WB HS Political Science flashcards
WB HS Political Science · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Behavioural approach
- A mid-20th-century approach that studies politics through observable behaviour, empirical methods and quantification, seeking value-neutral generalisations about political life rather than prescribing ideals.
- Systems theory (Easton)
- A framework treating politics as a system receiving inputs (demands and support) from society, converting them into authoritative outputs, and receiving feedback that shapes future inputs.
- Elements of the state
- Population, territory, government and sovereignty. Sovereignty, the supreme and independent authority of the state, is the element that distinguishes the state from other associations.
- Legal vs political sovereignty
- Legal sovereignty is the supreme law-making authority recognised by law (Austin's determinate sovereign); political sovereignty is the ultimate power of the people or public opinion behind it.
- Nation and state
- A nation is a community sharing identity, culture or history; a state is the legal-political apparatus of government. A nation-state exists when the two coincide within one territory.
- Constitutionalism
- The doctrine that governmental power must be limited by law and accountable to the governed. A constitution may exist without constitutionalism if it imposes no effective limits on rulers.
- Rule of law (Dicey)
- Dicey's three principles: no punishment except for a distinct breach of law, equality before the law, and rights secured through ordinary courts rather than a separate administrative code.
- Rigid vs flexible constitution
- A rigid constitution can be amended only by a special procedure, as in India or the US; a flexible one is amended by ordinary legislation, as with the unwritten British constitution.
- Parliamentary government
- A form of government in which the executive is drawn from the legislature, is collectively responsible to it, and can be removed by a vote of no confidence or by dissolution.
- Presidential government
- A form of government with a separately elected executive holding a fixed term, not responsible to the legislature, with strict separation of personnel between the executive and the legislature.
- Federalism
- A system dividing powers between a central government and constituent units, entrenched in a written constitution, with a supreme court umpiring disputes between the two levels.
- Judicial review
- The power of courts to examine laws and executive actions against the constitution and to declare them void if inconsistent, as in the US and in India under Articles 13 and 32.
- Duverger's law
- The proposition that single-member plurality (first-past-the-post) elections tend to produce a two-party system, while proportional representation tends to produce multi-party systems.
- Proportional representation
- An electoral system allocating seats to parties in proportion to their vote share, typically using party lists or the single transferable vote in multi-member constituencies.
- Dahl's polyarchy
- Robert Dahl's model of actually existing democracy, defined by elected officials, free and fair elections, freedom of expression, associational autonomy and inclusive citizenship.
- Pressure group
- An organised group that seeks to influence public policy and decision-makers without itself contesting elections for governmental power, such as trade unions or environmental groups.
- Anti-defection law
- The Tenth Schedule, added by the 52nd Amendment (1985), disqualifies legislators who voluntarily leave their party or vote against a party whip, with exceptions for recognised splits and mergers.
- Functions of political parties
- Parties aggregate interests, recruit and socialise leaders, formulate programmes, mobilise voters, organise government and link state and society through representation and accountability.
- Negative and positive liberty
- Negative liberty is freedom from interference or coercion; positive liberty is the capacity to act, achieve self-realisation and participate in collective self-government.
- Rawls' difference principle
- Rawls holds that social and economic inequalities are just only if they benefit the least advantaged members of society, chosen behind a veil of ignorance.
- Political obligation
- The moral duty of citizens to obey the state and its laws, justified by theories of consent, fair play, gratitude, or a natural duty of justice.
- Civil disobedience
- A deliberate, public and non-violent breach of law, undertaken conscientiously to protest injustice and to persuade the majority to change policy, as practised by Gandhi.
- Article 32
- The constitutional right to move the Supreme Court for enforcement of Fundamental Rights. Ambedkar called it the heart and soul of the Constitution; it empowers the court to issue writs.
- Directive Principles
- Part IV (Articles 36-51) of the Indian Constitution, setting out socio-economic goals for the state. They are non-justiciable but fundamental in the governance of the country.
- Fundamental Duties
- Part IVA, Article 51A, added by the 42nd Amendment (1976), listing eleven duties of citizens, including respecting the Constitution and protecting the environment.
- Basic structure doctrine
- Established in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973): Parliament may amend the Constitution but cannot destroy its essential features such as judicial review and federalism.
- Money bill
- A bill dealing only with taxation, borrowing or the Consolidated Fund, certified by the Speaker and introduced only in the Lok Sabha under Article 110.
- President's rule
- Imposition of central rule in a state under Article 356 when constitutional machinery has failed, during which the President assumes the state's executive functions through the Governor.
- Finance Commission
- A constitutional body under Article 280, constituted every five years to recommend the distribution of tax revenues between the Union and states and grants-in-aid.
- Sarkaria Commission
- A commission appointed in 1983 to review centre-state relations, recommending greater consultation with states and restraint in the misuse of Article 356.
- 73rd Amendment
- The 1992 amendment giving constitutional status to panchayats: three tiers, five-year terms, reservations for SCs, STs and women, and State Election and Finance Commissions.
- Panchsheel
- The five principles of peaceful coexistence agreed by India and China in 1954: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and peaceful coexistence.