What is Political Theory?

Article by Peter Morales

Source - www.politicalscience.com 

Article by Peter Morales

Of the five primary sub-groups that comprise the field of Political Science, Political Theory is the sub-group that is most tethered to philosophy (to the extent that the term “Political Philosophy” is sometimes used interchangeably with Political Theory). Political Theory is the study of the concepts and principals are used to explain, describe and evaluate political establishments and events. Political theory explores such topics as law (and the enforcement thereof) justice, politics, liberty, property, rights, and the legitimacy of government (what it is, what form it needs to take, what its functions should be, what it should protect and prevent, what role citizens should play in maintaining and influencing government, and under what circumstances, if ever, should a government be overthrown). Political Theory aims to explain the origins of the state, its legal codes and establishments, as well as explore how political views and ideologies are formed, dispersed, and maintained.

Political Theory has had an important role to play as far back as the time of ancient civilizations and. In Ancient China, philosophies such as Confucianism and Taoism had political aspects, with the former advocating for a strong hierarchical meritocracy and the latter espousing views which could be considered anarchistic. Ancient Greece is often considered the birthplace of Western political philosophy, as the accumulation of ideas and theories resulted in a great deal of experimentation in political organization throughout the Greek city-states. Plato’s Republic, and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethicsare held in high regard as being vastly influential on modern political thought. The Ancient Hindu cultures of the Indian subcontinent also produced a number of important political writings; The Laws of Manu set the framework for conduct within India’s caste system, and Chanakya’s Arthashastra presented a guideline as to how a ruler was expected to handler the challenges presented by economics, diplomacy, public administration, economic policy and military affairs.

Contemporary Political Theory came to relevance during the course of the 20^thCentury as a result of the rise of Communism across the globe and increased focus on Marxism’s influence on politics and government. During the 1950s and 1960s, a number of issues became salient, such as discrimination and political exclusion of racial minorities, the rise of feminism and LGBT rights movements led to a reevaluation of the societal social contract that had failed these groups, and resulted in feminist, multicultural, and postcolonial schools of political thought becoming more prevalent. In more recent years, the rise of globalization has seen growing cooperation between political philosophers and international relations theorists in an attempt to create an international normative framework within Political Theory.

The study of Political Theory is essential to making sense of the multitudes of ideas and ideologies that scores of individuals and groups adhere to and seek to establish as law. Proponents of Conservatism, Liberalism, Social Democracy, Communism, Theocracy, Environmentalism, Feminism, or any number of ideologies have vastly different goals, methods and rationales for their deeply-held views. It is the job of the political philosopher to explain how those views became so entrenched, and to decide whether or not their methods and goals have any merit and whether or not the policies that result from their influence is ultimately beneficial or detrimental to society as a whole. A Political Theory background is also helpful in understanding why certain individuals and demographics vote the way they do, or why factors such as religion and culture can carry so much weight in swaying electoral outcomes, or why certain forms of government tend to be more common than others in a specific region of the world.

Civil services officers demand Centre’s nod before suspension.

By Times News Network

-The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Joining forces to protest the "arbitrary and malafide" suspensions of All India Service officers by the state governments, the three premier civil services - IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service — have petitioned the Centre to curtail the suspension powers delegated to states. On Friday, representatives of the three associations met minister of state for personnel V Narayanasamy and urged him to make it mandatory for state governments to "seek prior concurrence of the government of India" before suspending an officer. The state governments must also provide the Centre facts and grounds of suspension of the officer, they said. The plea of the civil servants comes in the wake of the suspension of IAS officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal by the Uttar Pradesh Government, allegedly for acting against the local sand mining mafia. The IAS officers' association had earlier taken up her case with the personnel minister and sought the Centre's intervention to get her suspension revoked. In a memorandum submitted to Narayanasamy on Friday, the IAS officers' association argued that "rules regarding suspension of All India Service (AIS) officers clearly spell out that the power to award major punishments lies with the central government in consultation with the UPSC... So, delegation of powers to suspend AIS officers to state governments is against the federal administrative structure." The argument was seconded in separate memoranda submitted by the IPS (Central ) Association and Indian Forest Service Association. Among their four key demands are a mandatory show-cause notice by the state government to the officer with a minimum 15-day period; prior concurrence of the Central government for suspension; additional and effective safeguards in the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules on suspensions and transfers to ensure justice to "honest" officers; and any other step by DoPT to avoid penalizing of officers for not falling in line with "unscrupulous elements of the society" . Association representatives pointed out that 175 IAS officers have been suspended since early 1990s. Of them, more than 100 IAS officers were suspended by the UP government alone. Out of 105 officers, suspension of 101 officers was revoked without framing a chargesheet as "no iota of evidence was available" to justify the suspension order. Speaking to TOI, IPS Central Association secretary Pankaj Kumar Singh said, "If officers are suspended without reason, then the message conveyed is to discourage them from taking action. In that case, officers will be passive spectators dealing a serious blow to governance and administration."

Zakat Foundation helps Muslims crack civil services exam.

-By Rakhi Chakrabarty

-Source - The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Waseem Akram is the first among Turk Muslims to crack the civil services examination and make it to the Indian Police Service. He is also the first from Takhtpurallah, a remote village in UP's Moradabad district, and several villages around to clear the tough test.

