UGC NET Political Science Political Theory Syllabus

Distinguish power from authority.

Power is the ability to influence or compel others' behavior (can rest on coercion); authority is legitimate, accepted/rightful power that people obey because they regard it as justified.

What is the difference between 'power over' and 'power to'?

'Power over' is domination/control of others (relational, often coercive); 'power to' is the capacity or empowerment to act and achieve outcomes (productive/enabling).

What are T.H. Marshall's three elements of citizenship and their historical sequence?

Civil rights (18th century), political rights (19th century), and social rights (20th century) — developed progressively as part of full citizenship.

Distinguish the liberal and civic-republican (communitarian) conceptions of citizenship.

Liberal: citizenship as a status conferring rights, emphasizing individual freedom; civic-republican: citizenship as active participation, civic virtue, and duty to the political community.

What is the core philosophy of classical liberalism?

Belief in individual liberty, limited/minimal state, free markets (laissez-faire), natural rights, rule of law, and constitutionalism — the individual is prior to society.

How does modern (social/welfare) liberalism differ from classical liberalism?

Modern liberalism accepts an enabling/interventionist state to secure positive freedom, social justice, and welfare; classical liberalism stresses negative freedom and minimal state intervention.

Who are key thinkers associated with liberalism?

John Locke, John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith (classical); T.H. Green, John Maynard Keynes, John Rawls (modern/social liberalism).

What are the core principles of conservatism?

Tradition, pragmatism, human imperfection, organic society, hierarchy/authority, property, and gradual/cautious change over radical reform.

Who is regarded as the father of modern conservatism and through which work?

Edmund Burke, through 'Reflections on the Revolution in France' (1790), criticizing the abstract rationalism of the French Revolution.

What is the New Right and its two strands?

A blend of neoliberalism (free markets, minimal state, individualism) and neoconservatism (strong state, traditional values, social authority); associated with Thatcher and Reagan.

What are the core values of socialism?

Community, cooperation, equality (especially social equality), common/collective ownership, social class analysis, and concern for the working class.

Distinguish revolutionary socialism from evolutionary (reformist) socialism.

Revolutionary socialism seeks to overthrow capitalism through revolution (Marx, Lenin); evolutionary/reformist socialism (social democracy, Fabianism) seeks gradual change through democratic, parliamentary means.

What is the difference between socialism and social democracy?

Socialism (classically) seeks abolition of capitalism and common ownership; social democracy seeks to humanize/reform capitalism through redistribution, welfare, and a mixed economy while retaining markets.

What is the materialist conception of history (historical materialism) in Marxism?

The idea that the economic base (forces and relations of production) determines the superstructure (law, politics, ideology); history advances through class struggle driven by changes in modes of production.

What is the Marxist 'base and superstructure' model?

The economic base (mode of production: forces + relations of production) conditions the superstructure (state, law, culture, ideology), which in turn reinforces the base.

What is Marx's theory of surplus value?

Under capitalism, workers produce value greater than the wages they receive; the capitalist appropriates this unpaid surplus value as profit, which is the source of exploitation.

According to Marx, what are the stages leading from capitalism to communism?

Capitalism → proletarian revolution → dictatorship of the proletariat (transitional socialist phase) → withering away of the state → stateless, classless communism.

What is Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony?

The ideological and cultural dominance of the ruling class achieved through consent (civil society institutions) rather than coercion, making bourgeois values appear as 'common sense'.

What is the central argument of liberal feminism?

Women's subordination stems from legal and cultural barriers; equality can be achieved through reform — equal rights, education, suffrage, and equal opportunities within existing structures (e.g., Mary Wollstonecraft, Betty Friedan).

What does the feminist slogan 'the personal is political' mean?

That private/domestic life (family, sexuality, housework, relationships) involves power relations and is a legitimate sphere of political analysis — patriarchy operates in the private realm too.

Distinguish the concepts of 'sex' and 'gender' in feminist theory.

Sex refers to biological differences between males and females; gender refers to socially and culturally constructed roles, behaviors, and identities associated with masculinity and femininity.

What is patriarchy in feminist theory?

A system of social structures and practices through which men dominate, oppress, and exploit women; 'rule by the father' extended to male domination of society.

Distinguish radical feminism from socialist/Marxist feminism.

Radical feminism sees patriarchy/gender oppression as the fundamental and universal division (rooted in family and sexuality); socialist/Marxist feminism links women's oppression to capitalism and class exploitation.

What are the core principles of ecologism?

Ecocentrism/holism, interconnectedness of nature, sustainability, ecological balance, and rejection of unlimited economic growth and anthropocentric industrialism.

Distinguish 'shallow' (light green) ecology from 'deep' (dark green) ecology.

Shallow ecology is anthropocentric — protect nature to benefit humans (reform/sustainable growth); deep ecology is ecocentric — nature has intrinsic value, requiring fundamental change in human relationship with the planet (Arne Naess).

What is multiculturalism as a political theory?

The recognition and positive accommodation of cultural diversity, granting minority/cultural groups respect, rights, and sometimes group-differentiated rights within a shared political community.

What is Will Kymlicka's argument for minority rights in multiculturalism?

That liberal principles can justify group-differentiated 'multicultural citizenship' rights, because cultural membership provides the context of meaningful individual choice and autonomy.

What are the central features of postmodernism in political theory?

Rejection of grand narratives/universal truths (Lyotard's 'incredulity toward metanarratives'), skepticism of objective reason, emphasis on discourse, plurality, relativism, and the social construction of knowledge and identity.

What is Michel Foucault's concept of power/knowledge?

Power and knowledge are inseparable — power produces knowledge and knowledge sustains power; power is diffuse, capillary, and present in all social relations and discourses, not just held by the state.

What did Lyotard mean by 'the postmodern condition'?

The collapse of legitimizing metanarratives (e.g., Enlightenment progress, Marxism); knowledge becomes fragmented, plural, and validated through small, local narratives rather than universal truth claims.