SPPU Solved Question Papers
General Principles of Political Science
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1
Oct 2025 Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 General Principles of Political Science Oct 2025 Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 6 November 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Savitribai Phule Pune University set it at the Oct 2025 examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the Oct 2025 examination, reproduced as Savitribai Phule Pune University set them, in the order it set them. Nothing has been reworded, added or left out. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 70 · 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.
SECTION I
PART A
Answer any TWO · 30 Marks
Q1)Define State. Discuss the Social Contract Theories of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau of the Origin of the State.[15]
Answer
For full marks, cover: definitions of the State (Aristotle, Garner, the Montevideo Convention) and its four elements; the meaning of the social contract theory; Hobbes (state of nature as war, the covenant, the absolute sovereign); Locke (state of nature under natural law, the two stages, limited government, the right to resist); Rousseau (the general will, popular sovereignty); a comparison; criticism; the legacy; and a conclusion.
1. Definition of the State
There are almost as many definitions of the State as there are writers.
- Aristotle: the State is "the union of families and villages having for an end a perfect and self-sufficing life".
- Garner: the State is "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".
- Montevideo Convention (1933), Article 1: a State has a permanent population, a defined territory and a government. It must also have the capacity to enter into relations with other States.
So the State has four elements: population, territory, government and sovereignty.
2. The social contract theory
The social contract theory explains the origin of the State by an agreement among individuals. Before the State, people lived in a state of nature, without government. To escape its drawbacks, they agreed to form a political society and accept its authority. The theory makes consent, not force or divine will, the basis of political authority. Its three great writers are Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau.
3. Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan, 1651)
- State of nature. Men are equal and selfish. Competition, diffidence and glory lead to a war "of every man against every man". Life is "solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short".
- The covenant. To escape fear, each man agrees with every other to give up his right of governing himself to one man or assembly.
- The sovereign is not a party. So the sovereign cannot break the contract, and his power is absolute and indivisible.
- No right of resistance, except the right of self-preservation: obedience lasts as long as protection.
- Result: a justification of absolute sovereignty.
4. John Locke (Two Treatises of Government)
- State of nature. A state of freedom and equality, governed by the law of nature, which forbids harm to life, health, liberty or possessions.
- Property is a natural right, arising from labour, and exists before government.
- Three inconveniences: no settled law, no impartial judge, no power to enforce judgments.
- Two stages: a contract forming society, and then a trust placing power in a government. The government is a trustee, bound to protect life, liberty and property.
- Limited government. If the government breaks the trust, power returns to the people, who may set up a new government. "The people shall be judge".
- Result: the foundation of constitutional, limited government.
5. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract, 1762)
- The problem. "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains." Rousseau seeks a form of association in which each, uniting with all, still obeys only himself.
- The contract. Each gives himself wholly to the community: "in giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody".
- The general will. The community is directed by the general will, which aims at the common interest, unlike the "will of all", a sum of private wills.
- Popular sovereignty. Sovereignty belongs to the people. It is inalienable and indivisible, and cannot be represented.
- Government is only an agent to carry out the laws made by the people.
- Result: the theory of popular sovereignty and direct democracy.
6. The three compared
| Point | Hobbes | Locke | Rousseau |
|---|---|---|---|
| State of nature | War of all against all | Freedom under natural law | Free but unable to survive alone |
| Nature of man | Selfish, fearful | Rational, social | Good, corrupted by society |
| Contract | Each with each, to a sovereign outside it | Society, then a trust to government | Total surrender to the community |
| Sovereign | One man or assembly, absolute | Limited government; final power in the people | The people, through the general will |
| Right to resist | Only to save one's life | When the trust is broken | Not against the general will |
| Legacy | Absolutism | Constitutional government | Popular sovereignty |
7. Criticism
- Unhistorical. There is no evidence that any State began by a contract.
- Logically weak. A contract needs a law to enforce it, but law comes only with the State.
- The State is natural, not artificial. Aristotle held that man is by nature a political animal.
- Dangerous conclusions. Hobbes leads to tyranny; Rousseau's "forced to be free" can be misused.
8. Legacy
Despite its faults, the theory established that government rests on the consent of the governed. Locke's ideas shaped the American Declaration of Independence. Rousseau's popular sovereignty is reflected in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, which begins "We, the people of India".
Conclusion
Conclusion. The State is a community of people on a definite territory, organised under a government and possessing sovereignty. The social contract theorists explained its origin by an agreement of individuals. Hobbes used it to justify absolute sovereignty, Locke limited government held in trust, and Rousseau the sovereignty of the people. The theory is unhistorical, but its central idea, that political authority rests on consent, underlies modern democracy.
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