Democracy

1. Democracy

A. Classical Theories and Philosophical Foundations

1. Comment: “Obedience to mere impulse of appetite is slavery.” (Rousseau). (1993)
2. Comment: “Punishment should be preventive and corrective rather than retaliatory.” (Bentham). (1995)
3. Comment: “Laws are any necessary relations arising from the nature of a thing.” (Montesquieu). (1997)
4. Examine the nature and limits of the rights of Resistance and Revolution recognised in modern political theory. (1997)
5. Discuss the philosophical basis of doctrine of popular sovereignty, and its significance for mankind. (1997)

B. Democracy and the Nation-State

1. The modern pluralist democracies have posed a great threat to the fabric of nation state. Discuss. (2000)
2. ‘Political process in a country is merely the manifestation of its political culture’. Elucidate. (2007)

C. Polyarchy and Pluralism

1. Comment: Polyarchy. (2001)
2. Comment on the proposition that liberal constitutionalism precedes liberal democracy. (2009)
3. Comment Robert Dahl’s concept of deformed polyarchy. (2010)

D. Models of Democracy

1. Assess the deliberate theories of democracy. (2010)
2. Examine the ‘Participatory Model of Democracy’. (2011)
3. Explicate the features of deliberative democracy. (2014)
4. Comment in 150 words: Difference between Participatory and Deliberative Democracy. (2015)
5. Explicate the features of Representative Democracy. (2016)
6. Deliberative democracy does not have its salience without participation and participatory democracy does not have its credence without deliberations. Comment. (2017)
7. Comment: Deliberative democracy. (2019)
8. Representative democracy ……. means the people as a body must be able to control the general direction of government policy. (J. S. Mill). Comment. (2020)
9. “Free and fair deliberation is key to the foundation of democracy.” Explain. (2021)
10. Elitist theory of democracy denies the possibility of democracy as ‘rule of the people’. Elucidate. (2022)
11. Success of contemporary democracies lies in State limiting its own power. Comment. (2023)
12. Deliberative democracy seeks to promote democratic decision making about public issues among the citizens. Discuss. (2024)

E. Democracy in Indian/Contemporary Context

1. “Democratic theory presupposes self-determination, human rights and social justice.” Discuss this with particular reference to M.K. Gandhi. (2005)
2. Comment on issues of debate in contemporary democratic theory. (150 words). (2012)
3. Comment in 150 words: “India has thrown up a form of judicial democracy that has no parallel anywhere else, and has nurtured a kind of civil society that is uniquely its own.” (Bhikhu Parekh). (2014)
4. Comment in 150 words: Substantive Democracy. (2018)
5. Critically examine Macpherson’s views on Democracy. (2018)