Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follow.…
2020
Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follow.
The representative dimension of the new liberal political orders designed to protect individual rights, appeared as the best mechanism for actualizing popular rule or sovereignty - indeed democracy. As a result, it is more beneficial to assess the meaning and value of 'rights' as historical and political practices, rather than conceptual forms (especially as counterparts to 'virtue'). In this respect, the discourse of rights reflected a new official mode of combining ethics and power for political conduct. But the formally equal treatment of citizens belied a relatively arbitrary element, for the involvement of the citizenry in shaping the conduct of their representatives was left to influence elite procedures, qualifications and voluntary participation. Still, representation became the mythical means of transposing the authorizing power of the people to the new authorities of government. After all, representatives had more time and money to perfect their virtue and skill in conducting their work and were not supposed to be corrupted by the power that attended their offices. They were supposed to be better guardians and agents of public virtue than ordinary citizens as representation became institutionalized in the new states. The state wielded power over the people, diversifying rather than restricting the problems of demagoguery in ancient democracy that modern republics were supposed to correct.
Ques: The aim of liberal democracy is to
- A.
Provide a mechanism to ignore popular voice
- B.
Safeguard individual rights
- C.
Understand the political order
- D.
Defocus representativeness
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
In liberal-democratic theory, the AIM of a political order and the MECHANISM used to pursue that aim are distinct: the aim is the substantive value the order exists to secure, while representation, elections, and procedure are the instruments used to realise it. A passage question about a stated 'aim' is answered by whichever objective the text explicitly names as what the order is FOR — not by describing how it operates.
The passage's opening sentence draws exactly this distinction: the representative dimension of the new liberal political orders is described as 'designed to protect individual rights', while representation itself is called only 'the best mechanism for actualising popular rule or sovereignty'. So the text separates the AIM — protecting individual rights — from the MECHANISM — representation — used to pursue it. Since the question asks for the aim, the passage points to safeguarding individual rights.
Provide a mechanism to ignore popular voice — inverts the passage, which frames representation as a means of actualising (not suppressing) popular sovereignty; the later remark about elite procedures, qualifications, and voluntary participation is offered as a critique of practice, not as the system's declared purpose.
Understand the political order — mistakes the passage's own analytical stance (treating rights as historical and political practices rather than conceptual forms) for a goal of the political order itself; interpreting a system is not the same as the system's stated purpose.
Defocus representativeness — contradicts the passage, which builds representation up into 'the mythical means of transposing the authorising power of the people to the new authorities of government', i.e. it centres rather than diminishes representation's role.
So the aim the passage names for liberal democracy is to safeguard individual rights, with representation serving as the mechanism through which that aim is pursued.