PSIR 4 IAS

  Qn 16. Comment on the decline of political parties and examine whether new social movements shall be an alternate strategy for establishing link between government and society. (2016/II/Q.1b/10m) Political parties are organisations seeking government office. New social movements are group phenomenon articulating specific post-materialist interests. In the modern age, changing roles of political parties and social movements can be linked. A political party  is an organised group with similar political aims and opinions, that seeks to influence public policy, by getting its candidates elected to public office. Decline of political parties  principally stems from the evidence of their decline as agents of representation and as effective links between the government and the people. Reasons  can be— Parties are viewed as political professionals, pursuing power, high office and corruption, and not ‘of the people’ real or perceived oligarchical character (being viewed as ...

  Qn 15. Are the pressure groups in India in a position to fully protect or promote the interests of their members? (2015/II/Q.1c/10m) Pressure groups are a manifestation of group behaviour. In India, as per the context, motive and opportunity, various pressure groups operate. Pressure groups  are forms of organisations, which exert pressure on the political or administrative system of a country to extract benefits out of it and to advance their own interests. These are political actors and sometimes also referred to as civil society organisations, interest groups or catalytic groups. Genesis of pressure groups:  Pressure groups have been in existence in different forms ever since governmental machinery assumed both welfare role and discretionary authority. They took more concrete form in the wake of the industrial revolution and market-oriented economies. In India, pressure groups germinate and function as per their context. Types and operations of pressure groups in Ind...

  Qn 14. Party system in India is neither western nor indigenous. Explain. (2014/II/Q.1a/10m) Party system  refers to the set of all the significant parties in a country, their interactions and the electoral system and voter loyalties that produce it. Party system in India has evolved as a hybrid, with neither purely Indian characteristics, nor western. Party system in India, being neither western nor indigenous,  can be studied by comparing its features: One party dominance : Although Indian polity accommodates a multi-party system, often a single party has dominated. This seems counter to the plural character of India. Also, it is different from the two-party systems of Britain and USA, and the multi-party model in most of western Europe (e.g. in France, Italy etc). In India, the Congress, which was a nationalist movement pre-independence, emerged post-independence as a dominant political party. Morris Jones described the Indian party system as a ‘one party dominance’ s...

Qn 13. Examine the comparative advantage of democracy and autocracy in restraining violence. Do you think that autocratic societies are more prone to political violence? Illustrate your answer with a comparative study of a few societies. (2009/II/Q.4/60m) Democracy is a political system where majority rules. Autocracy is a political system where one person governs. Political violence is violence used to achieve political goals. Democracies and autocracies have variable relations with political violence. Etymologically  – ‘demos’ (Greek) meaning ‘people’ and ‘kratos’ (Greek) meaning ‘power’ or ‘authority’.  Examples  - ancient Greece, USA, India, England, France, Italy, Poland etc. Thus,  Democracy is  a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. Citizens exercise power directly or elect representatives from among themselves to form a governing body (such as a parliament). Politi...

Qn 12. Is the rise of social movements a sign of opening up of popular space in political process or decline of representational politics? Examine. (2013/II/Q.4a/20m) Society and politics are inseparable. The rise in social movements (or collective behaviour) is considered a sign of changing political processes. Social movements  are a type of group action. Having distinctive organisation and strategies, they carry out, resist, or undo a social change. Traditionally social movements were focused on social advancement such as nationalist movements and labour movements.  Rise of social movements  (or ‘new’ social movements) is changing trends in collective behaviours which concern aspects regarding ‘quality of life’, such as gender-rights, environmental and anti-globalisation movements. It is linked to leftist politics. Liberals prefer to call it ‘ resource mobilisation ’. New social movements ignited in the West since the 1960s. In the East (Third World countries), they st...

  Qn 11. What is the difference between interest groups and pressure groups? (2015/II/Q.1c/10m) Interest groups and pressure groups are both actors of groups politics - they are organised efforts aspiring for a particular cause. Although sometimes considered similar, there are debated and slight differences between the two entities. Interest groups  are organisations seeking to advance a particular interest, concern or cause, while usually not seeking to form a government or part thereof. They rely on a variety of campaigning and lobbying methods to exert influence on government policy. It is often used synonymously with pressure groups, organised groups and catalytic groups. Other scholarly labels include ‘anonymous empire’ (S. E. Finer), ‘invisible government’ (D. D. McKean) and ‘unofficial government’ (T. Sellin and R. D. Lambert). On the other hand,  Pressure groups  are non-profit and (usually) voluntary organisations whose members have a common cause, for which...

  Qn 10. In what respect is the new social movement ‘new’ in nature? Discuss. (2014/II/Q.1b/10m) Social movements are organisational structures with strategies that may empower certain sections of the population to challenge and resist other sections. Such movements have been academically studied since the 19th century. The second half of the 20th century saw a new wave of movements – ‘new’ social movements - with changed dynamics and new causes, as the context evolved. A social movement  is a particular form of collective behaviour or mass action in which the motive to act is rooted largely in the attitudes and aspirations of members, typically acting within a loose organisational framework. Being part of it requires a level of commitment and political activism. Earliest social movements  can be traced back to the 19th century and include: labour movements for improved conditions for the growing working class Nationalist movements for independence, especially from Europe...

  Qn 9. How does functioning of interest groups differ from political parties? Discuss with appropriate examples. (2008/II/Q.2/60m) Answer:  Interest groups and political parties are political actors. Both are organisations with respectively typical natures, agendas, structures, functioning methods and target areas. Interest groups  are organisations seeking to advance a particular interest, concern or cause, while not actively seeking to form a government or part thereof. They are actors of groups politics. They usually rely on a variety of campaigning and lobbying methods to exert influence on government action (e.g. policies). They constitute one of the major linkages between government and the governed, in modern societies. Political parties,  on the other hand, ****are groups of people that are organised for the purpose of winning power, by electoral or other means. Characteristics include pursuance of political office, membership system, broad issue focus, shar...

  Qn. 8. Critically examine the Marxist aspect of political economy approach to the study of comparative politics. (2016/II/1a/10m) Marxist aspect is one of the broad academical categories of political economy. Political economy approach refers to interdisciplinary studies, which draws upon various social sciences to explain the role of politics in influencing economics. Comparative politics compares various political systems. Aspects of political economy approach  can be categorised as classical school, Marxist school, welfare school (Keynes, Galbrith), dependency school (Frank, Wollerstien, Furtado), neo-rightist school (Hayek, Olson, Buchanan) and welfare economics (A. Sen and J. Dreze). Marxist political economy  denotes a range of perspectives that are broadly connected to the tradition of Karl Marx historian and economist. It comprises an integrative analysis of the economy, society and politics. It started in the 1840s when Marx shifted his attention from jurisprud...