NIOS Class 12 Political Science Chapter 4 Major Political Theories

NIOS Class 12 Political Science Chapter 4 Major Political Theories, Solutions to each chapter is provided in the list so that you can easily browse throughout different chapters NIOS Class 12 Political Science Chapter 4 Major Political Theories and select need one. NIOS Class 12 Political Science Chapter 4 Major Political Theories Question Answers Download PDF. NIOS Study Material of Class 12 Political Science Notes Paper 317.

NIOS Class 12 History Chapter 4 Major Political Theories

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Also, you can read the NIOS book online in these sections Solutions by Expert Teachers as per National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) Book guidelines. These solutions are part of NIOS All Subject Solutions. Here we have given NIOS Class 12 Political Science Chapter 4 Major Political Theories, NIOS Senior Secondary Course Political Science Solutions for All Chapter, You can practice these here.

Major Political Theories

Chapter: 4

POLITICAL SCIENCE

TEXT BOOK QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS

INTEXT QUESTIONS 4.1

Q. Fill in the blanks:

1. The Enlightenment had refused to accept the moral goals as ………… truths.

Ans. Absolute.

2. The French Revolution declared ……….. equality and fraternity as great political values.

Ans. Liberty.

3. The 17th-18th century ………… was also known as negative liberalism.

Ans. Liberalism.

4. McGovern said liberalism is composed two elements: democracy and ………..

Ans. Individualism.

5. Liberal economy is ………… economy. 

Ans. Capitalistic.

6. The liberal state is a social ………… state.

Ans. Service.

 7. Liberalism is the political philosophy of the ……….. class.

Ans. Capitalist.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 4.2

Q. Fill in the blanks:

1. Marxism is a reaction against ………….. (feudalism, capitalism) 

Ans. Capitalism.

2. Marxism is regarded as the political philosophy of the ………….. Class. (working, capitalist)

Ans. Working.

3. For the Marxists, the …………. factor is the decisive factor in the individual/ social life. (political, cultural, material) 

Ans. Material.

4. In Marxian scheme, the relations of production give birth to …………. of ……….. (force, production,antithesis, synthesis)

Ans. Force, production.

5. From each according to his abilities to each according to his …………’. It is the essence of socialism. (work, needs) 

Ans. Work.

6. From each according to his work to each according to his………. It is the essence of communism. (Work, needs)

Ans. Needs.

7. For Marx, revolutions are…….of history. (engines, ends)

Ans. Engines.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 4.3

Q. Answer the following questions. Give one word only:

1. What type of state Gandhiji had advocated?

Ans. Ramrajya.

2. What strategy did Gandhiji suggest for employer-employee cordial relationship?

Ans. Trusteeship.

3. With what name did Gandhiji address the people of the scheduled castes?

Ans. Harijans.

4. Which of the two ends and means, Gandhism advocated?

Ans. Good ends as well as good means.

5. What did Gandhiji call the greatest good of all the individuals, especially of the poor, the poorest of the poor’?

Ans. Sarvodaya.

TERMINAL EXERCISES

Q. 1. What is meant by Liberalism? 

Ans. Meaning of Liberalism:

1. Liberalism is a theory of reforms, for it has stood for reforms in economic, social and political fields. It is a theory of liberty, individual liberty, individual autonomy, for it has argued in favour of the development of human personality.

2. It is a theory of democracy, for it has favoured constitutional government, government based on the consent of the people, rule of law, decentralization, free and fair elections.

Some political philosopher and their definition about liberalism:

(i) Harold Laski, an English scholar of Political Science once wrote: “It (liberalism) is not easy to describe, much less to define, for it is hardly less a habit of mind than a body of doctrine”. What it means is that liberalism is too dynamic and too flexible a concept to give it a precise meaning. And yet the scholars have made attempts to define it.

(ii) Sartori says, ‘Very simply, liberalism is the theory and practice of individual liberty, juridical defence and the constitutional state.”

(iii) According to Koerner, “Liberalism begins and ends with the ideals of individual freedom, individual human rights and individual human happiness.”

(iv) Encyclopaedia Britannica defines liberalism “as an idea committed to freedom, as a method and policy in government, as an organizing principle in society and as a way of life for the individual and the community.”

Conclusion: To conclude, we may highlight three aspects of liberalism which clearly help us in the understanding its meanings: in social sphere, liberalism stands for secularism and a society that opposes, all kinds of social discrimination; in economic sphere, it favours a capitalistic economy, individual ownership of the means of production and maximum profit-earning motive, in political sphere, it stands for a democratic polity, individual rights and liberties, responsive and responsible government, free and impartial judiciary and the like.

Q. 2. What do you mean by ‘withering away’ of the state?

Ans. Meaning of ‘withering away’ of the state Withering away of the state, according to the Marxists, means disappearing of the state, i.e. slowly and gradually the state apparatus would go the whole way.

Thus, Marxism advocates communism as the highest form of society where men would work as they wish and would get what they want : “from each according to his work to each according to his needs.”

