PSIR - Strategy, resources & discussion
Hi peeps. Let’s do this!
1. Previous papers from 2009 (both papers are in the same PDF):here2. Topic-wise PYQs: here
3. Look for PDFs of books here: b-ok.cc, http://libgen.rs/, archive.org
4. Model answers from SR:here
5. OnlyIAS notes, if you need extra matter for a few topics:here
6. SR notes, typed:politicsforindia.com
whatonly,@KropotkinSchmopotkin thank you! DMd you.
Q. "Transnational actors have become driving forces of global politics." Elaborate.
How will you all approach this ques?
1. Explain transnational actors.
2. A few lines about Realist, Marxist, Feminist perspective on them.
3. Transnational actors increasing clout. Substantiate through 3D chess board model, globalization, HR consciousness, global civil society, etc.
4. Then write a paragraph each on MNCs, NGOs and Terrorism
5. MNCs - vanguards of liberal democratic order, promote democratic values (pulling out of Saudi Arabia after Kashoggi assassination) seek good governance and accountability even beyond their home state, MNCs of the west with net-worth more than combined GDP of n states, shaping international negotiations on data and how that connects to sovereignty, Cox -"internationalization of state", humanitarian crisis (slave labour, fast fashion brands paying peanuts in countries like Bangladesh), environmental crisis (Shell in Africa), etc.
6. NGOs - participating in UN, bringing local concerns to global level; NGO as consultative bodies in UNHRC and ECOSOC; Western dominated; interference in internal affairs, driving key debates on environment and human rights at the global level (like Fridays for Future and Amnesty and Greenpeace); blame of acting at behest of home state
7. Terrorism - Iran using proxies to balance Israel and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and how that pushes the others forge ties for possible collective security (maybe cite UAE-Israel, Jordan-Israel), ISIS, US-Taliban deal and Taliban's rise from being a insurgent group to the key political actor in Afghan where vested interests of so many nations coincide
8. Conclude.
Good. Some added points -
- Post-1990s, significance has rose
- Glocalization lead to the development of global composite culture
- Has spread awareness about human rights, malnutrition
Bad
- Toppled the regime in may countries
- Agent of state, Lead to drain of wealth from peripheries to core(Wallerstein) - Marxist
- Made human one dimensional i.e consumer - Herbert Marcuse
Conclusion - Richard Cobden: Delegate sovereignty to transnational actors, however, checks and balances needed because the state is still important in global politics.
Villanelle,Q. "Transnational actors have become driving forces of global politics." Elaborate.
How will you all approach this ques?
1. Explain transnational actors.
2. A few lines about Realist, Marxist, Feminist perspective on them.
3. Transnational actors increasing clout. Substantiate through 3D chess board model, globalization, HR consciousness, global civil society, etc.
4. Then write a paragraph each on MNCs, NGOs and Terrorism
5. MNCs - vanguards of liberal democratic order, promote democratic values (pulling out of Saudi Arabia after Kashoggi assassination) seek good governance and accountability even beyond their home state, MNCs of the west with net-worth more than combined GDP of n states, shaping international negotiations on data and how that connects to sovereignty, Cox -"internationalization of state", humanitarian crisis (slave labour, fast fashion brands paying peanuts in countries like Bangladesh), environmental crisis (Shell in Africa), etc.
6. NGOs - participating in UN, bringing local concerns to global level; NGO as consultative bodies in UNHRC and ECOSOC; Western dominated; interference in internal affairs, driving key debates on environment and human rights at the global level (like Fridays for Future and Amnesty and Greenpeace); blame of acting at behest of home state
7. Terrorism - Iran using proxies to balance Israel and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and how that pushes the others forge ties for possible collective security (maybe cite UAE-Israel, Jordan-Israel), ISIS, US-Taliban deal and Taliban's rise from being a insurgent group to the key political actor in Afghan where vested interests of so many nations coincide
8. Conclude.
Good. Some added points -
- Post-1990s, significance has rose
- Glocalization lead to the development of global composite culture
- Has spread awareness about human rights, malnutrition
Bad
- Toppled the regime in may countries
- Agent of state, Lead to drain of wealth from peripheries to core(Wallerstein) - Marxist
- Made human one dimensional i.e consumer - Herbert Marcuse
Conclusion - Richard Cobden: Delegate sovereignty to transnational actors, however, checks and balances needed because the state is still important in global politics.
