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MODEL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR 2ND^ SEM BA, LLB – POLITICAL SCIENCE
1) CITIZENSHIP
Citizenship is membership of a society living under the one government. It confers the status and carries with it certain privileges of the state. According to Han‟s Kelson,” Citizenship is a legal status determined by the specific rights and duties of which the statute is the condition. Citizen of a state is he who has political right, duty of military services and diplomatic protection afford by the state concerned.” Citizenship may also be defined as the legal relationship between an individual and the state under which an individual pledges his loyalty to the state, and the state offers protection to the individual .citizenship is confined to only natural or physical persons. It is not extended to corporations and juristic persons. It is not extended to corporations and juristic persons. Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a
member of a state. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does
not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless.
Methods of Acquiring Citizenship
Each country has its own very unique laws and rules for citizenship. Citizenship may be acquired according to two methods:
- By Birth or
- by Naturalization.
1 BY BIRTH:-
A person can acquire the citizenship of a particular nation by birth. There are two practices which are observed regarding the acquisition of citizenship by birth I.e. jus soli and jus sanguinis.
a) JUS SOLI:-
Jus soli is a Latin term that means laws of the soil. (Right of the soil). It is the right
of everyone born in the territory of state to nationality/ citizenship. Under this
concept, citizenship of a person is determined by the place where a person was
born. Jus soli is the most common means a person acquires citizenship of a
nation.jus soli is common in developed countries some of the countries that follow
the jus soil system include, Argentina , Brazil ,Canada, Colombia, Mexico,
Jamaica, Pakistan ,USA etc.
According to this practice citizenship is determined by the place of birth and not by
parentage. This practice is now popular. It was of course popular in the Middle
Ages when citizenship was associated with land. In England, USA and France,
both the above practices are deployed simultaneously.
Observance of both the practices sometimes gives rise to duplication of citizenship. The problem is solved by giving an option to the child to accept the citizenship of
either state it likes when it comes to the age.
b) JUS SANGUINIS:- Jus sanguinis is a latin term, which means laws of blood or right of blood. It is a
principle of nationality law by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth
but by having one or both parents who are citizens of the state. Children at birth
may automatically be citizens if their parents have state citizenship. Many
countries of the world practices the jus sanguine like Afghanistan, Bulgaria ,
Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungry , India , Ireland , Italy etc.
According to this, a child acquires the citizenship of parents irrespective of place
of birth, e.g., child born of Indian soil or abroad. The practice of jus sanguinis was
very popular in ancient times. This practice is natural as well as logically. It is
exclusively observed in Germany, ITALY, Sweden, Norway etc.
If a country follows the jus sanguinis or right of blood system a person inherit a
parent citizenship. So if a father and mother were each from a different jus
sanguinis nation and a person were born in jus soil a child would be able to claim
citizenship in three countries.
LOSS / TERMINATION OF CITIZENSHIP:
Loss of citizenship is also termed as termination of citizenship or cancellation of citizenship. It is an event of ceasing to be a citizen of a country under the laws of that country. There are generally two categories of grounds for loss of citizenship.
Involuntary loss which may occur either due to automatic lapse of citizenship or due to active withdrawal of citizenship by the country.
1. BY RENUNCIATION OF CITIZENSHIP:
A person or if a citizen of another country voluntarily renunciates the citizenship through a declaration in the prescribed manner he ceases to be a citizen.
- BY TERMINATION (operation of law): If any person who has acquired citizenship by naturalization, registration or otherwise voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another country ceases to be a citizen of from the date of such acquisition.
- BY DEPRAVITION ( compulsory Termination) The government of any country is empowered to deprive a citizen of his citizenship by issuing an order for the compulsory termination of citizenship. The followings are the possible grounds of deprivation:
- Voluntary acquisition of another citizenship.
- Residing abroad on a permanent basis
- Obtaining of citizenship certificate by means of fraud, false representation or concealment of any fact.
- Disloyalty or disaffection towards the constitution shown by act or speech.
- Assisting an enemy with whom India is at war.
