(a) How will you apply emotional intelligence in administrative practices ? (b) Strength, peace and security are considered to be the pillars of international relations. Elucidate.
Approach · directive: “how will you apply / elucidate”
What it asks · (a) Show how the parts of emotional intelligence can be used in administrative work; (b) explain how strength, peace and security support each other in relations between States.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- (a) Explain how the components of emotional intelligence apply in administrative practice
- (b) Elucidate how strength, peace and security serve as pillars of international relations and support each other
Open with · (a) Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise and manage one's own and others' emotions; (b) States seek peace, but need strength and security to keep it.
Cover
- (a) Components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills, as in Goleman's model.
- (a) Self-control: staying calm and fair when facing an angry crowd, political pressure or a crisis such as a flood or riot.
- (a) Empathy: listening at grievance hearings and relief work makes decisions humane and delivery better; social skills help in teamwork and negotiation with stakeholders.
- (a) Limits: emotional intelligence works alongside rules and objectivity; using emotions to manipulate people or favour some is a misuse.
- (b) Strength: economic, military, technological and soft power give a State bargaining power and deter aggression.
- (b) Peace and security: peace allows development, security protects sovereignty and citizens; the UN Charter's first purpose is maintaining international peace and security.
- (b) Balance: strength without restraint leads to arms races; peace without strength invites pressure; India combines defence preparedness with restraint and diplomacy.
Close with · Emotional intelligence makes administration humane and effective, and a balance of strength, peace and security keeps States safe without inviting conflict.
Add value (verified)
- Article 1(1) of the UN Charter states the first purpose of the United Nations as maintaining international peace and security through collective measures. Charter of the United Nations, Chapter I: Purposes and Principles, Article 1 (UN website) ↗“The Purposes of the United Nations are: To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace”
- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II: to be angry is easy, but to be so to the right person, in due proportion, at the right time, with a right object and in the right manner is not easy. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, tr. D.P. Chase — Project Gutenberg ↗“just so to be angry, to give money, and be expensive, is what any man can do, and easy: but to do these to the right person, in due proportion, at the right time, with a right object, and in the right manner, this is not as before what any man can do, nor is it easy”
- Mission Karmayogi (National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building), approved by the Union Cabinet on 2 September 2020: civil servants are to build Behavioral, Functional and Domain Competencies. Cabinet approves Mission Karmayogi (NPCSCB), 2 September 2020 — PM India (pmindia.gov.in) ↗“To make available to all civil servants, an opportunity to continuously build and strengthen their Behavioral, Functional and Domain Competencies”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2017, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 405 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
Aristotle observed that anyone can be angry, but to be so "to the right person, in due proportion, at the right time, with a right object, and in the right manner" is not easy. That skill, now called emotional intelligence (EI), is the ability to read and manage one's own and others' emotions.
(a) Applying emotional intelligence in administrative practice
- Self-awareness: knowing my own biases before a hearing, so a rude petitioner does not get a worse order than a polite one.
- Self-regulation: staying calm and fair before an angry crowd, political pressure, or a flood or riot, when one hasty word can inflame.
- Motivation: drawing purpose from public service rather than from postings or praise, which sustains effort through setbacks.
- Empathy: listening at grievance camps so that a widow's pension is decided as a human case, not a file number.
- Social skill: persuading staff, negotiating with agitating groups and building trust across departments.
- Building it: since then, Mission Karmayogi has set out to strengthen civil servants' behavioural, functional and domain competencies.
- Limit: EI works alongside rules and evidence; using it to manipulate people or favour some is its misuse.
States seek peace, yet peace among sovereign States has no external guarantor. Strength and security give it a foundation.
| Pillar | Means | Risk if it stands alone |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | Economic, military, soft power | Arms race, fear |
| Peace | Diplomacy, trade, the UN | Pressure on the weak |
| Security | Deterrence, alliances, cooperation | Mutual distrust |
(b) Strength, peace and security as pillars
- Strength: economic, military and technological capacity lets a State deter aggression and bargain rather than plead; security policy seeks to prevent war (deterrence) and to limit it (defence).
- Peace: the condition for trade, development and cooperation; the UN Charter names maintaining international peace and security as the first purpose of the United Nations.
- Security: protection of sovereignty and citizens; non-traditional threats such as terrorism or pandemics need cooperation more than force.
(b) How the pillars hold each other up
- Strength with restraint: India's nuclear doctrine of credible minimum deterrence professes "no first use": strong enough to deter, restrained enough to reassure.
- Peace needs preparedness: Panchsheel (1954) set out five principles of peaceful coexistence with China, but the border was long guarded only by para-military forces; goodwill without strength invited pressure.
Emotional intelligence makes administration humane and effective; in the same way, a State that pairs strength with restraint keeps the peace it seeks, using power to make conflict unnecessary.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.