Security in the Contemporary World, Class 12 Political Science

What Security in the Contemporary World is about

Weightage: Contemporary World Politics: Security in the Contemporary World carries 6 of the 80 theory marks.Source: CBSE Political Science (028) syllabus 2026-27, course structure

Key concepts

What is security?

NCERT section What is Security?

Basic meaning: security means freedom from threats. But life is full of threats; if every danger counted, the world would be saturated with security issues and we would be paralysed.

Narrowing it down:

• Only threats to 'core values' count. But whose core values? The country's as a whole, or ordinary men and women's? Do governments always share citizens' idea of core values?
• And how intense must the threat be? Every action by another country or every street robbery harms some value.
• Conclusion: security relates only to extremely dangerous threats, those that would damage core values beyond repair unless something were done.

A slippery idea: conceptions of security change over time and differ among the world's people (the textbook speaks of six hundred and fifty crore people in nearly 200 countries). So notions are grouped into two: traditional and non-traditional. Context and situation always shape our view of security.

Worked example

What is meant by security? Why is it called a 'slippery idea'? (2 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Security means freedom from threats, but only from extremely dangerous threats that could damage core values beyond repair.
2. It is slippery because societies' ideas of security change over time and differ across countries and people, depending on context.

Answer: Freedom from grave threats to core values; slippery because its meaning varies with time, place and context.

Traditional security: external threats

NCERT section Traditional Notions: External

Traditional (national) security sees the greatest danger as military threats from another country, endangering the core values of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. War also endangers ordinary citizens, who may be targeted to break their support for the war.

A government facing war has three basic choices:
1. Surrender (never advertised as policy).
2. Prevent attack by promising to raise the costs of war to an unacceptable level: deterrence.
3. Defend itself when war breaks out, denying the attacker its objectives or defeating it: defence.

Balance of power: governments watch which countries are bigger and stronger, since power is a clue to future threats. They work to keep a favourable balance with others, especially neighbours, rivals or past enemies, mainly by building military power (with economic and technological power as its base).

Alliance building: an alliance is a coalition of states that coordinate actions to deter or defend against military attack. Most are formalised in written treaties and based on a clear idea of who the threat is. Alliances rest on national interests and change when interests change: in the 1980s the US supported Islamic militants fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, yet turned on them after Al Qaeda (led by Osama bin Laden) struck America on 11 September 2001.

Why threats come from outside: the international system has no central authority above states. The UN is a creature of its members, with authority only as far as members allow. So each country must be responsible for its own security.

Worked example

What choices does a state have when its security is threatened, according to the traditional perspective? (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Surrender: accept the other side's demands, though no government announces this as policy.
2. Deterrence: prevent the attack by threatening to raise the costs of war to an unacceptable level.
3. Defence: fight when war breaks out to deny the attacker its goals and turn back or defeat its forces.

Answer: Surrender, deterrence and defence; security policy focuses on deterrence and defence.

Traditional security: internal threats

NCERT section Traditional Notions: Internal

Security also depends on internal peace and order. It received less attention after 1945 because the most powerful countries seemed internally secure: the US and Soviet Union expected peace within their borders, and powerful Western European countries faced no serious internal threats. They focused on external threats, above all the Cold War fear of attack between the US-led and Soviet-led alliances. Some European powers also faced violence in their colonies (France in Vietnam in the 1950s; Britain in Kenya in the 1950s and early 1960s).

Newly independent states (from the late 1940s):

• Some joined Cold War alliances and feared being dragged into a 'hot war'. The Cold War caused about one-third of all wars after the Second World War, mostly in the Third World.
• Some feared attack by their former colonial rulers.

How their challenges differed from Europe's (two ways):
1. They faced possible military conflict with neighbours, often fearing neighbours more than the superpowers or former colonial powers (disputes over borders, territory, populations).
2. They faced internal military conflict, especially separatist movements. External and internal threats sometimes merged when a neighbour helped an internal movement.

Scale: internal wars now make up over 95 per cent of armed conflicts; between 1946 and 1991 civil wars rose twelve-fold, the biggest jump in 200 years.

