POLITICAL SCIENCE NOTES

CITIZENSHIP

What is citizenship?
 Citizenship denotes the status of an individual as a full and responsible member of a political
community. Thus, citizen is a person who owes allegiance to the state and in turn receives
protection from the state.
 He/she /they must fulfil his/her/their duties and obligations toward the state as the state grants
him/her/them civil, political and social rights. Hence citizenship implies two-way relationship
between individuals and the state.
 Different societies will attach different rights and duties to the status of citizen, there is
no universal principle which determines necessary rights and duties
EVOLUTION AND NATURE
 EVOLUTION- The concept of citizenship can be traced to the Greek city state Athens-
there the people were divided into two classes, citizens and slaves. But in modern times
the distinction between people is made -citizens and aliens.
 The citizenship is the product of a community where the right to rule is decided by
prescribed procedure which expresses the will of the general body of its members
 In a modern democratic state, all members of a community are regarded its citizens. But in
ancient Greek city-states very few inhabitants (about ten percent) enjoyed the status of
'freemen' who were treated as full citizens. These citizens were equal among themselves as
regard their rights. There was no discrimination between the rich and the poor among freemen.
The rest of the community comprised of slaves, women and aliens who had no rights of
citizenship. That is why Aristotle regarded citizenship as a privilege of the ruling class
 . In this sense citizenship stood for effective participation in the exercise of power
 In any case, in ancient Greek political tradition this privilege of the ruling class was also regarded
to be the part of their duty. All 'citizens' were expected to perform this duty in order to secure
good life for themselves as well as for the 'non-citizens'.
 ROME- After the decline of Greek city-states, a new definition of citizenship was evolved in the
'Roman Empire'. Initially there, too, citizenship was confined to power-holders. Later it was
extended to the ordinary people and those vanquished in war. Thus diverse types of people
came within the ambit of citizenship. Only the people of lowest rank and women were excluded
from the benefit of citizenship
 MODERN
o In the nineteenth century the domination of liberalism gave rise to market relations
which promoted a new notion of citizenship.
o Now the idea of natural rights came to be regarded as the basis of citizenship. The idea
of natural rights in this sense was advanced by John Locke in England.
o Locke had argued that the 'right to life, liberty and property' was the mainstay of
natural rights. The citizens set up a state for the protection of these rights. If the state
fails to protect these rights, the individual would be free to exercise his 'right to
resistance' against the state. Under the influence of these views citizenship came to be
regarded as indicative of 'rights against the state

COMPONENETS OF CITIZENSHIP
 Contemporary society citizenship is primarily concerned with certain rights
 The scope of Civil, political and social rights can be normally analysed on the
components and basis of citizenship
 T.H. Marshall in his Citizenship and Social Class (1950) has given an analysis of the
concept of citizenship in an evolutionary perspective.
 He has identified three stages of development of the rights associated with citizenship
in England since the eighteenth century.
 At the first stage, civil rights (constituting civil citizenship) were evolved in the
eighteenth century. These included: equality before the law, liberty of the person,
freedom of speech, thought and faith, the right to own property and conclude contracts.
 At the second stage, political rights (constituting political citizenship) were evolved in
the nineteenth century. These included: the right to take part in elections, the right to
serve in bodies invested with political authority, whether legislatures or cabinets.
 Finally, at the third stage, social rights (constituting social citizenship) were developed in
the twentieth century. These included: the right to a certain standard of economic and
social welfare, the right to a full share in the social heritage.

TWO TYPES OF CITIZENS

1. Natural citizens: natural citizenship is acquired on two bases:
a. a) by blood relationship (jus sanguins): a principle of nationality law by which
citizenship is determined or acquired by the nationality or ethnicity of one or
both parents.
b. b) by place of birth(jus soli):  Under this concept, citizenship of a person is determined
by the place where a person was born.

2. 2, Naturalised citizenship is acquired by giving up natural citizenship and adopting the

citizenship of another state through fulfilling the various conditions

THEORIES OF CITIZENSHIP
1. LIBERAL THEORY:
 According to this theory, civil rights constitute the foundation of citizenship. These rights
reach their logical conclusion through an evolutionary process in which political and
social rights come into existence.
 Since this theory believes in the evolution of the rights associated with citizenship, it is
also described as 'evolutionary theory of citizenship'.

