Phenomenal collection of 12 free essays on 1. Direct Democracy 2. Constitutionalism 3. Empirical political theory 4. ‘Natural Law 5. Essay on Pakistan’s Military Incursions and Nuclear Blackmail 6.Political power 7. Iron law of Oligarchy 8. Unity of command 9 Rule of Law 10. Postmodernism 11. Imperialism 12. Swaraj

12 Free Essay (in English Language )

1. Essay on Direct Democracy

Direct democracy, classically termed pure democracy, is a form of democracy and a theory of civics in which sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate.

Depending on the particular system, this assembly might pass executive motions, make laws elect or dismiss officials, and conduct trials. Direct democracy stands in contrast to representative democracy, where sovereignty is exercised by a subset of the people, usually on the basis of election. Deliberative democracy incorporate’ elements of both direct democracy and representative democracy.

Many countries that are representative democracies allow for three forms of political action that provide limited direct democracy: initiative, referendum (plebiscite), and recall. Referendums can include the ability to hold a binding referendum on whether a given law should be rejected.

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This effectively grants the populace which holds suffrage a veto on government legislation. Initiatives, usually put forward by the populace, force the consideration of laws or amendments (usually by a subsequent referendum), without the consent of the elected officials, or even in opposition to the will of said officials. Recalls give people the right to remove elected officials from office before the end of their term, although this is very rare in modern democracies.

2. Essay on Constitutionalism

Constitutionalism has a variety of meanings. Most generally, it is “a complex of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behaviour elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law”.

American Constitutionalism would be more correctly defined as a complex of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behaviour elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from the people, and is limited by a body of fundamental law.

These ideas, attitudes and patterns of behaviour, according to one analyst, derive from “a dynamic political and historical process rather than from a static body of thought lay down in the eighteenth century”. As described by political scientist and constitutional scholar David Fellman:

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Constitutionalism is descriptive of a complicated concept, deeply imbedded in historical experience, which subjects the officials who exercise governmental powers to the limitations of a higher law. Constitutionalism proclaims the desirability of the rule of law as opposed to rule by the arbitrary judgment or mere fiat of public officials.

Throughout the literature dealing with modern public law and the foundations of statecraft the central element of the concept of constitutionalism is that in political society government officials are not free to do anything they please in any manner they choose; they are bound to observe both the limitations on power and the procedures which are set out in the supreme, constitutional law of the community. It may therefore be said that the touchstone of constitutionalism is the concept of limited government under a higher law.

3. Essay on Empirical political theory

The study of underlying rules or regularities in politics. Political theory is usually pursued an immediate empirical data. All political analysis, however, relies on theoretical assumptions & salient factors that structure political activity.

Where these are closely derived from empirical political theory is sometimes used. Formal political theory (or “positive political theory”), the modeling of the behaviour of political actors in particular situations (such as voters in election theory or rational-choice theory to political situations is so example of formal political theory.

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Most often, however, political theory refers to the exploration of normative issues in politics about the nature of the “good” society and how it might be achieved. In this context, it includes thought, efforts to clarify political concepts, and explorations of ethical and moral questions on thought from Plato to modern figures such as Michel Foucault belongs in this category and the philosophical tradition, where answers to basic questions about human life were traditional and tradition, however, the nature of the questions asked has changed over time.

The main issue beginning in ancient Greece, carried through in the social contract theorists of the Enlightenment day liberal political thought-was not merely to analyze how power was used, but to ask how to harness it to collective ends. The legitimacy of political institutions was a fundamental concept of justice, freedom, and sovereignty.

For moderns from Karl Marx to Friedrich, the political power is more complicated-linked to historical trajectories of social development and to a political development much produced by as subject to political power. Although this represents a critique of the elite liberal versions-the critical turn in political theory did not thereby do away with the problems preoccupied the liberal tradition.

4. Essay on Natural Law

Natural law or the law of nature has been described as a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore is universal.

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As classically used, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behaviour. The phrase natural law is opposed to the positive of a given political community, society, or nation-state, and thus can function as a standard by which to criticize that law.

In natural law jurisprudence, on the other hand, the content of positive law cannot be known without some reference to the natural law. Used in this way, natural law can be invoked to criticize decisions about the statutes, but less so to criticize the law itself. Some use natural law synonymously with natural justice or natural right.

Although natural law is often conflated with common law, the two are distinct in that natural law is a view that certain rights or. Values are inherent in or universally cognizable by virtue of human reason or human nature, while common law is the legal tradition whereby certain rights or values are legally cognizable by virtue of judicial recognition or articulation.

