Assam ASSEB Higher Secondary Political Science key terms

The prolonged geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies after 1945, marked by ideological conflict, arms racing, alliances and proxy wars rather than direct war between the two superpowers.

A distribution of world power in which two states or blocs dominate international politics, as with the US-led and Soviet-led camps during the Cold War.

A grouping of states formed in 1961 at Belgrade that refused to join either Cold War bloc, seeking independence of judgement, anti-colonial solidarity and development cooperation; India was a founding member.

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence signed by India and China in 1954: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.

A period of relaxed tension between Cold War rivals, especially in the 1970s, expressed through arms control talks, summit meetings and expanded trade and cultural contacts.

A world order in which one state holds preponderant military, economic and political power, a description often applied to the United States after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The growing interconnection of economies and societies through trade, investment, migration, technology and communication, which intensified after the Cold War and reshaped state sovereignty and welfare policy.

The UN organ with primary responsibility for international peace and security, having five permanent members with veto power and ten elected non-permanent members serving two-year terms.

The right of any permanent member of the UN Security Council to block a substantive resolution by a single negative vote, a privilege India seeks as part of Security Council reform.

UN operations deploying multinational forces, usually with consent of the parties, to monitor ceasefires and protect civilians; India has been among the largest troop contributors since the 1950s.

The principle that aggression against one member of an international organisation is treated as aggression against all, to be met by joint action, as envisaged in the UN Charter.

The supreme legal authority of a state over its territory and population, and its formal independence from external control, which remains the foundation of international relations.

The norm that states should not intervene in the internal affairs of others, a core element of India's foreign policy tradition alongside anti-colonialism and peaceful settlement of disputes.

India's strategy launched in 1991 to deepen economic and strategic ties with Southeast and East Asia, later broadened as the Act East Policy under the Narendra Modi government.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, founded in 1985, a regional body of eight South Asian states whose effectiveness is limited by India-Pakistan tensions.

The de facto boundary between Indian- and Chinese-controlled territory in the Himalayan region, not formally demarcated and the source of recurring border standoffs.

The process by which a state consolidates shared identity, institutions and legitimacy across its territory, especially challenging in linguistically and ethnically diverse societies such as post-independence India.

The redrawing of state boundaries along language lines, as with the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which accommodated regional identity while preserving national unity.

Political identification with and mobilisation around a region's language, culture or perceived economic neglect, which can press demands for autonomy or statehood within a larger nation.

A constitutionally or politically granted measure of self-government for a region, such as special provisions under Article 370 or Sixth Schedule councils, used to accommodate regional demands.

A constitutional arrangement dividing powers between a central government and constituent units, each supreme in its sphere, as set out in India's Seventh Schedule lists.

A party system in which a single party wins successive national elections and forms government for long periods while other parties remain legal and contest, as with the Congress from 1952 to 1977.

A government formed by two or more parties pooling seats and sharing ministerial office, characteristic of Indian national politics from 1989 onward as no single party won a majority.

The Tenth Schedule, added in 1985, which disqualifies legislators who voluntarily leave their party or vote against its whip, aimed at curbing unstable floor-crossing in legislatures.

The post-1970s expansion of political participation by previously excluded groups, including backward classes, Dalits and regional parties, which reshaped representation and policy agendas.

A commission chaired by B. P. Mandal that recommended reserving 27 per cent of central government posts for socially and educationally backward classes, implemented in 1990 amid intense debate.

Policy providing quotas in education, employment and legislatures for historically disadvantaged groups, justified by substantive equality and contested as a possible compromise of merit.

The capacity to act according to one's own will, understood negatively as absence of external restraint and positively as self-mastery or the availability of real opportunities.

The conception of freedom as the ability to realise one's goals and develop capacities, requiring enabling conditions and sometimes state provision rather than mere non-interference.

The principle that persons deserve equal moral worth and treatment, distinguished into formal equality of opportunity and substantive equality that corrects inherited social and economic disadvantage.

The fair distribution of benefits, burdens and opportunities in society, debated between procedural accounts focused on fair rules and distributive accounts concerned with outcomes.

Justified claims that individuals or groups may make on others or on the state, protected by law or morality, including civil, political, social and collective rights.

The enforceable rights guaranteed in Part III of the Indian Constitution, including equality, freedom of speech, life and liberty, and constitutional remedies, which courts protect against state action.

Full legal membership of a state carrying rights, duties and entitlements, which may be understood narrowly as legal status or more broadly as active participation in public life.

An ideology holding that a people sharing language, culture, history or territory should constitute a political community or state, capable of both liberating and exclusionary politics.

The principle that the state treats all religions impartially and does not establish an official religion, interpreted in India as equal respect and distance rather than strict separation.

The power of courts to examine laws and executive actions for conformity with the Constitution and to strike them down if they violate its provisions.

The principle, established in Kesavananda Bharati (1973), that Parliament may amend the Constitution but cannot destroy its essential features such as judicial review and free elections.

Non-justiciable guidelines in Part IV of the Indian Constitution directing the state toward social and economic welfare, used by courts to interpret fundamental rights.