 T.H. Marshall is regarded the chief exponent of this theory.

o In his Citizenship and Social Class Marshall has observed that citizenship
prescribes equal rights and duties, liberties and constraints, powers and
responsibilities for different individuals.
o Under citizenship the individuals come together to decide the terms of their
association.
o The idea of citizenship runs counter to the idea of class division of society. A
social class promotes inequality between different individuals on the basis of
ownership of property, level of education and the structure of economy, but
citizenship tends to bestow equal status upon them
o the idea of citizenship begins with the provision of civil rights, and proceeds
further by giving rise to political and social rights respectively.
o When it is fully developed, the individual no longer remains dependent on the
market system. So citizenship in its fully developed form leads to redistribution
of goods and services, benefits and burdens. In this form it embodies the idea of
social justice.
o Thus, when some people fail to provide for health care, education or housing for
their family, then as citizens they are entitled to state assistance.
 CRITICS:
o Critics argue that this theory is too optimistic.
o Restribution of benefits and burdens for the provision of social rights involves
taxation of some sections to benefit others. Nothing comes free. If someone
gets something free, someone else must be paying for it.
o To maintain goodwill and solidarity in society it is necessary that taxpayers are
not subjected to undue burden and heartburn. It is a really difficult task.
2. COMMUNITARIAN THEORY OF CITIZENSHIP
 the communitarian or 'republican theory of citizenship' insists on a strong bond of affinity
between individual and the state.
 This conception of citizenship conceives the citizen as someone who plays an active role in
shaping the future direction of his/ her/their society through political debate and decision-
making.
 In other words, the distinctive feature of citizenship is 'citizen participation'
 The exponents of this theory include Hannah Arendt, Michael Walzer and Benjamin Barber
 The main principle of this theory is that a citizen should identify himself/herself/their selves
with the community of which he/she/they is/are a member, and take active part in its
political life. Then only he can contribute substantially to the realization of the common
interest
 CRITICS:
o Critics argue that this model of citizenship would only be suitable to a small,
homogeneous society with common traditions as existed in the fourth century B.C.
at Athens and fifteenth century Florence.
o Jean Jaques Rousseau had evolved his concept of the 'general will' in his famous
work Social Contract (1762) keeping in view the image of such society. General will
represented a point where real will of all the members of a community was
supposed to meet. This is not feasible in the very complex society of today.
o In contemporary society broad issues of consensus may be discovered through a
widespread debate, but it would not be possible to point to a 'general will' which
would be acceptable to the consciousness of the entire community.
3. MARXIST THEORY OF CITIZENSHIP
 citizenship is founded on those rights which a class happens to win for itself after
suppressing the rights of its against class
 This theory treats the rights associated with citizenship as the product of class conflict
 Anthony Giddens is the chief exponent of this theory
 Giddens has contradicted Marshall's view in order to bring forth his own viewpoint. He has
particularly raised three issues:
o Marshall treats the development of citizenship as if it were something that unfolded
in phases according to some inner logic within the modern world. Giddens argues
that the underprivileged have achieved their citizenship in substantial degree only
through struggle; they succeeded to tilt the balance of power in their favour only
during the times of war, particularly during the period of world war;
o According to Marshall, development of citizenship has taken place in a unilinear
manner. Giddens disagrees with him on this point. He argues that it was the product
of various social movements. The varying strength of these movements led to
variations in the benefits conceded to the underprivileged. Erosion of welfare rights
of the poor during 1970s and 1980s
o Marshall identified three types of rights associated with citizenship: civil, political
and social rights. He held that these rights belong to a single category. On the
contrary, Gidden identifies two types of citizenship rights which belong to different
categories:
1. Individual freedom and equality before the law signify those civil rights
which were largely won by the emergent bourgeoisie through their struggle
against the feudal privileges. These rights helped to consolidate industrial
capitalism and modern representative state; and
2. Economic civil rights signify those rights for which working-class and trade-
union activists fought against bourgeois system of power. These include
workers' right to form their union, expand its activities, right to bargaining
and right to strike. These rights sought to challenge the dominance of
capitalist system.
o According to Giddens, development of citizenship and modern democracy began in
late sixteenth century with the expansion of state sovereignty and administrative
build-up
4. PLURALIST THEORY:
 Pluralist theory of citizenship treats the development of citizenship as a complex and multi-
dimensional process.
 Accordingly, it cannot be attributed to a single cause. In order to understand it we must pay
attention to the role of diverse factors that are responsible for its development
 David Held in his Political Theory and the Modern State (1989) observed that from the
ancient world to the present day, citizenship meant a reciprocal relationship between
individual and community. STATE GIVE RIGHTS CITIZENS PERFORM DUTY
 To analyse citizenship as if it were a matter of the inclusion or exclusion of social classes is to
eclipse from the view a variety of dimensions of social life which have been central to the
straggle over citizenship
 Pluralist theory insists on inquiring into all types of discrimination against people, whether
on grounds of gender, race, religion, property, education, occupation or age.
 In the contemporary world so many social movements have been launched against
different types of social discrimination. These include feminist movement, black movement,
religious reform movements, workers' movement, children rights movements, dalit
movement, adivasi movement and ecological movement, among others.
 Pluralist theory recommends that the problem of citizenship should be analysed in the
context of all these movements. Since these movements are steadily spreading to new
directions, analysis of citizenship becomes a subject of continuous research
 CRITICSIM:
o Pluralist theory does not provide for any fixed framework for the analysis of the
problem of citizenship.
o It largely deals with the ever-expanding scope of this problem1 in the
contemporary scenario.
o The theory itself is in the process of formation. CHANGES TIME TO TIME

