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Tag: UGC NET Political Science – Unit 2: Political Thought

  • UGC NET Political Science – Unit 2: Political Thought (75 MCQs)

    1. Confucius (Chinese Political Philosopher)

    1. The central virtue in Confucian philosophy is:
    A) Justice
    B) Ren (Humaneness)
    C) Li (Ritual)
    D) Yi (Righteousness)
    ✅ Answer: B
    📘 Ren means humaneness or benevolence — the foundation of moral order.

    2. According to Confucius, a ruler should rule by:
    A) Laws and punishments
    B) Force and fear
    C) Virtue and moral example
    D) Wealth and power
    ✅ Answer: C
    📘 Confucius believed in rule by virtue, not coercion.

    3. “Filial piety” in Confucianism means:
    A) Political equality
    B) Respect for parents and elders
    C) Obedience to the ruler
    D) Economic independence
    ✅ Answer: B
    📘 Family ethics form the foundation of social and political harmony.

    4. Confucius’ teachings are compiled in:
    A) The Republic
    B) The Leviathan
    C) The Analects
    D) The Prince
    ✅ Answer: C
    📘 The Analects is a collection of Confucius’ dialogues with his disciples.

    5. Confucius emphasized the importance of:
    A) Revolution
    B) Rituals and moral education
    C) Free market
    D) Centralized monarchy
    ✅ Answer: B
    📘 Moral education and ritual order ensure social harmony.

    🏛️ 2. Plato

    6. Plato’s ideal state is based on:
    A) Equality of income
    B) Division of labour and justice
    C) Military power
    D) Religious rule
    ✅ Answer: B
    📘 Justice arises when each class performs its own function.

    7. The philosopher-king represents:
    A) Wealth
    B) Wisdom
    C) Courage
    D) Force
    ✅ Answer: B
    📘 The philosopher-king is guided by reason and truth.

    8. According to Plato, justice means:
    A) Obedience to laws
    B) Doing one’s own work
    C) Equality among classes
    D) Distribution of wealth
    ✅ Answer: B
    📘 Justice = harmony when everyone does what they are best suited for.

    9. Plato’s education system aims at:
    A) Economic growth
    B) Moral and intellectual development
    C) Political competition
    D) Religious obedience
    ✅ Answer: B

    10. Plato’s theory of forms emphasizes:
    A) Knowledge of material things
    B) Knowledge of ideal forms or ideas
    C) Empirical observation
    D) Political authority
    ✅ Answer: B
    📘 True knowledge is of eternal, unchanging ideas.

    3. Aristotle

    11. Aristotle called man a:
    A) Moral being
    B) Political animal
    C) Rational consumer
    D) Social construct
    ✅ Answer: B

    12. According to Aristotle, the state exists:
    A) By force
    B) By nature
    C) By divine will
    D) By accident
    ✅ Answer: B
    📘 The state is a natural institution for achieving the good life.

    13. Aristotle’s ideal state aims at:
    A) Economic prosperity
    B) Happiness and moral virtue
    C) Military strength
    D) Religious uniformity
    ✅ Answer: B

    14. The best form of government, according to Aristotle, is:
    A) Democracy
    B) Monarchy
    C) Polity (mixed government)
    D) Tyranny
    ✅ Answer: C
    📘 A constitutional government combining democracy and aristocracy.

    15. Aristotle’s middle class theory highlights:
    A) Economic equality
    B) Stability through moderation
    C) Rule of elites
    D) Political apathy
    ✅ Answer: B
    📘 The middle class prevents extremes of wealth and poverty.

    4. Machiavelli

    16. Machiavelli separated politics from:
    A) Religion and ethics
    B) Power
    C) Law
    D) History
    ✅ Answer: A
    📘 Politics, for Machiavelli, is governed by realism, not morality.

