Picture Based Questions-Political Science
1. Power-sharing
Picture Description
European Parliament in Brussels,
Belgium
The photograph here is of a streetaddress
in Belgium.
that place names and directions in
twolanguages – French and Dutch.
The Frenchspeaking people accepted equal
representation in Brussels because
the Dutch-speaking community has accepted
equal representation in the Central
Government.
The ethnic composition of this small
country is very complex.
59 per cent lives in the Flemish region and
speaks Dutchlanguage.
40 per cent people live in the Wallonia
region and speak French.
Remaining one per cent of the Belgians
speak German.
In the capital city Brussels, 80 per cent
people speak French while 20 percent are
Dutch-speaking.
Democratically elected government adopted
a series of majoritarian measures to establish
Sinhala supremacy.
In 1956, an Act was passed to recognise
Sinhala as the only official language, thus
disregardingTamil.
The cartoon at the left refers to the
problems of running the Germany’s
grand coalition government that includes
thetwo major parties of the country,
namelythe Christian Democratic Union and
theSocial Democratic Party.
The two partiesare historically rivals to each
other. Theyhad to form a coalition
governmentbecause neither of them got
clearmajority of seats on their own in the
2005elections.
They take divergent positionson several
policy matters, but still jointlyrun the
government.
In 2005, some new laws were made in
Russia giving more powers toits president.
During the same time, the US president
visited Russia.
In the given cartoon, the horse pulling the
cart represents the democracy.
The cartoon clearly imparts that the
people suffer when there is concentration
of power.
The government behaves like an autocracy
and the say of people decreases
considerably.
For example, Pakistan is a democratic
country but the government often works like
an autocracy.
2. Federalism
Picture Description
Though only 25 of the world’s 193 countries
have federal political systems, their citizens
make up 40 per cent of the world’s population.
China is an exception. Being the second most
populous country of the world, it still has
unitary form of government.
The States Plead for More Powers
Our Constitution has already classified the
powers to state and central government.
Therefore, there is no need to go to the Centre
with a begging bowl for more power.
Perils of Running a Coalition Government
Our Constitution has already classified the
powers to state and central government.
The leader of coalition should have a balanced
approach of governance.
He should take decisions after discussion and
consent of supporting parties.
The news in the clippings are about
Panchayats.
It indicates following things about the local
body [Link]:
Participation of women in Elections.
Corruption in Panchayat Elections.
Opposition of State government on the issue of
direct funding of Panchayats.
These indicate that decentralization require
many steps to ensure corruption-less system.
Participation of women is a good indication.`
3. Gender,Religion andCaste
Picture Description
A poster from Bengal affirming
women’sstrength.
Stereotypes perpetuate inequalities and limit
women’s capacity to develop their abilities,
pursue careers, and make choices about their
lives.
It’s essential to combat wrongful gender
stereotyping to promote equality and protect
human rights. Therefore, women should not be
tied to any image of 'ideal women'.
campaign on violence against women
Some reasons why women’s representation
is so low in India are:
Stereotyping career opportunities for women.
Low literacy rate of women in India.
Women do not get equal opportunity in
politics.
America and Europe have not achieved a
satisfactory level of women’s representation in
legislature. With 29.5 % and 26.4 %, they are
far behind in providing equal opportunity to
women politicians.
Population of different religiouscommunities
in India, 2011
Treating people solely as "vote banks"
based on their caste is ethically questionable
and undermines the principles of
democracy.
While it may be a common tactic in some
political contexts to target specific
demographics for electoral gain, it perpetuates
divisions within society and reduces
individuals to mere instruments for political
power.
4. Political Parties
Picture Description
The famous cartoonist R. K Laxman is seen
holding and reading a newspaper which
shows that when the nation is in peril and
facing lots of difficulties and the politicians
are nowhere to be seen. Politicians are only
active when there are elections.
1. Activists of BJP MahilaMorcha
demonstrate against hike in prices of onions
and LPG inVisakhapatnam.
2: Minister distributes ` One lakh cheque to
the families of hooch victims at their houses.
3: Activists of CPI (M), CPI, OGP and JD
(S) take out a rally in Bhubaneswar to
protest againstPOSCO, the Korean steel
company for being permitted
Political parties are facing a crisis because
they are very unpopular and the citizens are
indifferent to political parties.
Berlusconi was the PrimeMinister of Italy.
He is alsoone of the top businessmenin Italy.
He is the leader ofthe Forza Italia founded
in1993.
His company owns TVchannels, the most
importantpublishing company, a football club
(AC Milan) and abank.
One or few leaders exercise paramount power
in the party, those who disagree with the
leadership are generally not heard.
This cartoon was drawn during the
Presidency of George Bush of theRepublican
Party in the USA.
The party’s symbol is elephant.
The cartoonseems to suggest that the Corporate
America controls all major institutionsof the
country
It is about the growing role of money and
muscle power in parties.
It is also about growing role of money in
parties. Parties tend to nominate those
candidates who have or can raise lots of
money.
The Election Commission ensures that
elections are conducted in a transparent and
unbiased manner.
It oversees the implementation of electoral
rules and regulations to prevent malpractices
such as electoral fraud, bribery, and coercion.
The political leaders fail to follow election
codes sometime against whom action is taken
by the Election Commission.
5. Outcomes ofDemocracy
Picture Description
Democracy is often described as a system
that recognizes and attempts to balance the
various interests, demands, and pressures
within a society.
It’s about governance through dialogue,
negotiation, and compromise to
accommodate the diverse needs and
aspirations of different groups and
individuals.
But still it is the best form of government
present as it ensures that peoples voice will
be heard and their concern will be of ultimate
importance.
Democracy ensures that decision making will
be based on norms and procedures and there
will be transparency.
Government can invade the privacy of people
but not vice versa.
The gains of economic growth should be
equally distributed among the citizens so as
to make an economically even society.
Also this would be as per one of the basis
causes of democracy i.e., economic justice.
The poor can get a voice for a better share in
a nation only when this group is given proper
representation and chances to participate in
the decision making.
The poorer countries should get united to
fight for the cause. Only then, they will be
able to get their share.
At the same time, they will have to take
initiatives to strengthen their internal
democracy and exploit their own available
natural resources.
(i) Democratic politics when based on race,
religion, caste or any other existing social
division further divides the society and leads
to bloodshed. This is not healthy for
democracy itself.
(ii) On the contrary, when the existing
divisions are minimized through democratic
means on the basis of moral and prudential
reasons, it contributes in the development of
each and every class of the society.
It makes an environment where people can
grow and prosper together.
The cartoon relates to inequality that
women face today all over the world.
This reflects insecurity to women’s dignity.
The sentences from this section which
connect to the cartoon:
Most societies across the world were
historically male dominated societies.
But once the principle is recognised, it
becomes easier for women to wage a struggle
against what is now unacceptable legally and
morally.
Even after many complaints against it,
democracy has been the most acclaimed
form of government in the South Asian
nations.
The sentence from this section which
connects to the graph:
Most individuals today believe that their
vote makes a difference to the way the
government is run and to their own self-
interest.