EQUALITY
 Equality refers to the absence of privileges and discrimination on any ground and the process of
equal and appropriate opportunities to fulfill one’s personality
 Equality is an important condition of good life. The equality also closely related to the theory of
natural rights
 The question of equality arises where there is denial, unacceptable variations (political,
economic and social)
 Negative aspect: - In negative sense- equality means an absence of any kind of discrimination on
grounds of caste, colour, religion, language etc..
o An absence of special privileges
 All barriers by birth, wealth, cast and sex should be removed so that none
suffers from any kind of social and political disabilities
 In political sphere, the will of an individual should be equal to that of any other
 Positive aspect: equality means the provision of adequate opportunities. Positive sense, it
means the provision of adequate opportunity to all for the full development of their faculties
Adequate opportunities are not the same thing as equal opportunities. Since
men/women/binaries differs in their needs and capabilities, therefore, there will be different
opportunities for the individual development
 Formal equality is fair treatment by the law (including fair access to work). Equality of
opportunity is the subtly different concept that each individual should be given the same
chances of success in education, employment and society (this might involve positive
discrimination or extra support for those disadvantaged by their background).

KINDS OF EQUALITY

1. Natural equality:
 The greek thinkers like Cicero championed principle of natural equality.
 Advocated by Hobbes, John locke, rousseau and bentham
 It basically means that by nature all humans are equal
 Inequalities are artificial and human made, it does not mean that all humans are
equal, In fact inequality is the basis of nature
 Natural equality means absence of human made artificial inequalities
2. Social equality:
 It means that there is no distinction in the matter of social status of people on the
basis of difference in cast, colour, creed, religion, cast or rank
 No one is inferior or superior in society
 All members are useful and have equal legal and economic rights
 Social inequality exists when there is consideration of status, lower or higher
limiting the social interaction of people in society
3. Legal equality:
 It refers to the basic equality recognized by law. It implies that all are equal before
law or that law protects all equally
 wIt also refers to the legal capacity of each one to develop himself/herself/their
selves and denies inequality based on race, religion, sex, colour, wealth, strength,
etc.
 The application of fundamental rights and duties are valid under this principle
4. Civil equality:
 It implies that all citizens should enjoy the same civil rights and liberties
 All citizens are subject to law and equal before the law
 Rule of law must be guaranteed and no discrimination should be made among
people
5. Political equality:
 It means equal opportunity to all citizens to enjoy political rights and to have similar
voice in the working of government
 It enables people to participate in political life and affairs of the country
 Ex- Universal adult franchise- VOTING ABOVE 18 IRRESPECTIVE OF ------
 To attain political equality, men/women/binaries should have right to vote, right to
contest election, criticize gov, hold public office
6. Economic equality:
 It refers to removal of differences in wealth and allotting to every
man/woman/binary an equal share in worldy goods
 It does not happen that everyone should have the same income, it is rather a
provision of equal opportunities to all so that one can make economic progress
 It insists upon the acquisition of a bare minimum standards of income by all before
anyone can be allowed to have more than this minimum
7. National equality in international equality:
 It means that all nations are equal in international sphere irrespective of it’s military
strength and economic status. UN is based on the principle of national equality

