This document discusses several key concepts in political science, including: 1. The definitions and relationship between political science, philosophy, and politics. Political science studies political institutions and power, while political philosophy deals more with ideals. 2. Theories of the origin of the state, including the divine right of kings theory and the theory of force, which argues states originated from conquest and subjugation. 3. Forms of government like parliamentary and presidential systems, and their merits and demerits. Parliamentary systems link the executive and legislature while presidential systems separate them. 4. The concept of sovereignty and its attributes like absoluteness, indivisibility, and permanence. Sovereignty

1. POLITICAL SCIENCE CONCEPTS

2. 1. POLITICAL SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND
POLITICS
 Political Science: Defined in two different but interrelated ways:
I. Study of political institutions, the State or government
II. study of phenomenon of power or force in human society
 Politics: Politics has various meaning: an activity, an event, a process or a conflict or
struggle among group of people, an occupation or public career, a systematic study and a
theory or philosophy of the political activities, struggle or conflicts.
 Political Science and Political Philosophy: PS is offshoot of PP, grown in end of 19th century;
political thinkers of past: Aristotle to Iqbal were more philosophers than scientists;
 they thought of ideal state and to make political activity a moral activity; PP deals with
political thoughts, ideas, ideologies and principles of political obligation (why men should
obey political authority) and about the nature of terms such as justice, freedom and
equality. PS deals with the facts of political activities and behavior, political relations and
institutions.
 PS is concerned with the question of power, how it is organized, it functions and behaves
with regards to those who are subject to it.

3. 2. SOVEREIGNTY
 General Concept: state is a politically organized society of individuals, associations and
organizations. In order to preserve peace and unity, the State regulates activities, interests and
relations by means of laws, customs and authority. Sovereignty means supremacy of the will of
the State, as expressed by its laws, over all individuals and associations within its boundaries
 Attributes of Sovereignty:
1. Absoluteness: absolutely supreme; sovereignty cannot be restricted
2. Indivisibility: sovereignty cannot be divided; to divide is to destroy- John C. Calhoun
3. All-comprehensiveness or Universality: it means that it extends to or comprehends all persons and
associations within its territories. No one is exempt from obeying the laws of the State or commands of
the sovereign.
4. Permanence: sovereignty of the state continues to exist as long as the State exist
5. Exclusiveness: only one sovereign power exist in the State; Persian proverb: there cannot be two kings in
a kingdom; a state within a state; when two persons ride a horse, one must sit in front and hold the
reigns; it is said that ten beggars can live in a blanket, but two kings cannot live in a kingdom.
6. Imprescriptibly: sovereignty is not lose if not exercised; private law=principle of prescription;

4. 3. PARLIAMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT
 Nature: legislative and executive closely connected; Garner says, “inextricably mingled”; has two
executives: nominal or titular and a real executive; called a responsible government; cabinet
responsible to parliament; indirect elections
 Merits:
1. It secures harmony btw the executive and legislature
2. It ensures responsibility and checks autocracy
3. It has flexibility and elasticity in times of crisis: Bagehot said: “choose a ruler for the occasion”; WW1 Lloyd
George and WW2 Churchill
4. It is governed by the able men
5. It has a great educative value
 Defects:
1. It causes too frequent ministerial changes and leads to instability of governments
2. It is too largely a system of party government
3. It leads to cabinet dictatorship
4. It is government by amateurs
5. The cabinets are constantly growing in size

5. 4. PRESIDENTIAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT
 Nature: separate executive and legislative wings; President and Congress; irresponsible
system of govt.; executive powers vested with President; Leacock says, “In a parliamentary
government the tenure of office of the virtual executive is dependent on the will of
legislature; in a presidential government the tenure of office of the executive is
independent of the will of the legislature”
 Merits:
1. It secures stable government:
2. It ensures continuity of policy:
3. It ensures certainty of policy:
4. It can avail services of the experts and is free from party spirit:
 Defects:
1. A lot of powers for a person:
2. It encourages autocracy: Garner said, “autocrat irresponsible and dangerous”
3. It is rigid: “The American Government calls itself a government of the sovereign people, but at a
quick crisis you cannot find the supreme people.”
4. It leads to conflicts between the executive and the legislature:
5. It produces irresponsibility and rivalry among Departments: Coups d’état and revolutions;
government by persons not principles;