- Sentenced to imprisonment in any country for a term not less than 2 years.
- Serving in a foreign military or foreign government.
- upon adoption by a foreign citizen, or other change in the child‟s legal relation to the parents such as annulment of maternity / paternity.
2) DEFINE LEGISLATURE & ITS FUNCTIONS
Legislature occupies an important position in the machinery of government. WILL of the state is formulated and expressed through the legislature. Legislature is treated with special respect and status as it is composed of people who represent the general population. Legislature in a democratic country enacts the general rules of society in the form of laws. It serves as a chief source of public opinion and it is the centre for all political activities. The scope of the legislature is almost unlimited. A variety of terms are used to denote legislatures in various countries: it is called congress in USA, Parliament in India & Britain, National assembly in France, House of Representatives in Japan and congress of Deputies in Spain. THE word legislature means Parliament. The word parliament comes from the Latin word “parliament” which means to „talk „or „discuss‟. Hence, the legislature or the parliament is the place where strategic discussion takes place. The legislature of the state includes two houses. For example, the parliament consists of Lok- sabha and Rajya sabha (lower house and upper house). British parliament consists of House of Commons and House of Lords (Lower AND Upper houses) American congress consists of House of Representatives and Senate (lower and upper houses). A Legislature is the law making body of a political unit, usually a national government that has power to enact, amend, and repeal public policy. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation. Legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process. The most common names for national legislatures are “Parliament” and “congress”. The members of a legislature are called legislators. Because members of legislatures usually sit together in a specific room to deliberate, seats in that room may be assigned exclusively to members of the legislature.
- Constituent Function: in most democracies the power to change or amend the constitution rest with the legislature. In India the parliament has the power to change certain provisions of the constitution by following a special procedure .in England there is no distinction between ordinary laws and constitutional laws and the legislature has the power to amend the constitutional laws in the same manner as it changes ordinary law.
3) EXECUTIVE : FUNCTIONS & KIND
THE Executive refers to that organ of government which executes, administers or put into effect the laws made by the legislature. The term Executive is used in a broad as well as in a narrow sense. Dr. Garner, while explaining the meaning of executive said,” Ina broad and collective sense the executive organ embraces the aggregate or totality of all the functionaries which are concerned with the execution of the will of the state as that will have been formulated and expressed in terms of law “. This comprehensive definition implies that in a broad sense executive includes the head of the state, council of ministers and all other officials who implement the laws. The term executive when used in a narrow sense will include only the president and the council of ministers and the officials are excluded. Generally the term Executive is used in a narrow sense to mean the head of the state and the council of ministers
KINDS OF EXECUTIVES
- Political and Permanent Executive:-
Political executive consists of popularly elected leaders who heads the office of various departments and whose tenure is a temporary one. In India political executive consists of the prime minister and his council of ministers. They can only remain in office as long as they enjoy the confidence of the legislature. Permanent officials on the other hand, consists of all those permanent and salaried officials and subordinates who carry on the day to day work of the administration. These officials carry out the policy as laid down by the political executive
- NOMINAL AND REAL EXECUTIVE:- The executive may be real or nominal. This distinction is between head of the state and the head of the government. In parliamentary systems like India and Britain this distinction is very clear. In India, president is the nominal executive or titular executive and the cabinet headed by the prime minister is the real executive. In
India in theory the president enjoys wide powers, but in actual practice all these powers are exercised by the prime minister and his council of ministers. All the actions of the government arfe carried out in the name of the nominal executive. There is no nominal executive in the presidential system as followed in USA.
3) SINGLE AND PLURAL EXECUTIVE
IN THE case if single executive the ultimate power is in the hands of a single person, and he does not share powers with others. American president is an example of single executive. Cabinet form of government combines the single and plural executive. The prime minister follows the principle of single executive and his colleagues follow the principle of plural executive.
In the case of plural executive or collegiate executive, the executive power is in the hands of group of persons, having co-equal authority. Federal council of Switzerland is an example of plural executive. Federal council consists of seven councilors; having co- equal powers and one of the members are elected annually to serve as chairman for a one year term with the title of president of the federation .the president does not enjoy any special powers apart from presiding over the council of meetings. Federal council is elected by federal assembly for the period of four years.
FUNCTIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE
THE executive performs the essential activities of government which is realty to rule application. Functions of the executive can be discussed under the following heads:
- ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTION:- Administrative function includes all those matters which have to deal with the strict administration of the government such as the appointment, direction and removal of officers, issues of instruction and all acts relating to the execution of laws. Internal administration is an important concern of the executive. Maintenance of peace and rule of law is the most important function of the executive, without which state cannot effectively function.
4 ) CONCEPT OF REPRESENTATION :-
Democracy implies popular sovereignty .Democracy means govt by
the people ,of the people and for the people. In modern state
, people don‟t directly participate in the process of govt.
Direct participation of citizens becomes impossible due to the vastness of te
rritory, Huge population, long distance etc.
hence modern democracies have to be indirect democracies run by the repre
sentatives chosen by the people. thus ,
the modern democracy is indirect democracy or representative democracy. U
nder this system, the voters elect representatives to perform the function
of the legislation on their behalf. Periodic election are important in democracy.
ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM:
The representative system might have originated in the middle ages as a
device used by certain monastic orders similarly ,it was applied to councils
called by kings for conciliation on financial matters. The representatives ,
thus consulted by the king had very little power
since the end of the 13th^ and the beginning of the 14th^ centuries ,
representatives bodies like parliament in England, Estates general in France.
The 19th^ century witnessed the gradual extension of the universal adult franc
hise in Britain various acts made the house of commons,
a representative body.
In other countries, the representative bodies were created.
By the end of the third decade of the 20th^ century, women also have been
admitted to the franchise on equal terms with men in both Britain and Ame
rica.
MEANING AND DEFINITION:-
In politics, representation describes how some individuals stand in for others or a group of others, f or a certain time period. representation usually refers to representative democracies, where elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislation. Generally only citizens are granted representation in the form of voting rights in the
governments.
According Hanna Pitkin „‟
political representation is the activity of making citizens voices, opinions,
and perspectives present in the public policy making process.
Political representation occurs when political actors speak, advocate,
symbolize and act on the behalf of others in the political arena‟‟.
THEORIES OF REPRESENTATION:-
In democracies people elected members are the representatives of the peop
le. They represent the people in the legislature. This process is called represe
ntation. According to prof.shephard,
there are three theories of representation. They are as follows:
- The Primitive Tribal Theory:- The political practice followed during the Greek city state days known as tribal theory of re[presentation. Under this system, only the people having membership of the state had the right to vote. Slaves were not considered as members of state.
- The Feudal Theory: the feudal theory highlights the property condition of voting right in a state. it was in the middle ages in the Europea n countries.
3. THE ETHICAL THEORY:-
the theory considers the voting right a natural and inherent right of every citizen.
are considered talented and wise who look after the the well- being. They are not mere recipient of the input provided by the electorate but are agents of change that they think would be best for the society.
5) EXPLAIN JUDICIAL REVIEW
The word review means an act of inspecting/ examining something with a view to correct it or to improve it.
The word „Judicial Review‟ stands for something which is done by a court to examine the validity or correctness of the action of some other agency. Thus the power of the judiciary to review and determine the validity of a law or an order may be described as the power of “judicial review”.
Judicial review is the power of the court to review the laws passed by the legislature and orders issued by the executive, when challenged by the affected persons, and to declare them null and void, if they infringe the provisions of the constitution. Judicial Review is feature of countries with written constitution and federal systems. Judicial Review protects personal rights against legislatives and executive actions; states‟ rights against national action; national rights against state action; and respective rights of three branches of government against one another. The doctrine of judicial review originated in USA in 1803 in a leading case of Marbury v/s Madison , where chief justice Marshall ruled that court had the power to declare the actions of the congress and the executive invalid Chief justice Marshall defined Judicial Review as “the examination by the courts in cases actually before them of the legislative statues and executive administrative acts to determine whether or not they are prohibited by a written constitution or are in excess of powers granted by it.” Judicial review essentially means the courts of law have the power of testing the validity of legislative as well as other governmental action with reference to the provisions of the constitution. In India, by basis of article 32 and 136 of the Indian constitution Supreme Court can exercise the power of judicial Review, similarly under Article 226 and 227 High courts have the power of judicial Review. Though the term judicial review is not mentioned in the constitution, Article 13 entrust the courts of the review power states:
i) All laws in force in the territory of India immediately before the commencement
of this constitution, in so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this part, shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be void.
