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

  • 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