    17. The Prince teaches rulers to:
    A) Rule morally
    B) Appear virtuous, even if not
    C) Reject power
    D) Avoid conflict
    ✅ Answer: B

    18. Virtù in Machiavelli’s thought means:
    A) Moral goodness
    B) Political skill and courage
    C) Religious devotion
    D) Economic power
    ✅ Answer: B

    19. Fortuna symbolizes:
    A) Luck and chance
    B) Justice
    C) Religion
    D) Knowledge
    ✅ Answer: A
    📘 A wise ruler can manage fortune through skill (virtù).

    20. Machiavelli is known as:
    A) Father of Idealism
    B) Father of Modern Political Science
    C) Father of Liberalism
    D) Father of Democracy
    ✅ Answer: B

    5. Thomas Hobbes

    21. Hobbes described life in the state of nature as:
    A) Peaceful
    B) Cooperative
    C) “Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”
    D) Harmonious
    ✅ Answer: C

    22. Hobbes’ Leviathan represents:
    A) The people
    B) The state or sovereign
    C) God
    D) Revolution
    ✅ Answer: B

    23. The basis of Hobbes’ social contract is:
    A) Fear of death and desire for security
    B) Moral obligation
    C) Natural equality
    D) Justice
    ✅ Answer: A

    24. Hobbes favored:
    A) Democracy
    B) Absolute monarchy
    C) Communism
    D) Anarchy
    ✅ Answer: B

    25. Hobbes’ theory is:
    A) Idealist
    B) Materialist
    C) Utopian
    D) Marxist
    ✅ Answer: B

    6. John Locke

    26. Locke’s state of nature was:
    A) War
    B) Peaceful and rational
    C) Violent
    D) Authoritarian
    ✅ Answer: B

    27. Locke believed in:
    A) Divine right of kings
    B) Inalienable natural rights
    C) Absolute sovereignty
    D) Slavery
    ✅ Answer: B

    28. Locke’s social contract created:
    A) Absolute monarchy
    B) Limited government
    C) Theocracy
    D) Oligarchy
    ✅ Answer: B

    29. Locke’s natural rights are:
    A) Life, liberty, property
    B) Equality, fraternity, liberty
    C) Power, property, prestige
    D) Justice, equality, order
    ✅ Answer: A

    30. Locke’s political theory inspired:
    A) French monarchy
    B) American Revolution
    C) Feudalism
    D) Fascism
    ✅ Answer: B

    7. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

    31. Rousseau believed man is born:
    A) Evil
    B) Free
    C) Competitive
    D) Religious
    ✅ Answer: B

    32. The “General Will” represents:
    A) Self-interest
    B) Common good
    C) Tyranny of majority
    D) Minority interest
    ✅ Answer: B

    33. Sovereignty in Rousseau’s theory lies in:
    A) Monarch
    B) People
    C) God
    D) Parliament
    ✅ Answer: B

    34. Rousseau advocated:
    A) Direct democracy
    B) Monarchy
    C) Technocracy
    D) Feudalism
    ✅ Answer: A

    35. Rousseau inspired:
    A) Industrial Revolution
    B) French Revolution
    C) American Civil War
    D) Cold War
    ✅ Answer: B

    8. G.W.F. Hegel

    36. Hegel’s dialectical method includes:
    A) Cause and effect
    B) Thesis–Antithesis–Synthesis
    C) Action–Reaction
    D) Law–Order
    ✅ Answer: B

    37. For Hegel, the state is:
    A) Contractual
    B) Ethical idea
    C) Economic institution
    D) Natural body
    ✅ Answer: B

    38. Freedom, for Hegel, is realized through:
    A) Isolation
    B) The state
    C) Family
    D) Religion
    ✅ Answer: B

    39. Hegel influenced:
    A) Mill
    B) Marx
    C) Hobbes
    D) Machiavelli
    ✅ Answer: B

    40. Hegel viewed history as:
    A) Circular
    B) Random
    C) Progressive realization of freedom
    D) Regression
    ✅ Answer: C

    9. Mary Wollstonecraft

    41. Mary Wollstonecraft’s main work:
    A) The Second Sex
    B) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
    C) The Subjection of Women
    D) The Feminine Mystique
    ✅ Answer: B

