, and recall its members, function and seat.
- Answer passage questions from the text; answer body/city/membership questions from memory.
- On match questions (leader–country, agency–city), rely wholly on outside knowledge.
6. Exam protocol
- Fix the UN core: New York HQ, the P5 and the veto, the ICJ at The Hague.
- Drill the agency-and-city table until it is automatic.
- Name a grouping from its members, and vice-versa.
- Keep India's neighbours and doctrines ready as anchors.
- Separate passage-based from static-linked questions as always.
- On membership match questions, expect to need pure recall — the passage will not help.