Worked example

How were the security challenges of newly independent countries of Asia and Africa different from those of Europe? (2 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. They faced the prospect of military conflict with neighbouring countries, which they often feared more than the superpowers or ex-colonial powers.
2. They also faced internal military conflict from separatist movements, sometimes backed by neighbours, so external and internal threats merged.

Answer: They faced threats both from neighbours and from within (separatism), unlike Europe's mainly external focus.

Traditional security and cooperation

NCERT section Traditional Security and Cooperation

Even traditional security accepts that cooperation in limiting violence is possible.

Limits on war: countries should go to war only for the right reasons (mainly self-defence or protecting others from genocide), and must limit the means: avoid harming non-combatants and unarmed or surrendering soldiers, avoid excessive violence, and use force only after alternatives have failed.

1. Disarmament: all states give up certain kinds of weapons.

• 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) banned the making and possession of these weapons (more than 155 states joined the BWC; 193 the CWC), including all great powers.
• But the superpowers would not give up nuclear weapons, the third type of weapon of mass destruction, so they pursued arms control.

2. Arms control: regulates the acquisition or development of weapons.

• Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, 1972: stopped the US and Soviet Union from using ballistic missiles as a defensive shield; it allowed very limited defensive systems but stopped large-scale production.
• Other treaties: SALT II and START.
• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), 1968: countries that had tested and made nuclear weapons before 1967 could keep them; others were to give up the right to acquire them. It did not abolish nuclear weapons but limited the number of countries having them.

3. Confidence building: rivals share ideas and information about military intentions, plans, forces and deployments, to show they are not planning a surprise attack, so that they do not go to war through misunderstanding or misperception.

Overall: in traditional security, force is both the principal threat and the principal means of achieving security.

Worked example

Distinguish between disarmament and arms control with one example each. (4 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Disarmament requires all states to give up certain kinds of weapons.
2. Example: the 1972 BWC and 1997 CWC banned the production and possession of biological and chemical weapons.
3. Arms control regulates the acquisition or development of weapons rather than banning them.
4. Example: the 1968 NPT let countries that had nuclear weapons before 1967 keep them while others gave up the right to acquire them; or the 1972 ABM Treaty.

Answer: Disarmament eliminates categories of weapons (BWC, CWC); arms control limits and regulates them (NPT, ABM Treaty, SALT II, START).

Non-traditional security: human security

NCERT section Non-traditional Notions

Non-traditional security goes beyond military threats to include threats to the conditions of human existence. It questions the referent ('security for whom?'), what is being secured, from what threats, and the approach.

• Traditional referent: the state, its territory and governing institutions.
• Non-traditional referent: not just the state but individuals, communities and all of humankind. These views are called 'human security' or 'global security'.

Human security: about protecting people more than states. Secure states do not automatically mean secure people; protecting citizens from foreign attack may be necessary but is not sufficient. Over the past century, governments have killed more of their own citizens than foreign armies have.

Three versions (all agree the goal is protecting individuals):
1. Narrow concept: focus on violent threats to individuals; in Kofi Annan's words, protecting communities and individuals 'from internal violence'.
2. Broad concept: add hunger, disease and natural disasters, which kill far more people than war, genocide and terrorism combined.
3. Broadest formulation: also economic security and 'threats to human dignity', that is, 'freedom from want' and 'freedom from fear'.

Worked example

Explain the narrow and broad concepts of human security. (4 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Both aim at protecting individuals rather than only states.
2. Narrow concept: protection from violent threats, which Kofi Annan described as protection of communities and individuals from internal violence.
3. Broad concept: also protection from hunger, disease and natural disasters, which kill more people than war, genocide and terrorism combined.
4. Broadest version adds economic security and threats to human dignity: 'freedom from want' and 'freedom from fear'.

Answer: Narrow: protection from violence; broad: also from hunger, disease and disasters; broadest: also economic security and dignity.

