Exam-useful questions from this chapter, grouped by marks, each with a full model answer. Try writing the answer yourself first, then check it against this one.
1 1-Mark Questions
Q. State one of the three common images of politics.
Answer: Public service, manipulation and self-interest, or ‘what politicians do’ — any one.
Q. What did Mahatma Gandhi compare politics to?
Answer: The coils of a snake.
Q. What did Rousseau first argue for as a fundamental right of humankind?
Answer: Freedom.
Q. What did Dr. Ambedkar argue about the scheduled castes?
Answer: That they should be considered a minority and given special protection.
Q. What question does Socrates examine?
Answer: What is justice.
Q. How many definitions does a triangle have in mathematics?
Answer: Only one.
Q. How was the right to information granted?
Answer: Through a new law.
Q. What are citizens compared to?
Answer: The audience at a music concert.
2 2-Mark Questions
Q. Briefly state the three common images of politics.
Answer: Public service (what politicians believe), manipulation and self-interest (‘dirty politics’), and ‘what politicians do’ (a few think of politics this way and link it with ‘scams’).
Q. State the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar.
Answer: Gandhi discussed the meaning of swaraj in Hind Swaraj; Ambedkar argued that scheduled castes should be considered a minority and given special protection.
Q. What is the conclusion of the Socrates-Cephalus dialogue?
Answer: Speaking the truth and paying debts is not justice; the eventual conclusion is that the injuring of another can be in no case just.
Q. What is the basic difference between mathematics and political theory?
Answer: Mathematics has one single definition of a triangle or square; political theory has many definitions of equality, freedom or justice, because these concern our relationships with other human beings.
Q. What is learned from the queue-jumping and special-counter example of equality?
Answer: Our annoyance at queue-jumping shows we want equal opportunity; separate counters for the old and disabled are considered justified special treatment.
Q. Give two examples of the reinterpretation of fundamental rights.
Answer: Including the right to livelihood within the right to life; guaranteeing the right to information through a new law.
Q. Why are citizens compared to the audience at a music concert?
Answer: Citizens are not the main performers, but they set the agenda, appreciate the output, and put in new requests; educated, vigilant citizens make politicians more public-spirited.
Q. State any two reasons for studying political theory.
Answer: Relevance to all groups (politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers, journalists); understanding of everyday discrimination (caste-religion-gender-class).
3 4-Mark Questions
Q. Explain Socrates’ method with an example.
Answer: 1. Socrates uses reason to expose the limitations and inconsistencies in a given point of view.
2. He challenges Cephalus’s ‘speaking the truth and paying debts’ definition through questions.
3. He then also refutes the ‘good to friends, harm to enemies’ definition, showing that it would mean a just person could make people unjust.
4. Eventually Polemarchus is compelled to agree that injuring anyone can never be just — this is the strength of Socrates’ method.
Q. Explain the three common images of politics and their limitations.
Answer: 1. Public service: politicians and election candidates hold this view, but it does not show the full picture.
2. Manipulation and self-interest: some link politics to the pursuit of personal interest, this too is an incomplete image.
3. ‘What politicians do’: a few think of politics as what politicians do; seeing politicians defect, make false promises and manipulate, they link politics with ‘scams’. Not only ordinary people despair of politics: businessmen and entrepreneurs blame it for their woes even as they fund political parties, and cinema stars also complain of it.
4. Politics is actually born from the multiple negotiations of collective decision making, not confined to any one image.
Q. Briefly state the contribution of all five named thinkers (Plato-Aristotle, Rousseau, Marx, Gandhi, Ambedkar).
Answer: 1. Plato-Aristotle: debated monarchy versus democracy in the 5th century BC.
2. Rousseau: in modern times, first argued for freedom as a fundamental right of humankind.
3. Marx: argued equality was as crucial as freedom.
4. Gandhi-Ambedkar: Gandhi discussed swaraj, Ambedkar argued for the scheduled castes’ special protection, both shaped the Indian Constitution.
Q. Explain the equality example in detail, from queues to schooling.
Answer: 1. Our annoyance at queue-jumping shows that we want equal opportunity.
2. Separate counters for the old and disabled are considered justified special treatment.
3. Day labourers (stone-cutters, brick-carriers) cannot reach shops or hospitals due to lack of money, so equality must also include fairness.
4. Poor children, especially girls, are forced to leave school, and the Constitution’s guarantee of primary education remains merely formal.
Q. Explain the constant reinterpretation of fundamental rights in the Constitution, with examples.
Answer: 1. It is a bit like playing a game, as in chess or cricket, we keep learning new interpretations of the rules.
2. Courts have included the right to livelihood within the right to life.
3. The right to information was granted through a new law.
4. Society keeps facing new challenges, so fundamental rights keep being amended and expanded.
Q. Explain any three of the four reasons why citizens should study political theory.
Answer: 1. It is relevant to all groups (politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers, journalists), explained through the comparison with learning mathematics.
2. We become informed citizens, through the citizen-audience metaphor, setting the agenda and appreciating the output.
3. By examining our own views on everyday discrimination (caste-religion-gender-class), we become more moderate.
Q. Explain global communication technology and the question of freedom versus regulation.
Answer: 1. Global communication technology makes it easier for activists to network worldwide (to protect tribal cultures or forests).
