UPSC Prelims 2014 · Question 99 of 100
UPSC Prelims 2014 question on Constitutional Government Features
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2014
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectPolity
- TopicBasic Concepts of Constitution
- DifficultyHard
- TypeStatement
Consider the following statements:
A Constitutional Government is one which
1. Places effective restrictions on individual liberty in the interest of State Authority.
2. Places effective restrictions on the Authority of the State in the interest of individual liberty.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Show answer
Answer: B. 2 only
Verdict
The answer is 2 only. A constitutional government places effective restrictions on the authority of the State in the interest of individual liberty.
Analysis
Statement 2 is CORRECT and states the core of constitutionalism, that power is limited by law, separated between organs, and constrained by enforceable rights. Statement 1 is INCORRECT because it inverts the relationship, describing a government that curtails liberty in the name of state authority, which is the definition of an authoritarian order rather than a constitutional one. Having a written constitution is not sufficient; what makes a government constitutional is the effectiveness of the limits it accepts on itself.
Source
Arora and Goyal, chapter on constitutionalism.
How to crack it
The two statements are exact mirror images, and when a question is built that way only one can be correct, so the entire task is deciding which direction the concept runs. Constitutionalism is limited government, so the restriction runs from the constitution onto the State, never from the State onto the citizen. Hold the one line definition, limited government under the rule of law, and every mirror image distractor in political theory resolves itself. Note also that Prelims 2014 asked this in the same year as questions on the Cabinet Secretariat, reflecting a shift towards concepts of governance.