Global security

NCERT section Non-traditional Notions

Global security emerged in the 1990s in response to threats that are global in nature: global warming, international terrorism and epidemics like AIDS and bird flu.

• No country can solve these alone.
• One country may suffer disproportionately: a sea-level rise of 1.5-2.0 metres from global warming would flood 20 per cent of Bangladesh, inundate most of the Maldives and threaten nearly half of Thailand's population.
• So international cooperation is vital, though hard to achieve.

Keeping the concept coherent: expanding security does not mean any disease or distress counts; otherwise everything becomes a security issue. To qualify, an issue must at least threaten the very existence of the referent (a state or group). Examples:

• The Maldives: global warming may submerge much of its territory.
• Southern Africa: HIV-AIDS affects one in six adults (one in three in Botswana).
• Rwanda, 1994: nearly five lakh Tutsis were killed by the rival Hutu in a few weeks.

So non-traditional security, like traditional security, varies with local context.

Worked example

Why did the idea of global security emerge? Give an example. (2 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. It emerged in the 1990s because threats like global warming, international terrorism and epidemics such as AIDS and bird flu are global and no country can solve them alone.
2. Example: a 1.5-2.0 metre sea-level rise would flood 20 per cent of Bangladesh and inundate most of the Maldives.

Answer: Because global threats need international cooperation; e.g. sea-level rise threatening Bangladesh and the Maldives.

New sources of threats

NCERT section New Sources of Threats

1. Terrorism: political violence that targets civilians deliberately and indiscriminately. International terrorism involves citizens or territory of more than one country. Terrorists try to change a situation they dislike by force or threat of force, targeting civilians to use public fear against governments. Classic cases: hijacking planes and bombs in trains, cafes and markets. After 11 September 2001 (attack on the World Trade Centre), attention to terrorism grew, though terrorism is not new; most past attacks occurred in the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and South Asia.

2. Human rights: three types: political rights (speech, assembly); economic and social rights; rights of colonised people or ethnic and indigenous minorities. There is no agreement on which are universal or what the world should do when they are violated. Since the 1990s, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the Rwandan genocide and the Indonesian military's killings in East Timor sparked debate: some say the UN Charter empowers armed action to defend human rights; others say powerful states' national interests decide where the UN acts.

3. Global poverty: world population (760 crore) will near 1000 crore by mid-century; half of growth occurs in six countries (India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia). Poor countries' populations may triple in 50 years while many rich countries shrink. Low incomes and high population growth reinforce each other, widening the North-South gap and disparities within the South. Most armed conflicts are now in sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region.

4. Migration and refugees: poverty drives migration from South to North, causing political friction. Migrants leave voluntarily; refugees flee war, disaster or persecution. States are generally expected to accept refugees but not migrants. Internally displaced people flee home but stay within borders, e.g. Kashmiri Pandits who fled the Kashmir Valley in the early 1990s. The refugee map matches the conflict map: 1990-95, 70 states in 93 wars killed about 55 lakh; in the 1990s all but three of 60 refugee flows coincided with internal conflict.

5. Health epidemics: HIV-AIDS, bird flu and SARS spread through migration, business, tourism and military operations. By 2003, about 4 crore people had HIV-AIDS, two-thirds in Africa. New diseases (Corona, ebola, hantavirus, hepatitis C) and drug-resistant old ones (TB, malaria, dengue, cholera) emerged; animal epidemics (mad-cow disease, bird flu) caused huge losses. Epidemics show interdependence, making borders less meaningful.

Worked example

Distinguish between migrants, refugees and internally displaced people. (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Migrants leave their home countries voluntarily, often for better economic opportunities; states need not accept them.
2. Refugees flee their country because of war, natural disaster or political persecution; states are generally supposed to accept them.
3. Internally displaced people flee their homes but remain inside national borders, e.g. Kashmiri Pandits who left the Kashmir Valley in the early 1990s.

Answer: Migrants move voluntarily; refugees flee across borders from danger; internally displaced people flee but stay within their country.

