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UNIT- II
MAJOR POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
LIBERALISM,SOCIALISM,MARXISM,UTILITARIANISM,GANDHISM AND SARVODAYA
LIBERALISM
MEANING
Liberalism includes the viewpoint of those who oppose absolute monarchy, age-old feudal system and
privileges of the church. It also includes the views of those who advocated individualism and later
parliamentary democracy.

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The origin of the word 'liberalism' can be traced in the term 'liber' which means 'freedom or liberty'. Those
who are in favour of liberty of the individual are usually called liberals. Thus, liberty of the individuals is the
core of individualism.

Liberalism and individualism are often identified with each other. This is not totally correct. Now, liberalism
gives precedence to the society over the individual. It argues that welfare state can interfere in the activities
of the individual so that welfare of the community can be ensured.
Constitutional govt., liberty, equality, fraternity and secularism are important principles of liberalism. Its
ideal is coordination between proper development of the personality of the individual and welfare of the
entire community.
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The ideology of the liberalism first developed in England during the 17 and the 18 centuries.
Liberalism is of two types:

(A) Classical Liberalism: It was limited to the demands of constitutional guarantee for rights of the
individual. It appeared as champion of religious tolerance, constitutionalism and rights of the man.
Its objective was to keep the individual free from the control and the activity of the monarch. The
negative or the classical liberalism did not want the state to possess unlimited powers, it did not want
the state to interfere in the economy and it did not want the state to violate the liberty of the
individual.
(B) Modern Liberalism: Nature of liberalism began to change towards the end of the 19th century. State
is no more regarded as a necessary evil. State is an instrument of welfare of the community. Liberals
want an ideal society inspired by the concept of welfare of the community. Western liberal
Democracies have adopted the system of mixed economy so that both private and public sectors
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may co-exist as instruments of progress. Welfare state is the ideal of modem liberalism.
MAIN PRINCIPLES OF LIBERALISM
(1) Liberalism has faith in the intelligence of man based on reason. Scholars like John Locke and Thomas
Paine advocated liberalism.
(2) Liberalism was initially regarded as a symbol of revolt against tradition and superstition. But it
condemns violence and discards revolution. It advocates peaceful, and constitutional means for changing
the social system. Liberalism is a supporter of capitalism and does not believe in classless society.

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(3) Liberalism has total faith in individual liberty.

(4) Individualism is the focal point of Ii beralism. It is responsibility of the state to help in the development of
his personality, and to protect his life, liberty and property. It does not accept the state as an end. It only
accepts the state as its means.
(5) According to liberalism, state is a man-made institution created for the protection of the individual. It
does not accept it as a divine institution.
(6) It believes in the concept of natural rights of the man. Neither the society nor the state can violate the
natural rights of life, liberty and property as they are created by the nature.

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(7) It advocates religious freedom and tolerance i.e. secularism.

(8) Constitutionalism is the main political doctrine of the liberalism. Absolute rule has no place in it.

(9) The democratic govt. is the ultimate objective of the liberalism. It believes in the concept of popular
sovereignty, which in turn means democratic govt. based on the consent of the people.

(10)In international sphere, it advocates the ideal of world peace and peaceful settlement of international
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disputes.
EVALUATION

Negative liberalism liberated the individual from traditional authorities-the state and the church. It
maintained that political power is the trust of the people. Positive liberalism gave the idea of the state that
will remove the hindrances which come in the way of the development of the human personality. Thus
liberalism is a flexible philosophy. Its main tenets have changed with the requirements of time. It is a
doctrine of positive actionmaximum social welfare function to be performed by the state. Critics of
liberalism are generally the Marxists who call this philosophy as reactionary and bourgeoisie. But with its
emphasis on the welfare state, liberalism may strengthen itself and meet the Marxian challenge more
vigorously in the 21 sl century.
Recommended Readings:

1. Leon P. Baradet : Political Ideologies-Their Origins and Impact (Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall,
1979)
2. Roger Eatwell, Anthony Wright (Eds.): Contemporary Political Ideologies (London, Hutchinson,
1984)
3. William Ebenstein : Today's Isms (Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 1980)
4. L.T. Hobhouse : Liberalism (New York, Oxford University Press, 1964)
5. J. Selwyn Schapiro : Liberalism-Its Meaning and History (New Jersey, D. Van Nostrand Co, 1958)
6. L.T. Hobhouse: Liberalism (New York, Oxford University Press, 1964)
7. J.C. Johri : Contemporary Political Theory (New Delhi, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1979)
SOCIALISM
MEANING

