📚 TOP 10 POLITICAL SCIENCE THINKERS
UGC NET | JRF | Assistant Professor – Quick Revision
1️⃣ PLATO (428/427–348/347 BCE)
▪️ Major Work: The Republic
▪️ Key Concepts: Ideal State, Justice, Philosopher King, Theory of Forms
▪️ Core Idea: The ideal state should be governed by wise and virtuous philosophers.
UGC NET JRF/ Assistant professor
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2️⃣ ARISTOTLE (384–322 BCE)
▪️ Major Work: Politics
▪️ Key Concepts: Classification of Governments, Citizenship, Rule of Law, Polity
▪️ Core Idea: Politics is concerned with achieving the good life and common good.
3️⃣ NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI (1469–1527)
▪️ Major Work: The Prince
▪️ Key Concepts: Political Realism, Power, Statecraft, Virtù, Fortuna
▪️ Core Idea: Politics should be studied realistically, based on how power actually operates.
4️⃣ JOHN LOCKE (1632–1704)
▪️ Major Work: Two Treatises of Government
▪️ Key Concepts: Natural Rights, Consent, Limited Government, Right to Resistance
▪️ Core Idea: Government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed.
5️⃣ JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712–1778)
▪️ Major Work: The Social Contract
▪️ Key Concepts: General Will, Popular Sovereignty, Social Contract, Freedom
▪️ Core Idea: Legitimate political authority rests on the General Will of the people.
6️⃣ KARL MARX (1818–1883)
▪️ Major Works: The Communist Manifesto, Capital
▪️ Key Concepts: Class Struggle, Historical Materialism, Alienation, State, Revolution
▪️ Core Idea: Political and social structures are deeply shaped by class relations and economic forces.
7️⃣ MAX WEBER (1864–1920)
▪️ Major Works: Economy and Society, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
▪️ Key Concepts: Authority, Bureaucracy, Legitimacy, Rational-Legal Authority
▪️ Core Idea: Modern political organization is strongly associated with bureaucracy and rational-legal authority.
8️⃣ JOHN RAWLS (1921–2002)
▪️ Major Work: A Theory of Justice
▪️ Key Concepts: Justice as Fairness, Original Position, Veil of Ignorance, Two Principles of Justice
▪️ Core Idea: A just society should be based on principles that free and equal persons would choose fairly.
9️⃣ MICHEL FOUCAULT (1926–1984)
▪️ Major Works: Discipline and Punish, The History of Sexuality
▪️ Key Concepts: Power/Knowledge, Discourse, Discipline, Surveillance, Governmentality
▪️ Core Idea: Power is not limited to the state; it operates through institutions, knowledge and everyday social practices.
🔟 HANNAH ARENDT (1906–1975)
▪️ Major Works: The Origins of Totalitarianism, The Human Condition
▪️ Key Concepts: Totalitarianism, Power, Political Action, Public Realm, Vita Activa
▪️ Core Idea: Politics is fundamentally connected with collective action, freedom and participation in the public realm.
UGC NET JRF/ Assistant professor
To Get *PDF / HARDCOPY* notes click here👇
wa.me/+919982735777?text=I_need_Complete_notes_with_DishaDarshan
🎯 EXAM REVISION TRICK
PLATO → Ideal State
ARISTOTLE → Classification of Governments
MACHIAVELLI → Political Realism
LOCKE → Natural Rights
ROUSSEAU → General Will
MARX → Class Struggle
WEBER → Authority & Bureaucracy
RAWLS → Justice as Fairness
FOUCAULT → Power/Knowledge
ARENDT → Totalitarianism & Political Action
📌 Remember the Thinker + Book + Key Concept — a high-value combination for UGC NET/JRF revision.
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