Political Theory and Concepts
This domain tests whether you can define, distinguish, and apply contested political concepts rather than recite preferences. Expect questions on power, authority, legitimacy, liberty, justice, rights, democracy, sovereignty, and the state, often through short scenarios.
Core distinctions
- Power is the capacity to affect outcomes, even against resistance; authority is a recognised right to command; legitimacy is the belief that a ruler or order is appropriate. Weber's types are traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational.
- Negative liberty means non-interference; positive liberty means self-mastery or effective capability. Neither is a licence to harm others.
- Justice requires a distributive criterion: need, desert, equality, or utility. Rawls's difference principle permits inequalities only if they benefit the least advantaged.
- Democracy is contested: Schumpeter's minimalist version stresses competitive elections; Dahl's polyarchy adds participation, contestation, and civil liberties.
- The state claims territory, population, sovereignty, and a monopoly of legitimate coercion; civil society is organised social life distinct from the state.
Worked example
A government wins 55% in a clean election but bans criticism, licenses only friendly media, and restricts opposition rallies. Is it democratic? Using a minimalist test, the election passes. Using polyarchy, it fails on contestation and civil liberties. The reasoned answer is 'electoral authoritarian' or 'illiberal', not simply 'democratic' or 'authoritarian'. Show the criteria and the conclusion.
Traps
Do not conflate power with authority, or legality with legitimacy. Do not treat negative liberty as the absence of all law. Avoid deriving an 'ought' from an 'is', and do not use ideal types as full empirical descriptions.