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Socialism aims at that economic organization and social reconstruction by suitable means under which the
major instruments of production are placed under the ownership and control of public authority in order to
ensure that they are properly utilized to secure the public interest. Evolutionary socialism relies on the
democratic method, parliamentary reform and even economic planning on the plea that the interests of the
underprivileged sections, especially the working classes might be represented and taken care of by their
representatives and leadership. Socialism as a principle of common ownership of society's wealth, for the
common benefit is a typically modem idea. In fact modem socialism arose from the failure of classical
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liberalism on the humanistic front.
TYPES OF SOCIALISM
(A) Utopian Socialism
The two outstanding pioneers of utopian socialism were Charles Fourier and Robert Owen. All these
thinkers agreed on one main point: that individual enterprise and market competition were inimical to
human welfare and that a cooperative form of social. organization could provide the remedy to the existing
ills of society. The chief contribution of the utopian socialist was that they draw society's attention to the
inadequacies of the industrial system and painted a picture of a society free from inequality, exploitation and
injustice.

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(B) Scientific Socialism

Marx and Engel's dismissed all previous socialist thinking as utopian especially because it is not based on a
scientific understanding of the mechanism of social injustice in capitalist society. The dialectical method
originally signified a process whereby new ideas are generated through an intellectual debate that is by the
clash of conflicting ideas.

(C) Fabian Socialism

It originated in England by the Fabian society founded in 1884.They set before themselves the task of
permeating the middle classes with the socialist message. They sought to introduce socialism not in a single
stroke but by degrees through state and cooperative ownership of industry, increasing power of labor in
legislative and executive offices, growth of trade unions and educational movements and development of
social consciousness. Its main aims include: emancipation of land and capital, transfer of the management of
industrial capital to the community as a whole, equality of opportunity, dissemination of socialist ideas and
universal education.19
(D) German Social Democracy
It is developed by Ferdinand Lassalle. He suggested that the working class should organize itself is not a
political party with a view to securing universal, equal and direct suffrage so as to make its power legally
effective.
(E) Revisionism
It emerged in Germany led by Eduard Bernstein in 1932.Its main tenets include: The class struggle had
become less intense because the conditions of the working class improved rather than deteriorated, the
middle class had infect expanded rather than shrunk, large areas of industry had remained in small scale
production rather than concentrated in large scale industries. He preferred democracy and treated socialism
as a movement rather than an ultimate destination.
(F) Syndicalism
This movement developed in France and Latin countries. It considers labor unions and their federations as
cells of the future socialist order. It wants complete freedom of labor unions from political parties. It

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preached abolition of the political state. It urged industrial action as the only effective means of bringing
about a revolutionary change in society and treated the general strike as a means of securing workers control
over industry. Syndicalism stood for "socialization without state".
(G) Guild Socialism
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There was another movement in England in the first quarter of the 20 century. It upheld the Marxian theory
of class struggle. It stood for the abolition of the wage system and demanded representation of the workers in
industrial control. It sought to modify Syndicalism by introducing the importance of consumer side by side
with the worker. It sought to abolish the old state which was an instrument of exploitation.
(H) Democratic Socialism
It is a modem version of Fabian socialism. They believe that the goals of democracy and socialism are not
separable from each other, both stands for the amelioration of the ordinary man. Its main aims are: Partial
socialization of production and distribution, Satisfaction of moral as well as material needs, Freedom of
thought and expression, No form of dictatorship, free competition for power.

