Class Notes 4 You

The concept of the state comprises of the core of the political thought in political science. The liberal theory, one of the earliest vies on state, postulated a mechanistic view of the state, post the Organic theory. Social Contract tradition proposed by exponents like Hobbes, Locke, etc formed the basis of liberal theory of state. Liberal theory of State • It developed in two main directions  a) individualism and b) utilitarianism. • John Locke and Adam Smith are the early exponents of individualism. On the other hand, utilitarianism stands for ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’ where the interest of the few may be sacrificed in the interest of majority, as proposed by Bentham and Mill. • As per Rousseau, a liberal state is an instrument for the protection of liberty. • Locke considers that a liberal state will bring peace and goodwill in the society under the social contract.  However, in the era of contemporary politics, the notion of liberal theory of state h...

The idea of democracy in political theory is considered to a contested one. One of such contestations is seen in the Elitist Theory of Democracy proposed by scholars like- Michels, Pareto, etc. in the twentieth century. They claimed that in every culture, a tiny group of elites govern over a particular political society.  This small clique of elites has complete control over all power and influence. Elitist theory is considered as the critique to the traditional republican theory of democracy postulated earlier by Mill, Macpherson, etc who defined rule of the people as representative form of democracy in true sense where the people was in ultimate control of their ruling class, as to be inherent unequal democratic rule, as suggested by scholars like Michels, Pareto, etc. Elitist Theory critique to rule of people: • At a broader level, the elitist theories hold that every society consists two categories of men: The elite or the minority within a social collectivity which exercises ...

The Age of Enlightenment in the world history pertaining to Europe brought various changes in the society. Relating to the time of French Revolution, we saw the emergence of idea of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity which changed the power-liberty-polity equations regarding the functioning of estates as well as their governing citizenry. This made the society saw interlining of concepts like Equality, Power, Liberty, which impacted the public as well as their ruling authority or estates. As per the Social Contract Theory, we saw the rise of state in link with the end of authoritarian natural law based societies. As a result, people came in contract with each other to pool their powers to a lot representative state devised with the responsibility of bringing equality and liberty in the society. Equality of estates leading to equality of power in this sense is understood as: • Decline of authoritarian state brought the democratic liberal principles like freedom of speech, right to vote, ...