Cooperative security and India's security strategy

NCERT section Cooperative Security; India's Security Strategy

Cooperative security: many non-traditional threats need cooperation, not military confrontation. Force may help against terrorism or to enforce human rights (with limits), but cannot reduce poverty, manage migration or control epidemics, and may make things worse.

• Cooperation may be bilateral, regional, continental or global.
• Players include international organisations (UN, WHO, World Bank, IMF), NGOs (Amnesty International, Red Cross, charities, religious bodies, trade unions), businesses, and great personalities (Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela).
• Force may be a last resort, e.g. against governments that kill their own people or against terrorists, but it is better when sanctioned and applied collectively rather than by one country alone.

India's security strategy: four components (used in varying combinations):
1. Strengthening military capability: India fought Pakistan (1947-48, 1965, 1971, 1999) and China (1962); surrounded by nuclear-armed countries, it justified its 1998 nuclear tests as safeguarding national security (first test 1974).
2. Strengthening international norms and institutions: Nehru supported Asian solidarity, decolonisation, disarmament and the UN; India sought a universal, non-discriminatory non-proliferation regime; argued for a New International Economic Order (NIEO); used non-alignment to create an area of peace outside bloc politics; joined the 1997 Kyoto Protocol; sent troops on UN peacekeeping missions.
3. Meeting internal challenges: militant groups in Nagaland, Mizoram, Punjab, Kashmir and elsewhere have sought to break away; India has preserved unity through a democratic system that lets communities voice grievances and share power.
4. Economic development: lifting the mass of citizens out of poverty and preventing huge inequalities. Democratic politics gives the poor a voice and pressures governments to combine growth with human development, so democracy itself is a way to provide security.

Worked example

Explain any two components of India's security strategy. (4 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Military strength: after conflicts with Pakistan (1947-48, 1965, 1971, 1999) and China (1962), and being surrounded by nuclear-armed neighbours, India built its military and conducted nuclear tests (1974, 1998).
2. This is justified as safeguarding national security.
3. International norms and institutions: Nehru backed Asian solidarity, decolonisation, disarmament and the UN; India pressed for a non-discriminatory non-proliferation regime and the NIEO.
4. It used non-alignment to create an area of peace, joined the Kyoto Protocol and sent troops on UN peacekeeping missions.

Answer: Strengthening military capability and strengthening international norms and institutions (also internal democracy and economic development).

Security in the Contemporary World in real life

Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Topics in this chapter

• Traditional Notions of Security
• Non-Traditional Notions of Security
• India's Security Strategy

Security in the Contemporary World: key facts

Security

Freedom from extremely dangerous threats to core values (damage beyond repair)

Two groups: traditional and non-traditional.

Choices in traditional security

Surrender; deterrence (prevent war); defence (limit or end war)

Plus balance of power and alliance building.

Alliance example

US backed Afghan Islamic militants vs Soviet Union (1980s); attacked them after Al Qaeda's 11 Sept 2001 attack

Alliances change with national interests.

Internal wars

Over 95% of armed conflicts; civil wars rose twelve-fold 1946-1991

Cold War caused about one-third of post-1945 wars.

Disarmament

BWC 1972 (155+ states); CWC 1997 (193 states)

Give up whole categories of weapons.

Arms control

ABM Treaty 1972; SALT II; START; NPT 1968 (pre-1967 nuclear states keep weapons)

Regulates weapons; NPT limits who has them.

Confidence building

Share information on intentions, plans, forces, deployments

Avoid war by misperception.

Human security

Narrow (violence) / broad (hunger, disease, disasters) / broadest (freedom from want and fear)

More killed by own governments than by foreign armies in last 100 years.

Global security

1990s; global warming, terrorism, AIDS, bird flu; 1.5-2 m sea rise floods 20% of Bangladesh

Needs international cooperation.

New threats

Terrorism, human rights, global poverty, migration and refugees, health epidemics

Existence of referent test keeps the concept coherent.

India's wars

Pakistan 1947-48, 1965, 1971, 1999; China 1962; nuclear tests 1974, 1998

First component: military capability.