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(1) Welfare State

It denotes another combination of liberalism and socialism. The irony of welfare state is that it seeks a
compromise with capitalism. It pays lip service to socialist goals but never seeks to replace capitalism
against which socialism had arisen. Welfare state has been dubbed between a half way house between
capitalism and socialism. Welfare state expands the scope of state activity to a very large sphere. Welfare
state also extends the regulatory sphere of the state. In this way, welfare state assures help to the needy at
every step.
(J) The Socialist Pattern of Society
The socialist pattern of society was accepted as a model of socio-economic development by the Indian
Parliament in dec.1954.The accent of the socialist pattern was on reduction of equalities, the raising of
standards of living, the enlargement of opportunities for all, the promotion of enterprise among the classes
and the creation of a sense of partnership among all sections of the community.20
EVALUATION
(1) No Coherent Doctrine
(2) Not based in the Working Class
(3) Legitimization of the Bourgeois Class
Recommended Readings :-

1. Joseph A Schumpeter : Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (London, George Allen & Unwin
Ltd., 1961)
2. N.D. Arora: Theory of State: Plato to Marx (New Delhi, Social Sciences Research Publications,
1983)
3. Norman Mackenzie: Socialism: A Short History (London, Hutchinson's Library, 1949)
4. Bernard Crick: Socialism (Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1987)
5. Harry W. Laidler: Socio - Economic Movements (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1948)
UTILITARIANISM
It was another important expression of classical liberalism. Its main exponents are Jeremy Bentham, James

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Mill, Henry Sidgwick, J.S. Mill. It holds that all practical reasoning should be based on the concept of utility,
which denotes a positive balance of pleasure over pain derived from a thing, condition, action or policy.
Bentham argued that political institutions and public policies should be judged by their consequences.
Satisfaction of the individual could be taken as a yardstick of utility, public decisions should be governed by
the principle of "greatest happiness of the greatest number". Men always desire pleasure and averse only to
pain. This natural propensity provides the best standard of right action. He argued that pleasures derived
from different sources could be measured only in terms of quantities. He even laid down a multidimensional
scale for the measurement of pleasure and pain called "Felicific Calculus". Each individual should be treated
as one unit and that none should be given special consideration: "Each to count as one and no one for more
than one." Good govt. should be based on free individual initiative, free competition, free suffrage and free
elections. Social good is comprised of the sum total of individual good and the state is left with minimal
functions.

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J.S. Mill came to revise it on two important counts:(a) He introduces qualitative differences between
different kind of pleasure;(b) By drawing a distinction between selfregarding and other-regarding actions.
EVALUATION
Critics observed that Bentham reduced the individual to a consumer of utilities. It was J.S.Mill who changed
him into a doer and creator. Inconsistency in Bentham's thought shows his bias for capitalism rather than his
concern with humanity. John Rawls says that utilitarian philosophy must be rejected on moral grounds. In
calculating aggregate happiness it tends to ignore the sufferings of particular individuals.
GANDHISM AND SARVODAYA
MEANING

Gandhi;s mission in life was to purify politics, to rekindle faith and trust in mankind, to rehabilitate the
freedom of man and to restore the dignity and worth of human beings. Gandhism way of life is closely
related to the concept of Sarvodaya.
GANDHISM AND GANDHIAN WAY OF LIFE
He started his battle against racial discrimination and social inequality in S. Africa. In 1915, Gandhi entered
the Indian National Movement. His struggle was based in the principles of truth, non-violence and
satyagraha. His active participation actually began from the days of the non-cooperation movement in 192122.Civil disobedience movement, the Dandi march, the Gandhi-Irwin pact, The Round-Table Conferences,
Quit India Movement Simla Conference, The Cabinet Mission Plan and his lonely march in Bengal after the
Partition of the country demonstrated his faith in truth and non-violence. Gandhi applied these principles on
a mass-scale covering the whole of life, individual and social, moral and material, Herein lay the originality
of Mahatma Gandhi.
Sanskrit, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita, John Ruskin's book "Unto the Last" and Leo Tolstoy's
"The Kingdom of God is Within You" exercised a powerful influence in shaping the ideas of Mahatma
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Gandhi.
RELIGION AND POLITICS
He believed in all-pervading God. His God was truth. His truth was knowledge and where there is true
knowledge there is bliss. He accepted the creative force of religion. Religion inspires faith in moral values.
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A moral society is impossible without truth, love, ahimsa and obedience to the law of God. Once a moral
man and moral society is obtained, Gandhi felt that politics can be purified. It is only when politics is based
on the lofty values of religion that it can be purified. Thus for Gandhi, religion and politics are closely
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related.
GANDHIAN OUTLOOK
He was a man of action. He believed that unless and until the purity of heart s not there, no problem can be
solved. He emphasized on both the means as well as the ends. The purity of means was uppermost in his
mind. He attempted to realize a better ordering of human society. Man ought to observe the code of morality.
He prescribed the norms of truth, non-violence and regard for means to which human conduct must adhere.