Hey, do points such as 1D man & globalisation not disgress from the question?
Hey guys, does SR have any other material for the PT meaning & approaches other than what’s in the notes?
What is Political Theory.pdfwhatonly,Hey guys, does SR have any other material for the PT meaning & approaches other than what’s in the notes?
Thanks :D
Q. "Transnational actors have become driving forces of global politics." Elaborate.
How will you all approach this ques?
1. Explain transnational actors.
2. A few lines about Realist, Marxist, Feminist perspective on them.
3. Transnational actors increasing clout. Substantiate through 3D chess board model, globalization, HR consciousness, global civil society, etc.
4. Then write a paragraph each on MNCs, NGOs and Terrorism
5. MNCs - vanguards of liberal democratic order, promote democratic values (pulling out of Saudi Arabia after Kashoggi assassination) seek good governance and accountability even beyond their home state, MNCs of the west with net-worth more than combined GDP of n states, shaping international negotiations on data and how that connects to sovereignty, Cox -"internationalization of state", humanitarian crisis (slave labour, fast fashion brands paying peanuts in countries like Bangladesh), environmental crisis (Shell in Africa), etc.
6. NGOs - participating in UN, bringing local concerns to global level; NGO as consultative bodies in UNHRC and ECOSOC; Western dominated; interference in internal affairs, driving key debates on environment and human rights at the global level (like Fridays for Future and Amnesty and Greenpeace); blame of acting at behest of home state
7. Terrorism - Iran using proxies to balance Israel and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and how that pushes the others forge ties for possible collective security (maybe cite UAE-Israel, Jordan-Israel), ISIS, US-Taliban deal and Taliban's rise from being a insurgent group to the key political actor in Afghan where vested interests of so many nations coincide
8. Conclude.
Good. Some added points -
- Post-1990s, significance has rose
- Glocalization lead to the development of global composite culture
- Has spread awareness about human rights, malnutrition
Bad
- Toppled the regime in may countries
- Agent of state, Lead to drain of wealth from peripheries to core(Wallerstein) - Marxist
- Made human one dimensional i.e consumer - Herbert Marcuse
Conclusion - Richard Cobden: Delegate sovereignty to transnational actors, however, checks and balances needed because the state is still important in global politics.
Hey, do points such as 1D man & globalisation not disgress from the question?
Yes 1D point can be avoided but not globalisation. State has to accomodate them due to the globalisation only because sovereignty is delegated to them somehow. That's why it's being said that "MacDonald chain" toppled the USSR regime after cold war.
Caesar,
Hello everyone,
For daily answer writing and peer reviewing answers of PSIR, a small Telegram group would be convenient. Join up through this link if interested: https://t.me/joinchat/RqJqqhht0UHCf8kO8xBz8w
Will be deleting the link in a while so as to limit the number of members in the group.Thanks@hashtag2020 joined :D
Make this active again please
i guess my ending is abrupt but tried to write this within 12 minutes -266 words
‘Where there is no common power, there is no law, where no law, no justice’-Hobbes
Hobbes, by his virtue of delineating powers between state and the church, has often been held as the 1st modern thinker
For Hobbes, no two entities can have equal sovereignty therefore state for Hobbes becomes the ultimate leviathan.
Through his social contract, he has endowed the state with ultimate powers as a bargain against order peace and preservation of life. Hobbes argues that in the state of nature condition of a man is " poor nasty brutish and short"
Through his rcm Hobbes has shown that man is utilitarian in nature, he brings in the dilemma of unlimited wants and limited means. A utilitarian man would try to increase his pleasure and reduce his pain, each man would see other as a source of conflict rather than virtue, therefore the state of nature will be a state of war; a war of all, against all
Law for Hobbes is reason , since a man is avaricious and materialist, it is not possible to have reason in the state of nature. therefore to come out of the state of nature man endows the state with unlimited powers and hence state becomes the ultimate sovg.
state comes with the 'covenants with swords' ie state has the power to enforce and make people compliant against the law.For hobbes ' liberty is only where the law is silent' in all other cases man is bounded by the whip of the state
Therefore where there is no common power, man is bounded by his own impulse and hence has no reason/law and therefore the state of nature is also the state of injustice.
i guess my ending is abrupt but tried to write this within 12 minutes.