Natural law theories have, however, exercised a profound influence on the development of English common law, and have featured greatly in the philosophies of Thomas Aquinas, Francisco Suarez, Richard Hooker, Thomas Hobbes, Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf, John Locke, Francis Hutcheson, Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, and Emmerich de Vattel. Because of the intersection between natural law and natural rights, it has been cited as a component in United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. The essence of Declarationism is that the founding of the United States is based on Natural law.

5. Essay on Pakistan’s Military Incursions and Nuclear Blackmail

Pakistan has also served as a proxy of the imperial powers in destabilizing India and in keeping India weak by initiating four wars with India ostensibly over Kashmir. Since 1990, it has kept up a barrage of cross- border fire along Kashmir. K. Subrahmanyam’s Kargil Report to the Indian Parliament (March 2000) suggests that Pakistan was able to increase its violence against India because it had acquired a credible nuclear capability by 1990.

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This capability was acquired through the conscious support of other nuclear powers such as China and the US. K. Subrahmanyam also speaks of Pakistan having threatened India with a nuclear attack more than once.

Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail of India has undoubtedly weighed on the minds of India’s defense analysts. Barring a brief flirtation with jingoistic nationalism on the part of a few immature politicians, most of India’s defense policy experts and foreign policy analysts have displayed caution and restraint.

Since the Pokharan tests, India’s nuclear analysts have worked extra hard to define a nuclear policy that is rooted in a strongly defensive posture-that can disarm it’s non-nuclear friends in the developing world offer mutually binding no-use pledges to other nuclear nations, and ameliorate the possibility of accidental launches and avoidable escalation. A series of conciliatory statements have been issued in an attempt to disarm the US and its allies, as also China and Pakistan.

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With Pakistan, India initiated the effort to undertake ‘confidence building measures’ which culminated in the 1999 ‘Lahore Declaration’. Unfortunately, Pakistan not only refused to endorse the no-first-use principle that India has repeatedly articulated, it followed the ‘Lahore Declaration’ with its insidious invasion of Kargil.

Since then Pakistan has used US-supplied unarmed aerial reconnaissance aircraft to assist in its repeated infiltrations into Kashmir and attack the civilian and military infrastructure. Pakistan-aided terrorists have launched suicide attacks in Kashmir and in many other parts of India. Spy planes have frequently entered India’s air-space in violation of previous treaties.

Articulating a Defensive Nuclear Doctrine:

Reiterating India’s strong stand that nuclear weapons must never be used, India has repeatedly called for a legally binding international prohibition on the use of Nuclear Weapons. This position was publicly asserted most recently in 1998 by India’s Savitri Kunadi in Geneva: “We believe that a Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons could form the bedrock of security assurances-comprehensive, legally binding and irreversible”.

Unlike the US which has threatened the use of nuclear weapons on as many as 25 (or more) occasions, India has stated that it does not intend to use nuclear weapons to commit aggression or for mounting threats against any country. The Prime Minister of India stated the following in the Lower House of the Indian Parliament on August 4, 1998; ‘India’s nuclear tests were not intended for offense but for self-defense.

In order to ensure that our independence and integrity are never jeopardized in future, we will have a policy of a minimum deterrent. We have stated that we will not be the first to use nuclear weapons. We are also willing to strengthen this by entering into bilateral agreements on no-first use or multilateral negotiations on a global no-first use. Having stated that we shall not be the first to use nuclear weapons, there remains no basis for their use against countries which do not have nuclear weapons.”

As a specific example of India’s attempts to allay the fears of India’s non-nuclear neighbours in Asia-India issued a public reassurance to the ASEAN nations in respect to their wishes for keeping the ASEAN nation nuclear free. This was expressly stated by Dilip Lahiri, Additional Secretary (UN)
at the United Nations Disarmament Commission on April 13, 1999, in New York-“India has always believed that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons transcends regional dimensions. Nuclear Weapons Free Zones cannot do justice to the wide scope and global nature of the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

India, however, respects the sovereign choice exercised by non-nuclear weapon states to safeguard their security interests through nuclear weapon free zones established on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the States of the region concerned. At the ASEAN Regional Forum in Manila last year, India had stated that it fully respects the status of the NWFZ in South East Asia and was ready to convert this commitment into a legal obligation”.

India has also refrained from putting its nuclear weapons at hair-trigger alerts. Defense analysts have spoken of mandatory delays in reacting to a nuclear attack in order to avoid accidental launches and allow India’s Prime Minister and senior defense officials to make a deliberate and conscious decision as to when and how to retaliate if India were to confront a nuclear attack. India’s Sharad Pawar spoke extensively on this subject while addressing the General Debate of the UN First Committee in New York (October 14, 1998).

