{"id":232368,"date":"2023-03-19T14:33:56","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T09:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?page_id=232368"},"modified":"2023-03-21T14:40:16","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T09:10:16","slug":"chapter-1-political-theory-an-antroduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/chapter-1-political-theory-an-antroduction\/","title":{"rendered":"[Summary] Chapter 1 &#8211; Political Theory &#8211; An Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Chapter 1 : Political Theory : An Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Political theory deals with the ideas and principles that shape Constitutions, governments and social life in a systematic manner. It clarifies the meaning of concepts such as <strong><em><u>freedom, equality, justice, democracy<\/u><\/em><\/strong><em><u>, secularism<\/u><\/em> and so on<\/li>\n<li>It probes the significance of principles such as rule of law, separation of powers, judicial review, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Political theorists clarify the meaning of political concepts by looking at how they are understood and used in ordinary language.<\/li>\n<li>It examines the extent to which freedom or equality are actually present in the institutions that we participate<\/li>\n<li>Politics is an important and integral part of any society<\/li>\n<li>No society can exist without some form of political organisation and collective decision making.<\/li>\n<li>Politics is not confined to the affairs of government.<\/li>\n<li>In fact what governments do is relevant because it affects the lives of the people in many different ways.<\/li>\n<li>We see that governments determine our economic policy and foreign policy and educational policy.<\/li>\n<li>These policies can help to improve the lives of people but an inefficient or corrupt government can also endanger people\u2019s lives and security.<\/li>\n<li>The government makes policies to increase literacy and employment etc.<\/li>\n<li>We <em><u>form associations and organise campaigns<\/u><\/em> to articulate our demands (under Article 19)<\/li>\n<li>Rousseau first argued for freedom as a fundamental right of humankind<\/li>\n<li>Karl Marx argued that equality was as crucial as freedom<\/li>\n<li>Mahatma Gandhi discussed the meaning of genuine freedom or swaraj (Self Rule) in his book Hind Swaraj.<\/li>\n<li>Preamble enshrines freedom and equality<\/li>\n<li>Chapter on Fundamental Rights (Part 3, Article 12-35) in the <em><u>Indian Constitution abolishes untouchability in any form<\/u><\/em> (Article 17)<\/li>\n<li>Equality may exist in the political sphere in the form of equal rights, it may not exist to the same extent in the economic or social spheres<\/li>\n<li>People may enjoy equal political rights but still be discriminated against socially.<\/li>\n<li>Though freedom is guaranteed in our Constitution, we encounter new interpretations all the time.<\/li>\n<li>Fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution are continually being reinterpreted in response to new circumstances.<\/li>\n<li>For instance, the right to life has been interpreted by the Courts to include the right to livelihood<\/li>\n<li>The right to information has been granted in 2005 through RTI Act 2005<\/li>\n<li>The fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution have been amended and expanded over time through judicial interpretations and government policies which are designed to address new problems.<\/li>\n<li>Some form of regulation is necessary to safeguard individual security and privacy<\/li>\n<li>Unlike in mathematics where there can be one definition of a triangle or square, we encounter many definitions of equality or freedom or justice.<\/li>\n<li>This is because terms like equality concern our relationships with other human beings rather than with things.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Equality means equal opportunity for all<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>At the same time, if there are separate counters for the old and disabled, we understand that such special treatment may be justified.<\/li>\n<li>If we are sensitive, we feel that it is not fair that in a society some members cannot even have their basic needs satisfied.<\/li>\n<li>We come to realise that <strong><u>equality must involve some kind of fairness<\/u><\/strong> so that people are not unduly exploited and disadvantaged by economic factors.<\/li>\n<li>Even though the Indian constitution guarantees the right to primary education for all (Article 21A added), this right remains formal.<\/li>\n<li>When we cannot even afford basic needs, equal opportunity is not enough.(special provisions made for them)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chapter 1 : Political Theory : An Introduction Political theory deals with the ideas and principles that shape Constitutions, governments and social life in a systematic manner. It clarifies the meaning of concepts such as freedom, equality, justice, democracy, secularism and so on It probes the significance of principles such as rule of law, separation&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/chapter-1-political-theory-an-antroduction\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">[Summary] Chapter 1 &#8211; Political Theory &#8211; An Introduction<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-232368","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/232368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/232368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}