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  • PYQs (GS & Optional)
  • Theories of the state: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial and feminist

    • Introduction to Theory of State | PSIR Optional for UPSC
      • “The Political ideology of Globalization is Neo-Liberalism.” Comment.
      • Examine the challenges to sovereignty of the State in the contemporary world.
      • Do you think that the modern nation-state has been declining in the wake of globalization? Justify your answer.
      • Comment: Impact of Globalization on State Sovereignty.
      • Discuss the philosophical basis of doctrine of popular sovereignty, and its significance for mankind.
    • Liberal Theory of State
      • "The legal subordination of one sex to another is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human development." (J. S. Mill). Comment.
      • J. S. Mill's ideas on women suffrage.
      • Examine the liberal theory of State in contemporary politics.
      • Comment: “The worth of a State .... is the worth of individuals composing it.” (J. S. Mill)
      • Comment: “The great and chief aim of men’s uniting, into a Commonwealth and putting themselves under Government is the preservation of property.” (Locke)
      • Comment: “THE GENERAL WILL” ....is not so much the will of the state as the will for the State, ....” (MacIver)
      • Comment: “The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection.” (J.S. Mill)
      • Do you agree with the view that liberal theories are based on ‘atomism’, whereas communitarians have a ‘social thesis’? Present your line of argument.
      • Comment: “The reason why men enter into civil society is the preservation of their property.” (Locke)
      • Comment: “Will, not force, is the basis of the state.” (T. H. Green)
      • Comment: “I give the name to every state that is governed by laws, no matter what the form of its administration.” (Rousseau)
      • Comment: “The great and chief end, therefore, of men uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of property; to which in the state of nature there are many things waiting.” (John Locke)
      • Discuss how early radical liberalism was modified by John Stuart Mill.
      • “Rousseau’s theory of Social Contract in Hobbes’s Leviathan with its head chopped off.” Discuss.
      • Comment: “Whoever therefore out of a State of Nature united into a Commonwealth must be understood to give up all the Power necessary to the Ends for which they united into Society, to the majority of the Community.” (Locke)
      • “It is hard indeed to turn the Lockean doctrine into any kind of unqualified democratic theory.” (Mcpherson) Discuss.
      • Comment: “No man can be deprived of his property without his consent.” (Locke)
      • Comment: “The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.” (J. S. Mill)
      • Comment: “The end of every man is continued success in obtaining those things which he, from time to time, desires.” (Hobbes)
      • Comment: “The worth of a state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.” (J. S. Mill)
      • Comment: “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain but to preserve and enlarge freedom.” (Locke)
      • Comment: “As soon as a nation appoints representatives, it is no longer free, it no longer exists.” (Rousseau)
      • Comment: “The end of obedience is protection.” (Thomas Hobbes)
      • Comment: ‘Reason teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty and possessions’ (Locke)
      • Locke's Social Contract
      • Comment: ‘The condition of human life, which requires labour and materials to work on, necessarily introduces private possessions.’ (John Locke)
    • Neoliberal Theory of State
      • Critically examine the neo-liberal theory of State.
      • Comment on Neo-liberal perspective of State
      • Factors like community, culture and nation weaken the hegemony of neo-liberalism today. Discuss.
    • Marxist Theory of State
      • What is the contemporary relevance of Marxism?
      • Discuss the relationship between base and superstructure in Marxist theory.
      • Discuss in what sense Marx’s understanding of state can be considered as materialistic.
      • Examine the conception of the State in the ideologies of Fascism and Marxism.
      • Comment: “State is the result of the irreconcilability of class antagonism”. (Lenin)
      • Comment: “The anatomy of this civil society, however, has to be sought in Political economy.” (Marx)
      • Critically examine Marxist theory of the state with reference to the dictatorship of the proletariat.
      • Critically examine the Marxian theory of social stratification.
      • Examine the main issues involved in the Church-State controversy. What were its consequences?
      • Comment: “The anatomy of civil society is to be sought in its political economy.” (Marx)
    • Pluralist Theory
      • Pluralist theory of State.
      • Comment: Pluralist theory of the State
      • Explain Berlin’s notion of value pluralism.
      • Comment: Robert Dahl’s concept of deformed polyarchy.
      • Comment: “Because the society is federal, the authority must also be federal.” (Laski)
      • Comment: “The discovery of Sovereign in a federal state is an impossible adventure.” (Laski)
      • Comment: “Society is federal, authority must be federal.” (Laski)
      • Comment: Polyarchy
      • Examine critically the pluralist arguments against the theory of sovereignty.
    • Post-Colonial Theory of State
      • "The post-colonial state was thought of an entity that stood outside and above society as an autonomous agency.” Explain.
      • Post-colonial theory of the state.
      • Make all assessment of the post-colonial understanding of State.
      • Critically examine Hamza Alavi’s formulation of the overdeveloped State.
    • Feminist Theory of State
      • Feminist critique of the State
      • Comment on Eco-feminism
      • Discuss Feminist theory of the State.
      • J. S. Mill's ideas on women suffrage.
  1. PYQs and Practice Questions
  2. UPSC Optionals
  3. PSIR Optional
  4. Theories of the state: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial and feminist
  5. Post-Colonial Theory of State

"The post-colonial state was thought of an entity that stood outside and above society as an autonomous agency.” Explain. (UPSC 2021, )

"उत्तर-औपनिवेशिक राज्य को एक ऐसी इकाई के रूप में माना जाता था जो एक स्वायत्त एजेंसी के रूप में समाज से बाहर और ऊपर खड़ी थी" व्याख्या करें।
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Introduction
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Post-colonial theory of the state. (UPSC 2020, )

राज्य के उत्तर-औपनिवेशिक सिद्धांत।
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Introduction
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Make all assessment of the post-colonial understanding of State. (UPSC 2011, 30 Marks, )

राज्य की उत्तर-औपनिवेशिक समझ का सभी मूल्यांकन करें।
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Introduction
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Critically examine Hamza Alavi’s formulation of the overdeveloped State. (UPSC 2009, 60 Marks, )

हमजा अलावी के अविकसित राज्य के निर्माण का समालोचनात्मक परीक्षण करें।
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Introduction
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