Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answers to this item should be based on the passage only. There has been a significant trend worldwide towards regionalism in government, resulting in a widespread transfer of powers downwards towards regions and communities since 1990s. This process, which involves the creation of new political entities and bodies at a sub-national level and an increase in their content and powers, is known as devolution. Devolution has been characterized as being made up of three factors-political legitimacy, decentralization of authority and decentralization of resources. Political legitimacy here means a mass demand from below for the decentralization process, which is able to create a political force for it to take place. In many cases, decentralization is initiated by the upper tier of government without sufficient political mobilization for it at the grassroots level, and in such cases the decentralization process often does not fulfill its objectives. Which among the following is the most logical, rational and critical inference that can be made from the above passage?
Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answers to this item should be based on the passage only. There has been a significant trend worldwide towards regionalism in government, resulting in a widespread transfer of powers downwards towards regions and communities since 1990s. This process, which involves the creation of new political entities and bodies at a sub-national level and an increase in their content and powers, is known as devolution. Devolution has been characterized as being made up of three factors-political legitimacy, decentralization of authority and decentralization of resources. Political legitimacy here means a mass demand from below for the decentralization process, which is able to create a political force for it to take place. In many cases, decentralization is initiated by the upper tier of government without sufficient political mobilization for it at the grassroots level, and in such cases the decentralization process often does not fulfill its objectives. Which among the following is the most logical, rational and critical inference that can be made from the above passage? Correct Answer Devolution, to be successful, requires a democracy in which there is free expression of the will of the people at lower level and their active participation at the grassroots level.
The correct answer is Devolution, to be successful, requires a democracy in which there is free expression of the will of the people at lower level and their active participation at the grassroots level.
Key Points
- Let's learn the meanings of these terms to understand this passage better:
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Devolution the transfer or delegation of power to a lower level, especially by the central government to the local or regional administration. Decentralization the transfer of control of an activity or organization to several local offices or authorities rather than one single one. Political Legitimacy In political science, legitimacy is the right and acceptance of an authority, usually a governing law or a regime, and it is considered a basic condition for governing, without which a government will suffer legislative deadlock(s) and collapse. Political Mobilization It refers to activities that intend to motivate masses of organized or unorganized participants to express themselves and to undertake a particular political action to accomplish political aims. - The whole passage revolves around the idea of Devolution and how the factors -political legitimacy, decentralization of authority, and decentralization of resources are important to make it successful.
- Although, the last line of the passage states about the general scenario of the devolution that how in many cases, devolution is initiated by the upper tier of government without any proper political mobilization at the mass level, which leads to its failure.
- From the above lines, we can infer that- Devolution, to be successful, requires a democracy in which there is free expression of the will of the people at lower level and their active participation at the grassroots level.
Hence, option 3 is the correct choice