‘Where there is no common power, there is no law, where no law, no justice’-Hobbes
Hobbes, by his virtue of delineating powers between state and the church, has often been held as the 1st modern thinker
For Hobbes, no two entities can have equal sovereignty therefore state for Hobbes becomes the ultimate leviathan.
Through his social contract, he has endowed the state with ultimate powers as a bargain against order peace and preservation of life. Hobbes argues that in the state of nature condition of a man is " poor nasty brutish and short"
Through his rcm Hobbes has shown that man is utilitarian in nature, he brings in the dilemma of unlimited wants and limited means. A utilitarian man would try to increase his pleasure and reduce his pain, each man would see other as a source of conflict rather than virtue, therefore the state of nature will be a state of war; a war of all, against all
Law for Hobbes is reason , since a man is avaricious and materialist, it is not possible to have reason in the state of nature. therefore to come out of the state of nature man endows the state with unlimited powers and hence state becomes the ultimate sovg.
state comes with the 'covenants with swords' ie state has the power to enforce and make people compliant against the law.For hobbes ' liberty is only where the law is silent' in all other cases man is bounded by the whip of the state
Therefore where there is no common power, man is bounded by his own impulse and hence has no reason/law and therefore the state of nature is also the state of injustice.
wanted to add a critique however, felt it would end up being forceful therefore left it.
a universal ending for Hobbes btw=
However, critics like Spinoza have pointed out that it is impossible for the monsters of
Hobbes’s state of nature to become law-abiding and docile citizens of a civil society
in the manner prescribed by Hobbes.
whatonly,
MarcusA,whatonly@MarcusA great answer! But I think it needs to cover the “no law, no justice” part a bit more. Since for upsc covering and showing by underlining that you’ve covered the keywords in the question is important. The only angle I can find is that Hobbes saw justice relating only to man in society and acknowledged no moral character in man that could lead to a sense of justice without law. It’s a rather obvious and simple point and is implicit in what you’ve already said, but I think we would still have to mention it.
MarcusA,Hello everyone,
For daily answer writing and peer reviewing answers of PSIR, a small Telegram group would be convenient. Join up through this link if interested: https://t.me/joinchat/RqJqqhht0UHCf8kO8xBz8w
Will be deleting the link in a while so as to limit the number of members in the group.Thanks@hashtag2020 joined :D
Make this active again please
Should actually have another! Would anyone be doing 1B and want to exchange PYQs the rest of this week?
@MarcusA Vaughan's criticism that he failed to balance indi liberty with abs sovereignity could go with the question. Rest everything is covered
yes that would have been a nice touch
@MarcusA great answer! But I think it needs to cover the “no law, no justice” part a bit more. Since for upsc covering and showing by underlining that you’ve covered the keywords in the question is important. The only angle I can find is that Hobbes saw justice relating only to man in society and acknowledged no moral character in man that could lead to a sense of justice without law. It’s a rather obvious and simple point and is implicit in what you’ve already said, but I think we would still have to mention it.
thats what i had tought!! however, I find it difficult to shove so many views within 250 words, even more, difficult when I write impromptu.
thats what i had tought!! however, I find it difficult to shove so many views within 250 words, even more, difficult when I write impromptu.
Yepp! I think a good way is to think of all your points in terms of their degree of distance from the demand of question. This is what I have subconsciously been doing. So for example in that question the first degree would consist of 7 points: short intro to Hobbes, briefly why common power is needed (SoN etc), nature of common power/sovereign, nature of law/his authority, justice, what the synthesis of these three means (political obligation), conclusion. Any other point is second degree. I’ll only move to second degree if I have the space and time to cover all the 7 points of first degree sufficiently. Otherwise it ends up looking like an imbalanced answer. Would love to know if anyone has a better answer writing approach!
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