IMPORTANCE OF EQUALITY

 Equality is essential for the development of human personality

 Equality recognizes the talent of all people and provides opportunities to all without
discrimination
 It promotes liberty, going hand in hand
 It enhances the prestige and self-respect of an individual
 It is essential for social justice as it thrives for the abolition of social evils

LIBERTY AND EQUALITY

 Liberty is the freedom to do something while equality is the leveling process of individuals
 ISKE AAGE KE 2 TOPICS MERKO SAMJH NAHI AA RAHE SORRY – LIBERTY AND EQUALITY
OPPOSED AND LIBERTY AND EQUALITY OPPOSED

POLITICAL LIBERTY WITHOUT ECONOMIC EQUALITY IS A MYTH

 LASKI- He defines political liberty as a power to be active in the state affairs, which basically
means the right of the people to choose the government
 Political liberty political rights such as right to vote, right to be elected, hold office etc.
 On the other hand, economic equality signifies the sufficiency of individuals to satisfy their
needs like food, drink shelter
 Liberty cannot exist in a society where there are gross economic inequalities, a society that is
divided among rich and poor or master and servants. Naturally the master will have more power
because he/she/they are rich and dominant exploiting the poor.
 All the freedom will be exercised by the rich for their own interest. In public, liberty is put up on
an auction. The rich buys and the poor sells. The rich misguide the poor people in the name of
religion and language

JUSTICE
MEANING AND DEFINITION

 Derived from latin word justicia (joining and tieing)

 Justice is the first virtue of social institutions. Justice is the basic structure of society.
 A well ordered society not only designed to advance the good of its members but when it is also
effectively regulated by a public conception justice.
 Aristotle stated that justice consists of righteousness, or complete virtue in relation to one’s
neighbour. He also espoused the idea of justice as a state of character, a cultivated set of
dispositions, attitudes and good habits
 Law is often thought of as the ultimate expression of justice in society
 The Scale of political civilisation is measured on the basis of justice. It is realised through
political and social life or judicial administration
 The potential of justice studies can only be achieved if we are able to break from our particular
cultural background to take into account broader considerations that can affect the outcomes that
we want to change.
 The idea of justice can’t be captured by any single morality or standpoint but only emerges from
the interaction among contending perspectives.
 The social aspect of justice brings up questions of distributive justice — how resources and
opportunities are divided up among everyone in society. Unjust distributions may require
corrective measures, in other words, “redistributive justice.”.

DIMENSIONS OF JUSTICE

1. LEGAL JUSTICE
 Associated with legal system and procedure
 Related to the process of law making and judicial system.
 Law should be reasonable and get justice according to law
 Objective of law is wellbeing of whole community
 Law should be equal for equals and unequal for unequals
 Legal justice demad that everyone should have impartial justice.
 Law should:-
 1. Give equal protection
2. Simple and not costly
3. Reach of everyone even poor people
4. court should be independent bodies and impartial
5. judges should function without fear and favour.

2. POLITICAL
 denotes a moral principle whose object was the general good and which was
invoked to evolve a genuine system of property
 an ideal in which all members will communicate and iteratct with the
political body to assume its highest perfection
 refer to the reorientation of political institutions and political rights to reflect
interest of the people
 free and fair participation for people (universal adult franchise)
 focuses on:-
1. electing and holding public offices
2. free of expression and association
3. right to seek redressal

3. SOCIAL JUSTICE
 It is based on the belive that all humans are equal and no discrimation
on the basis of religion cste birth
 Social justice prevails in society if means and opportunities are there
for the development of everyone.
 Social justice associated with jocial justice and social equality and
social wellbeing
 Has 3 implications:-
1. Equal social opportunities
2. Special attention to weeker sections(st,sc)
3. Removal of social evils-(gender ,religious discrimination)

4. ECONOMIC JUSTICE

 Non discrimination between man and man

 Stands for adequate means of livelihood (eqal pay, equal work)
 Economic justice viewed from 2 angles:-

The liberals-satisfaction of economic needs if disparities of
economic nature are reduced
The Marxist-abolition of private property and capitalistic system of
production.