ii) The state shall not make any law which takes away or abridges the rights conferred by this part and any law made in contravention of this clause shall, to the extent of the contravention, be void. The scope of review power of judiciary in India is comparatively less to than that of USA.
6)THEORY OF SEPRATION OF POWERS
The doctrine of separation of powers implies that there should be three seprate organs of government Legislature, Magisterial (Executive) and judicial functions. But in ancient Greece this distinction was not followed, as all these powers were often exercised by the same person. The idea was discussed in the writings of Polybius and Cicero of the Roman empire, where they emphasized the importance of a balanced equilibrium of power where each part of government needs as a check on the other part. In the middle ages too, the idea got resonance in the writings of Marsiglo of Padua who made a distinction between legislative and executive functions be given to independent magistrates and it should not be in the hands of monarchs as it would mean the indiscriminate mixture of justice and mercy, of strict adherence to law and arbitrary departure from it. Civil government talks about three powers that existed in every commonwealth. He mentioned it as legislative, executive and federative where the federative owner relates to the conduct of foreign affairs. He opined that for the interest of liberty powers of government is separated from each other The best exposition of the doctrine of separation of powers was given by the French scholar Montesquieu in his book, „ Sprit of Laws „ published in 1748. Montesquieu is widely regarded as the father of the doctrine of separation of powers. Montesquieu lived in the times of Louis Fourteen who gave the famous dictum „I am the „. The monarch held absolute power, as his words was law and his authority unquestionable. The monarch combined in his person all the three powers of government Montesquieu observed that all the powers concentrated in one person or body of persons is dangerous, and it will result only in the denial of liberty to people. Montesquieu happened to visit Britain, and was greatly impressed by the liberty enjoyed by the people of that country. He misjudged it as a result of separation of powers that be thought existed in that country. So he came to the
Application. In USA bills are often prepared under the orders or will of the president and are introduced in the congress by the members of his own party.
7) DEFINE AMENDMENTS
OUR SOCIETY is not a static society, it keeps on changing when the society
changes people also change along with it, when the people changes law is subject
to change according to the circumstances and need of the people. No generation
has monopoly of wisdom nor has it a right to place fetters generation to mold the
machinery of government according to their requirements. If no provision were
made for the amendment of the constitution, the people would have recourse to
extra constitutional method like revolution to change the laws.
Amendment is nothing but, is an act of changing laws for the betterment of
society .it is the process of formality altering or adding to a legal document made
by adding, altering or omitting a certain part or term .Amended documents
,when properly executed , retain the legal validity of the original document.
An act or changing the constitution by definite procedure is valid Amendment.
A constitutional amendment refers to the modification of the constitution of a
nation. In many jurisdictions the text of the constitutions itself is altered in others
the text is not changed but the amendment change its effects.
Importance and need of amendment
A constitution cannot claim its preservation unless it decides upon the mode of
amendment. A constitution should be capable of adjuring itself to the future
needs.
- It must have sufficient scope for its own revision or alteration, to meet the
challenges of the period.
- Amendment keeps the constitution alive.
- Amendment is nothing but a process through which the changes to the
constitution shall be brought out.
- When circumstances changes and the current constitution does not fit
with those new circumstances amendment gives the opportunity to make changes
to our constitution.
- it is very important because it is the only way we can add to the constitution.
- Provision for amendment of the constitution is made with a view to overcome
the difficulties which may encounter is future in the working of the constitution.
