social science : democratic politics part i ncert textbook...

Social Science : Democratic Politics Part I NCERT Textbook Class 9th

2016

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CONTENT

1. Introductory in this File F0

2. From Monarchy to Democracy in 400 years

3. Replacing ‘Divine Right’ to Rule with ‘Rule of law’

4. What is Power?

Grouping of Chapters for learning:

Group One in F1

1. Chapter 2. What is Democracy? Why Democracy?

2. Chapter 1. Democracy In Contemporary World

3. Chapter 6. Democratic Rights

Group Two in F2

4. Chapter 3. Constitutional Design

5. Chapter 4. Electoral Politics

6. Chapter 5. Working of Institutions

1. Introductory

1.1 The NCERT Text book provides a very comprehensive

introduction to the Theory of Democracy as a form of government.

Through narratives from various democracies in practice, it

illustrates the various aspects and forms of democracy. In this

document therefore, only a few additional aspects are discussed to

give the bigger canvas for the complex phenomena of democracy.

The concept took nearly two hundred years to evolve, and another

two hundred years to be converted into practice. Therefore, it

deserves a backward and a forward view.


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1.2 In Class 8th, the ‘Institution of the State’ was introduced. The

State functions through the Government. Government gives a visible

form, to the invisible powers of the State. The Constitution as the

source of all power of the state was mentioned, and how the Indian

State functions through the Parliament, the Executive and the

Judiciary was also discussed.

1.3 In Class IX only one form of the State, namely the ‘Democratic

State’, is discussed in greater detail. Examples from the last 50 years

of functioning of democratic states are taken from all over the world.

This helps to illustrate the various dimensions of democracy or

democratic states and democratic governments.

1.4 The story of the development and growth of democracy as the

most popular form of government in the post colonial period can be

read in the Social Science book on ‘India and the Contemporary

World – I Textbook in History for Class IX. To know your way

through the book you must read ‘A letter for you’ and ‘How to use

this book’ before you start with the Chapters in both these books.

1.5 Democracy in an idea in the modern Political Theory that goes

back to 500 B.C. It was put in practice in the ‘City States’ of ancient

Greece. Greece is a European country comprising of several islands

in the Aegean Sea in the Mediterranean. But this ancient

‘democracy’ was very different from its modern form. It was a rule

by a group of wealthy aristocrats or noblemen, who were elected by

an open vote of ‘show of hands’ or a ‘voice vote’ by the ‘citizens’ of

a city-state. A ‘citizen’ in ancient Greece and Rome, was a man

who owned a house in that ‘city state’ and was its recognized

resident.

1.6 Whenever, someone needed to be elected, all the citizens would

gather in the public square, and listen to the nobleman who wanted

to get elected. After hearing his speech they would either shout out

‘aye’ meaning ‘yes’ , ‘we agree to elect you’ or ‘ney’ meaning ‘we

do not elect you’.


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1.7 This form of electing was called a ‘voice vote’ because they

merely shouted out in one voice. In case of doubt about the majority

of ‘aye’ those who had said ‘aye’ would be required to raise their

right arm, so that it could be clearly counted and seen as a majority

vote. This method was called vote by show of hands.

1.8 During this exercise an officer of the ‘Senate’ would be present

to witness the election proceedings. Even today, both these methods

of a ‘voice vote’ and ‘show of hands’ are used for voting after a

debate in the Parliament of India.

1.9 However, in a modern democratic state, for electing

representatives to the Legislatures, the ‘secret ballot’ method is

universally used, and the principle of ‘one citizen one vote’ has

adopted.

As such, the modern democratic state is very different from the ‘city states’ of

ancient Greece.

2. From Monarchy to Modern Democracy

This involved the historical change from kingdoms and empires to states

2.1 Democracy in its modern form has specific characteristics that have

evolved over a period of 400 years, from about 1600 AD onwards

first in England, then the USA and France. This story is a journey

from the stage when all power was concentrated in the hands of one

person called the king, towards the stage when this power began to be

distributed in to three separate streams called the Legislature, the

Executive and the Judiciary. In 1600 all countries were ruled by the

‘King’ or an ‘Emperor’. The King was the source of all ‘power’ in his

kingdom. This means that he alone decided what would be the law,

who will pay how much tax, who will be appointed in his royal

service, what will be the procedure to levy taxes, how will those who


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did not pay the tax be punished, and when will war be waged to

extend the kingdom and so on.