THEORIES OF JUSTICE
1. RAWLS THEORY OF JUSTICE
Justice is the first virtue of a good society.
• Justice is necessary but not a sufficient condition of good society.
• Calls his theory ‘ A Pure procedural justice’
• Rejects utilitarian principle of “greatest pleasure of greatest number” as sufferings of
distressed can’t be compensated by enhancing the pleasures of prosperous.
• Used the method of ‘social contract’ and ‘original position’ for individuals for
contracting under ‘veil of ignorance’ but having sense of justice to derive the just
procedures.
• Self interested individual but not egoist.
• People will support a procedure that guarantee the maximum benefits to ‘the least
advantaged position’.
Three principles of justice: •
1) Principle of equal liberty: equal right to most extensive liberty compatible to similar
liberty of others •
2) Principle of fair equality of opportunity •
3) Difference principle: any departure from equal distribution of primary goods can
be justified only when it bring the greatest benefit to the least advantaged.

CRITICISMS
– found the ground of justification of capitalist system.
– Freedom of accumulation of wealth will automatically benefit the poor.
-Sacrificed liberty for the sake of equality
– Rawls negotiators are not risk takers hence can’t help in social progress
– No space for women in his theory
– What if the negotiators will be women
– Any negotiation without knowing the socio-
economic conditions are meaningless.
APPROACHES TO STUDY
POLITICAL SCIENCE

PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH (T)

 conventional approach to study politics
 The oldest approach to the study of politics is philosophical.
 Philosophy "is the study or science of truths or principles underlying all knowledge and being."
 tries to explore the truth of political incidents or events. It discovers the objective of political
writings or the purpose of political writer.
 Van Dyke opined that "philosophy denotes thought about thought. Somewhat more broadly it
denotes general conceptions of ends and means, purposes and methods.
 purpose of philosophical approach is to explain the words and terms used by the political
theorists.
 Plato and Aristotle were the creators of this approach.
 hence is concerned with what 'should be' or 'ought to be'.
 Benefit of philosophical approach is that it enters into the depth of every aspect of political
phenomena and examines them without any partiality.
 Philosophical approach enhances linguistic clarity. That is why it is said that this approach aims
at thought about thought.
 This approach also tries to establish standards of good, right and just. Many critics observed that
this approach determines what is in the interest of the public and he identifies interest more with
ends that with means.
 the philosophical approach aids to comprehend the political ideologies of past centuries. In this
sense, the philosophical approach is very important for researchers and people.

CRITICISM➖

 critics have raised several problems about its wortH

 It is documented in literature that one of the central ideas of political philosophy is idealism and it
is conspicuous in Plato's The Republic. Critics argued that idealism itself is quite good but when
its practical application arises it appears to be a myth.
 As an academic discipline, philosophical approach is appropriate, but in practical guide for
action, it has barely any importance.
HISTORICAL APPROACH (T)
 approach states that political theory can be only understood when the historical factors are taken
into consideration
 Political theorists like Machiavelli, Sabine and Dunning believed that politics and history are
strongly inter-related, and therefore, the study of politics always should have a historical
viewpoint.
 History defines about the past as well as links it with the present events. Without studying the
past political events, institutions and political environment, the analysis of the present would
remain largely imperfect.
 history as a written or recorded subject and focuses on the past events.From the profiles,
autobiographies, descriptions by authors and journalists investigators know what event occurred
in the past.
 prominent that the events must have political revealing or they must be politically significant.
These events provide the best materials upon which theory and principles of political science are
built.
 History communicates researchers how government, political parties and many other institutions
worked, their successes and failures and from these, they receive lessons which guide them in
determining the future course of action.

