Indian Polity
Module I
QUESTIONS
25
20
15
10
5
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
QUESTIONS
IMPORTANCE IN PRELIMS
MARKS
200
150
100
50
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
MARKS
IMPORTANCE IN MAINS
Introduction
• Constitution.
• Laws passed by the Legislature.
• Judicial Verdicts.
Booklist
• Political Theory Class XI
• Indian Constitution at Work
Class XI
Constitution
• The vast majority of contemporary constitutions describe the
basic principles of the state, the structures and processes of
government and the fundamental rights of citizens in a higher
law that cannot be unilaterally changed by an ordinary
legislative act. This higher law is usually referred to as a
constitution.
Unitary vs Federal
Theory of Separation of
Powers
Montesquieu
• The term "tripartite system" is commonly ascribed to French
Enlightenment political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu,
although he did not use such a term but referred to
"distribution" of powers.
• In The Spirit of the Laws (1748),Montesquieu described the various
forms of distribution of political power among a legislature,
an executive, and a judiciary.
• Montesquieu's approach was to present and defend a form of
government whose powers were not excessively centralized in a
single monarch or similar ruler (a form known then as
"aristocracy").
• James Madison: “Concentration of powers is tyranny.”
• “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and
judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many,
and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly
be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
Doctrine of Checks &
Balances
Constitutionalism
Basics
• Constitutionalism is the idea, often associated with the
political theories of John Locke and the founders of the
American republic, that government can and should be
legally limited in its powers, and that its authority or
legitimacy depends on its observing these limitations.
• Separation of Powers.
• Popular Sovereignty.
• Rule of Law.
• Independent Judiciary.
• Individual Rights.