    42. She advocated:
    A) Women’s dependence
    B) Equal education for women
    C) Political exclusion
    D) Patriarchy
    ✅ Answer: B

    43. Wollstonecraft is associated with:
    A) Socialist feminism
    B) Liberal feminism
    C) Radical feminism
    D) Cultural feminism
    ✅ Answer: B

    44. She believed inequality comes from:
    A) Nature
    B) Lack of education
    C) Biology
    D) Capitalism
    ✅ Answer: B

    45. Wollstonecraft lived during the:
    A) French Revolution
    B) Industrial Revolution
    C) Cold War
    D) Renaissance
    ✅ Answer: A

    10. John Stuart Mill

    46. Mill’s On Liberty defends:
    A) Free trade
    B) Individual freedom limited by harm principle
    C) Absolute liberty
    D) Anarchy
    ✅ Answer: B

    47. Mill’s utilitarianism seeks:
    A) Greatest happiness of greatest number
    B) Individual perfection only
    C) Economic liberty
    D) Pleasure without limits
    ✅ Answer: A

    48. Mill supported:
    A) Women’s suffrage
    B) Slavery
    C) Dictatorship
    D) Censorship
    ✅ Answer: A

    49. Mill’s ideal government:
    A) Absolute monarchy
    B) Representative democracy
    C) Bureaucracy
    D) Theocracy
    ✅ Answer: B

    50. Mill combined:
    A) Liberty and authority
    B) Ethics and economy
    C) Freedom and equality
    D) Both A and C
    ✅ Answer: D

    11. Karl Marx

    51. Marx’s theory of history is known as:
    A) Historical Idealism
    B) Historical Materialism
    C) Historical Realism
    D) Economic Determinism
    ✅ Answer: B

    52. According to Marx, class struggle arises due to:
    A) Power
    B) Property ownership
    C) Culture
    D) Religion
    ✅ Answer: B

    53. Surplus value means:
    A) Extra profit from trade
    B) Unpaid labor appropriated by capitalists
    C) Bonus income
    D) State subsidy
    ✅ Answer: B

    54. Marx predicted a society that is:
    A) Stateless and classless
    B) Bureaucratic
    C) Democratic
    D) Religious
    ✅ Answer: A

    55. “Religion is the opium of the people” was said by:
    A) Lenin
    B) Marx
    C) Engels
    D) Stalin
    ✅ Answer: B

    12. Antonio Gramsci

    56. Gramsci’s key concept:
    A) Alienation
    B) Cultural hegemony
    C) Surplus value
    D) General will
    ✅ Answer: B

    57. “Organic intellectuals” belong to:
    A) Ruling class
    B) Working class
    C) Military class
    D) Elite class
    ✅ Answer: B

    58. Gramsci viewed civil society as:
    A) Site of class conflict and consent
    B) State institution
    C) Neutral space
    D) Religious institution
    ✅ Answer: A

    59. His ideas are found in:
    A) The Communist Manifesto
    B) Prison Notebooks
    C) Das Kapital
    D) The Prince
    ✅ Answer: B

    60. Gramsci broadened Marxism to include:
    A) Culture and ideology
    B) Biology
    C) Race
    D) Technology
    ✅ Answer: A

    🕊️ 13. Hannah Arendt

    61. Arendt’s major work:
    A) The Human Condition
    B) On Contradiction
    C) A Theory of Justice
    D) The Leviathan
    ✅ Answer: A

    62. She analyzed:
    A) Colonialism
    B) Totalitarianism
    C) Feminism
    D) Capitalism
    ✅ Answer: B

    63. Arendt’s “public sphere” is a space for:
    A) Private life
    B) Political action and freedom
    C) Economic production
    D) Religious debate
    ✅ Answer: B

    64. “Banality of evil” refers to:
    A) Organized crime
    B) Ordinary obedience to authority leading to evil
    C) Natural sinfulness
    D) Political corruption
    ✅ Answer: B