India's four components

Military strength; international norms and institutions; internal challenges via democracy; economic development

Used in varying combinations.

How the board asks Security in the Contemporary World

The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.

Tricks to remember Security in the Contemporary World

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

• Traditional security tools

  "DDBA": Deterrence, Defence, Balance of power, Alliances.

  Use it when: Components of traditional security.

• Cooperation in traditional security

  "DAC": Disarmament, Arms control, Confidence building.

  Use it when: Forms of cooperation.

• New threats

  "THPME": Terrorism, Human rights, Poverty, Migration, Epidemics.

  Use it when: New sources of threats.

• India's strategy

  "MIDE": Military, International norms, Democracy for internal challenges, Economic development.

  Use it when: Four components.

• Treaty years

  NPT 68, BWC and ABM 72, CWC 97.

  Use it when: Treaty MCQs.

Security in the Contemporary World: board-level solved questions

Ordered from board level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.

Case-study practice (Section E style)

Read the situation, then answer every part. In the board paper this is a 4-mark question split into 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 marks.

Where the marks are

How a typical answer is split into step marks. Show every step: a right final answer alone rarely earns full marks.

Where students lose marks in Security in the Contemporary World

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

• ✗Mistake: Calling every problem a security threat

  Students over-extend non-traditional security.

  ✓Do this: Only extremely dangerous threats that endanger the existence of the referent qualify.

  Usually costs: 1-2 marks in classification questions.

• ✗Mistake: Mixing up disarmament and arms control

  Both reduce weapons.

  ✓Do this: Disarmament gives up categories (BWC, CWC); arms control regulates (ABM, SALT II, START, NPT).

  Usually costs: 1-2 marks.

• ✗Mistake: Calling internally displaced people refugees

  Both flee.

  ✓Do this: Refugees cross borders; IDPs stay within the country (Kashmiri Pandits).

  Usually costs: 1 mark.

• ✗Mistake: Forgetting the referent

  Students compare only threats.

  ✓Do this: Traditional: state; non-traditional: individuals, communities, humankind.

  Usually costs: 1 mark in comparison answers.

• ✗Mistake: Listing India's wars wrongly

  Dates confused.

  ✓Do this: Pakistan 1947-48, 1965, 1971, 1999; China 1962.

  Usually costs: 1 mark.

NCERT exercise guide: Security in the Contemporary World

What each exercise in the NCERT chapter tests, how to approach it, and a question of the same kind solved step by step. Questions here are written in our own words.

Practice questions on Security in the Contemporary World

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

1. Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level

   Which of the following is a component of traditional security policy?
   (a) Freedom from want
   (b) Balance of power
   (c) Controlling epidemics
   (d) Global poverty reduction

   Hint

   Military-centred.

   Answer

   (b).

2. Q2 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level

   The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed in:
   (a) 1962
   (b) 1968
   (c) 1972
   (d) 1997

   Hint

   Pre-1967 nuclear states keep weapons.

   Answer

   (b) 1968.

3. Q3 · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level

   Assertion (A): Kashmiri Pandits who left the Kashmir Valley in the early 1990s are refugees.
   Reason (R): Refugees are people who flee war, disaster or persecution and cross into another country.
   Choose (a)-(d).

   Hint

   Did they leave India?

   Answer

   (d) A is false (they are internally displaced people, since they stayed within India), but R is true.

4. Q4 · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level

   Assertion (A): In traditional security, most threats come from outside a country's borders.
   Reason (R): The international system has no central authority above states to control their behaviour.
   Choose (a)-(d).

   Hint

   Anarchy.

   Answer

   (a) Both are true and R explains A.

5. Q5 · 2 marks · Very short answerBoard level

   What are the objectives of military alliances? Give one example. (2 marks)

   Hint

   Deter or defend.

   Answer

   Alliances are coalitions of states that coordinate actions to deter or defend against military attack and to increase their effective power relative to another country or alliance; they rest on national interests. Example from the textbook: the US backed Islamic militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s (NATO is another familiar alliance).

