CDS Polity · World Polity, Democracy and International Relations
Political Thinkers
Who said what: the Western thinkers behind consent, law and the managerial class, the Indian thinkers behind Chaukhamba Raj and Sapta Kranti, and the famous lines on freedom and dignity.
Why this matters
Nine CDS questions, seven MODERATE and two HARD. Each one gives an idea or a book and asks for its author, with three other thinkers of the same school as the wrong options, so learn each name with its one idea. Ram Manohar Lohia is the answer twice.
Concept 1 of 3: Western thinkers and their ideas
CDS names a book or a one-line idea and puts four thinkers of the same family in the options. The fix is to tie each name to one idea only: Locke to consent, Austin to law as command, Burnham to managers, Fukuyama to the end of history.
Definition
Learn them in pairs of name and idea:
- John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1689): legitimate government rests on the consent of the governed.
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762): the general will.
- Jeremy Bentham: utilitarianism, the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
- John Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832): legal positivism. Law is the command of a sovereign, backed by punishment, and is kept apart from morality.
- Elite theorists: Gaetano Mosca and Vilfredo Pareto (a ruling minority always governs) and Robert Michels (the iron law of oligarchy, in Political Parties, 1911).
- James Burnham, The Managerial Revolution (1941): a managerial class rules both capitalist and communist industrial societies through its technical and administrative skill.
- Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (essay 1989, book 1992): after the Cold War, liberal democracy is the end point of the contest of ideologies.
| Thinker | Work | Idea |
|---|---|---|
| John Locke | Two Treatises of Government (1689) | Government by consentQ CDS 2021 (I): 'Government by Consent' was Locke's, with Mill, Bentham and Rousseau as the other options. |
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | The Social Contract (1762) | The general will |
| Jeremy Bentham | Utilitarian writings | Greatest happiness of the greatest number |
| John Austin | The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832) | Legal positivism: law is the sovereign's commandQ |
| Robert Michels | Political Parties (1911) | Iron law of oligarchy |
| James Burnham | The Managerial Revolution (1941) | A managerial class rules capitalist and communist societies alikeQ CDS 2019 (II): the other options were the elite theorists Michels, Mosca and Pareto. |
| Francis Fukuyama | The End of History and the Last Man (1992) | Liberal democracy is the end point of ideological history |
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2021 · CDS (II) 2021 — General Knowledge · Q32Moderate
Example 1 · World Polity, Democracy and International Relations · Political Thinkers
Who among the following is the author of the famous essay, 'The End of History and the Last Man' ?
Michels, Mosca and Pareto did not write The Managerial Revolution
They are the elite theorists: a ruling minority always governs, and Michels added the iron law of oligarchy. The managerial class is James Burnham's idea.
Consent is Locke, the general will is Rousseau
Both wrote about the social contract, which is why they are set side by side. Government by consent is Locke's phrase; Rousseau's is the general will, and Bentham's is the greatest happiness principle.
Concept 2 of 3: Indian thinkers: Lohia, JP, Ambedkar
The Indian socialists gave their ideas Hindi names, and CDS asks the names. Two of them used the word Kranti (revolution), so keep the numbers apart: Lohia's seven, JP's total.
Definition
The names to know:
- Ram Manohar Lohia, Chaukhamba Raj (the four-pillar State): power shared among the village, district, province and centre, with an end to rule through the district magistrate.
- Ram Manohar Lohia, Sapta Kranti (seven revolutions) to be fought together: for equality of men and women; against inequality of colour; against caste; against foreign rule; for economic equality; against intrusion into private life; and against weapons, for civil disobedience (satyagraha).
- Jayaprakash Narayan, Sampoorna Kranti (total revolution), his call of 1974.
- B. R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste (1936): caste is graded inequality, an ascending scale of reverence and a descending scale of contempt, which a just and compassionate society must dissolve.
- Vinoba Bhave: the Bhoodan (land gift) movement, begun in 1951.
- The 42nd Amendment (1976) added the words socialist and secular to the Preamble.
| Thinker | Idea | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Ram Manohar Lohia | Chaukhamba Raj | Four pillars of power: village, district, province, centre |
| Ram Manohar Lohia | Sapta Kranti | Seven revolutions fought together against inequalityQ CDS 2020 (II): Jayaprakash Narayan was the trap option; his slogan was Sampoorna Kranti. |
| Jayaprakash Narayan | Sampoorna Kranti (1974) | Total revolution |
| B. R. Ambedkar | Graded inequality | Caste ranks people by reverence upward and contempt downwardQ |
| Vinoba Bhave | Bhoodan (1951) | Landowners give land to the landless |
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2019 · CDS (II) 2019 — General Knowledge · Q62Hard
Example 2 · World Polity, Democracy and International Relations · Political Thinkers
The concept of "Four Pillar State", free from district magistracy for India was suggested by
Sapta is Lohia, Sampoorna is JP
Both were socialists, and CDS puts them side by side. Sapta Kranti (seven revolutions) is Lohia's; Sampoorna Kranti (total revolution) is Jayaprakash Narayan's.
