KSLU Solved Question Papers
Political Science (Major World Governments)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 3
2026 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 3 Political Science (Major World Governments) 2026 Jan 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 2026 Jan examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2026 Jan examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2026 Jan 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.
Q1Explain the selection, powers and functions of the British Prime Minister.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: how the office grew by convention; the formal appointment by the Sovereign and the real choice by the House of Commons and the party; selection after an election, in a hung Parliament and in mid-term; the powers over ministers and the Cabinet; the powers in Parliament, over the prerogative and over appointments; the Prime Minister as leader of the party and of the nation; the checks on the office, with Miller (No. 2); a conclusion.
Introduction: an office made by convention
The Prime Minister is the head of the British Government. Yet no single statute creates the office or lists its powers. It grew by convention, meaning a settled practice that is obeyed although no court enforces it. Sir Robert Walpole, from 1721, is usually counted as the first Prime Minister.
The Cabinet Manual (2011), the Government's own guide to its practices, sums up the modern position. The Prime Minister "is head of the Government by virtue of his or her ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons". The Manual adds that the Prime Minister has "few statutory functions". Almost every power of the office therefore comes from convention and from the Royal Prerogative, the old powers of the Crown that ministers now exercise.
Selection: the formal rule and the real rule
The formal rule. The Sovereign appoints the Prime Minister under the prerogative. The appointment takes effect at a private audience with the King or Queen. No vote of Parliament is needed to complete it.
The real rule. The Sovereign has almost no personal choice. By convention the Sovereign must appoint the person who can command the confidence of the House of Commons. The Cabinet Manual (para 3.1) says the Prime Minister "will normally be the accepted leader of a political party that commands the majority of the House of Commons". By modern convention the Prime Minister also "always sits in the House of Commons". So the real choice is made in two places: by the voters, who choose the House, and by the party, which chooses its leader.
Selection in three situations
1. After a general election with a clear winner. If the governing party keeps its majority, the Prime Minister simply continues. If another party wins a majority, the Prime Minister resigns at once. The Sovereign then invites the leader of the winning party to form a government. This happened on 5 July 2024, when Keir Starmer became Prime Minister the day after Labour won the election.
2. In a hung Parliament. Sometimes no party wins an overall majority. Then the sitting Prime Minister stays in office until he or she resigns. The parties negotiate, and whoever can show the support of the Commons is appointed. After the election of 6 May 2010, Gordon Brown resigned on 11 May. David Cameron then formed a coalition of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
3. A change in mid-term. A Prime Minister may resign while the party still holds a majority. The Cabinet Manual (para 2.18) says it is then "for the party or parties in government to identify who can be chosen as the successor". The party's leadership election decides, and no general election is held. Three Prime Ministers came this way in 2022 and 2026:
- Liz Truss on 6 September 2022, after Boris Johnson was forced out by his own party.
- Rishi Sunak on 25 October 2022, after Truss resigned on 20 October.
- Andy Burnham on 20 July 2026, after Keir Starmer stepped down and Labour elected Burnham as its leader.
These cases show the real source of the office. A Prime Minister is selected by the party that controls the Commons, and the Sovereign formally confirms that choice.
Powers and functions over the Government
1. Forming the Government. The Prime Minister recommends to the Sovereign the appointment of every other minister. He or she can also move, demote or dismiss them. The Ministerial Code, quoted in the Cabinet Manual (para 3.3), says "the Prime Minister is responsible for the overall organisation of the Executive and the allocation of functions between Ministers in charge of departments." A Prime Minister can therefore create, merge or abolish government departments.
2. Chairing the Cabinet. The Cabinet is "the ultimate decision-making body of government" (Cabinet Manual, para 4.1). The Prime Minister chairs it, controls its agenda and sums up its decisions. He or she also decides which Cabinet committees exist and who sits on them. Many decisions are in practice taken in these committees or in the Prime Minister's own office.
3. Holding the Cabinet together. Ministers must follow collective responsibility. This means they argue in private but defend every decision in public, or resign. The Prime Minister enforces this rule. John Morley called the Prime Minister "the keystone of the Cabinet arch", as Marriott records. The keystone holds the arch together, and the arch in turn holds the keystone in place.