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CONCEPT OF TRUTH
It was the prime goal for which he struggled. He believed that it would be appropriate to say that" truth is
God" rather than saying that "God is truth". Truth resides in every human heart; It is his inner voice and one
has to search for it. Truth involves self-suffering and there can be no place for self-interest. He was even
ready to sacrifice national freedom for the sake of truth and non-violence. He considered truth as the active
power of evolution in the universe.
NON-VIOLENCE
He said "non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed. "Infect it was in the
course of his pursuit of truth that he discovered non-violence. Ahimsa required deliberate self-suffering not
the deliberate injuring of the supposed wrongdoer. Use of violence not only lowers the victim but also the
user of violent means because non-violence is the law of our species as violence is the law of brute. He felt
that only through non-violence the dignity of the individual can be enhanced and the society and the politics
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can be purified.
SA TYAGRAHA
Satyagraha is the technique of resisting all that is evil, unjust, impure and untrue and resolving all
maladjustments in human relations by love, voluntary suffering and selfpurification by an appeal to the
divine spark in the opponents soul. It is opposed to force, fraud and coercion. It is the weapon of the
strongest. It is resistance based on moral force.
Techniques of Satyagraha
(l) Non-Cooperation - like Hartal, Social Boycott and Picketing.
(2) Civil Disobedience
(3) Hijrat - equivalent to voluntary exile from the permanent place of residence.
(4) Fasting
(5) Strike

CONCEPT OF STATE
He was a "philosophic anarchist". The modem state is based on force and violence. It is exploitative in
nature. Even the state is a democratic one; its authority rests on violence. Gandhi disliked it. His vision was
to establish a state based on higher moral virtues. It would encourage voluntary cooperation among the
people. Once the people cooperate voluntarily, there would be no need of political power and the emerging
result is a stateless society. The state is not an end. The individual owes the state only limited loyalty. The
individual has the right to resist the state but only through non-violence means. He wanted to assign the
minimum functions to the state. He advocated the establishment of the system of panchayats, a system of

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democratic decentralization in order to develop active and virile citizens, specific fundamental rights for the
citizens and the establishment of economic equality in society.
PROPERTY AND TRUSTEESHIP
Capitalists and landlords should work as trustees of the workers and the peasants. Let them apply the bulk of
their earnings not for themselves but as a trust for the good of their society. Every man has a right to have a
balanced diet, a decent house to live in, facilities for the education of one's children and adequate medical
relief. Any possession of property over and above, he considered as superfluous. If the capitalists and
workers are hostile to eachother, Gandhi favored state-ownership of industries. Trusteeship could reform
the ailments of capitalism. Is is based on the faith that human nature is never beyond redemption. Gandhism
is a philosophy of life and Gandhi was a moral revolutionary. It aims to bring about a transformation in
human life by the supremacy of self-suffering love. The strength of Gandhism lies not in preaching but in
putting his ideals into practice.

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SARVODAYA
Vinoba Bhave was the chief exponent of sarvodaya movement. Later on, Jaya Prakash Narayan also joined
the movement. The sarvodaya society was established in January 20th,1950. It indicated a plan to attain
social, moral and economic independence as envisaged by Gandhi.
The sarvodaya aims to establish a new social order on the basis of truth, love and nonviolence. It is highly
critical of the state and its govt. because both are based on force and coercion. Its aim is to establish a society
free from every form of authority. Its ultimate aim is to establish a stateless and classless society. Its main
features are as follows:
(1) No power should be dominant in society; there should only be a discipline of good thought.

(2) All faculties of the individual to be dedicated to society which must provide the individual for growth and
development
(3) The moral, social and economic values of all the callings perform honestly should be
the same.