Akram belongs to a family of farmers and his parents never went to school. He is very happy to make it to the IPS at the third attempt, but his parents are nonchalant. "They think it's just another job. It's difficult to explain to them what it means to clear the UPSC," he said.

Akram's elder brother, who studied mass communication, is his inspiration who egged him on. After class XII, Akram came to Delhi to study BE (electrical engineering) at Jamia Millia Islamia. After a stint in Larsen & Toubro, he was offered an integrated PhD at Imperial College in London sponsored by Vodafone.

"Then, the economic downturn of 2008 kicked in and Vodafone withdrew funding," said Akram. His hopes for study abroad dashed, Akram decided to take the civil services exam (CSE). He failed to make it to the final list for six marks. While preparing the second time, he approached the coaching and guidance centre run by Delhi's Zakat Foundation of India (ZFI).

Akram is among 12 of around 70 candidates from minority communities who cleared the civil services with ZFI's aid in 2012. Shah Faisal, the first Kashmiri to top the civil services exam, was also a "ZFI fellow", said Syed Zafar Mahmood, president, ZFI. A former IRS officer, he was OSD to the Sachar Committee.

"We select the candidates each year through an all-India test of UPSC level. We also visit Kashmir and Kerala from where we get bright candidates every year," said Mahmood.

This year, Naveed Trumboo from Srinagar qualified for the IRS at the first attempt. "As more candidates crack the civil services from Kashmir, it will help clear the sense of alienation and the perception that the system is against Kashmiris," said Trumboo, who studied BE from Kashmir University. He came to ZFI after clearing the mains.

ZFI helps the candidates, almost all Muslims, enroll in civil services coaching institutes in Delhi which have a proven track record. "We pay the fees for coaching. The candidates stay in our Mukherjee Nagar hostel and we bear all expenses. Our panel of experts helps them prepare for the interview," said Mahmood.

Poor representation of Muslims in the civil services spurred him to set up the coaching centre. This year, for instance, there are 31 Muslims among 998 successful candidates, which is about 3% of the total.

Muslims constitute 13.4% of the population in India. "If we consider proportional representation, there should have been around 134 Muslim candidates in the final list. But every year, only about 30 make it," said Mahmood.

This creates the perception of discrimination against the community. "The fact though is lack of ambition and self-confidence among Muslims. It's also historical. We have not yet been able to decide if western education is good for us," said former Indian Foreign Service officer Ishrat Aziz.

Though official data is not available, Mahmood estimated that only about one-tenth of eligible Muslims apply for the civil services.

Hammad Zafar, for instance, could imagine appearing for the CSE. He belongs to a family of weavers from Mau in UP and is the first graduate in his family. He studied in a madrassa till Fazil, equivalent of BA. Then he came to Jamia Millia Islamia to do a BA in history. Till he came to Delhi, he would weave saris on his family loom to help his father. While doing a PhD in Urdu literature from JNU, he came in touch with ZFI.

"Mahmood Sir gave me the confidence to write the exam," said Zafar. He has been chosen for DANICS and proudly pointed out that he is the first in his family to get a government job.

How Chhattisgarh managed to achieve and look beyond roti, kapda and makaan -

By. Dr. Raman Singh ( Chief minister of Chhattisgarh ) 

Source - The Economic Times 

I have often been asked how Chhattisgarh manages the contradictory pulls of sound fiscal health and welfare schemes. How did we manage to roll out food and nutrition security to not just the most needy among us but to almost the entire population of a state that has had a history of malnutrition and neglect, without jeopardising Chhattisgarh's finances? 

As finance minister for the last eight years, I have learnt the lesson that a state needs to be fiscally robust to run welfare schemes. The central Food Security Act of 2013 could create a financial crisis for India. But Chhattisgarh has implemented the Act at a cost of 1.4% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) and has managed to contain its fiscal deficit within the fiscally prudent ceiling of 3% of GSDP. 

Better Money Manager 

Successive Reserve Bank of India studies of state finances have ranked Chhattisgarh among the top-three best-performing states in critical fiscal parameters and management. 

During the last decade, it has maintained fiscal discipline, including sustainable debt management. The economic and fiscal indicators of Chhattisgarh have consistently been better than most other states. The annual growth rate during the 11th Plan has been 8.4 per cent compared to the 7.9 per cent average for all states. 

On the fiscal side, the ratio of revenue receipts, state's own tax revenue, debt, interest payment as well as fiscal deficit to GSDP has been significantly better than the national average. In fact, Chhattisgarh has the lowest debt-GSDP ratio among the states. 

Similarly, the ratio of interest payment to revenue receipts, a measure of debt sustainability, has been the lowest for Chhattisgarh (4.5 per cent in 2011-12). 

Better Plan Manager 

Chhattisgarh's overall fiscal management has also been far more prudent and efficient if you compare it with the Centre, for example. While the debt stock to GDP ratio of the Centre has ballooned to 40 per cent, Chhattisgarh's outstanding liability is pegged at 17 per cent. Similarly, the ratio of revenue receipts to GDP of the Centre, at 9 per cent, is less than half that of Chhattisgarh. 

On Plan expenditure, the ratio to GDP for the Centre is almost onethird that of Chhattisgarh and, yet, the outgo towards interest payment is 35 per cent of GDP compared to 3 per cent of GSDP for Chhattisgarh. Productive resource allocation has been the focus of our overall growth strategy. 

Source - The Economic Times