6. 5. STATE
 The ethical concept of the ancient Greeks: state was ethical; Aristotle: the state came into being to
make life possible; it continues to exist to make it good; ancient Greeks did not believe in individual
vs. state; for them, individual was integral part of state; their state was a moral being; therefore,
Greeks upheld moral principles such as justice, moderation, pursuit of truth, honesty, duty to the
State, patriotism; justice was not a legal dispensation but righteousness; It was supreme political
virtue
 Ethical concept of the State of Plato: ethical; knowledge is supreme virtue, justice is doing the thing
for which an individual is by nature fit; State, like an individual had three virtue: knowledge of the
good, courage and appetite or desire; belly, heart and body; artisans, soldiers and philosopher-
kings; education system in Republic; thus Plato’s concept of the State was a tripartite system of
classes and virtues; justice meant that each man and woman should belong to the class for which he
or she had the virtue and would not belong to an upper or lower class
 St. Augustine’s religious concept of the State: 3 centuries after Plato’s death, Greece was conquered
by Rome; during 3rd century A.D, Christianity spread in Roman Empire and in 333 A.D the Roman
Emperor Constantine, declared Christianity as the State religion of his empire; Then, Germanic tribes
attacked and sacked Rome and Church Fathers strove to save the Christian religion and one of them
was St. Augustine; wrote book ‘The City of God’; city for State; The kingdom of God is the invisible
State, while the State of Satan was visible or worldly kingdom; Kingdom of God visible in Christian
Church; Augustine set upon building a Christian commonwealth; men has dual nature: temporal and
spiritual; body and soul;

7.  Modern concept of the State: Modern concept of State is absolutely different from that of ancient
times and of Medieval Europe. Briefly, it is secular, national and legal; originated from Westphalian
model; We shall now consider each of these characteristics of the modern State:
1. Secularism: State is separate from religion; church not to interfere in matter of politics; religion is private
affair of the individual; idea first propounded by Machiavelli and first expressed by the thinkers of Age of
Enlightenment in France; However, it was in 20th century that secular States came into being in Europe and
America
2. Nationalism: Modern State is a national state; A nation is a people united by bonds of common language,
religion, culture or race, and common historical experience, aspiring to establish or maintain their separate
and independent state; nation-state: people who are conscious of their separate identity under their
separate and independent State; nation state has two component elements: objective and subjective;
objective: common territory, common language, religion, culture and common historical experience of
national liberation struggles, past and present; while the subjective elements are the psychological factors
of national feelings and consciousness; psychological elements of nationhood are more important than
the objective ones; Dankwart A. Rustow said, “it is not mountains and valleys that make a people a nation.
It is their consciousness of being a nation that makes them.”
3. Legalism: MS based upon law; general rule of conduct passed and enforced by State; instrument of social
control to prevent violence and preserve peace; Rule of Law; Modern State and Law have grown together.
This development really began when the legislative system, acquired the exclusive power to make laws,
first in English Parliament during the 18th century

8.  Islamic concept of state: Political Islam according to Maududi (Khilafat o Malokiyat) and Amin
Ahsan Islahi (The Islamic State); Pan-Islamism and Jamal Afghani
 Characteristics of an Islamic State:
1. Nature of Islamic polity: complete code of life; Religion and Politics together, no secularism; Islam takes an
integrative view of human life, which it declares to be a preparation for the life hereafter
2. Sovereignty of Allah: “To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and of the earth. It is He who gives life and death,
and He has full knowledge of all things.”- Al-Quran; “Allah has power over all things”; Omnipotent; Omnipresent;
Omnicompetent; basic allegiance of the Muslims is to God and His laws, to which even the head of the State is
subservient.
3. Khilafat: “And when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to place a vicegerent(khalifa) in the Earth”
4. Government by consultation:
5. Obedience of the ruler
6. Equality of all mankind
7. Order well and punish wrong
8. Payment of zakat
9. Spread of Islam
10.Minorities protected

