UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — A bully blinks

Question 1

On whose advice was the Monroe Doctrine issued in 1823 as an exclusively American (unilateral) declaration rather than a joint statement with Britain?

Accepted Answer

Secretary of State John Quincy Adams

Answer

Secretary of State Henry Clay

Answer

Secretary of State Daniel Webster

Answer

Vice President John C. Calhoun

Question 2

A de facto naval/energy blockade of Cuba — like the 1962 'quarantine' — would be operationally enforced at sea primarily by which arm of the U.S. armed forces?

Accepted Answer

U.S. Navy

Answer

U.S. Coast Guard

Answer

U.S. Marine Corps

Answer

U.S. Air Force

Question 3

The survivable retaliatory capacity that underpins mutual assured destruction — the 'secure second strike' able to respond after absorbing a first strike — is delivered most reliably by which leg of a nuclear triad?

Accepted Answer

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SSBNs)

Answer

Land-based ICBMs in fixed silos

Answer

Strategic bomber aircraft

Answer

Tactical battlefield artillery

Question 4

Which single doctrine — holding that a full-scale nuclear exchange would guarantee the complete annihilation of both attacker and defender — is regarded as the central organising concept of Cold War deterrence?

Accepted Answer

Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)

Answer

Massive retaliation

Answer

Flexible response

Answer

Countervalue targeting

Question 5

After Soviet oil and economic aid to Cuba ended with the USSR's 1991 collapse, the discounted-crude supply that sustained Cuba from the mid-2000s was administered chiefly through which Venezuelan-led programme?

Accepted Answer

PetroCaribe

Answer

ALBA development bank

Answer

OPEC reference basket

Answer

CARICOM single market

Question 6

Who was the principal target of the large-scale U.S. military operation launched against Caracas on January 3, 2026?

Accepted Answer

President Nicolás Maduro

Answer

First Lady Cilia Flores

Answer

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó

Answer

Former president Hugo Chávez

Question 7

The 2026 U.S. executive order declaring Cuba an 'unusual and extraordinary threat' and authorising secondary tariffs on countries supplying it oil drew its legal authority chiefly from which U.S. statute?

Accepted Answer

International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 1977

Answer

Trading with the Enemy Act, 1917

Answer

Helms-Burton Act, 1996

Answer

National Emergencies Act, 1976

Question 8

Under the UN Charter, the unilateral 2026 U.S. military action against Venezuela could be lawful only if it fell within which exception to the Article 2(4) prohibition on the use of force?

Accepted Answer

Authorisation by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII

Answer

A two-thirds resolution of the UN General Assembly

Answer

Endorsement by the Organization of American States

Answer

A bilateral extradition treaty with the target state

Question 9

Which 1996 U.S. statute is regarded as the principal legislative instrument extending the Cuba embargo extraterritorially by threatening sanctions on foreign companies that deal with Cuba?

Accepted Answer

Helms-Burton (Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity / LIBERTAD) Act, 1996

Answer

Cuban Democracy (Torricelli) Act, 1992

Answer

International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 1977

Answer

Trading with the Enemy Act, 1917

UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — A bully blinks

Q1. On whose advice was the Monroe Doctrine issued in 1823 as an exclusively American (unilateral) declaration rather than a joint statement with Britain?

Q2. A de facto naval/energy blockade of Cuba — like the 1962 'quarantine' — would be operationally enforced at sea primarily by which arm of the U.S. armed forces?

Q3. The survivable retaliatory capacity that underpins mutual assured destruction — the 'secure second strike' able to respond after absorbing a first strike — is delivered most reliably by which leg of a nuclear triad?

Q4. Which single doctrine — holding that a full-scale nuclear exchange would guarantee the complete annihilation of both attacker and defender — is regarded as the central organising concept of Cold War deterrence?

Q5. After Soviet oil and economic aid to Cuba ended with the USSR's 1991 collapse, the discounted-crude supply that sustained Cuba from the mid-2000s was administered chiefly through which Venezuelan-led programme?

Q6. Who was the principal target of the large-scale U.S. military operation launched against Caracas on January 3, 2026?

Q7. The 2026 U.S. executive order declaring Cuba an 'unusual and extraordinary threat' and authorising secondary tariffs on countries supplying it oil drew its legal authority chiefly from which U.S. statute?

Q8. Under the UN Charter, the unilateral 2026 U.S. military action against Venezuela could be lawful only if it fell within which exception to the Article 2(4) prohibition on the use of force?

Q9. Which 1996 U.S. statute is regarded as the principal legislative instrument extending the Cuba embargo extraterritorially by threatening sanctions on foreign companies that deal with Cuba?