EVALUATIONS

 historical approach to the study of politics has numerous challenges from several quarters.
 One of the main challenges is that history has two faces. One is documentation of facts which is
quite naive and the other is construal of facts and phenomena.
 Adequate care should be taken while evaluating evidence and facts and such a caution is not
always strictly followed and, as a result, the historical facts do not serve the purpose of those who
use it.(MAIN COMPLAINT)
 Alan Ball-debated that "past evidence does leave-alarming gaps, and political history is often
simply a record of great men and great events, rather than a comprehensive account of total
political activity.

INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH (T)

 strong belief that philosophy, history and law have bestowed to the study of politics and it is in
the field of institutional approaches.
 These approaches mainly deals with the formal aspects of government and politics.
 concerned with the study of the formal political structures like legislature, executive, and
judiciary.
 drawback of this approach was its narrow focus on formal structures and arrangements
 an institution can be described as 'any persistent system of activities in any pattern of group
behavior.
 institutions have shaped political behavior and social change.many authors have also taken an
institutionalist approach which treat institutions as independent variables.
 emphasizes on the formal structures and agencies of government
 earlier- on development and operation of agencies of govt
 as approach developed- list included political parties, constitutions, bureaucracies
 The approach has been critiqued for the disregard of the informal aspects of politics, such as,
individual norms, social beliefs, cultural values, groups’ attitudes, personality and the processes.
Institutional approach is also criticized for being too narrow
 ignores the role of individuals who constitute and operate the formal as well as informal
structures and substructures of a political system

LEGAL APPROACH
 approach considers the state as the central organization for the creation and enforcement of laws.
 this approach, the study of politics is mixed with legal processes and institutions. Theme of law
and justice are treated as not mere affairs of jurisprudence rather politics scientists look at state as
the maintainer of an effective and equitable system of law and order.
 This approach treats the state primarily as an organization for creation and enforcement of law
 supporters of this approach are Cicero, Bodin, Hobbes, John Austin, Dicey and Henry Maine
 system of Hobbes, the head of the state is highest legal authority and his command is law that
must be obeyed either to avoid punishment following its infraction or to keep the dreadful state of
nature away
 stands on assumptions that law prescribes action to be taken in given contingency and also
forbids the same in certain other situations. It also emphasizes the fact that where the citizens are
law abiding, the knowledge of the law offers an important basis for predictions relating to
political behaviour of people.

CRITICISM OF TRADITIONAL APPROACH

 unsuccessful to identify the role of the individuals who are important in moulding and
remoulding the shape and nature of politics.
 Singling out institutions and neglecting individuals cannot be pronounced as proper methods to
study politic
 traditional approach is mainly descriptive.POLITICS IS ALSO ANALYTICAL

MODERN APPROACHES
 These approaches are mainly concerned with scientific study of politics. The first innovation in
this regard comes with the advent of the behavioural revolution in Political Science.
 draw conclusions from empirical data
 goes beyond the study of political structures and its historical analysis.

POLITICAL ECONOMIC APPROACH

o In majority of the countries, public issues are economic issues and sometimes the only
actors are the personnel of the government such as the prime minister, president and other
ministers
o Possibly, Marx is the only philosopher who has vehemently argued the relationship
between the two important subjects of social science. The interest group approach to the
study of politics is popular in some liberal democratic countries and this conception is
related with economic approach.
SYSTEM APPROACH
o Ludwig Von Bertallanfy is considered as the earliest advocate of the general systems
theory. He utilized this theory for the study of Biology.
o decade of sixties, the systems theory became an important tool to evaluate and investigate
key factors in Political Science. Among political scientists, David Easton has been the
first to apply this theory to political analysis.
o This approach signified that a political system operates within the social environment.
o Different demands have different levels of support. Easton said that both 'demands' and
'supports' establish 'inputs.' The political system receives theses inputs from the
environment.
o After considering various factors, the government decides to take action on some of these
demands while others are not acted upon.
o through, the conversion process, the inputs are converted into 'outputs' by the decision
makers in the form of policies, decisions, rules, regulations and laws
o The 'outputs' flow back into the environment through a 'feedback' mechanism, giving rise
to fresh 'demands.' Accordingly, it is a recurring process.
o According to this theory, political behaviour is conceived as a system and the political
system is well- defined as "Authoritative allocation of values with threat or actual use of
deprivations to make them binding on all"

BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH
o An important consideration of Behaviouralism has been the study of political behaviour,
as an area of study within Political Science.
o concentrates is on the individual as voter, leader, revolutionary, party member and the
influences of the group or the political system on the individual's political behaviour.
o Behaviouralism stresses upon scientific, objective and value-free study of the political
occurrences as conditioned by the environment, firmly the behaviour of the individuals
involved in that phenomena
o focuses on the role of the behaviour of the individual at various levels and the scientific
analysis.
o behaviourism is narrow in its application. It refers to the response of an organism as
aroused by some stimulus. It does not consider role of the feelings, ideas, prejudices that
determine the response of that individual.

