AP Intermediate Civics (BIEAP) flashcards

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

Sovereignty

The supreme and independent authority of a state: internally it is the highest law-making power over its territory; externally it means freedom from control by other states.

Social contract theory

The view that legitimate state authority arises from an agreement among people: Hobbes grounds it in security, Locke in consent and trust, Rousseau in the general will.

Legitimacy

The belief that a ruler's power is justified and ought to be obeyed. Weber distinguished traditional, charismatic and legal-rational bases of legitimate authority.

Negative liberty

Freedom understood as the absence of external restraint or interference. It is contrasted with positive liberty, the capacity to act and realise one's own goals.

Rule of law

Dicey's principle that no one is punished except for a proven breach of ordinary law, that all are equal before the law, and that rights emerge from ordinary courts.

Rigid constitution

A constitution whose amendment requires more than an ordinary legislative majority, such as a special majority or ratification by states, making change deliberately difficult.

Separation of powers

Montesquieu's doctrine that legislative, executive and judicial functions should be exercised by distinct organs so that power checks power and tyranny is prevented.

Judicial review

The power of courts to examine laws and executive acts against the constitution and declare them void if inconsistent, as under Articles 13 and 32 in India.

Money bill

A bill dealing only with taxation, borrowing or expenditure, introduced in the lower house on the executive's recommendation; the upper house may only delay it fourteen days.

Collective responsibility

The principle that the council of ministers is jointly answerable to the lower house; loss of a confidence vote obliges the entire ministry to resign.

Article 356

Provision allowing President's Rule in a state when constitutional machinery fails; since S.R. Bommai (1994) the proclamation is judicially reviewable and a floor test is required.

Residuary powers

Powers over subjects not listed in the Union, State or Concurrent lists; in India they rest with Parliament under Article 248, a unitary feature of the federation.

Finance Commission

A constitutional body under Article 280, constituted every five years, that recommends how central tax revenue is shared with states and grants-in-aid principles.

Writ of mandamus

A court order commanding a public authority to perform a legal duty it has failed or refused to perform; it does not lie against a private person or the President.

Directive Principles

Non-justiciable guidelines in Part IV directing the state toward social and economic welfare; Article 37 makes them fundamental in governance though not enforceable in courts.

Article 21

Protects life and personal liberty, permitting deprivation only by procedure established by law; courts have read into it privacy, dignity, clean environment and speedy trial.

Fundamental Duties

Eleven non-enforceable duties of citizens in Article 51A, inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, covering respect for the Constitution, national symbols and the environment.

Anti-defection law

The Tenth Schedule disqualifies legislators who voluntarily leave their party or defy a whip; a merger of two-thirds of a legislature party is exempt.

First-past-the-post

An electoral system in which the candidate with the most votes wins, even without a majority, so a party's seat share can exceed its share of votes.

Single transferable vote

A proportional method using ranked preferences and surplus transfers, used in India for electing the President, Vice-President and Rajya Sabha members.

Model Code of Conduct

Election Commission rules binding from the announcement of an election until results, governing campaigning, expenditure, and use of official machinery by parties in power.

All-India Services

Services such as the IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service recruited centrally but serving both Union and states, giving the Union a presence in state administration.

Comptroller and Auditor General

Constitutional auditor under Article 148 who audits Union and state accounts and reports to legislatures; the CAG is called the guardian of the public purse.

New Public Management

An administrative reform approach importing market methods into government: performance targets, citizen charters, contracting out and e-governance instead of purely hierarchical control.

Satyagraha

Gandhi's method of non-violent resistance through truth-force, using civil disobedience, non-cooperation and fasting to convert rather than coerce an opponent.

Arthashastra

Kautilya's treatise on statecraft describing the seven limbs of the state, espionage, taxation and the use of danda to maintain order against matsyanyaya.

Drain theory

Dadabhai Naoroji's argument that British rule transferred India's wealth to Britain through home charges, salaries and trade surpluses, explaining Indian poverty.

Ambedkar on social justice

Ambedkar treated caste as graded inequality and argued that political democracy is hollow without social democracy, hence constitutional rights and safeguards for Dalits.

Non-alignment

India's Cold War policy of not joining either superpower bloc while retaining independence of judgment, expressed institutionally through the Non-Aligned Movement from 1961.

Panchsheel

The 1954 India-China principles: 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 that nuclear weapons will be used only in retaliation against a nuclear attack, backed by credible minimum deterrence and civilian control.

Gujral Doctrine

I.K. Gujral's policy of non-reciprocal concessions to smaller neighbours - trust, respect for sovereignty and peaceful settlement - to build regional goodwill without demanding equivalents.