In his speech, he stated his concerns regarding doctrines of first use of nuclear weapons and the substantial numbers under hair trigger alert that risked accidental or unauthorized launch of nuclear weapons: “We are concerned that even with the end of the cold war there are today more than 5,000 nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert.

Serious attention needs to be paid to various proposals for global de-alerting, de-targeting and de-activating of nuclear weapons that could contribute to confidence- building and to the improvement in the international climate for negotiation leading to the elimination of nuclear weapons. India proposes to introduce a resolution entitled ‘Reducing Nuclear Danger’, and we hope that this initiative of India aimed at focusing international attention on this clear and present danger, will receive wide spread support.”

This speech and similar evidence presented earlier all goes to show that India has for long been one of the stoutest advocates of peace and disarmament. Until the fall of the Soviet Union, its foreign policy was closely allied with that of other developing nations. It rarely hesitated from condemning the wars of aggression that the US and its allies conducted throughout the world.

India developed its nuclear policy with considerable reluctance and more in reaction to the concrete threats it faced in the South Asian region. It is the British, the US, its NATO allies, and its regional proxies like Pakistan, who have turned South Asia into a region of tension and instability.

The Struggle for World Peace :

Like many other developing nations, India has repeatedly stated that the developing world needs an environment of peace to develop. This is especially true for the people of India and Pakistan if they are ever to reverse the destructive and debilitating effects that colonial rule imposed. Genuine lovers of peace in South Asia can help by illuminating the truth-and bringing pressure on the world’s sole super-power to desist from intervening in the region in a provocative and malicious way. By categorically rejecting the first-use of nuclear weapons, India has made it abundantly clear that it has not acquired its nuclear capability with any aggressive or hegemonic ambitions. It is up to the other nuclear powers to reciprocate with pledges to do likewise.

A no-first-use pledge has to be the first step-the essential basis of any real movement towards genuine nuclear disarmament. If every nuclear power can ascribe to the doctrine of no-first-use, then the world can take the next step of dismantling existing nuclear arsenals. Rather than argue in a manner that sustains nuclear apartheid, or preserves a nuclear caste-system of those who can and those who can’t, a legally binding no-first-use pledge will automatically move the world towards nuclear disarmament. This is what the world’s peace community must collectively fight for.

Finally, it should be noted that nuclear weapons are not the sole instruments of mass-destruction. The manner in which the US conducted its wars in Korea and Vietnam cannot be ignored-the US took the war to civilians on an unprecedented scale. The UN charter clearly prohibits the deliberate targeting and destruction of civilian infrastructure but that is precisely what NATO and its allies did in Iraq and Yugoslavia.

Sanctions alone have been responsible for over a million deaths in Iraq. The use of Depleted Uranium (i.e. nuclear waste), in these wars has created deadly consequences for the people of Iraq and Yugoslavia. The US even refuses to endorse a convention to ban land-mines. The struggle for nuclear disarmament is hence, inseparable from the struggle against war and inhumane sanctions.

The defeat of the Soviet Union has led to a urn-polar world. With their enormous and unprecedented concentration of economic and military power, the NATO powers are able to dominate the world. They are able to conduct one-sided wars and unilaterally impose military embargoes and unfair trade treaties.

Such actions are increasing fears and tensions across the globe. The struggle for a more just and multiplier world is therefore, an important component in the struggle for world peace. To the extent, India’s nuclear tests contribute towards building a multi-polar world; they should be greeted with tolerance and understanding, rather than with fear and trepidation.

6. Essay on Political Power

Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power.

At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the representatives of national sovereignty. Political powers are not limited to heads of states, however the extent to which a person or group such as an insurgency, terrorist group, or multinational corporation possesses such power is related to the amount of societal influence they can wield, formally or informally. In many cases this influence is not contained within a single state and it refers to international power.

Political scientists have frequently defined power as “the ability to influence the behaviour of others “with or without resistance.

For analytical reasons, I.C. MacMillan separates the concepts power and influence.

Power is the capacity to restructure actual situations- i.C. Macmillan

Influence is the capacity to control and modify the perceptions of others. -I.C. Macmillan

One of the most famous references to power comes from the Chinese communist leader Mao

Zedong:

Political power grows from the barrel of a gun.-Mao Zedong

This quote has been widely misinterpreted, however, Mao explained further that, “Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party.”

This ability is a crucial element of a state’s power in international relations. Any state able to direct its military forces outside the limited bounds of its territory might be said to have some level of power projection capability, but the term itself is used most frequently in reference to militaries with a worldwide reach.