FEATURES

Advantages of behavioural approach are as follows:

o This approach attempts to make Political Science as a scientific method and brings it
closer to the day to day life of the individuals.
o Behaviouralism has bought human behaviour into the arena of Political Science and
thereby makes the study more relevant to the society.
o This approach helps in predicting future political events.
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL
o In this approach, the society is a single inter-related system where each part of the system
has a definite and distinct role to play. The structural-functional approach may be
considered as an offshoot of the system analysis.
o According to him, the main attributes of a political system are comprehensiveness, inter-
dependence and existence of boundaries.
o Like Easton, Almond also believes that all political systems perform input and output
functions
o input functions of political systems are political socialization and recruitment, interest-
articulation, interest-aggression and political communication
o These output functions are rule making, rule application and rule adjudication. Therefore,
Almond believes that a stable and efficient political system converts inputs into outputs

LIBERTY
 The term liberty is derived from the Latin word ‘liber’ which means free.
 The centre theme of liberty is the absence of all restraints and freedom to do whatever one likes.
But it is not possible to have such a liberty while living in society. Man is a social animal and he
is living in society. He must , therefore , adjust his liberty with due regarding to the liberty of
others

NATURE OF LIBERTY

 NEGATIVE LIBERTY
 In its negative aspect, liberty means an absence of unreasonable restraints: the maximum
possible freedom of the individual and the least amount of power to the state.
 POSITIVE LIBERTY
In its positive aspect, it means the presence of such opportunities as are essential to the
fullest development of one’s faculties.

KINDS OF LIBERTY

1. NATURAL
 Natural liberty is generally identified with unlimited and unrestricted freedom
 Natural liberty according to Hobbes, is the absolute right of man in the state of nature to
all things including the right to kill other man.
 The advocates of natural liberty hold that man is free by nature and that it is civilization,
which is responsible for his bondage
 ROUSSEAU says men lost his natural liberty with emerges of the state or civil society.

2. CIVIL
 Civil liberty is created by the civil rights guaranteed by the state.
 The more the rights the more the liberty
 It is manifested in concrete terms in rights such as the right of freedom, the right
of life, freedom of speech and expression, property, association, education etc.

3. POLITICAL
 Political liberties are based on the political rights of an individual and is the
freedom to participate in the political life and affairs of the state.
 Political liberty is essentially associated with democracy and it makes a state into
a democratic one.
 The two essential conditions necessary for the existence of political liberties are
education and free press.
 It consists of the right to vote, right to stand for election, right to hold public
office and the right to criticise the government.

4.ECONOMIC

 Economic liberty implies that the basic necessities of life should be assured to
everybody .
 It means absence of economic disparities , exploitation , insecurity, unemployment and
starvation

5.MORAL LIBERTYS

 Moral liberty implies the right of an individual to act according to his conscience .
 It means the freedom of an individual to act as rational being.
 It is given an opportunity to express and develop his personality.
 POSSIBLE IN DEMOCRACY BUT NOT IN TOTALITARIAN

6.NATIONAL LIBERTY

 National liberty implies the liberty of the nation or the country

 It exists where the nation or the community is independent and sovereign.
 It means that, a nation which is completely free from foreign domination.
 Every nation has a birthright to regulate its national life as it likes. If a nation is under
the control of others, no cultural, social, economic and political developments are
possible.
SAFEGUARDS OF LIBERTY

1. Establishment of Democracy.

Liberty can exists only in a democratic form of government. In a democratic government run by
the elected representatives of the people, government is accountable to and removable by the
people. In this system, political power really resides in the hands of the people.