The sarvodaya aims at the welfare and rise of all individuals. Men will be the center of such society. But it
rejects the theory of individualism or laissez faire. It argues that willing submission to social restraint for the
sake of the well-being of the whole society, enriches both the individual and the society of which one is a
member. Its twin principles are physical labor and non-possession. It considers wealth as the common
heritage of society. Production will be for consumption and mutual sharing.
GROUNDS OF SARVODAYA
A no. of steps should be taken to transform the existing institutions according to sarvodaya:
(1) It puts its faith in the doctrine of non-violence.
(2) It aims towards the establishment of a decentralized society. As such, sarvodaya pleads for the realization
of gram raj or village self-govt.
(3) It pleads for the establishment of the cottage and rural industries in order to make the
villages self-sufficient.
(4) It believes in the Gandhian concept of trusteeship. (5) It believes in secularism
(6) It says that policies should be framed on the basis of lokniti in place of rajniti. It means a party less govt.
which has the public good as its aim?4

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PROGRAMME OF SARVODAYA
It has a comprehensive program which are as follows:
(1) to establish communal peace and harmony;
(2) to remove untouchability;
(3) to eliminate caste system;
(4) to implement prohibition;
(5) to encourage khadi and village industries;
(6) to make village as a unit of self-govt.
(7) to spread new education;
(8) to propagate the ideals and rights towards women's equality and dignity;
(9) to develop Indian languages;
(10) to remove the provincial and sectarian feelings of narrowness;
(11) to take steps towards the development of agriculture and labor organizations;
(12) to provide service to tribes and other backward and weaker classes;
(13) to provide other welfare activities to the society in general.25

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Recommended Readings:1. C.F. Andrews: Mahatma Gandhi's Ideals (London, George Allen & Unwin, 1949)
2. Gopinath Dhawan : The Political Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi (Ahmedabad, Navjeevan
Publishing House, 1957)
3. Louis Fischer: The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (London, Jonathen Cape, 1951)
4. Suresh Ramabhai : Vinoba and His Mission (Vardha Sewa Sangh, 1954)
5. A.C. Kapur: Principles of Political Science (New Delhi, S. Chand & Co., 1984)
MARXISM
INTRODUCTION

It is also known as Scientific Socialism. Marxism interpreted social, pc1iitical and economic life of man on
the basis of class conflict. Exploitation has always been at the center of every class structure. According to
Marxism, exploitation will come to an end only when division of the society into economic classes will be
finished.26
FUNDAMENTALS OF MARXISM
It can be analyzed on the basis of four different theories -

(1) DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM

This philosophy is based on the idealistic ideas of Hegel. Hegel described the entire society as everchanging. The process of change was termed as 'being',' non-being' and 'becoming'. These three stages were
respectively described by him as 'theses', anti-theses' and 'synthesis'. Every abstract idea begins with theses.
Naturally contradictions appear in the idea. These are called as 'anti-theses'. As a result of conflict, between
theses and antitheses, a compromise is reached which become the syntheses. Marx says that matter is most
important. In the material world change keeps on taking place, certain tendencies emerge, others disappear
and while others re-emerge. Material development is indicated by theses, anti-theses and synthesis. Marx
says that classless society will be ultimate of dialectical materialism.
(2) MATERIALISTIC INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY
Analyses of history based on dialectical materialism is named by Marx as 'Historical Materialism'. All

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historical development should be viewed in the material context. By material condition he meant
environment, production, distribution and exchange. On the basis of production-oriented relations Marx
divides history into five periods (a) Primitive Communism - Every individual himself was a consumer as well as a producer.
(b) Slave Society - With the development of agriculture the concept of ownership of land emerged. This was
the period of slavery. there were slaves and slaveowners.
(c) Feudal Society - State as an institution stood at the head of the feudal order.
Peasants called serfs were no better than the slaves.
(d) Capitalist Society - Large-scale industries were set up under private ownership. This means that the
means of production came in the hands of a one class - capitalists.
(e) Socialist Society - Class struggle results n the victory of the working class. At this stage there will be a
transitional period of 'dictatorship of the proletariat'. Once that happen and production reaches the stage
when everyone can get what he needs, the state itself will wither away.27

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(3) THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