2.2 In other words, all decisions the effected the day to day lives of all

the people who lived in his kingdom or those merchants who came to

trade in his kingdom, were decided by the king and the king alone.

Only matters relating to religion were controlled in Europe by the

Church headed by the Pope in Rome, and by the different religious

men in different kingdoms.

2.3 As such there were only two institutions of the state in a kingdom,

namely the King, and the Church. At first the Church was more

powerful than the king as the king could not even choose his own

wife without the permission of the Church. This form of government

is called the monarchy. In this form the son succeeded the father as

the king. The king proclaimed all laws, decided on ‘justice’ in all

judicial matters, and all his decisions were taken by him alone. He

also appointed his family members to hold various offices in his

‘government’.

2.4 In matters of religion, the king was believed to represent ‘God on

Earth’ and therefore whatever he said was supposed to be the ‘voice

of god’. His decisions could not be challenged and he could not be

disobeyed or removed. The belief was that great hardship would

befall on the people by the ‘Heavens’ if the people tried to doubt,

disobey or remove their king. This was the ‘Divine Right’ Theory on

which ‘monarchy’ as a form of government was based.

2.5 It made one individual the source of all wisdom, and concentrated

all military, financial, legal powers in his hands. Only in matters of

religion he had to listen to the Church, partly because the Bishop who

headed the Church in the kingdom was the person who ‘anointed’ the

king as ‘God’s representative on Earth’. ‘Anointed’ means the special

religious ceremony in which the son after the death of his father, was

formally enthroned and the crown was placed on his head by the

Bishop for the first time, in the presence of all members of the royal

class. Only after being ‘anointed’ the king became the ‘representative

of God on Earth’ in the eyes of his people.


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3. The historical process of replacing of ‘will of the king’ with ‘ rule of

law’ from 1600 onwards.

3.1 The first step towards democracy was taken when the ‘will of the

king’ was first limited by the ‘rule of law’ and gradually replaced by

it. This happened when the King of England was in need of money

to finance his wars, and the noblemen in the Parliament of England

put forth the condition that money would be provided only if the

King agreed to limit his ‘will’ through the laws passed by

Parliament. This was the first challenge to the ‘Divine Rights’ of

the King. It was also the first step of taking away the legislative and

financial powers of the king and vesting them with parliament.

Under this change, the king could no longer tax the people directly

as per his ‘will’, but had to request the parliament for finances.1

1 The process of change from ‘Divine Right’ to ‘Parliamentary control of the king’ that extended over a hundred

years from 1550s to 1640s is very well depicted in a trilogy of three great movies in English namely ‘Becket’,

‘A Man for All Seasons’ and ‘Cromwell’. All the three are purely historical movies listed as Hollywood

classics. Their DVDs are readily available and you must try to see them. ‘Becket’ depicts the times when king’s

powers were not yet clearly established and there was a tussle between the power of the king and the power of

the Church. By the end of the forty year period covered in the movie, the King establishes his power over the

Church even though for this he has to get his most loyal friend and adviser killed in the Church to demonstrate

that he was in control. T. S. Eliot has written a classical play ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ on this historical change.

(2) ‘A Man for All Seasons’ depicts England under Henry VIII (father of the first Queen of England Elizabeth

the First) when the financial and military power of King of England was fully established. However, the king

was subject to religious control by the Church of Rome. When Henry VIII elder brother died, the Church of

Rome asked him to marry his elder brother’s widow as she was a Roman Catholic and the daughter of the more

powerful King of France. This was a condition to Henry VIII being made the King of England, Scotland and

Wales. As Henry VIII was obsessed with having a son as his heir to the throne, after a few years he wanted to

divorce his Queen because he had no child and therefore thought his marriage to his elder brother’s wife as

‘unholy’. But because the Queen’s family was very powerful in Europe the Church of Rome did not give him

permission to divorce. Henry VIII decides to disobey the Pope of the Church of Rome, and declares the Church

of England as separated from the Church of Rome. He declared himself as the head of the Church of England

and in that capacity gave his royal approval to divorce his Queen as well as to marry Anne Boyle who became

the mother of Elizabeth I. The movie is about the clash between his loyal friend and Cardinal Thomas More and

