KSLU Solved Question Papers
Political Science (Theory and Thought)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1
2014 Dec Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Political Science (Theory and Thought) 2014 Dec Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2014 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2014 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2014 Dec examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 2½ hours · Total marks 70 · 12 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1Define 'State'. Explain its elements.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: six definitions grouped by what each stresses (purpose, sovereignty, organisation, law, compulsion, elements); which definition is best and why; the four elements, each in a short paragraph with its source; the elements in international law; the state compared with government and nation; and a conclusion.
Why so many definitions
Garner warned, quoting Schulze, that definitions of the state are "innumerable, almost every author having his own". They differ because each writer stresses one side of the state. Grouped by what they stress, they show what the state is.
Definitions
- Purpose (Aristotle): the state is "the union of families and villages having for an end a perfect and self-sufficing life, by which we mean a happy and honourable life."
- Sovereignty (Bodin): "A Commonweale is a lawfull government of many families, and of that which unto them in common belongeth, with a puissant soveraigntie."
- Organisation (Bluntschli): "The state is the politically organized people of a definite territory."
- Law (Woodrow Wilson): "A State ... is a People organized for law within a definite territory."
- Compulsion (Holland). A state is "a numerous assemblage of human beings, generally occupying a certain territory". In it "the will of the majority, or of an ascertainable class of persons" is "made to prevail against any of their number who oppose it".
- All the elements (Garner): "a community of persons more or less numerous, permanently occupying a definite portion of territory, independent of external control and possessing an organized government to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience."
The best definition. Garner's is the most satisfactory for political science and law, because each phrase names one element: "a community of persons" (population), "a definite portion of territory" (territory), "an organized government" (government), and "independent of external control" with "habitual obedience" (sovereignty, external and internal). Aristotle's is the best statement of the state's purpose.
The elements of the state
Garner draws the elements from his definition and sums them up: "Land and people, government and sovereign power, are thus the indispensable, eternal marks of the state."
1. Population. The state is a community of people. Garner calls population "the first element which enters into the physical make-up of the state". There is no fixed number, but it must be enough to sustain political organisation.
2. Territory. The people must permanently occupy a definite area. Bluntschli says "A people does not become a permanent State till it has acquired a territory." Territory includes land, inland waters, the territorial sea and the airspace above.
3. Government. The people must be politically organised. Garner: a mass of people on a territory does not form a state "until they have organized themselves politically and established a civil government." The form of government may vary.
4. Sovereignty. The state must be supreme within and independent without. This is the element that separates a state from a province or a federal unit. Those may have people, territory and government, but they are not sovereign.
The elements in international law
Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention (1933) says: "The State as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other States." The fourth phrase is external sovereignty seen from outside.
Why each element is essential
The test is to take one element away. Without people, there is only empty land. Without territory, there is a wandering tribe. Without government, there is anarchy. Without sovereignty, there is a province or a colony, as India was before 1947. Only when all four are present together does a state exist. That is why India became a state in the full sense only with independence, though it had people, land and a government long before.
State, government and nation
- State and government. Government is only one element of the state, its machinery. Governments change after elections; the state continues.
- State and nation. A nation is a people bound by common culture, language or history. A state is a political and legal unit. A nation may exist without a state of its own, as many have in history. India is one state with many languages and faiths. Garner insists that "the state and the nation are rarely identical".
| State | Government | Nation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nature | Political and legal community | Machinery of the state | Cultural and emotional unity |
| Sovereignty | Yes | Exercises it on the state's behalf | Not necessarily |
| Permanence | Permanent | Changes | May exist without a state |
Conclusion. Writers define the state by its purpose, its sovereignty, its organisation, its law or its power to compel. Garner's definition gathers all of these into one sentence and names the four elements: population, territory, government and sovereignty. These are "the indispensable, eternal marks of the state". Government is only one of them, and a nation is a different thing again.
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