IAS Mains Previous Years Paper : Political Science (1980)

PAPER - I
SECTION A
1. Comment on any three of the following:
(a) The State is the individual writ large." (PLATO)
(b) "The State is prior to the individual." (ARISTOTLE)
(c) "Where there is no common power, there is no law, where there is no law, no injustice". (HOBBES)
(d) "What makes the will general is less the number of voters than the common interest uniting them." (ROUSSEAU)
(e) Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure." (BENTHAM)
(f) "Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign." (J. S. MILL)
(g) "Nothing but external acts can be matters of obligation." (T. H. GREEN)
(h) "While the State exists, there is no freedom, when there will be freedom, there will be no State". (V. I. LENIN)

2. What is a political system? How does the Systems approach to politics add to our understanding?

3. "The individual has but one right, the right of equal freedom with everybody else; and the State has but one duty, the duty of protecting that right against fraud and violence". Discuss.

4. "Law is not a mystic mandate of 'reason' or 'nature', but simply the fiat of that authority to which the members of the polity render habitual obedience". Examine the statement.

5. Carefully explain the Marxian Theory of Social Development and determine the extent to which it has been" outdated and out-moded by recent developments.

6. "Freedom, justice and good government need not necessarily be identified with the rule of the majority." Critically assess the statement.

SECTION B
7. "While majorities have an inherent right to rule, the minorities have an equally solemn right to be heard." Comment and estimate the extent to which the principal forms of minority representation fulfil their purposes.

8. What is the constitutional significance of Judical Review? What measures would you suggest to secure the "independence of the judiciary" ? Give their rationale.

9. "The Indian Constitution is a hotch-potch of indiscriminate borrowings from abroad; there is nothing Indian in it.". Discuss.

10. Is there a case for substituting the Presidential for he Parliamentary form of government in India?

11. Discuss the nature and causes of regionalism in India and its implications for national harmony and unity.

PAPER - II
1. "The Indian desire to emerge as the pre-eminent power in the sub-continent ... and to preserve the South Asian status quo has led Indian policy-makers to evolve a strategy of minimising external great power involvement in the region." Examine this statement with special reference to India's foreign policy since 1971.
Or
"In the case of developing countries like India, rapid economic development being the central objective,... economic considerations naturally become significant determinants of... foreign policy." In the light of this statement discuss the economic bases of India's foreign policy.

SECTION A
2. "We have insisted that foreign policy-making is most fruitfully analysed as decision-making in an organizational context." (Snyder et al). Examine.

3. "Consciously taking refuge in an ideological Utopia, states have given the conduct of international political relations a measure of tension, danger and potential explosiveness that has no parallel in history. The secular rationalism of contemporary ideologies has moved superstition from the realm of religion to the arena of politics." Discuss.

4. "The evolving international system and the communications aspect of it, is well exemplified by the twentieth century changes in diplomacy." Elucidate.

5. State the main recommendations of the Willy Brandt Commission Report. What are its shortcomings from the point of view of the developing countries?

6. "It would be wrong to say that modern imperialism would have been possible without colonies. And yet the end of colonialism by no means signifies the end of imperialism." Explain and comment.

SECTION B
7. In what important respects has the emergence of nuclear power fundamentally altered the nature of International relations?

8. Explain the term detente. Discuss the factors determining its progress in the context of the Soviet- American relations since 1963.

9. State the impact of the new nations of Asia and Africa on contemporary international relations.

10. "A basic postulate of Pakistan's foreign policy since the beginning has been to defend itself against the perceived threat to its security from India." Amplify this statement.

11. "China's international position was totally transformed between 1969 and 1972." Discuss the causes and consequences of this transformation.