The state, being the result of a class society, is a class institution. It is neither impartial nor just; it is a class institution. It is neither impartial nor just; it is a partisan, oppressive and exploitative institution; it exists to serve the dominant class of which it is an instrument. In the capitalist society, the capitalist state protects and promotes the interests of the capitalists while in the socialist society, it protects and promotes the interests of the working class. By the time the socialist society becomes fully communistic, the state would, by then, have withered away.

Q. 3. Discuss dialectical materialism as a feature of Marxism.

Ans. Marxism does not favour materialism at all. Dialectical materialism is the sumtotal of the general principles which explains as to why and how social changes take place. The social changes take place because of the material factors and through the dialectical materialistic method. The dialectical materialistic method is a triple method. Marx called it:

(a) Relations of Productions constitute the basis of the society at any given point of time. What are called the social relations among the people are, for the Marxists, the relations of production.

(b) Productive Forces constitute those elements which originate from the relations of production, but which, though opposite to the latter, promise more production through newer methods/devices.

(c) New Mode of Production is the result of the struggle between the relations of production and productive forces at a matured stage of their development. The new mode of production has the merits of both the relations of production and productive forces; hence a higher stage of economic development.

In very simple words, the Marxian theory states that all development takes place through struggle between opposites and because of factors which are economic.

Q. 4. Is Marxism relevant today? Explain.

Ans. Relevance of Marxism in present time:

(i) Marxism, both as a philosophy and also as a practice, has attained a position unparallelled in social and political thought. Its appeal crosses all boundaries and in fact, all limits. Its adversaries are as much convinced of its strength as are its admirers. And yet its shortcomings are obvious.

(ii) Changes do not occur simply because of the classes between the opposing classes. History is indebted to class co-operation as well for its development. Material factor, though important and dominating it may be, is not the sole factor in explaining the whole complex of society’s intricacies.

(iii) Indeed, man does not live by bread alone, but it is also true that he cannot live without it. Marxism has underestimated the worth and strength of national/patriotic sentiments.

To say that the workers have no fatherland of their own, as Marx used to say, is to make them parentless. Marxism also underestimated the importance of the state.

(iv) To say that the state is a class institution and therefore, an oppressive and exploitative one is to oversimplify things.

(v) The Marxian formulations, in practice, have been really disappointing. Marxism, as a practice, has failed, whatever be the reasons. One chief reason has been its centralizing tendency: the dictatorship of the proletariat becomes the dictatorship of the communist party, the party’s dictatorship becomes, ultimately, the dictatorship of one man-be that a Stallion or a Mao.

(vi) In the Soviet Union, reform movement (Glasnost, especially) initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev marked the beginning of the end of the communist movement not only in Europe but almost all over the world.

(vii) The communist China has introduced numerous liberalization measures in its economy and polity. The relevance of Marxism as an alternative ideology before the world is no more unquestioned.

Q. 5. Do you agree with the view that Gandhism is a critique of the western civilization?

Ans. Yes, we agree with view that Gandhi was a great critique of western civilization.

(i) M.K.Gandhi complained against western materialism. According to him materialism destroys the very essence of spiritualism.

(ii) Gandhi regarded the western type of man as an atomic individual, with all flesh and no soul.

(iii) Gandhiji is not an admirer of the type of the state that exists in the Western society. For him, the Western state represented ‘violence in a concentrated form’; it is a soulless machine. Accordingly, Gandhiji, as a philosophical anarchist, admitted the state, but very unwillingly, only when it is most needed.

Q. 6. What was Gandhiji’s concept of Ramrajya?

Ans.(i) Gandhiji advocated Ramrajya. His Ramrajya does not believe in centralising forces but it favours decentralised party.

(ii) Gandhiji as against materialism, industrialism and capitalism of western countries, he made a strong plea for Swadeshi, cottage industry and the theory of trusteeship.

(iii) Gandhiji is not an admirer of the type of the state that exists in the Western Society. For him, the Western state represented ‘Violence in a concentrated form’ it is a soulless machine. According, Gandhiji, as a philosophical anarchist, admitted the state, but very unwillingly, only when it is most needed.

(iv) Gandhism stands for a non-violent state based on.

(i) the consent of the people.

(ii) the near unity in the society.

Gandhiji advocated decentralization of power: both political and economic. The spirit of Gandhian democracy is the spirit of decentralization. Decentralization means devolution of power at each level beginning from individual/ocal units and reaching the apex. The essence of decentralization, according to Gandhiji, is that all powers flow from below and go up, in ascending order.

OBJECTIVE TYPE QUESTIONS

Choose the correct answer: 

Q. 1. Which one is not included in list of major political theories?

(a) Criticism.

(b) Liberalism.

(c) Marxism.

(d) Gandhism.

Ans. (a) Criticism.

Q. 2. Gandhiji did not emphasis on one the following phenomenon or point:

(a) Violence.

(b) Non-violence.

(c) Swaraj.

(d) Satyagraha.

Ans. (a) Violence.

Q. 3. ‘Downtrodden people of the Hindu, or Indian society were given a new name’. What was that? 

(a) Harijans. 

(b) Sudharas. 

(c) Dalits.

(d) none of the above.

Ans. (a) Harijans.