NECESSITY OF AMENDING PROVISIONS IN THE CONSTITUTION
- Provisions for amendment of the constitution is made with a view to overcome the difficulties which may encounter in future in the working of the constitution.
- If no provision were made for the amendment of the constitution the people would have recourse to extra constitutional method like revolution to change the constitution.
- A federal constitution is generally rigid in character as the procedure of amendment is very difficult. So is the case with Australia, Canada and Switzerland. It is a common criticism of federal constitution that is too conservative, too difficult to alter and that it is consequently behind the times.
- THE framers of the Indian constitution were keen to avoid excessive rigidity. They were anxious to have a document which could grow with a growing nation, adapt itself to the changing need and circumstances of a growing people.
- But the framers of Indian constitution were also aware of the fact that if the constitution was not flexible it would be a playing of the whims and caprices of the ruling party.
- They were therefore anxious to avoid flexibility of the extreme type. HENCE they adopted a middle course. It is neither too rigid to admit necessary amendments, nor flexible for undesirable changes.
PROCEDURE OF AMENDMENT IN UK
In U.K. the constitution can be amended by the parliament itself. The
British parliament is supreme in law – making. The procedure adopted
for the constitutional amendment is similar to that of the
enactment or amendment of ordinary laws. No rigid or special
PROCEDURE for the constitutional amendment is suggested in
Britain. There is no judicial decision that parliament cannot set aside,
no usage that it cannot terminate , and no rule of common law that
it cannot overturn. The procedure of amendment in the UK is easy. The
constitutional amendment is passed in the UK with a simple
majority in both the houses of parliament.
PROCEDURE OF AMENDMENT IN THE U.S.A.
In the U.S.A, the procedure for amendment is rigid and complex. The
normal process of amendment to the constitution is laid down in
Article -5 which reads as follows:
“ The Congress , wherever two – thirds of both the houses shall deem
it necessary, shall propose amendments to the constitution, or, on the
applications or legislations or two- third of several states, shall call a
convention for proposing amendments, which either case shall be
valid to all interests and purpose , as part of this constitution when
ratified by the legislation of three- fourths of the several states or by
conventions in three- forth thereof as the one or the other method of
ratification may be proposed by the Congress.”
Article 5 of the constitution of the U.S.A. Prescribes two methods, namely.
i) 2/3rd^ of both the houses of the Congress may propose
amendments and ratification shall take place by 3/4th^ of the legislation of several states or by conventions of 3/4th^ of the several states.
ii) The states may themselves proposed an amendment under this
method,2/3rd^ of all the states legislatures shall apply to the congress for this purpose.
On such a request being made, the congress calls a constitutional convention which proposes the amendments on the basis of the original recommendations. The amendment then is to be ratified by 3/4th^ of all the states either through their legislatures or specially called conventions. Here again, it is the congress which determines the mode of ratification. It is admitted that the formal process of amendment takes a long time. OUT of about 3,000 formal proposals since 1789 only 27 proposals were adopted and only 14 constitutional amendments, after 1804, have brought about.
8) WRITTEN CONSTITUTION
A written constitution is one WHICH IS WRITTEN IN TO BLACK and white in a document or in several documents and is a consciously planned system which is adopted by a deliberate creation. FOR e.g the constitution of India was formulated and adopted by the constituent assembly of India and drafted by Drafting committee of India. A written constitution is a deliberate design whereby government is conducted and all this is contained in a document bearing single data. A written constitution is distinct in its character. It is the supremacy of the constitution, which means that its provisions can be changed or amended according to the prescribed procedure. Garner writes,” A written constitution is a consciously planned constitution formulated and adopted by deliberate actions of a constituent assembly or a convention.” It provides for a definite design of government institutions, their organizations ,powers, functions and inter- relationships. It embodies the constitutional law of the state. It enjoys the place of supremacy. The government is fully bound by kits provisions and works strictly in accordance with a settled process of amendment written in the constitution itself. It is a duly passed and enacted constitution. The constitutions of India, the USA, Germany , Japan, Canada , France, Switzerland and several other states , are written constitutions.