6. Q6 · 4 marks · Short answerHarder board level

   Why is cooperative security more effective than military force for non-traditional threats? (4 marks)

   Hint

   What can force not do?

   Answer

   Non-traditional threats like poverty, migration, refugees and epidemics cannot be solved by force; using the military would often make matters worse. Even against terrorism and human rights abuses force has limits. Cooperation can be bilateral, regional, continental or global and can involve international organisations (UN, WHO, World Bank, IMF), NGOs (Amnesty International, Red Cross), businesses and great personalities. When force is needed as a last resort, it is better sanctioned and applied collectively than by one country alone.

7. Q7 · 4 marks · Short answerHarder board level

   Compare the threats faced by people in the Third World with those faced by people in the First World. (4 marks)

   Hint

   Internal vs external; poverty; disease.

   Answer

   First World countries after 1945 were largely secure internally and feared mainly external attack (Cold War). Third World countries faced threats from neighbours and internal separatist movements, often merged; most Cold War wars were fought in the Third World. They also face severe non-traditional threats: poverty (sub-Saharan Africa is poorest and has most conflicts), refugee flows from conflicts, and epidemics like HIV-AIDS that rich countries can treat with expensive drugs but poor regions cannot.

8. Q8 · 2 marks · Very short answerHOTS / competency

   Suppose two neighbouring countries announce their army exercise schedules to each other in advance and invite observers. Which concept of traditional security does this reflect, and why is it useful? (2 marks)

   Hint

   Avoiding misperception.

   Answer

   Confidence building: rivals share information about military intentions, plans and deployments to show they are not planning a surprise attack, so that war does not break out through misunderstanding or misperception.

9. Q9 · 6 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

   'Expansion of the concept of security does not mean that any disease or distress can be included.' Explain with examples. (6 marks)

   Hint

   Existence of the referent.

   Answer

   If every distress were a security issue, the concept would lose coherence and everything would become security. So an issue must meet a minimum common criterion: it should endanger the survival of the referent (a state or a group), even if the kind of danger varies. Examples: global warming may submerge much of the Maldives; HIV-AIDS affects one in six adults in Southern Africa (one in three in Botswana), threatening societies; in 1994 nearly five lakh Tutsis were killed by the Hutu in Rwanda within weeks, threatening the group's existence. So non-traditional security, like traditional, depends on local context, and only existential threats qualify.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

1. 1.Which report said security had been interpreted too narrowly, focusing on states rather than people?Show answer

   The 1994 UNDP Human Development Report.

2. 2.What core values does traditional security protect?Show answer

   Sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

3. 3.What share of armed conflicts are internal wars today?Show answer

   More than 95 per cent.

4. 4.What did the NPT allow?Show answer

   Countries that had tested and made nuclear weapons before 1967 could keep them; others gave up the right to acquire them.

5. 5.What is the referent of security?Show answer

   The answer to 'security for whom?': the state in traditional security; individuals, communities and humankind in non-traditional security.

6. 6.Give one example of internally displaced people from the textbook.Show answer

   Kashmiri Pandits who fled the Kashmir Valley in the early 1990s.

7. 7.How many people were killed in Rwanda in 1994?Show answer

   Nearly five lakh Tutsis, killed by the rival Hutu in a few weeks.

8. 8.When did India first test a nuclear device?Show answer

   In 1974.

Quick revision checklist

The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?

• ☐Can you define security and explain why only extreme threats count?
• ☐Can you list the three choices of a state facing war?
• ☐Can you explain balance of power and alliances with the Afghanistan example?
• ☐Can you explain why new states faced different challenges from Europe?
• ☐Can you distinguish disarmament, arms control and confidence building with treaties?
• ☐Can you explain the referent in traditional and non-traditional security?
• ☐Can you describe narrow, broad and broadest human security?
• ☐Can you list five new sources of threats with one fact each?
• ☐Can you distinguish migrants, refugees and internally displaced people?
• ☐Can you explain India's four security components?

Security in the Contemporary World: frequently asked questions