4. Running the Civil Service and national security. The Prime Minister is, by tradition, First Lord of the Treasury. He or she has also been Minister for the Civil Service since that office was created in 1968. The Prime Minister is responsible for national security and for the intelligence agencies taken together (Cabinet Manual, para 3.6).
Powers and functions in Parliament and over the Crown's powers
5. Leading in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister is the leader of the majority in the Commons. He or she sets the direction of the Government's legislative programme. Every week the Prime Minister answers Prime Minister's Questions, the most closely watched exchange in Parliament.
6. Advising the Sovereign. The Prime Minister meets the Sovereign regularly and keeps him or her informed of government business (Cabinet Manual, para 3.5). It is for the Prime Minister to advise on the prerogative powers. The most important is the power to dissolve Parliament and call an election. The Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 revived this prerogative (s.2), after the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 had removed it. Section 3 of the 2022 Act stops the courts from questioning its use. A Parliament still ends automatically five years after it first met (s.4).
7. Patronage, meaning the power to appoint. The Prime Minister recommends many appointments to the Sovereign. These include senior Church of England clergy, senior judges and certain civil posts, and members of public boards and commissions (Cabinet Manual, para 3.5). The Prime Minister also recommends most new life peerages, which shapes the House of Lords.
Leader of the party and of the nation
8. Party leader. The Prime Minister leads the party in the country and at elections. Voters often choose between the leaders as much as between the parties. This gives the office a personal mandate that the law does not mention.
9. Leader in foreign affairs and crises. Treaty-making, foreign relations and the deployment of the armed forces are prerogative powers. Ministers exercise them under the Prime Minister's direction. The Prime Minister represents the country at summits and leads it in emergencies.
Taken together, these powers led Bagehot to describe the Cabinet as "a hyphen which joins, a buckle which fastens, the legislative part of the State to the executive part of the State". The Prime Minister holds that buckle. With a large majority, the office can be more powerful than that of an American President, who cannot count on Congress to pass his programme.
Checks on the Prime Minister
The office is strong but not unlimited. Five checks operate.
- The House of Commons. A Government that loses a vote of confidence must resign or call an election. James Callaghan's Labour Government lost such a vote on 28 March 1979 by one vote, 311 to 310. An election followed.
- The party. The party that made the Prime Minister can remove him or her. Margaret Thatcher resigned in November 1990 when she could not win the party leadership ballot outright. Boris Johnson was forced out in 2022 by his own MPs and ministers.
- The Cabinet. Senior colleagues can refuse to serve, and mass resignations can end a premiership.
- The courts. The prerogative is subject to law. In R (Miller) v. The Prime Minister, [2019] UKSC 41, the Prime Minister advised the Queen to prorogue (suspend) Parliament for five weeks, from September to 14 October 2019. Eleven Justices held the advice unlawful. A prorogation is unlawful if it frustrates, "without reasonable justification", Parliament's ability to make law and scrutinise the executive. The Court found no reason given at all. The advice and the prorogation were "unlawful, null and of no effect".
- The Sovereign's rights. Bagehot said the Sovereign keeps "three rights", namely "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn". The Prime Minister must listen, though the final decision is the Prime Minister's.
Earlier, in R (Miller) v. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, [2017] UKSC 5, the Supreme Court held that ministers could not start withdrawal from the European Union without an Act of Parliament. Both cases show that the Prime Minister acts under the law and under Parliament.
Conclusion. The British Prime Minister is selected by convention, not by statute. The Sovereign appoints, but must choose the person who commands the confidence of the House of Commons, usually the leader of the majority party. Mid-term changes, from Truss and Sunak in 2022 to Burnham in July 2026, prove that the party, not the Sovereign, makes the real choice. Once in office the Prime Minister forms and controls the Government, chairs the Cabinet, leads the Commons and advises on the Crown's powers. The office's strength depends on keeping the support of the party and the House. Miller (No. 2) adds that its powers remain subject to law.
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