Even states with sizable, power assets may only be able to exert limited regional influence so long as they lack the means of effectively projecting their power on a global scale. Generally, only a select few states are able to overcome the logistical difficulties inherent in the deployment and direction of a modern, mechanized military force.

While traditional measures of power projection typically focus on hard power assets, the developing theory of soft power notes that power projection does not necessarily have to involve the active use of military forces in combat. Assets for power projection can often serve dual uses, as the deployment of various countries’ militaries during the humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake illustrates.

The ability of a state to project its forces into an area may serve as an effective diplomatic lever, influencing the decision-making process and acting as a potential deterrent on other states’ behaviour.

7. Essay on ‘iron law of oligarchy’

The iron law of oligarchy is a political theory, first developed by the German syndicalism sociologist Robert Michels in his 1911 book, Political Parties. It states that all forms of organization, regardless of how democratic or autocratic they may be at the start, will eventually and inevitably develop into oligarchies.

The reasons behind the oligarchization process are: the indispensability of leadership; the tendency of all groups, not excluding the organization leadership, to defend their interests; and the passivity of the led individuals, more often than not taking the form of actual gratitude towards the leaders.

The “iron law of oligarchy” states that all forms of organization, regardless of how democratic or autocratic they may be at the start, will. Eventually and inevitably develop oligarchic tendencies, thus making true democracy practically and theoretically impossible, especially in large groups and complex organizations. The relative structural fluidity in a small-scale democracy succumbs to “social viscosity” in a large-scale organization. According to the “iron law,” democracy and large-scale organization are incompatible. Robert Struble. Jr. argues, however, that a rapid rotation in office can mitigate, or even nullify, the “iron law” in the legislatures/parliaments of large nations.

The size and complexity of a group or organization is important to the Iron Law as well. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Green Party of Germany made a conscious effort to try and break the Iron Law. Anyone could be or could remove a party official. There were no permanent offices or officers. Even the smallest, most routine decisions could be put up for discussion and to a vote.

When the party was small, these anti-oligarchic measures enjoyed some success. But as the organization grew larger and the party became more successful, the need to effectively compete in elections, raise funds, run Large rallies and demonstrations and work with other political parties once elected, led the Greens to adapt more conventional structures and practices.

8. Essay on ‘unity of command’

Unity of command: Every employee should receive orders from only one superior. In many organizations, the chain of command principle is still very much alive. The manager’s status is that of the deliverer of orders, and the employee enacts them under the monitoring of the manager. Both parties share responsibility for achievements.

But, as Longnecker suggests in his book Principles of Manageme and Organizational Behaviour, communication provides the underpinnings of this relationship. The discussions and meetings contact managers and their subordinates have may improve or harm the effectiveness of the direct report relationships in the chain of command.

A problem associated with the chain of command occurs when a subordinate bypasses a manager in either the giving of information or the requesting of a decision. This act undermines the authority and position of the manager who is bypassed. If this practice is allowed to continue in a bureaucratically- organized company, morale of the managers will decline. The urgency and frequency of these situations may, of course, mitigate the impact and inappropriateness of such contacts.

9. Essay on ‘Rule of Law’

The rule of law is a legal maxim that states no person is above the law, and no one can be punished by the government except for a breach of the law. Rule of law stands in contrast to the idea that the sovereign is above the law (rex lex), a feature of Roman Law and other legal systems.

The phrase has been used since the 17th century, but the concept is older. For example, the Greek philosopher Aristotle said, “Law should govern”. One way to be free from the rule of law is by denying that an enactment has the necessary attributes of law. The rule of law has therefore been described as “an exceedingly elusive notion” giving rise to a “rampant divergence of understandings”.

At least two principal conceptions of the rule of law can be identified: a formalist or “thin” and a substantive or “thick” definition of the rule of law. Formalist definitions of the rule of law do not make a judgment about the “justness” of law itself, but define specific procedural attributes that a legal framework must have in order to be in compliance with the rule of law.

Substantive conceptions of the rule of law go beyond this and include certain substantive rights that are said to be based on, or derived from, the rule of law. The Secretary-General of the United Nations defines the rule of law as:

A principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards.

It requires, as well, measures to ensure adherence to the principles of supremacy of law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, fairness in the application of the law, separation of powers, participation in decision-making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness and procedural and legal transparency.

The General Assembly has considered rule of law as an agenda item since 1992, with renewed interest since 2006 and has adopted resolutions at its last three sessions. The Security Council has held a number of thematic debates on the rule of law, and adopted resolutions emphasizing the importance of these issues in the context of women, peace and security, children in armed conflict, and the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The Peace building Commission has also regularly addressed rule of law issues with respect to countries on its agenda.

