VCE PoliticsPractice Examination 16

This paper covers

• WMD as the committed global issue: short-term causes of proliferation risk (North Korea's 2022–2024 ICBM/hypersonic tests and nuclear doctrine law, Iran's post-JCPOA enrichment breaches culminating in the June 2025 Israel-Iran war, Russia's nuclear signalling over Ukraine and New START suspension), how interconnectedness spreads/amplifies WMD risk (DPRK-Russia arms-for-technology transfer since Sept 2023, dual-use tech and cyber-nuclear vulnerabilities), and evaluated effectiveness of global actor responses (IAEA, UN Security Council sanctions regime and its erosion via Russia's March 2024 veto, NPT/TPNW multilateral frameworks)
• Armed conflict as the committed contemporary crisis: key actors and competing interests in Russia-Ukraine and Sudan's civil war, humanitarian/displacement consequences (UNHCR figures, Sudan famine declaration), and evaluated effectiveness of responses (ICC arrest warrants, UN peacekeeping/Security Council paralysis, sanctions, ceasefire diplomacy) with reference to Gaza as comparative evidence
• China as the committed Indo-Pacific state: national interests (sovereignty/territorial integrity incl. Taiwan, economic development, regional primacy), use of hard power (South China Sea militarisation, PLA Taiwan Strait drills), sharp/soft power (Belt and Road Initiative, debt-diplomacy criticism, Confucius Institutes), internal challenges (property crisis, youth unemployment, demographic decline) and external challenges (Philippines South China Sea clashes, US-aligned containment), and an evaluated judgement on China's overall effectiveness in achieving its national interests
• Australia in the Indo-Pacific (Section B, source-based): an original embedded stimulus (defence spending trajectory data plus a media-style extract) on AUKUS and the China relationship, testing analysis of Australia's national interests, use of power, and the significance of its key regional relationships (the US alliance/AUKUS and the China trade relationship) using real 2023–2025 evidence (Defence Strategic Review, National Defence Strategy, Albanese's November 2023 Beijing visit, wine tariff removal)
• Section C extended responses integrating Unit 3 (WMD global issue + armed conflict crisis, evaluating whether multilateral non-proliferation architecture or state-based responses to armed conflict is more broken) and Unit 4 (China's power projection weighed against Australia's national interests and response effectiveness), each demanding a substantiated verdict, named/dated evidence, and explicit use of core concepts (power types, national interest, sovereignty, legitimacy, multilateralism, interconnectedness)

Students are permitted to bring into the examination the materials normally allowed for this subject. Answer all questions in the spaces provided.

This is an ATARMAxxing practice paper. It is not an official examination and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced by the VCAA, NESA or the QCAA.