Political Theory Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The differences are A and B.

In the USA, there is a strict separation of religion and state: neither may interfere in the affairs of the other (A). The Indian Constitution, by contrast, protects the rights of minorities, including their right to set up and run their own educational institutions (B), and the Indian state may intervene in religion, for example to abolish untouchability.

Statement C is false, because India does not maintain strict separation; it keeps a principled distance. Statement D is reversed: it is the Indian state that can bring in religious reform, not the American. Options containing C or D are therefore wrong.

Answer: D

The word is Inequality.

Inequality is the situation in which a person does not have the resources and opportunities that are available to other persons, whether because of caste, religion, gender, income or place of birth. The social studies textbooks use exactly this sense when they distinguish inequality from simple diversity.

Dispossession means being deprived of land or property one already had. Hierarchy is a graded ranking of people or groups, one above another, which may produce inequality but is not the same thing. Diversification means spreading into a variety of activities or products.

Answer: B

Marginalisation leads to A, B and C, so the answer is Only A, B and C.

To be marginalised is to be forced to the edges of society. Marginalised groups have a low social status, unequal access to education and other resources, and suffer deprivation, a sense of being denied what others have.

Statement D says the opposite: marginalisation denies people opportunities for social development; it does not give them ample opportunities. So the options containing D, including 'A, B, C and D', are wrong.

Answer: D

The answer is (A) is wrong, but (B) is correct.

Until the late eighteenth century, people in Europe did not see themselves as members of a nation in the modern sense. They thought of themselves as subjects of a ruler or members of a region or community, and states were dynastic empires such as the Habsburg empire, ruling many peoples. So (A) is wrong.

In the early nineteenth century, nationalism spread the idea that each linguistic or cultural community formed a separate nation and should have its own state, a consciousness that lay behind the unification of Germany and Italy. So (B) is correct, and the options treating (A) as correct are wrong.

Answer: C

The mechanism is regular elections.

In a democracy the government holds power only for a fixed term. It must face the voters again at regular intervals, and people can vote it out if it misuses its power or fails them. This periodic accountability is the basic limit that democracy places on the powers of government.

The other options can influence a government but do not institutionally limit its power in the same way. Pressure groups lobby on particular issues, a multi-party system provides choices, and people asserting their rights depends on the rights already being guaranteed. Without regular elections none of them could remove a government.

Answer: B

Such a situation is known as inequality.

Inequality means that some people lack the resources and opportunities that are available to others, for example because of their caste, religion, gender or economic status. A person who cannot afford schooling or health care that others have is facing inequality.

Diversity and difference refer to people being different in language, culture, religion or way of life, which is not in itself a lack of opportunity. 'Otherness' describes treating a group as outsiders; it can lead to unequal treatment, but it is not the name for the lack of resources and opportunities itself.

Answer: B

The one that is not discrimination is asking a boy not to cry as boys don't cry.

Discrimination is acting on prejudice to treat people unequally, denying them opportunities or access that others have. Stopping someone from living in a neighbourhood, preventing a group from using a common well, and refusing to let them drink from the same cups as others all deny people something on the basis of who they are.

Telling a boy not to cry reflects a gender stereotype, a fixed idea of how boys should behave. It shapes behaviour but does not deny the boy any right or resource, which is why the key treats it as the exception.

Answer: A

The action that would not help is mainstreamization.

Marginalised communities, such as Adivasis, are often pushed to the margins precisely because they are expected to give up their own language, customs and ways of life and fit into a dominant 'mainstream'. Forcing them to assimilate deepens their marginalisation by devaluing their identity.

The other three help. Protecting cultural diversity respects the community's identity. Social movements, such as Dalit and Adivasi movements, let marginalised groups assert their rights. Government policies, such as reservations and laws against discrimination and atrocities, give them protection and opportunity.

Answer: A

The advertisement that is not a stereotype is a girl playing football in an advertisement for a sports shoe.

A gender stereotype is a fixed idea of what men and women do or are like. Showing a girl playing football goes against the common belief that sport is for boys, so it challenges the stereotype rather than repeating it.

The other three repeat familiar stereotypes: a mother making tea shows housework as a woman's job; a woman doing makeup ties women to appearance; and a woman being dropped to office by her husband, in an advertisement for a car, shows the man as the driver and owner of the car.

Answer: D

A system with more than one level of government is Federal.

In a federation power is divided between a central government and the governments of the states or provinces, each with its own powers defined by the Constitution. India has a Union government and state governments, and since 1992 a third level, the panchayats and municipalities.

The other words describe different features. Secular means the state has no official religion. Liberal refers to a political outlook valuing individual freedom. Republican means the head of state is elected rather than hereditary. A unitary state can be secular, liberal and republican with only one level of government.