9. 6. DEMOCRACY
 Its meaning: complex term with various meanings; political system, an ethical idea or a social
condition; we can describe a state, a government, or a society, an institution as democratic;
demos=people and kratos=which means rule, rule of people; Aristotle, who disliked democracy,
defined it as “rule of mob”; Seely=”a government in which everyone has a share”; Abraham Lincoln,
“government of the people, for the people and by the people”
 Dimensions of Modern Democracy: modern democracy is product of three historical developments:
English parliamentary system, the great French Revolution of 1789 and the Industrial Revolution;
modern indirect form of democracy came into being during the 19th century; Democracy stand for an
ideal and a reality; democratic institutions, values, ideas, beliefs may not be found in the states which
claim to be democratic; Full democracies; semi-democracies and pseudo-democracies
 Kinds of democracies:
1. Direct or pure democracy
2. Indirect or representative democracy

10.  Three aspects of democracy: Political, Economic and Social and Democracy
1. Political: sovereignty of people, enjoyment of political rights and liberty by every adult
citizen;
2. Economic: economic democracy exists when there is no class distinction in society and
exists only in a truly communist society;
3. Social democracy: based on the principle of social justice and equality; exist where there
are no prejudices of class, color, creed or caste and people mix and mingle, regardless or
their wealth, birth or social status, equal justice for all and exist only in Islamic society

11. 7. JUDICARY
 The judiciary (also known as the judicial system or court system) is the system of
courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state
 The Judiciary is the third organ of the government. It has the responsibility to apply
the laws to specific cases and settle all disputes. The real ‘meaning of law’ is what
the judges decide during the course of giving their judgements in various cases.
 Independence of Judiciary: necessity of independent judiciary for securing an
impartial trial; protects liberty and rights of citizens; bulwark of individual liberty;
try state officials for offences; necessary for the protection of constitution
 Functions of judiciary:
1. Settlement of disputes
2. Interpretation of laws
3. Preventive Justice: writs
4. Judicial Review: 184(3)
5. Advisory opinion

12.  How the independence of judiciary is secured?
1. Mode of appointment of judges: election by people(influence of voters and party);
election by the legislature(same as ppl); election by the executive(best available method;
greatly free from party bias; method of appointment can be improved= standing
committee prior approval; competitive examinations)
2. Long tenure of Office: short tenure corruption
3. Promotion and security of office: neither the promotion, nor the removal should depend
on the pleasure of the executive
4. Fixed and adequate salary:
5. Qualification of judges:
6. Separation of Judiciary:

13. 8. LEGISLATIVE
 Functions:
1. Legislation: make laws; passes new laws, amends or repeal old ones; presented before
the legislature as a bill; act or law; enforced by executive organ and interpreted by the
courts;
2. Financial functions: money bill; power to grant money to the government to collect taxes;
custodian of the public interest and public money; supervises revenue and expenditure of
the government, reviews them by discussing and approving the national budget;
3. Administrative functions: controls the executive in parliamentary form of govt; members
of legislature; participate in discussions; vote of censure or lack of confidence;
4. Amendment of the Constitution:
5. Other Functions: British HOL=high court of England; American Senate=power to sanction
important administrative appointments
 Organization of legislature:
1. Bicameralism
2. Unicameralism

14.  Merits of bicameralism
1. It prevents hasty legislation: “Law is reason without passion”-Aristotle; therefore to
be done deliberately; organization of two houses; lower house= exposed to
popular passion and pressure but not upper house; members of two houses are
different in habits, attitudes, education, interests and social origin; often the
popular house is radical and upper house is more conservative
2. Bicameralism provides proper representation of national interests and minorities:
3. A check on legislative despotism:
4. It reduces pressure of work:
5. Bicameralism secures the election of able and experienced men: nominated or
elected to the second chamber
6. Bicameralism is necessary in a Federation for representation of component units:
7. Bicameralism legislature is a correct barometer of public opinion: two houses
elected at different times and on different basis of representation are more likely to
reflect the changes in the public opinion.

