KSLU Solved Question Papers
Political Science (Theory and Thought)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1
2018 Jun Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Political Science (Theory and Thought) 2018 Jun 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 2018 Jun examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2018 Jun examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2018 Jun 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 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 13 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" and explain its essential elements.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: six definitions grouped by what each stresses, and which is best; the four elements in depth: population (importance, size, character, membership), territory (importance, what it includes, India's territory), government (meaning, forms), sovereignty (internal and external); the elements in international law and the place of recognition; why each element is essential; the state compared with government, nation and society; and a conclusion.
Introduction
The state is the central subject of political science. Garner says "political science begins and ends with the state." Every person lives under a state, pays its taxes and obeys its laws. To understand what a state is, we first look at how writers define it, and then at the elements that every state must have.
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" is population; "a definite portion of territory" is territory; "an organized government" is government; and "independent of external control" with "habitual obedience" is sovereignty, external and internal. Aristotle's is the best statement of the state's purpose.
Element 1: Population
Why it matters. Bluntschli puts it simply: "As the State has its personal basis in the people, it has its material basis in the land." The state exists for its people, and the people supply its soldiers, officials, taxes and consent. Garner calls population "the first element which enters into the physical make-up of the state".
Size. Garner says "There is no rule or political practice governing the number of persons necessary to entitle a community to recognition as a state". The population "must be sufficient to provide both a governing body and a number of persons to be governed". Aristotle thought a state too large "is a nation and not a state, being almost incapable of constitutional government". His best limit was "the largest number which suffices for the purposes of life, and can be taken in at a single view." Bluntschli answered that "There is no normal number for the size of the population of a State".
Character, not only numbers. Aristotle made the lasting point. People "judge of the size of the city by the number of the inhabitants; whereas they ought to regard, not their number, but their power." Education, health, skills and a sense of common membership make a population a source of strength.
Membership. Garner notes that "all persons within the jurisdiction of the state are, of course, subjects of the state", while "Citizenship, however, is the normal relation". In India article 14 protects "any person", while article 19 protects citizens only.
Element 2: Territory
Why it matters. Bluntschli: "A people does not become a permanent State till it has acquired a territory." Garner: "There can be no such thing as a migratory state." Territory fixes where the state's law runs, and supplies its resources and security.
What it includes. Land, inland waters, the territorial sea and the airspace above. Under the Maritime Zones Act of 1976, India's sovereignty extends to its territorial waters. Their limit is "twelve nautical miles from the nearest point of the appropriate baseline".
India's territory. Article 1 declares that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States", and its territory includes "such other territories as may be acquired". Territory can also be given up. In In re Berubari Union and Exchange of Enclaves, AIR 1960 SC 845, the Supreme Court held that "two of the essential attributes of sovereignty are the power to acquire foreign territory as well as the power to cede national territory". A cession needs a constitutional amendment. The Constitution (One Hundredth Amendment) Act, 2015 gave effect to the exchange of territories with Bangladesh.
Element 3: Government
Meaning. A mass of people on a territory does not form a state "until they have organized themselves politically and established a civil government", in Garner's words. Government is the machinery of legislature, executive and judiciary through which the state's will is formed, expressed and carried out.
Forms. Government may be monarchical or republican, parliamentary or presidential, unitary or federal. The form may change; the state continues. Garner warns that government "is no more the state itself than the brain of an animal is itself the animal". In a democracy the people choose their government; in other forms they may not. But some government must exist, or there is no state at all.
Element 4: Sovereignty
Meaning. Sovereignty is the supreme power of the state. It is the element that separates a state from a province or a federal unit. A State of the Indian Union has people, territory and government, but it is not sovereign. In State of West Bengal v. Union of India, AIR 1963 SC 1241, the Court held that "it would not be correct to maintain that absolute sovereignty remains vested in the States".
Austin located it in "a determinate human superior, not in a habit of obedience to a like superior", who receives "habitual obedience from the bulk of a given society". Garner's phrase "habitual obedience" comes from this idea.
Two aspects. Internal sovereignty is supremacy over all persons and associations within the territory. External sovereignty is independence from outside control. Article 245(1) shows the first: Parliament "may make laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India". Membership of the United Nations on the basis of "sovereign equality" shows the second.
The elements in international law
The Montevideo Convention (1933), article 1, lists the same elements: "(a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other States." Recognition by other states is not an element. Under article 3 of the same Convention, the political existence of a state "is independent of recognition by the other States".
| Element | Meaning | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | A community of people | Garner: "the first element" |
| Territory | A definite area, permanently occupied | Bluntschli: no "migratory state" |
| Government | Political organisation | Garner |
| Sovereignty | Supreme within, independent without | Garner's definition |
Why each element is essential
Take away population and there is no one to govern. Take away territory and there is a wandering tribe. Take away government and there is a crowd, not a political society. Take away sovereignty and there is a province or a colony. Garner sums up: "Land and people, government and sovereign power, are thus the indispensable, eternal marks of the state."
The state compared
- State and government. Government is only one element of the state. Governments change; 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. India is one state of many languages and faiths.
- State and society. Society is the whole web of social relations; the state is society organised politically, with sovereign power.
Conclusion. In Garner's definition, the state is a community of persons permanently occupying a definite territory. It is independent of external control and has an organised government that the people habitually obey. Its four essential elements are population, territory, government and sovereignty. Each is needed, and together they are "the indispensable, eternal marks of the state". Recognition is not an element. In India, sovereignty belongs to the Union as a whole, not to its States.
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