One class has always exploited the other. With the disappearance of the primitive society, conflict between
the haves and have-nots became the vital truth of social life. State has always been an instrument of
exploitation. Class struggle will continue till social order comes under the control of the working people.
With the victory of the proletariats, the class struggle will come to an end and way for a classless society will
be cleared.28
(4) THEORY OF VALUE
This theory explains that the workers are not given adequate value - wages -of their labor.
Wages are arbitrarily fixed to exploit the laborers. Workers labor has its own value because it is also sold and
purchased in the market. Thus the value of labor depends on what has been spent on production,
development and protection of the labor power. The idea of this theory is that all commodities including
labor have their value. Marx says that surplus value is the principle cause of class-struggle. The extra money
earned by the capitalist is surplus value which should actually have gone to the workers. But he does not get
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it.

(5) DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIOT

This is a transitional stage. The aim of Marxism is to achieve socialism through revolution. After the
revolution effort will be made to establish social control over means of production. State will be used by the
proletariat to liquidate capitalism. It will be dictatorial so that capitalism may not succeed in regaining their
lost power. According to Marx, this dictatorship will be more democratic. Its aim will be to restructure the
production system so that everyone may get work according to his ability. State will be controlled by the
workers. When classless society will be established crime will also disappear because there will neither be
shortage nor exploitation. There will be no need of state. Thus state will wither away and communism will be
established. In communism all will be equal, there will be no private property, means of production will be
socially-controlled and there will be no conflict.
EVALUATION
Pre-Marxism was utopian. Marx gave it a scientific form. It prepares the working people to fight for their
rights. But critics find several shortcomings in Marxism. It is accepted that materialistic interpretation of
history is not realistic in totality. History has been influenced by several factors like religion, morality and
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Class distinctions are not as critical as Marx has suggested. We find that capitalists and workers do not
always clash.
Marx had opined that the only way of ending exploitation is revolution and that state will do nothing to help
the workers. In most of the liberal democracies states have taken several concrete steps to check
exploitation.
There is no evidence of the disappearance of the middle class.
According to Marxism social control of the means of production could take place only in a socialist society.
In most of the non-socialist countries attempts have been made to make the capitalist answerable to the
communities. Public sector is being encouraged.

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Critics point out that there seems no sign of withering away of the state even after more than 70 years of
Russian revolution. The state is still powerful.
Developments in the socialist countries in late 1980's have proved that all is not well with Marxism.
Marxism as an ideology is very convincing. But there seems to be several shortcomings in theory and
failures in practice.
Recommended Readings :1. Laszek Kolakowaski : Main Currents of Marxism (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1978)
2. David Mclellan: Karl Marx: His Life and Thought (London, Macmillan, 1973)
3. Emile Burns: An Introduction to Marxism (New York, International Publishers, 1977)
4. Henri Lefebvre: The Sociology of Marx (London, The Penguin Press, 1968)
5. Friedrich Engels: Manifesto of the Communist Party (Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1975)

SOVEREIGNTY: ITS MEANING, TYPES AND CONCEPTS OF LEGAL AND POLITICAL

SOVEREIGNTY

MEANING
The term sovereignty is derived from the Latin word 'superanus', which means supreme or paramount. In
every full-fledged or independent state there is an ultimate authority from which there is no appeal. The
exercise of the supreme power by the state is commonly called 'sovereignty'. The use of the word
'sovereignty' dates from the publication of a work called "The Republic" by the French thinker Jean Bodin in
1576.
There are two aspects of sovereignty - internal and external. Internal sovereignty means the final legal power
of the state to command and enforce obedience to its authority. By external authority we mean that the state
is subject to no other authority and is independent of any compulsion or interference on the part of other
state. Thus, a sovereign state would mean that state which is externally free and internally supreme.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOVEREIGNTY
The traditional attributes of sovereignty are as follows:
(1) Absoluteness
(2) Permanence
(3) Exclusiveness

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(4) All-comprehensiveness
(5) Inalienability
(6) Indivisibility30
THE CONCEPT OF LEGAL SOVEREIGNTY
The main features of legal sovereignty are as follows:
(1) The legal sovereign is always definite and determinate.
(2) Legal sovereignty may reside either in the person of a monarch as in an absolute monarchy; or it may be
vested in a body of a persons as in a democracy.
(3) It is organized and known to law
(4) It alone is competent to declare the will of the state.
(5) Obedience to the commands of the legal sovereign is obligatory; disobedience means physical
punishment.
(6) The legal sovereign alone is the source of all rights. He can take them back or even annul them.
(7) The authority of the legal sovereign is final. It is absolute and supreme. It is subject to no control within
the state.
The concept of legal sovereignty was best expounded by Jeremy Bentham and John Austin. 3 1

