PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Democracy

Comment on the Deliberative democracy in 150 words.

How the answer moves

The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.

Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
legitimacy from quality of reasoning, not counting of votes → voice over choice, debate over voting democracy as reasoned judgement among free, equal citizens → laws valid only through free deliberation
Body flow
hrm reject Bentham's aggregate democracy (sums preferences → majoritarianism) → Aristotle: collective deliberation beats isolated experts → Habermas: communicative action, better argument over power → Cohen: deliberation as legitimacy + handling moral disagreement → Rawls: public reason, reasons others can accept → qualitative participation → substantive democracy, informed citizens
Counter-view
power inequalities + dominant speech styles exclude weaker groups → time- consuming → fails to address real power relations
Conclusion routes
reason, not numbers, makes democracy substantive promise holds only if inequality and exclusion are overcome

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2019, Democracy