Politics GK? Questions and Answers
1. What is Aristotle?s political cycle?
Ans: Aristotle classified six forms of states and believed that these keep revolving in a cyclic order. The cycle begins with monarchy which soon gets perverted into tyranny, which gets replaced by aristocracy ? the rule of a few wise and able people. Aristocracy soon gets perverted into oligarchy ? the rule of the rich, to be replaced by the rule of the people or the majority ? polity. Polity gets perverted into democracy ? the mob rule. Democracy, in the final turn, gets replaced by monarchy and the cycle begins all over again.
2. What is domino theory?
Ans: ??? Domino theory says that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighbouring nations will also come under Communist control and the theory believes that one event will set off a train of similar events, like dominoes falling in a line. The analogy, first applied (1954) to Southeast Asia by President Dwight Eisenhower, was adopted in the 1960s by supporters of the US role in the Vietnam War. The theory was revived in the 1980s to characterise the threat perceived from leftist unrest in Central America.
3. What is the difference between Marxism and Socialism?
Ans: Socialism is a modern doctrine and is Western in origin, emerging with the development of industrial capitalism at the start of the nineteenth century. Socialism denotes a broad system of ideas. Marxism is a materialistic conception of history which seeks to explain the development of all societies and furthermore, make predictions about future social change. Marxists consider the material world, nature and society as constantly moving. Whereas, the socialists emphasize the organic unity of society. Marxists consider the material world as an integrated whole in which all things and phenomena are interconnected and interdependent. Whereas, socialists believe in equality and abolition of private enterprise. Marxism provides a scientific explanation of nature and society and hence, was a powerful instrument for revolutionary transformation. The society envisaged by socialists rests on certain values: redistribution of wealth to get rid of inequality, cooperative production to get rid of selfish competitors and new patterns of work and education to promote the growth of well-rounded individuals.
4. What is red corner notice?
Ans: ??? Certain requests used by Interpol are sent in the forms of notices. The colour of each notice determines the type of information being sent or received by Interpol and its members. A red corner notice is issued at the request of a country?s law enforcement authority. The requesting country asks for a red notice to be issued when a criminal evades arrest and escapes from the country.
5. Which is the oldest political party in the world?
Ans: The oldest existing political party is the Democratic Party, established by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the 1790s. The party arose from opposition to the policies of the ruling Federalist Party that advocated a republic governed by well-educated elites. Democratic-Republicans idealized the independent (?yeoman?) farmer as the exemplar of virtue. The party won control of the Presidency and Congress in 1800. The Federalists collapsed as serious rivals to the Democratic-Republicans by the end of the War of 1812. After this, little held the Democratic-Republicans together and the party split. War hero Gen. Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1828; his faction became the Democratic Party.
6. Why Communists are called ?reds??
Ans: ??? ?Red? refers to the blood shed by the working class in its struggle against capitalism. The identification of Communism with ?Socialist? red (with the red flag being the primary colour of the flag of the Soviet Union) and the red star being a Communist emblem led to such Cold War phrases as ?the Red Menace? and ?Red China?.