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JOHN AUSTIN
The most fundamental and precise definition of legal sovereignty was given by John Austin, an English
jurist and also a disciple of Bentham. His definition of sovereignty is this "If a determinate human superior,
Not in a habit of rendering obedience to a like superior, receives habitual obedience from the bulk of a given
society, that determinate superior is sovereign in that society and the society (including the superior)is a
society political and independent" .
Its peculiar features can be summed up as follows:
(1) In every state there is a determinate human superior who receives habitual obedience
from the bulk of its citizens.
(2) Whatever this superior command is law, and without him there can be no law.
(3) The power of this superior, which is known as sovereignty, is indivisible.
(4) This sovereign power is absolute and incapable of limitation.
It means that in the organization of the state the individual can have no rights against the state itself. Austin's
sovereignty is thus absolute. He is above every restriction by law, divorced from morality and ethics.
THE CONCEPT OF POLIITCAL SOVEREIGNTY
Political sovereignty is the hidden power of the mass of the people. But in developing democracies, in
practice, the political sovereignty rests in that class of people under whose influence the mass of people
actually are. It is eroded under the influence of demagogues, religious leaders and caste elites. As such, only
an effective and healthy public opinion can be identified with political sovereignty.
The following are the main characteristics of political sovereignty:

(1) Political sovereignty is a power of the electorate or the mass of the people or the public opinion.
(2) In modem representative govt. it can be described in a simple phrase as the "power of the people".
(3) It is the sum total of the influence in a state which lies behind the law.
(4) Whereas the legal sovereign is definitely organized and discoverable, the political sovereign is vague
and unorganized.

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Strictly for Internal Circulation - KCL

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEGAL AND POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY

The problem of the good govt. is largely the problem of the proper relation between the legal and political
sovereign. Though legally speaking, the legal sovereign is important and omnipotent. The political
sovereign manifests itself through voting, the press, speeches and all the means of communication. It
however, can only become effective when organized. The organization of political sovereignty necessarily
results in the creation of legal sovereignty the two are aspects of the sovereignty of the state. They constantly
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react to each other.
In the end one must quote the definition given by AV. Dicey "Behind the legal sovereign, there is a political
sovereign before whom the legal sovereign must bow."

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Important Questions :Q. 1.

Q. 2.
Q. 3.
Q. 4.
Q. 5.
Q. 6.
Q. 7.
Q. 8.
Q. 9.
Q. 10.
Q. 11.
Q. 12.
Q. 13.
Q. 14.
Q. 15.
Q. 16.

Define Liberalism. Explain the main tenets of Liberalism.

What do you understand by Negative and Positive concept of Liberalism? Who are the major
exponents of the Positive and Negative concepts of Liberalism? Discuss their Views.
Discuss the major types of Socialism prevalent in various parts of the world.
What is Marxism? Discuss the Marxist Theory of Historical Determinism, Dialectical Materialism
and the Concept of Surplus Value in detail.
Explain the concept of Class Struggle in Marxist Theory.
What do you understand by the term Utilitarianism? Who are the major exponents of
this theory? Discuss their views.
What are the major tenets of Gandhism? Explain in detail.
What do you understand by the term Sarvodaya? Explain in detail.
What is Sovereignty? What are the major characteristics of Sovereignty?
Discuss the concept of Political and Legal Sovereignty? What is the relation between
them.
Discuss Austins Theory of Sovereignty? What are its merit and demerits?
What do you understand by Socialism? Give arguments for and against Socialism.
What do you understand by Liberalism? Trace the Origin and Development of the concept of
Liberalism.
What is Socialism? What are the essentials of Socialism? Distinguish between Socialism. and
Capitalism?
Is their any such things as Gandhism? What are the essentials Gandhism? Explain.
Is Sovereignty the most important element the modem state? Discuss

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