2. Fundamental Rights :

Another prerequisite of liberty is that there should be a supreme law of the country , namely, the
constitution. It is the only constitution that confines the authority of the state. Constitution of
democratic countries like America and India , which should be incorporate certain fundamental
rights to the people, These rights protect the personal liberties of citizens from the state
interference. Thus constitution safeguards the liberty of the people and it is a custodian of those
liberties.

3. Independence of Judiciary:

The judges are the interpreters of the constitution and the courts are the custodians of the liberty
of the people. So liberty can be enjoyed if there is an independent judiciary. It is completely free
from the influence of legislature and executive. Only an impartial and independent judiciary can
safeguard the rights and liberties of the people.

4. Eternal vigilance:

Lord Bryce has aptly remarked, “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”. People should be
conscious of their rights and duties and they should be always ready to safeguard them . They
should always alert and ready to resist any irresponsible interference or encroachment on liberty
from the state.

5. Separation of powers:

Another condition of liberty is that there should be separation of powers. Separation of powers is
an effective safeguard for individual liberty. In the intersts of individual liberty , legislature,
executive and judiciary wings of the government should be vested separate and distinct organs,
each independent of the other.

6. Rule of Law:

Rule of law is an essential prerequisite of liberty. It means equality before law and equal
protection of law. Nobody is above law , law applies to everyone equally and violation of law
will be punished equally. It also means that no person can be deprived of his life , liberty and
property except in accordance with law . In the rule of law the government work must be done in
accordance with the procedure prescribed by law. Thus the rule of law is an effective instrument
of individual liberty.

Law and liberty

Liberty exists only in a ordered state.

The state frames laws and the sovereign state operates through these laws. Now it is universally
accepted that laws are the protectors of liberty and liberty ceases to existence independence of
law.

Law is actually the condition of liberty.

1. First of all law provides congenial atmosphere for the smooth running
civil life in society. Law punishes the criminal and defend the rights of the
individuals.
2. Secondly law guarantees the enjoyment of individual rights and duties
and protect them from hinders.
3. Thirdly, constitution is the custodian of liberty. Only the constitution that
confines the authority of the state and protects the fundamental rights of
the people.

SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

The most famous theory with regard to the origin of the state is the social contract theory. The
theory goes to tell that the stale came into existence out of a contract between the people and the
sovereign at some point of time.

According to this theory, there were two divisions in human history – one period is prior to the
establishment of the state called the “state of nature” and the other period is one subsequent to
the foundation of the state called the “civil society”. The state of nature was bereft of society,
government and political authority. There was no law to regulate the relations of the people in
the state of nature.
There were three exponents of this theory. They were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-
Jacques Rousseau who differed about the life in the slate of nature, reason for converting the
state of nature to civil society and the terms of the contract. They all, however, agreed that a
stage came in the history of man when the state of nature was exchanged with civil society to
lead a regulated life under a political authority.

The net result of this changeover was that the people gained security of life and property and
social security, but lost the natural liberty which they had been enjoying in the state of nature.
The crux of the social contract theory is that men create government for the purpose of securing
their pre-existing natural rights – that the right come first, that the government is created to
protect these rights. These ideas were based on the concepts of a state of nature, natural law and
natural rights.

According to John Locke, prior to the establishment of society, men lived in a “state of nature”.
Thomas Hobbes, an anti-democratic philosopher, emphasised, that in the state of nature there
was no government to make and enforce laws, men made war on each other and life was
“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”.

But Locke argued that even in a state of nature there was a law governing conduct-there was the
“natural law”, comprising universal unvarying principle of right and wrong and known to men
through the use of reason. Thus Locke would have us believe that if an Englishman was to meet
a Frenchman on an uninhabited and ungoverned island, he would not be free to deprive the
Frenchman of his life, liberty or property. Otherwise, he would violate the natural law and hence
was liable to punishment.

Thus according to Locke, the state of nature was not a lawless condition, but was an
inconvenient condition. Each man had to protect his own right and there was no agreed-upon
judge to settle disputes about the application of the natural law to particular controversies.
Realising this, men decided to make a “compact” with one another in which each would give to
the community the right to create a government equipped to enforce the natural law.

In this way, every man agreed to abide by the decisions made by the majority and to comply with
the laws enacted by the people’s representative, provided they did not encroach upon his
fundamental rights. In this way, the power of the ruler was curtailed.