2. But the same technology also gives terrorists and criminals the ability to network.
3. Growing internet commerce raises the question of protecting personal information given online.
4. This is why debates arise over how much freedom and regulation is appropriate on the internet, and who should regulate it, governments or some private regulators.
4 6-Mark Questions
Q. Explain the definition of politics and its three common images in detail, and explain how real politics differs from these images.
Answer: 1. The public-service image: politicians and election candidates hold this view.
2. The manipulation/self-interest image: politics is linked to the pursuit of personal interest, giving rise to phrases like ‘dirty politics’.
3. The ‘what politicians do’ image: a few think of politics this way and link it with ‘scams’. Even businessmen and entrepreneurs blame politics for their woes while benefiting from and funding political parties, and cinema stars also complain of it.
4. According to Gandhi, politics envelops us like the coils of a snake, yet we must still wrestle with it.
5. Real politics is not confined to the work of government, people’s negotiations, protests and campaigns are also part of it.
6. Conclusion: politics arises from our differing visions of what is just and desirable, and is born from the multiple negotiations of collective decision making.
Q. Explain in detail the contribution of all five named thinkers and their impact on the Indian Constitution.
Answer: 1. Plato-Aristotle: debated monarchy versus democracy in the 5th century BC, beginning the tradition of debate.
2. Rousseau: in modern times, first argued for freedom as a fundamental right of humankind, shaping modern thought.
3. Marx: argued equality was as crucial as freedom, strengthening the idea of social justice.
4. Gandhi: discussed swaraj in Hind Swaraj; his principles were included in the Directive Principles.
5. Ambedkar: argued for the scheduled castes’ recognition as a minority and special protection, leading to the abolition of untouchability and special provisions in the Constitution.
6. In this way, the tradition of debate among all these thinkers helped enshrine freedom and equality in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.
Q. Explain the Socrates-Plato dialogue in The Republic in detail, and explain how it reflects the method of political theory.
Answer: 1. Socrates was described as the wisest man in Athens, and was condemned to death for challenging popularly held beliefs.
2. Plato created the character Socrates in The Republic to search for the meaning of justice.
3. Cephalus first calls justice ‘speaking the truth and paying debts’, but Socrates rejects this by showing an exception.
4. The ‘good to friends, harm to enemies’ definition is then also refuted, using the example of horses and dogs to show that injuring someone cannot increase their virtue.
5. Eventually Polemarchus is compelled to agree that injuring anyone can never be just.
6. This shows that political theory examines concepts through reason and systematic deliberation, not by imposing one view.
Q. Explain all four reasons for studying political theory in detail.
Answer: 1. Relevance to all groups: political theory is relevant to politicians, bureaucrats, teachers, lawyers and judges, and activists and journalists; as students we may choose one of these professions, so it is indirectly relevant to us even now.
2. Like learning mathematics: not all of us become mathematicians or engineers, yet we learn basic arithmetic because it is useful to life in general; political theory is useful in the same way.
3. Informed citizenship: we are all going to be citizens entitled to vote; in the information society we must be reasonable and informed to take part in gram sabhas or offer our views on websites and polls, since arbitrary preferences are not effective.
4. Citizens as the audience: like the audience at a music concert, citizens set the agenda, appreciate the output and put in new requests; an educated and vigilant citizenry makes those who play politics more public-spirited.
5. Everyday discrimination: freedom, equality and secularism are not abstract issues, since we meet discrimination of caste, religion, gender or class daily; political theory makes us examine our ideas and feelings, and so we become moderate.
6. Rational debating skills: only when we argue with others do we seek out reasons; political theory exposes us to systematic thinking on justice or equality, and such skills of debating rationally and communicating effectively are great assets in the global informational order.
5 Case Studies
(A) 1 mark What did Mahatma Gandhi compare politics to?
Answer: The coils of a snake.
(B) 2 marks According to Gandhi, why can we not simply stay away from politics?
Answer: Because politics envelops us like the coils of a snake: there is no other way out but to wrestle with it. We cannot escape politics, so we must engage with it actively.
(C) 3 marks Explain in detail how this passage shows why politics being linked to self-interest is unfortunate, and why political organisation is necessary for collective decision making.
Answer: This passage shows that politics becoming linked to the pursuit of self-interest is unfortunate because it hides the real role politics plays in keeping society organised. Gandhi’s coils-of-a-snake metaphor shows that it is not possible to stay entirely apart from politics, however tangled or suffocating it may seem, and that we must wrestle with it actively instead. No society can exist without some form of political organisation and collective decision making, because some collective mechanism is needed to look after the diverse needs and interests of its members. This is why the advice is to understand politics and participate in it responsibly, rather than reject it.
(A) 1 mark According to the passage, what is equality understood to mean?
Answer: Equal opportunity for all.
(B) 2 marks Why is a separate counter for the old and disabled considered justified?
Answer: Because their circumstances differ from other people’s, treating them specially is considered a form of fairness rather than a violation of the principle of equal opportunity.
(C) 3 marks How does this passage show the complexity of equality, and how does it show that equality is not limited to equal opportunity alone?
Answer: This passage shows that our understanding of equality is built and developed through everyday experience. Our annoyance at queue-jumping shows that we fundamentally want equal opportunity, that is, an equal chance to reach the goods or services we are paying for. But accepting separate counters for the old and disabled shows that equality is not limited to treating everyone identically, it also demands fair treatment suited to circumstance. This shows that the meaning of equality depends on context, which is exactly why political theory holds not one, but many definitions of it.