Elucidate the meanings inherent in the term ‘political’ with appropriate illustrations.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 ‘political’ an essentially contested concept → Greek polis → Aristotle’s “political animal”.
Route 2 binding collective decisions under disagreement → the “Art of the Possible”.
Art of government → public affairs (Arendt) → compromise/consensus (Locke) → power (Leftwich) → friend–enemy (Schmitt) → authoritative allocation of values (Easton) → hegemony (Gramsci) → political economy (Marx).
Institutional view too narrow; Schmitt overstates antagonism; too broad a view dissolves the ‘political’ into the ‘social’.
Route 1 meanings overlap, not exclude — a layered field of power, values, institutions, choices.
Route 2 the contestation itself reflects the political.
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
Also asked on this head
Political Theory — 10 questions in the Vault.
- Comment on decline of political theory. (150 words)
- Comment on Post-Behavioural approach. (150 words)
- Discuss the significance of a normative approach to political theory.
How this is taught
The same flow snapshot, built for every head of the syllabus, with the answer written in class.
The first session of Foundation 2027 is published in full.
Six programmes across three levels.