IB DP Global Politics: Peace and Conflict – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – the IB holds copyright in its own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available through your school or the IB store.

Related: Peace and Conflict revision notes and the IB DP Global Politics syllabus guide.

Section A

1. Name the four scales/types of conflict this thematic study distinguishes. [4]

2. State the four core concepts every thematic study is examined through. [4]

3. Distinguish peacemaking from peacekeeping. [2]

Section B

4. A civil war breaks out between a government and a separatist movement seeking independence for one region.

(a) Identify which type of conflict this is, with reasoning. [2] (b) Using the concept of sovereignty, explain why this conflict poses a particular challenge to the state involved. [3]

5. Two states use military force in similar circumstances, but the international community responds very differently to each.

(a) Using the concept of legitimacy, suggest one reason the international response might differ. [3] (b) Explain why interdependence means this conflict’s effects may not stay confined to the two states involved. [2]

Section C

6. Using a named intrastate conflict you have studied, examine how at least two of the four core concepts (power, sovereignty, legitimacy, interdependence) help explain its causes and dynamics. [8]

7. “Peacebuilding is more important than peacekeeping in producing durable peace.” Discuss this claim with reference to a named example of a peacekeeping or peacebuilding process. [8]

Worked answers

1. Interstate conflict (between states), intrastate conflict (within a state), non-state conflict (between non-state actors, without a state as a direct party), and extra-state conflict (between a state and a non-state actor beyond that state’s own borders). [4]

2. Power, sovereignty, legitimacy, interdependence. [4]

3. Peacemaking covers negotiations and treaties aimed at ending violence; peacekeeping covers maintaining a ceasefire or preventing renewed violence (e.g. through UN peacekeeping missions). [2]

4. (a) This is an intrastate conflict, since it occurs within a single state between the government and a movement based within that state’s own territory, rather than between two separate states. [2] (b) A successful or prolonged separatist movement directly challenges the state’s sovereignty by contesting its exclusive authority over the region in question; even where the movement does not succeed, the government’s need to reassert control can itself reveal or weaken the practical limits of that sovereignty, making this exactly the kind of case the guide identifies as testing sovereignty in intrastate conflict. [3]

5. (a) Any valid reasoning tied to legitimacy, e.g. one state’s use of force is widely perceived as defensive or authorised by international bodies (seen as legitimate), while the other’s is perceived as unprovoked aggression (seen as illegitimate) – since legitimacy is partly a matter of perception and recognition by other actors, similar actions can draw very different international responses depending on how each is framed and received. [3] (b) Interdependence means conflicts create effects – such as refugee flows, economic disruption, or regional security concerns – that spread beyond the conflict’s own borders into neighbouring states and the wider international system, so other states have a direct stake in a conflict’s outcome even without being combatants themselves. [2]

6. A strong answer names a specific intrastate conflict with real dates and actors, then applies at least two core concepts explicitly rather than describing the conflict generically. For example: power (analysing the military, economic or informational balance between the government and the non-state actor, and how shifts in that balance changed the conflict’s dynamics) combined with legitimacy (how each side claimed or was denied legitimacy for its use of force, and how this shaped both domestic support and international responses). The strongest answers show how the two concepts interacted – for instance, how a shift in the balance of power affected which side could more credibly claim legitimacy, rather than treating each concept as a separate, disconnected checklist item. [8] (Marks for accurate named case-study detail, correct and explicit application of at least two core concepts, and an argument that connects them.)

7. A strong discussion first defines both terms precisely – peacekeeping maintains a ceasefire or prevents renewed violence without addressing root causes, while peacebuilding is post-conflict work (rebuilding institutions, reconciliation, transitional justice – e.g. a truth and reconciliation commission such as those used in the Gambia, Canada or Tunisia, or a justice institution such as the International Criminal Court) aimed at preventing recurrence – then argues using a named example. Peacebuilding could be argued as more important for durability because it addresses conditions that caused the original conflict, whereas peacekeeping (e.g. a ceasefire or a peacekeeping force) can suppress violence without resolving the underlying political, economic or identity-based tensions, risking renewed conflict once peacekeeping measures are withdrawn. However, a well-evaluated answer also recognises that peacebuilding typically cannot occur, or cannot be sustained, without prior successful peacekeeping creating the stable conditions peacebuilding needs to take root – so the two are often sequential and mutually dependent rather than competing priorities, and a case where peacebuilding proceeded without adequate initial peacekeeping (or vice versa) can be used as evidence either way depending on the named example chosen. [8]

Why this set is concept-first

Most Section B and C questions – 4(b), 5(a), 5(b) and 6 – require naming and applying at least one of the four core concepts explicitly, rather than testing conflict knowledge in isolation; 4(a) (classifying the type of conflict) and 7 (weighing peacebuilding against peacekeeping) instead test the thematic study’s own categories and distinctions. The set leans on concepts because the revision notes identify concept-application – not conflict-specific factual recall alone – as the actual skill Paper 2’s extended-response questions assess. Question 6 in particular is written to reward genuinely connecting two concepts rather than listing them separately, mirroring the syllabus’s own emphasis on applying the core concepts together rather than as a checklist.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief – Individuals and Societies: Global Politics, first assessment 2026, (c) 2023 – the same source cited by the Peace and Conflict revision notes and the IB DP Global Politics syllabus guide.