Month: February 2023

The nature of social formation and the revolutionary base in India and the colonial linkage of the country, demand interpreting the Marxian revolutionary framework to suit the Indian situation. During the colonial period, revolutionary and radical resistance was being carried out parallel to the other forms of resistance that the national bourgeoisie in India, under… Continue reading Perspective on Proletarian Revolution in India

Proletarian or Marxian theory of revolution is related to Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin. It is called proletarian revolution because in the Marxian framework the workers or the proletariat in the industrial setting are the base of a revolution. Marx, in the Manifesto of the Communist Party, called for the workers of all countries to… Continue reading Marxian Concept of Revolution

Locke’s state is limited and constitutional. It exercises power based on the consent of the people as a trust implied in the social contract. Government is bound by the terms of the contract to safeguard and protect the natural rights—right to life liberty and property, for which it has been instituted. This means, legitimacy of… Continue reading Locke’s Concept of Revolution

Aristotle’s analysis and description of 158 constitutions of Greek city-states suggested that these constitutions changed periodically and the changes occurred as cyclical alterations. Aristotle observed that these alterations followed a pattern of transformation, which reflected change in the nature of the constitution, e.g., from monarchy-aristocracy-democracy to tyrann–oligarch–mobocracy. While the first set represents ‘pure’ forms of constitution, the second set… Continue reading Aristotle’s Concept of Revolution

Resistance and Revolution are manifestations of the limit of political obligation and reflects a state of affairs when citizens acquire a right to resist and disobey the state. Most of the political resistance could be of intra-systemic while revolution is extra-systemic and seeks extra legal solution. A distinction between revolution and other forms of resistance… Continue reading Resistance and Revolution

Machiavelli and Raison d’etat as basis of political obligation: Machiavelli provides the keyhole to peep into the post-Renaissance political theory and why does the state require its subject to pay obedience. In his Prince (1532), Machiavelli put forth the justification that the interest or the end of the state, which is acquisition and maintenance of power, is prime… Continue reading Political Obligation Under Post-renaissance European Political Thought

The British rule in India was characterized, amongst others, by: (i) feudal relations—zamindari, mahalwari and ryotwari based on how land right was granted to the people, in individual capacity or as village, and how revenue collection is patterned, and (ii) political relation—subjects bearing the laws, codes and regulations framed by the foreign rule. There was no political participation… Continue reading Political Obligation During the Colonial Rule in India

The theory of divine origin is found in the Manusmriti,20 Shantiparvan of Mahabharata and in Kautilaya’s Arthásastra. These ancient texts have talked about political and moral obligations of the subjects by implying the divine origin of rulers. L. N. Rangarajan, in his translation of Kautilaya’s Arthdsastra, states that while Dharmashastras are addressed to the individual, teaching him his dharma and regard deviations as sin, ‘the Arthashastras are addressed to… Continue reading Political Obligation in Indian Political Thought

Unlike the Christian tradition (the church-state controversy), in Islamic tradition, the temporal and the spiritual are not dichotomized. The state and political obligation are not outside the Quranic vision. As Karen Armstrong, who has written several books on religions, in her Islam: A Short History, says, ‘A Muslim had to redeem history, and that meant that… Continue reading Political Obligation Under Islamic Injunctions

Added to this duality of political and religious obligations, feudal Europe witnessed diffusion and dilution of even political obligation. Feudalism is characterized by diffusion of power, fixed social hierarchies and a rigid pattern of obligations and services. This means that unlike sovereignty of the nation-state, the feudal society had no centrally located power, no concept… Continue reading Political Obligation Under Feudal Europe