    65. Freedom, for Arendt, means:
    A) Absence of restraint
    B) Political participation and action
    C) Economic wealth
    D) Obedience
    ✅ Answer: B

    14. Frantz Fanon

    66. Fanon is best known for:
    A) Liberalism
    B) Anti-colonial thought
    C) Feminism
    D) Conservatism
    ✅ Answer: B

    67. The Wretched of the Earth argues for:
    A) Violent decolonization
    B) Peaceful reform
    C) Westernization
    D) Religious revival
    ✅ Answer: A

    68. Fanon analyzed colonialism as:
    A) Political oppression only
    B) Psychological and cultural domination
    C) Economic development
    D) Moral mission
    ✅ Answer: B

    69. Fanon was influenced by:
    A) Marxism and Existentialism
    B) Liberalism
    C) Conservatism
    D) Realism
    ✅ Answer: A

    70. His works inspired:
    A) Feminist movements
    B) National liberation struggles
    C) European integration
    D) Monarchy
    ✅ Answer: B

    🌾 15. Mao Zedong

    71. Mao adapted Marxism to:
    A) Peasant-based society
    B) Industrial working class
    C) Feudal Europe
    D) Urban elites
    ✅ Answer: A

    72. “Mass line” means:
    A) Party control over people
    B) Leaders learn from and serve the masses
    C) Military rule
    D) State propaganda
    ✅ Answer: B

    73. Mao emphasized:
    A) Continuous revolution
    B) Bureaucracy
    C) Democracy
    D) Capitalism
    ✅ Answer: A

    74. His essay On Contradiction deals with:
    A) Class unity
    B) Dialectical struggle within society
    C) Religious harmony
    D) Political peace
    ✅ Answer: B

    75. Mao believed revolution should be:
    A) Urban and elite-driven
    B) Rural and people-led
    C) Peaceful
    D) Technocratic
    ✅ Answer: B

  • UGC NET Political Science – Unit 2: Political Thought

    Political thought refers to the systematic reflection on political ideas, institutions, and values that shape human society.
    It includes the study of thinkers who have developed ideas about state, power, justice, liberty, equality, and revolution.

    1. Confucius (551 – 479 BCE) – Chinese Political Philosopher

    🔹 Context:

    • Ancient China; founder of Confucianism.

    • His philosophy focused on moral order, good governance, and social harmony.

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Moral Foundation of Politics:
      Rulers must be virtuous; moral leadership ensures stability.

    2. Virtue (Ren):
      Humanity, kindness, benevolence – the core of good governance.

    3. Ritual (Li):
      Proper behavior and customs maintain social order.

    4. Ideal Ruler – “Junzi” (Superior Man):
      Rules by moral example, not by force.

    5. Family as the Model for State:
      Filial piety (respect for parents) extends to political obedience.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Early advocate of ethical leadership and merit-based governance.

    • Inspired East Asian political and civil service systems.

    2. Plato (427 – 347 BCE) – Greek Idealist Philosopher

    🔹 Major Work: The Republic, The Statesman, The Laws

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Theory of Justice:
      Justice = everyone performing their assigned function.

      • Rulers → Wisdom

      • Soldiers → Courage

      • Producers → Temperance

      • Justice = Harmony among classes.

    2. Theory of Forms (Ideas):
      Real knowledge is of eternal ideas, not material objects.
      The philosopher-king understands these forms.

    3. Ideal State:

      • Based on reason, spirit, and appetite.

      • Governed by Philosopher-Kings, the wisest and most virtuous.

    4. Education:
      Essential for producing rational and moral citizens.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Pioneer of normative political theory.

    • Advocated rule by wisdom and merit, not wealth or birth.

    3. Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE) – Realist and Empiricist Thinker

    🔹 Major Work: Politics, Nicomachean Ethics

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Man as a Political Animal:
      Humans realize their potential only in the polis (community).

