Assam ASSEB Higher Secondary Political Science flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Cold War

Sustained geopolitical rivalry between the US-led capitalist bloc and the Soviet-led communist bloc from about 1947 to 1991, fought through arms races, alliances, ideology and proxy wars rather than direct superpower combat.

Non-Aligned Movement

Grouping of states founded at Belgrade in 1961 by Nehru, Nasser, Tito, Sukarno and Nkrumah, seeking to avoid alignment with either Cold War bloc and to promote decolonisation and development.

Cuban Missile Crisis

October 1962 confrontation after US discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba; Kennedy's naval quarantine and a secret Turkey deal produced Soviet withdrawal, the closest the Cold War came to nuclear war.

Warsaw Pact

Soviet-led military alliance created in 1955 as a counterweight to NATO, binding Eastern European communist states; it was dissolved in 1991 following the collapse of communist regimes.

Détente

Period of relaxed US–Soviet tension in the 1960s and 1970s, marked by SALT I (1972) and the Helsinki Accords (1975), ended by renewed rivalry after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

UN Security Council

Primary organ responsible for international peace and security, with five permanent veto-holding members (China, France, Russia, UK, US) and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.

Bretton Woods institutions

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank, established at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, headquartered in Washington, and central to post-war financial and development governance.

BRICS

Grouping of major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - cooperating on economic and political issues since 2009 and expanded to include new members from 2024.

Paris Agreement

2015 agreement under the UNFCCC in which states pledge nationally determined contributions to limit global warming, aiming to keep temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius.

UN peacekeeping

Deployment of UN blue-helmet forces to monitor ceasefires and protect civilians, operating with consent of the parties and normally using force only in self-defence or under robust mandates.

Panchsheel

Five principles agreed by India and China in 1954: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.

No First Use

India's declared nuclear doctrine since 1998: nuclear weapons will be used only in retaliation against a nuclear attack, backed by credible minimum deterrence and civilian political control.

Gujral Doctrine

1996 foreign-policy approach under I.K. Gujral of non-reciprocal concessions to smaller South Asian neighbours - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives - without demanding equivalent returns.

Line of Actual Control

De facto boundary between India and China that has never been formally delimited; violations and standoffs such as Doklam (2017) and Galwan (2020) occur along it.

Indus Waters Treaty

1960 World Bank-brokered treaty between India and Pakistan dividing the Indus river system, giving India eastern rivers and Pakistan most of the western rivers, with dispute-resolution mechanisms.

Instrument of Accession

Legal document by which princely rulers acceded to India on defence, foreign affairs and communications; used in 1947 for most states, while Hyderabad was integrated by force in 1948.

States Reorganisation Act 1956

Law that redrew Indian state boundaries largely along linguistic lines after the Fazl Ali Commission report, following the creation of Andhra in 1953 after Potti Sriramulu's agitation.

Assam Accord 1985

Agreement ending the 1979–85 Assam Agitation, providing for detection and deletion of foreigners who entered after 1971, safeguards for Assamese culture, and economic development of Assam.

Sixth Schedule

Constitutional provisions creating autonomous district and regional councils for tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, granting limited legislative and executive powers.

Congress system

Rajni Kothari's term for India's 1952–77 pattern of one-party dominance, in which Congress's internal factions performed the functions of opposition while opposition parties remained marginal.

Coalition politics

Government formed by multiple parties sharing power, characteristic of India from 1989 onward, requiring common minimum programmes and giving regional parties leverage in national decision-making.

Mandal Commission

Commission chaired by B.P. Mandal whose 1980 report recommended 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes in public employment, implemented in 1990 and upheld in 1992 with a creamy-layer exclusion.

Democratic upsurge

Rise in political participation of backward castes, Dalits, Adivasis and other excluded groups from the 1980s, reshaping party competition through caste-based mobilisation and social movements.

Anandpur Sahib Resolution

1973 resolution of the Akali Dal demanding greater autonomy for Punjab and devolution of powers; it became a reference point in the Punjab crisis and the 1985 Rajiv–Longowal Accord.

Negative liberty

Isaiah Berlin's concept of freedom as the absence of external interference, defined by the area within which a person can act unobstructed by others without coercive barriers.

Rawls's difference principle

John Rawls's rule that social and economic inequalities are just only if they benefit the least advantaged members of society, chosen behind a veil of ignorance in the original position.

Substantive equality

Conception of equality that permits differential treatment to correct historical disadvantage, reflected in Indian provisions such as Article 15(3), 15(4) and 16(4) for women and backward classes.

Three generations of rights

Karel Vasak's classification: first-generation civil and political rights, second-generation economic, social and cultural rights, and third-generation collective or solidarity rights such as development and environment.

Sarva dharma samabhava

Indian secular ideal of equal respect for all religions, under which the state has no religion of its own but may intervene to reform oppressive practices, as in temple-entry legislation.

Imagined communities

Benedict Anderson's description of nations as socially constructed communities imagined by people who never meet, made possible by print capitalism and shared narratives of identity.

Basic structure doctrine

Principle established in Kesavananda Bharati (1973) that Parliament's amending power under Article 368 cannot destroy the Constitution's essential features such as judicial review and free elections.

Directive Principles of State Policy

Part IV, Articles 36–51, listing non-justiciable goals such as a living wage, equal pay and a uniform civil code, which guide government policy but cannot be enforced in courts.