Concept 3 of 3: Lines on freedom and dignity
Some questions quote a famous line and ask who wrote it. Each line has a fingerprint: dignity is Kant, ruling ourselves is Gandhi, freedom from fear is Suu Kyi. Liberty also has two classic definitions, Mill's and Berlin's.
Definition
The lines and their authors:
- Immanuel Kant: human beings have dignity, not a price, so a person must be treated as an end and never only as a means.
- Mahatma Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (1909): it is swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves.
- Subhas Chandra Bose: freedom means not only release from political bondage but also equal distribution of wealth.
- Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom from Fear (1991): real freedom is freedom from fear.
- J. S. Mill, On Liberty (1859): the harm principle. The State may limit a person's freedom only to prevent harm to others.
- Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty (1958): negative liberty (freedom from interference) and positive liberty (freedom to be one's own master).
| Thinker | Line or idea |
|---|---|
| Immanuel Kant | Human beings, unlike things, possess dignity |
| Mahatma Gandhi | It is swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves (Hind Swaraj, 1909) |
| Subhas Chandra Bose | Freedom includes equal distribution of wealth |
| Aung San Suu Kyi | Real freedom is freedom from fear |
| J. S. Mill | Harm principle (On Liberty, 1859) |
| Isaiah Berlin | Negative and positive liberty (1958) |
Practice this conceptself-check · 3 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2024 · CDS (I) 2024 — General Knowledge · Q105Moderate
Example 3 · World Polity, Democracy and International Relations · Political Thinkers
Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the code given below the Lists :
Code :
| List-I (Political idea) | List-II (Thinker) |
|---|---|
| A. Human beings, unlike all other objects, possess dignity | 1. Aung San Suu Kyi |
| B. It is Swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves | 2. Subhas Chandra Bose |
| C. Freedom implies not only emancipation from political bondage but also equal distribution of wealth | 3. Immanuel Kant |
| D. For me real freedom is freedom from fear | 4. Mahatma Gandhi |
Freedom from fear is Suu Kyi, not Bose
Bose tied freedom to the equal sharing of wealth. 'Real freedom is freedom from fear' is Aung San Suu Kyi's line, the title of her 1991 book.
Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance
A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.
Reference tables (3)
Western thinkers and their ideas7 rows
| Thinker | Work | Idea |
|---|---|---|
| John Locke | Two Treatises of Government (1689) | Government by consentQ CDS 2021 (I): 'Government by Consent' was Locke's, with Mill, Bentham and Rousseau as the other options. |
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | The Social Contract (1762) | The general will |
| Jeremy Bentham | Utilitarian writings | Greatest happiness of the greatest number |
| John Austin | The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832) | Legal positivism: law is the sovereign's commandQ |
| Robert Michels | Political Parties (1911) | Iron law of oligarchy |
| James Burnham | The Managerial Revolution (1941) | A managerial class rules capitalist and communist societies alikeQ CDS 2019 (II): the other options were the elite theorists Michels, Mosca and Pareto. |
| Francis Fukuyama | The End of History and the Last Man (1992) | Liberal democracy is the end point of ideological history |
Indian thinkers: Lohia, JP, Ambedkar5 rows
| Thinker | Idea | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Ram Manohar Lohia | Chaukhamba Raj | Four pillars of power: village, district, province, centre |
| Ram Manohar Lohia | Sapta Kranti | Seven revolutions fought together against inequalityQ CDS 2020 (II): Jayaprakash Narayan was the trap option; his slogan was Sampoorna Kranti. |
| Jayaprakash Narayan | Sampoorna Kranti (1974) | Total revolution |
| B. R. Ambedkar | Graded inequality | Caste ranks people by reverence upward and contempt downwardQ |
| Vinoba Bhave | Bhoodan (1951) | Landowners give land to the landless |
Lines on freedom and dignity6 rows
| Thinker | Line or idea |
|---|---|
| Immanuel Kant | Human beings, unlike things, possess dignity |
| Mahatma Gandhi | It is swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves (Hind Swaraj, 1909) |
| Subhas Chandra Bose | Freedom includes equal distribution of wealth |
| Aung San Suu Kyi | Real freedom is freedom from fear |
| J. S. Mill | Harm principle (On Liberty, 1859) |
| Isaiah Berlin | Negative and positive liberty (1958) |
Watch out for (4)
- Michels, Mosca and Pareto did not write The Managerial Revolution→ Western thinkers and their ideas
- Consent is Locke, the general will is Rousseau→ Western thinkers and their ideas
- Sapta is Lohia, Sampoorna is JP→ Indian thinkers: Lohia, JP, Ambedkar
- Freedom from fear is Suu Kyi, not Bose→ Lines on freedom and dignity
Test yourself on World Polity, Democracy and International Relations
15 past CDS questions from this chapter, timed at 15 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.