KV BOLARUM SOCIAL SCIENCE BLOG

  CHAPTER OVERVIEW: Why Do We Need Political Parties? A  Political Party  is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good. Parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society. Thus a party is known by which part it stands for, which policies it supports and whose interests it upholds. A political party has three components: The leaders The active members The followers Functions of Political Parties Political parties fill political offices and exercise political power. Parties do so by performing a series of functions mentioned below: Parties contest elections. Parties put forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them. Parties play a decisive role in making laws for a country. Parties form and run governments. Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition to the partie...

  CHAPTER OVERVIEW: What is federalism? Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country. A federation has two levels of government. Both these levels of governments enjoy their power independent of the other. One is the government for the entire country that is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national interest. Governments at the level of provinces or states that look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state. Difference Between Unitary System and Federal System Unitary System Federal System There is only one level of government or the sub-units are subordinate to the Central Government. There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government. The Central Government can pass on orders to the provincial or local government. The Central Government cannot order the state government to do something. The central government is supreme, and the administrative divisions ex...

CHAPTER OVERVIEW: Story of Belgium Belgium is a small country in Europe with a population of over 1 crore, about half the population of Haryana. Of the country’s total population, 59% speaks Dutch language, 40% of people speak French and the remaining 1% speak German. Look at the map below to know the language variation of Belgium. The minority French-speaking community was rich and powerful, so they got the benefit of economic development and education. This created tensions between the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities during the 1950s and 1960s. Accommodation in Belgium In Belgium, the government handled the community difference very well. Between 1970 and 1993, Belgian leaders amended their constitution four times and came up with a new model to run the government. Here are some of the elements of the Belgian model. The Constitution prescribes that the number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the Central Government. Some special laws require the ...