10. Essay on Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a movement away from the viewpoint of modernism. More specifically it is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the problem of objective truth and inherent suspicion towards global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. It involves the belief that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to change inherent to time and place.

It emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and motivations; in particular it attacks the use of sharp classifications such as male versus female, straight versus gay, white versus black, and imperial versus colonial. Rather, it holds realities to be plural and relative, and dependent on who the interested parties are and what their interests consist in.

It attempts to problematic modernist overconfidence, by drawing into sharp contrast the difference between how confident speakers are of their positions versus how confident they need to be to serve their supposed purposes. Postmodernism has influenced many cultural fields, including literary criticism, sociology, linguistics, architecture, visual arts, and music.

Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from modernist approaches that had previously been dominant. The term “postmodernism” comes from its critique of the “modernist” scientific mentality of objectivity and progress associated with the Enlightenment.

These movements, modernism and postmodernism, are understood as cultural projects or as a set of perspectives. “Postmodernism” is used in critical theory to refer to a point of departure for works of literature, drama, architecture, cinema, journalism, and design, as well as in marketing and business and in the interpretation of law, culture, and religion in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Indeed, postmodernism, particularly as an academic movement, can be understood as a reaction to modernism in the Humanities.

Whereas modernism was primarily concerned with principles such as identity, unity, authority, and certainly, postmodernism is often associated with difference, plurality, totality, and skepticism.

Literary critic Fredric Jameson describes postmodernism as the “dominant cultural logic of late capitalism.” “Late capitalism” refers to the phase of capitalism after World War II, as described by economist Ernest Mandel; the term refers to the same period sometimes described by “globalization”, “multinational capitalism”, or “consumer capitalism”. Jameson’s work studies the postmodern in contexts of aesthetics, politics, philosophy and economics.

11. Essay on imperialism

Imperialism, as defined by The Dictionary of Human Geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” The imperialism of the last 500 years, as described by the above work, is primarily a western undertaking that employs “expansionist-mercantilism and latterly communist-systems.”

Geographical domains have included the Mongolian Empire, Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Portuguese Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Dutch Empire, the Persian Empire, the French Empire, the Russian Empire, the Chinese Empire, and the British Empire, but the term can equally be applied to domains of knowledge, beliefs, values and expertise, such as the empires of Christianity (see Christendom) or Islam (see Caliphate). Imperialism is usually autocratic, and also sometimes monolithic (i.e. having a massive, unchanging structure that does not permit individual variation) in character.

“Imperialism has been subject to moral censure by its critics, and thus the term is frequently used in international propaganda as a pejorative for expansionist and aggressive foreign policy.” In 1898 Americans who opposed imperialism created the Anti-Imperialist League to oppose the US annexation of the Philippines. A year later a war erupted in the Philippines causing business-, labour- and government leaders in the US to condemn America’s occupation in the Philippines. They also denounced them for causing the deaths of many Filipinos.

12: Essay on Swaraj

Swaraj can mean generally self-governance or “self-rule”, and was used synonymously with “home-rule” by Gandhi but the word usually refers to Mohandas Gandhi’s concpet for Indian independence from foreign domination.

Swaraj lays stress on governance not by a hierarchical government, but self governance through individuals and community building. The focus is on political decentralization. Since this is against the political and social systems followed by Britain, Gandhi’s concept of Swaraj laid stress on India discarding British political, economic, bureaucratic, legal, military, and educational institutions.

Although Gandhi’s aim of totally implementing the concepts of Swaraj in India was not achieved, the voluntary work organizations which he founded for this purpose did serve as precursors and role models for people’s movements, voluntary organisations and some of the non-governmental organisations that were subsequently launched in various parts of India. The Bhoodan movement which presaged land reform legislation activity throughout India, ultimately leading to India discarding the Zamindari system, was also inspired by the ideas of Swaraj.”

Gandhi’s model of Swaraj was almost entirely discarded by the Indian government. He had wanted a system of a classless, stateless direct democracy. In what is known as his Last Will and Testament Gandhi suggested the disbanding of the Congress as a political forum. He said, “Its takes is done. The next task is to move into villages and revitalize life there to build a new socio-economic structure from the bottom upwards.”

He wanted the Congress party to change into a constructive work organisation Lok Sewak Sangh was the name he proposed-to nonscientist and mobilise the people to work and struggle for Swaraj. However, none of these objectives were achieved when India became independent. India, although a federation, got a strong central government. Representative democracy, rather than direct democracy was adopted. The Congress Party was not disbanded. Rather it went on to become one of the frontrunners in running the government of India.