15.  Arguments against bicameralism:
1. Unicameralism is democratic: Bicameralism divides responsibility: one will of State=one House
to express; Democracy should not speak in two voices; Law=will of people and no two will on
same subject; Benjamin Franklin horse cart
2. Second chamber is either mischievous or superfluous: difficulty in how to organize? If equal
then deadlock and discord; if not equal then no use of having two houses; if it opposes
popular assembly, 2nd chamber is dangerous and if agrees, It is its duplicate;
3. Unicameralism prevents duplication and wastage
4. An ideal second chamber is impossible
5. Defects of second chamber: no ideal 2nd chamber; seeks to protect minorities at the expense
of national interest; prevents or delays passing of good and progressive laws; the only way to
avoid such shortcomings is to have a unicameral legislature
6. The defects of Unicameralism are remediable: if single chamber tends to become despotic
then checks such as veto of the head of State or second vote in the same chamber can prevent
it; unicameralism can also provide proper representation; no hasty legislation because laws are
drafted by experts
7. Bicameralism is not necessary even in a federal state: voting done in legislatures on party line
basis; the interests of the component units in a federation can be safeguarded by the power of
judicial review

16. 9. REFRENDUM
 Definition: literally means refer; in Political Science, device for all people to express
their approval of law; it exists in Switzerland and in Australia and some states of
USA, Pak=Art 46(6); compulsory or optional
 Merits:
1. They are based on the sovereignty of the people:
2. They encourage respect for laws:
3. They avoid the defects of the legislative bodies:
4. Direct legislation is a good political education of the people:
5. Lastly, direct legislation is a good safety-valve and a safeguard against revolutionary
violence:
 Demerits:
1. it undermines the prestige of legislatures
2. the people are unfit to pronounce on complex problems:
3. the electorate is exposed to same propaganda pressure as the legislatures:
4. people do not take much interest in direct legislation:
5. people are conservative in temperament: rejects progressive laws under the influence of
propaganda
6. direct legislation is unfit for parliamentary and for large States:

17. 10. THEORIES OF ORIGIN OF STATE
 Divine Right of Kings: By king James and Sir Roberts Filmier, in the 17th century A.D. was the
modern version of the old-age theory of Divine Origin. King James quarreled with his Parliament
because it claimed a share in the government of the country. He told his Parliament: “A king can
never be vicious. Even if he is wicked, it means God has sent him as a punishment for people’s
sins and it unlawful to shake off the burden which God has laid upon them.”
 Theory of Force: State is child of force, that is, of aggression, war, conquest and subjugation; war
begat the king; President Wilson said, “war or methods of blood and iron, has not only created
great empires in the past and the present but we shall see more of blood and iron methods in
future.” Acc to this theory, force does not end with establishment of State but is further used to
preserve peace.
 Theory of Social Contract
 Patriarchal theory: families, villages, tribes, clans, kings, states; theory as old as Aristotle; Leacock
puts it, “first a household, then a patriarchal family, then a tribe of persons of kindred descent,
and finally a nation”
 Matriarchal theory: Fredrick Engel’s The Origin of Family, Property and State
 Evolutionary or Sociological theory: kinship + Magic and Religion + Property and rise of
economic classes + War and force + political consciousness

18. 11. UNITARY
 Definition: Supreme governmental authority is vested by the constitution in a single central
government which rules the whole country; for administrative purposes: provinces, cantons
or departments; England, France, Italy and Iran
 Merits:
1. Biggest merit is its strength and vigor;
2. Centralized authority saves administration from disruption;
3. Strength of the centralized unitary State is especially manifested in foreign policy and national
defense;
4. Uniformity of laws, policy and administration throughout the country;
 Demerits:
1. Large territorial states with great diversity of culture, language and tradition cannot be effectively
and efficiently governed from a single center
2. disregard local needs and interests;
3. concentration of powers tends to make the central government despotic

19. 12. FEDERAL STATE
 Definition: supreme powers in the State are distributed by the constitution between a central
government and the governments of federating units; making each government supreme
within its own sphere of powers; federation=dual government; According to Hamilton, “a
federation is an association of States forming a new one”;
 Nature of Federation: device to harmonize the need for local autonomy with the necessity of
preserving the unity of the State; a federation does not destroy sovereignty but only distribute
between constituent governments, only distribute sovereign powers; a federation is a union of
governments, it has the following distinctive features:
 Essential conditions of federation:
1. Geographical Contiguity
2. Desire for Union
3. Desire for local independence
4. Common economic interests
5. Community of cultural and other interests
6. Equality among the component units
7. Equality among the component units
8. Political ability and legalism

20.  Salient features of federation
1. Supremacy of the Constitution
2. Written constitution
3. Rigid constitution
4. Distribution of powers
5. Supremacy of judiciary
6. Bicameral legislature