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General Studies 2021 GS Paper I 15 marks 250 words Compulsory Evaluate

GS Paper I — Q13

"There arose a serious challenge to the Democratic State System between the two World Wars." Evaluate the statement. (Answer in…

"There arose a serious challenge to the Democratic State System between the two World Wars." Evaluate the statement. (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks

हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें

"दोनों विश्व युद्धों के बीच लोकतांत्रिक राज्य प्रणाली के लिए एक गंभीर चुनौती उत्पन्न हुई ।" इस कथन का मूल्यांकन कीजिए । (250 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)

Q13 of the 2021 UPSC Mains General Studies GS Paper I, as printed
The question as printed in the 2021 General Studies paper
Evaluate your answer to this question → See all 2021 General Studies questions

Model answer

Written by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 250-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key.

Between the two World Wars, the Democratic State System faced a serious challenge, but it was not terminal. The crisis was ideological, economic and political.

The most direct assault came from fascism and Nazism. Mussolini’s seizure of power in Italy (1922) and Hitler’s appointment in Germany (1933) dismantled parliamentary institutions, suppressed opposition and replaced pluralism with one-party authoritarianism. This model spread: Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal and Eastern European authoritarian regimes in Poland and Hungary showed that liberal democracy was not the only path to state consolidation.

The Great Depression of 1929 deepened the challenge. Deflation, mass unemployment and social polarization delegitimised liberal democratic capitalism, making voters receptive to radical alternatives. The Soviet Union added a communist counter-model, challenging liberal democracy ideologically and geopolitically by promising planned development and class rule.

Yet democracy showed resilience. Suffrage expanded, especially women’s voting rights in Britain, the USA and Germany, while Britain, France, the USA and Dominions retained constitutional frameworks despite severe strains. In India, the Government of India Act 1919 and the Government of India Act 1935 introduced limited representative institutions, demonstrating that democratic experiments could advance even under colonial constraints.

Thus, the challenge was severe and regionally uneven: Europe was most vulnerable, while Western democracies and colonial constitutional reforms preserved democratic possibilities. The interwar crisis exposed the fragility of democracy but did not destroy it; it forced later democracies to combine political rights with economic security.

What "Evaluate" is asking you to do

Judge how well something has performed against the standard it set for itself — its stated aim, mandate or promise — and commit to a verdict. Name the yardstick before you judge; an unanchored judgement reads as opinion.

Structure that answers it

Name the yardstick — stated aim, mandate or benchmark → performance against it → shortfall against it → why the gap exists → verdict

Where marks are lost

Presenting both sides and then declining to decide, or delivering a verdict against a standard you never stated, which makes it look arbitrary.

All UPSC directive words, compared →

How this answer will be evaluated

Approach

Framework: GS1 History/Polity. evaluate: criteria > evidence > balanced judgment Full marks: Analytically links economic crisis to the rise of authoritarianism and evaluates the specific failure of democratic institutions.

Key points expected

  • Rise of totalitarianism (Fascism/Nazism) as a direct challenge
  • Economic instability (Great Depression) undermining democratic governance
  • Failure of the League of Nations to maintain order
  • Erosion of liberal democratic norms and civil liberties

Evaluation rubric

Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.

  1. The answer Assess the validity of the claim that the inter-war period posed a serious challenge to democratic state systems.  · 250 words

    evaluate— criteria → evidence → balanced judgment

    Must cover

    • Rise of totalitarianism (Fascism/Nazism) as a direct challenge
    • Economic instability (Great Depression) undermining democratic governance
    • Failure of the League of Nations to maintain order
    • Erosion of liberal democratic norms and civil liberties

    Loses marks

    • Narrating WWI or WWII battles chronologically
    • Focusing only on India's freedom struggle
    • Ignoring the economic causes of political instability

    Earns more

    • Mention of specific regimes (Mussolini, Hitler, Franco)
    • Reference to the Weimar Republic's collapse
    • Discussion of appeasement policy as a democratic failure
    • Contrast with the survival of democracy in UK/USA

    Extra mark

    • Citation of specific dates (1929, 1933, 1939)
    • Reference to specific treaties or agreements (Munich Agreement)

Practice this exact question

Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.

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