Henry VIII on the matter of the royal divorce. Thomas disagreed with the King as there was no law in existence

that could annul the royal marriage. As all other noblemen change side and agree with the King, Thomas is

charged with treason and tried for his life. This is the most famous historical trail in world history and the movie

is a classic. It best brings out how fortunes change over-night at the ‘will of the king’, how men of strong

principles and moral die, which the weaker men take advantage of the situation and are raised in status etc. In

sum it brings out the ‘royal power’ at play. (3) ‘Cromwell’ depicts the history of the war between the King of

England and the Parliament under the leadership of Cromwell to establish forever the financial power of

Parliament over the power of the king. This shows the social and political changes during the period from 1600

to 1640s. It helps understand how the financial supremacy of power of Parliament in all democratic countries of

the world today emerged in the early 17th

century in England.


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However, even after loss of total control over taxation, the king

continued to be the supreme head of the kingdom and retained his

executive, military and judicial powers.

3.2 The second step towards creating and establishing a Democratic

State was taken in the United States of America in 1770. Since the

discovery of American continent, it was developed as a colony of

Great Britain and was fully controlled and taxed by the Parliament

of England. The American colony also recognized the King of

England as their King and followed the rule of law made by the

Parliament of England. Governance to the various groups of

colonies in America were also appointed by the King of England.

However, in 1769, influenced by the thoughts on freedom and

equality of men as written by Montesque and other French political

thinkers, leaders in the American colonies formed a political party

and decided to establish an independent democratic state to be

called the United States of America.

3.3 In 1776 an incident called the ‘Boston Tea Party’ began the War of

American Independence. The American labourers employed to

unload the ships in the Boston harbour, threw overboard in to the

Pacific Ocean, the entire cargo of Tea from the ships of the East

India Company. This was because the tea imported from the Indian

and Asian colonies was sold at very high prices in American

colonies. This was destroying their internal trade not only in tea but

also in various other agricultural commodities traded by the East

India Company. This was the beginning of the American War of

Independence in which many of the officials of East India Company

were killed and its forces were totally routed out. Interestingly,

Robert Clive who helped the East India Company to get the Diwani

of Bengal Province was almost killed in Boston during the ‘Tea

Party’. He escaped to India only to save his life.

3.4 After the overthrow of the British, the first Democratic State on

basis of a written Constitution was created in the United States of

America with the Declaration of American Independence. Many of

the southern colonies did not want to join the newly independent


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democratic ‘United States of America’. So a long ‘Civil War’ had to

be fought to defeat the rebel colonies and to create and establish the

‘United States of America’ as a single democratic state. The first

written Constitution and separate institutions for making laws

(Legislature) for implementing the laws through an elected

government ( The Executive in the form of a directly elected

President) and the judiciary for justice under the rule of law ( the

Supreme Court of America) were created. This also laid the

framework for a democratic state for all other countries that

overthrew their monarchy to establish democratic states. So

‘separation of power’ and an elected legislature and executive

became the main characteristics of a Democratic State in modern

history.

3.5 In France, the third step was taken during the French Revolution in

1789. The monarchy of Louis XVI was so exploitative that outside

the royal palace all the people were extremely poor and did not even

get their daily food. Yet the king and queen continued to hold

banquets and spend lavishly on clothes, jewels and building palaces.

Whoever spoke against this injustice or did not pay taxes, was put in

to the central prison called ‘The Bastille’. The prevailing sense of

injustice among the poor people of France, was so high that ‘The

Storming of the Bastille’ began the French Revolution. The anger of

the common people was expressed through the ‘guillotine’. This

was a mechanical device especially invented for the purpose of

beheading the royalty of France, through the lifting of chopping

blade with the means of ropes and levers, so that no individual

person could be blamed for having committed the sin of killing a

king. The anger against the royalty of France was such that not

even the distant relatives of the king or the queen were spared.