    2. State as Natural:
      The state exists by nature and aims at the highest good.

    3. Classification of Governments:

      • Monarchy (Rule by one for common good) → can degenerate to Tyranny

      • Aristocracy (Rule by few) → can degenerate to Oligarchy

      • Polity (Rule by many) → can degenerate to Democracy

    4. Middle Class Theory:
      Stability comes from a strong middle class.

    5. Constitutionalism:
      Rule of law and mixed government as ideal.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Father of Political Science (empirical and comparative).

    • Foundation of constitutional democracy and rule of law.

    4. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) – Founder of Modern Political Thought

    🔹 Major Works: The Prince, Discourses on Livy

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Politics as Autonomous:
      Separated politics from ethics and religion.

    2. Ends Justify Means:
      A ruler may use deceit, cruelty, or manipulation if it ensures stability and power.

    3. Virtù and Fortuna:

      • Virtù = Political skill, courage, intelligence.

      • Fortuna = Fortune or luck.
        A wise ruler balances both.

    4. Republicanism:
      In Discourses, Machiavelli favored republican government based on civic virtue.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Father of modern secular realism.

    • Emphasized statecraft, power, and political survival.

    5. Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) – Founder of Social Contract Theory

    🔹 Major Work: Leviathan (1651)

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. State of Nature:
      Life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
      Humans driven by fear and self-preservation.

    2. Social Contract:
      Individuals surrender all rights to a sovereign for protection.

    3. Absolute Sovereignty:
      Strong, undivided power necessary for peace.

    4. Materialism:
      Society and state are human constructs, not divine.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Justified absolute authority but also introduced rational basis of state.

    6. John Locke (1632 – 1704) – Liberal Contractualist

    🔹 Major Works: Two Treatises of Government

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. State of Nature:
      Peaceful, guided by reason and natural law.

    2. Natural Rights:
      Life, liberty, and property are inalienable.

    3. Social Contract:
      Government protects natural rights; people can resist tyranny.

    4. Limited Government:
      Power based on consent of governed.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Father of liberalism.

    • Foundation for constitutional democracy and rule of law.

    7. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778) – Champion of Popular Sovereignty

    🔹 Major Work: The Social Contract

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.
      Society corrupts natural freedom.

    2. General Will:
      Collective will of the people aimed at common good.

    3. Popular Sovereignty:
      Sovereignty lies with the people, not rulers.

    4. Direct Democracy:
      Citizens directly make laws.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Inspiration for French Revolution and modern democracy.

    • Advocated participatory politics.

    8. G.W.F. Hegel (1770 – 1831) – Idealist Philosopher

    🔹 Major Works: Philosophy of Right, Phenomenology of Spirit

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Dialectical Method:
      History progresses through thesis → antithesis → synthesis.

    2. State as Ethical Spirit:
      State is the embodiment of moral and rational life.

    3. Freedom through the State:
      True freedom realized in obedience to rational laws.

    4. Historical Development:
      History as realization of human freedom.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Influenced Marx’s dialectical materialism.

    • Gave foundation for modern idealist political theory.

    9. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 – 1797) – Pioneer of Feminist Thought

    🔹 Major Work: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Equality of Sexes:
      Women possess same reasoning abilities as men.

    2. Education:
      Equal education essential for equality and citizenship.

    3. Critique of Patriarchy:
      Opposed gender-based discrimination and dependence.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • First modern feminist.

    • Laid foundation for liberal feminism.

    10. John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873) – Liberal and Utilitarian Philosopher

    🔹 Major Works: On Liberty, Utilitarianism, The Subjection of Women

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Liberty:
      Freedom of thought, expression, and action (limited by harm principle).

    2. Representative Government:
      Democracy best serves human development.

    3. Utilitarianism:
      “Greatest happiness of the greatest number.”

    4. Gender Equality:
      Advocated women’s rights and political participation.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Father of modern liberal democracy and rights-based politics.

    11. Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) – Founder of Scientific Socialism

    🔹 Major Works: Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Historical Materialism:
      Economic structure (base) determines political superstructure.

