PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Democracy

The foundational base of western democracy has been

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

Route 1 Locke = foundational thinker of liberal democracy three ideas (freedom + property + constitutionalism) joined into one design for legitimate government

Route 2 western democracy = power both authorised by people and limited by law both trace back to Locke

Body flow

state of nature: freedom + equality within natural law, not licence, vs Hobbes natural rights (life, liberty, property) prior to government consent as the only legitimacy, will of people not hereditary command social contract community institutions by majority taxation by consent/representatives [property] “lives, liberty and estates” under the general name property not material alone, inalienable rights government’s purpose = protect property right of resistance [constitutionalism] power bound by law, “wherever law ends, tyranny begins” government as trust separation of powers + rule of law liberal constitutionalism synthesis: constitutionalism restrains, democracy authorises, liberal democracy needs both

Counter-view

constitutional liberalism historically distinct from democracy (Zakaria) their union an achievement, not automatic without constitutional limits majority may oppress; without democracy limits stay elitist

Conclusion routes

Route 1 western democracy inherits Locke’s union of freedom, property, consent, representation, constitutional restraint

Route 2 government the people authorise and the law restrains — power both authorised and limited

Model answer

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

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2025, Democracy