Within a few weeks everyone associated with the royal palace was

guillotined after a public trail. There were no judicial trials except

taking confirmation from the crowds on whether they recognized the

person charged as being related to the royalty. The numbers were so

many that records were not kept in writing but through knitting of

wool. At each head that was guillotined one single knit was woven

by women sitting next to the guillotine. After this ‘cleansing’ of the

royal exploiters, a democratic state was established in France. But

the common people were illiterate and ignorant and could not

understand how the state functioned. Therefore, chaos followed for

ten years known as the ‘White Terror’ This resulted in Napoleon re-

organizing the French army to take control not only of the kingdom


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of France but also to extend its boundaries into other kingdoms of

Europe. Ironically, as he established some semblance of law and

order in France, he became the undisputed leader who eventually

crowned himself as the ‘Emperor of France’ after his victories

during the ‘Napoleonic Wars’. He was finally defeated at Waterloo.

The democratic state in France was established after much unrest

and chaos through the next forty years after Napolean.

3.6 The slogan for the French Revolution was ‘Liberty, Equality,

Fraternity’ This slogan of three words is the basis for the

development of all the characteristics of modern democracy. It has

become the reason for developing the concept of ‘one man, one

vote’ without any other qualification of education or property

ownership. Earlier only those who had wealth and property had the

right to vote. Women had not right to vote till 1919 when for the

first time, women in England were given the right to vote. This was

partly because during the First World War from 1914 to 1918

women had got employment in large numbers, and had successfully

held jobs that were earlier thought of only for men. After the War

their demand for equality of vote had to be allowed by the

Parliament of England. India adopted this principle in 1950 while in

the United States of America all citizens were allowed the right to

vote only in 1961.

3.7 The Constitution of India provides for adult franchise. This

means ‘one citizen, one vote’ without any other qualification. In this

a ‘citizen’ included both man and woman above the ‘legal age’

prescribed by law. Today in India any citizen above the age of 18 is

eligible to register himself /herself as a ‘voter’, which gives him /

her the right to vote.

4. What is ‘power’?

4.1 In simple words ‘Power’ is the ‘authority to control

others’ either directly or indirectly. It also includes the

power ‘to take decisions that impact the lives of others’.

4.2 For a State, this power or control is of all the natural

resources in the State such as minerals, land, forest

produce and all such ‘resources that generate wealth’. It


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includes control over the lives as well as livelihood of the

people living in the state.

4.3 This power is exercised through various policies, such as

rate of payment of taxes on all kinds of products and

services. The rate of tax is either increased or decreased

from year to year. Therefore, in a modern democracy state

power is exercised through financial control over the

earnings of individual. The most important policy

statement for this is the Financial Bill also called the

‘Budget’.

4.4 The Financial Bill is introduced in the Lok Sabha by the

Finance Minister on the last day of February. But in 2010

it was decided to present the Budget on 26th February 2010

because the major festival of Holi was on the 28th

February and 1st March 2010.

4.5 The Budget is the most important policy statement of

Government of India because the increase or decrease of

tax rates on individual salaries and various goods directly

impact every household income, trade, prices of goods,

exports and imports etc. Through listening to the Finance

Bill Speech of the Finance Minister each year and

watching its analysis on various TV channels, it is easier y

to understand the exercise of financial power by the State.

4.6 A good example is the waiver of loans taken by farmers

through the Budget 2009-10. In this Government decided

that the farmers need not pay back loans taken by them

from Public Sector Banks. For this the Government of

India paid about Rs.60,000 crore to the banks as

compensation. Such decisions of Government impact the

daily lives of citizens in many ways. They therefore help

to illustrate the use of financial power of the State of India.

Other examples can be taken from various social schemes

of the Government of India from 2015 onwards.

4.7 The power of the state could also be used to order the

people to join the army. In a kingdom if the king decided

to wage wars against other kingdoms to extend the


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geographical domain of his power and direct control he

could issue such an order. In a modern democratic state,

the policy of ‘conscription’ or ‘compulsory military

service’ for a specified period of time can be adopted to

train all citizens. The USA and China have had such

policies.

Separation of Power:

4.8 In most democracies, the State power is divided in to

three separate ‘arms’ or ‘pillars’ of the State called the

Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary.

4.9 The Constitution provides how these powers are to be

exercised by the three pillars of the State. The power to

make laws on various matters is exercised by the

Parliament or Legislature.

