UGC NET Political Science Political Thought Syllabus

What right does Locke grant the people that Hobbes denies, and when is it justified?

The right of revolution/resistance, justified when government breaches its trust by violating natural rights.

What is the famous opening line of Rousseau's The Social Contract?

'Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.'

What does Rousseau mean by the 'general will' (volonte generale)?

The collective will of the citizens aimed at the common good, distinct from the 'will of all' (the mere sum of private interests); sovereignty lies in the general will.

What is the meaning of Rousseau's paradoxical phrase that a person may be 'forced to be free'?

One who follows private interest against the general will is compelled to obey it, which restores true (moral/civil) freedom by aligning the individual with the common good.

In Hegel's political philosophy, what is the 'dialectic' and its three moments?

A process of development through thesis, antithesis, and synthesis (abstract, negative, concrete), by which ideas/history progress to higher unity.

For Hegel, what is the State and how does it relate to freedom?

The State is the 'march of God on earth,' the highest ethical idea (Sittlichkeit) and the actualization of concrete freedom, reconciling individual and universal.

In Hegel's scheme of ethical life (Sittlichkeit), what are the three stages of social development?

Family, Civil Society, and the State.

What is the title and central argument of Mary Wollstonecraft's most famous work (1792)?

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, arguing women are not naturally inferior to men but appear so due to lack of education, and demanding equal education and rights.

How did Wollstonecraft respond to Rousseau's views on women's education?

She criticized Rousseau (especially his character Sophie in Emile) for educating women only to please men, insisting women are rational beings deserving the same education as men.

What is the 'harm principle' formulated by John Stuart Mill in On Liberty?

The only legitimate ground for exercising power over an individual against their will is to prevent harm to others; one's own good is not a sufficient warrant.

How did J.S. Mill modify Bentham's utilitarianism regarding pleasures?

He distinguished higher (intellectual/moral) from lower (bodily) pleasures, arguing quality matters not just quantity: 'better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.'

What did J.S. Mill argue in The Subjection of Women (1869)?

That the legal subordination of women is wrong, a relic of inequality, and should be replaced by perfect equality, including women's suffrage.

What three liberties did Mill consider essential components of individual freedom in On Liberty?

Liberty of thought and expression; liberty of tastes and pursuits (planning one's own life); and liberty to combine/associate with others.

According to Marx's historical materialism, what is the relationship between the economic 'base' and the 'superstructure'?

The economic base (forces and relations of production) determines/conditions the superstructure (law, politics, religion, ideology, culture).

What does Marx mean by 'surplus value' and how is it linked to exploitation?

Surplus value is the difference between the value workers produce and the wages they are paid; the capitalist appropriates it, which constitutes the exploitation of labour.

What is the opening claim of Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto about history?

'The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.'

What are the two main classes in Marx's analysis of capitalist society?

The bourgeoisie (owners of the means of production) and the proletariat (wage-labourers who sell their labour power).

What is the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' in Marxist theory?

The transitional stage of working-class political rule after the revolution, suppressing the bourgeoisie before the state withers away into a classless, stateless communist society.

What is Gramsci's concept of 'hegemony'?

The dominance of the ruling class achieved not mainly by force but through cultural and ideological leadership, manufacturing the consent of the masses in civil society.

What distinction does Gramsci draw between 'political society' and 'civil society'?

Political society rules through coercion (state, army, police, courts); civil society (church, schools, media, unions) secures consent through ideology and culture.

What does Gramsci mean by an 'organic intellectual'?

Intellectuals who arise from and articulate the interests of a particular class (e.g., the working class), as opposed to traditional intellectuals who claim to be class-independent.

What distinction between 'war of position' and 'war of manoeuvre' does Gramsci make?

War of manoeuvre is a frontal assault to seize state power; war of position is a long-term struggle to win cultural hegemony in civil society, which Gramsci favoured in the West.

In Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition, what are the three activities of the 'vita activa'?

Labour (biological necessity), Work (fabrication of durable things), and Action (political activity among plural human beings).

What is meant by Arendt's phrase 'the banality of evil'?

Coined in Eichmann in Jerusalem, it describes how monstrous evil can be carried out by ordinary, thoughtless bureaucrats who simply follow orders without reflection, rather than by demonic monsters.

What is the central theme of Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism?

It analyzes totalitarianism (Nazism and Stalinism) as a novel form of rule based on ideology and terror, rooted in anti-Semitism, imperialism, and the atomization of mass society.

What is the main argument of Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth regarding decolonization?

That decolonization is inherently a violent process, and that revolutionary violence is a cleansing, liberating force for the colonized to reclaim their humanity and self-respect.

What does Fanon analyze in Black Skin, White Masks?

The psychological effects of colonialism and racism on the colonized, including internalized inferiority and the desire of the colonized to adopt the culture/identity of the white colonizer.

What is the core idea of Mao Zedong's strategy of 'protracted people's war'?

A prolonged revolutionary struggle led by the peasantry from rural base areas using guerrilla warfare to gradually encircle and capture the cities.

Which class did Mao Zedong identify as the main revolutionary force, departing from orthodox Marxism?

The peasantry (rather than the urban industrial proletariat) as the principal base of the revolution.

What are the two principles of justice in John Rawls's A Theory of Justice?

1) Each person has equal basic liberties; 2) Social and economic inequalities must (a) be attached to positions open to all under fair equality of opportunity, and (b) benefit the least advantaged (the difference principle).

What are the 'original position' and the 'veil of ignorance' in Rawls's theory?

A hypothetical situation where rational parties choose principles of justice without knowing their own status, talents, or place in society (the veil of ignorance), ensuring impartial, fair principles.