    2. Class Struggle:
      History is conflict between classes (bourgeoisie vs proletariat).

    3. Surplus Value:
      Exploitation of workers through unpaid labor.

    4. Revolution and Communism:
      Workers’ revolution → classless, stateless society.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Foundation of Marxism and socialist movements worldwide.

    12. Antonio Gramsci (1891 – 1937) – Neo-Marxist Thinker

    🔹 Major Work: Prison Notebooks

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Cultural Hegemony:
      Ruling class maintains dominance through ideas and culture, not just force.

    2. Civil Society:
      Key site for contesting power (education, religion, media).

    3. Organic Intellectuals:
      Leaders emerging from working class to challenge ruling ideology.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Extended Marxism to culture and ideology.

    • Basis for critical theory and cultural studies.

    13. Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975) – Political Philosopher of Action

    🔹 Major Works: The Human Condition, The Origins of Totalitarianism

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Totalitarianism:
      Dangers of mass conformity and destruction of individuality.

    2. Public Sphere:
      Politics as space of action, speech, and plurality.

    3. Freedom and Action:
      True freedom = participation in public life.

    4. Evil as Banality:
      Ordinary individuals can commit evil by following orders unthinkingly.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Reinvented republican and participatory ideals of politics.

    14. Frantz Fanon (1925 – 1961) – Anti-Colonial Revolutionary Thinker

    🔹 Major Works: The Wretched of the Earth, Black Skin, White Masks

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Colonialism and Violence:
      Colonization dehumanizes the oppressed; liberation requires revolutionary violence.

    2. Psychological Oppression:
      Colonialism damages the colonized psyche and identity.

    3. National Culture:
      Post-colonial identity rooted in indigenous culture and struggle.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Key figure in postcolonial theory and liberation movements.

    15. Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976) – Marxist Revolutionary Leader of China

    🔹 Major Works: On Contradiction, On Practice

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Sinification of Marxism:
      Adapted Marxism to Chinese conditions (peasants as revolutionary class).

    2. Mass Line Theory:
      “From the masses, to the masses” – leadership must reflect people’s needs.

    3. Continuous Revolution:
      Prevent bureaucratization by ongoing revolutionary struggle.

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Created Maoism, blending Marxism with rural revolution and nationalism.

    16. John Rawls (1921 – 2002) – Liberal Egalitarian Philosopher

    🔹 Major Works: A Theory of Justice, Political Liberalism

    🔹 Key Ideas:

    1. Justice as Fairness:
      Fair distribution under conditions of equality.

    2. Original Position & Veil of Ignorance:
      Rational individuals design just principles without knowing their social position.

    3. Two Principles of Justice:

      • Equal basic liberties for all.

      • Inequalities allowed only if they benefit the least advantaged (Difference Principle).

    🔹 Relevance:

    • Most influential 20th-century liberal thinker.

    • Foundation for welfare state and social justice theory.

    Summary Chart

    Thinker Core Idea Major Work Key Concept
    Confucius Moral rule & harmony Analects Virtue (Ren), Li
    Plato Ideal State Republic Philosopher King
    Aristotle Empirical politics Politics Man as political animal
    Machiavelli Power & Realism The Prince Virtù and Fortuna
    Hobbes Security & Order Leviathan Social Contract
    Locke Natural Rights Two Treatises Life, Liberty, Property
    Rousseau

    Popular Sovereignty

    		 Social Contract General Will
    Hegel

    Idealism & State

    		 Philosophy of Right Dialectic
    Wollstonecraft Gender Equality Rights of Woman Education & Rights
    Mill

    Liberty & Utilitarianism

    		 On Liberty Harm Principle
    Marx Class Struggle Das Kapital Historical Materialism
    Gramsci

    Cultural Hegemony

    		 Prison Notebooks Civil Society
    Arendt

    Active Citizenship

    		 Human Condition Public Action
    Fanon

    Anti-colonialism

    		 Wretched of the Earth Liberation Violence
    Mao

    Peasant Revolution

    		 On Contradiction Mass Line
    Rawls Justice as Fairness Theory of Justice Veil of Ignorance