4.10 The power to implement laws is exercised by the

Executive. The Executive also called the ‘Government’

and its job is to see that all activities of the state are

conducted in accordance with the existing laws of the

country.

4.11 The power to provide justice and see that laws are

implemented properly by the Executive is with the

Judiciary.

4.12 Therefore, the Legislature, the Executive and the

Judiciary are the three pillars or institutions in every

modern democratic state. To these a ‘fourth pillar’ called

the ‘Fourth Estate’ has been informally added in the late

19th century, when the print media or the ‘Press’ emerged

as a powerful medium of communication. It is ‘informal’

because ‘freedom of press’ is guaranteed by the

constitution in many countries, but press as an institution

of the state is not recognized.

Exercise of Power in a family unit:

4.13 The father or grandfather is the head of the family

and he exercises control over all other members. In


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families where father is the only earning member, his

permission and financial help, is needed by children and

other family members.

4.14 If it is a wealthy family with a prosperous trade, the

control of the head of the family is absolute. When a child

is growing up his/ her life is fully controlled by the parents

and the child is fully dependent on them for safety in

various forms. The parents decide on her behalf and she

has to obey them because they provide her with food,

clothes and shelter and protect him/ her from harm by

others. While the child is in school she/he is learning

about the ways of the world around him / her.

4.15 This is the preparatory stage to enable the child to lead

his/ her life independently after he becomes an adult and

begins to earn his / her livelihood. For this reason the

parents are legally given complete power of control over

the child so long as he/she is a child. For this reason, he /

she must obey and live the daily life as per the rules of

discipline allowed by the parents

4.16 After the age of 18 a person is said to have reached

the legal age of ‘managing her / his own affairs’. This

includes earning and taking ‘decisions’ as an adult. An

adult and can perform all legal activities and businesses as

per law of the land. He can register himself as a voter and

vote in elections; he /she can own property in his own

name, open a bank account, or start a company.

4.17 But the other side of this freedom is also danger. For

this means that if he does something illegal, he /she can

have a judicial process started against him for that illegal

activity. Ignorance of the law is not accepted as a defence

in any court of law in any country. An adult is expected to

‘know the law of the land’ relating to his area of activity.

Therefore, it is always better to seek the advice of elders

and the more experience persons, before exercising one’s

‘power of decision making’ as an adult, for the first five

years at least.


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4.18 As an adult he is expected to take care of himself and

his wife and children and provide for them emotional,

social and financial security. As a responsible adult he /

she has to see through all the uncertainties of life by

himself / herself. Though many may have the good fortune

of having family members and parents / relatives to advice

them, but legally their advice is not required.

4.19 In other words, in the eyes of the Law, the difference

between a ‘child’ and an ‘adult’ is not just the physical

difference in height, weight, and strength. There is also a

legal difference between these two stages of life. As a

child there is more freedom and less responsibility, as an

adult there is more responsibility and less freedom. This is

the paradox of ‘growing-up’.

4.20 In sum, power is the control on others. In childhood,

the parents are like the king and the queen in a monarchy.

As the child grows, some freedom of choice and decision

making is allowed on a gradual basis. As an adult after the

legal age of 18 years, the equality of a democracy is

achieved, and parents become friends, implying equality

between the two.

4.21 The next major stage in exercise of power of decision

making is choosing and settling in a profession.

4.22 Professional success or failure also changes the social

and financial status of a person both within the family and

in society. Financial stability gives financial power.

4.23 Final decision stage for changing one’s social and

financial status is the settlement into matrimony.

Marriages could be termed as arranged, or political /

business marriages, where priority is given to

strengthening and expanding the family power. Marriage

for love, generally gives a life time of struggle, unless both

are professionally well settled .

4.24 In conclusion, it can be said that Power as exercised

by institutions of the State, and power as exercise in a

family unit, are two sides of the same coin. Both involve


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a. a basis or source of authority to control,

b. decision making for use of that control

c. the responsibility for the use of the power,

and

d. ensuring a favourable outcome from use of

power to reach a win-win situation for all.

e. Clarity in thinking, and knowing what is to

be achieved through the use of power

available , and avoiding its misuse, is the

best road ahead.

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