A constitutional government is fundamentally characterized by the principle of limited government. It operates within the framework of a constitution, which defines and restricts the powers of the state. The primary objective is to safeguard individual liberties and rights by placing effective checks and balances on governmental authority. Therefore, statement 2 accurately describes a constitutional government.
Statement 1 is incorrect. A constitutional government aims to protect individual liberty from potential state overreach, rather than imposing effective restrictions on individual liberty in the interest of state authority. The latter describes an authoritarian or totalitarian system where state power is supreme and individual freedoms are curtailed. In a constitutional framework, any restriction on individual liberty must be prescribed by law, be reasonable, and serve a legitimate public interest, not merely to enhance state authority arbitrarily.
Options (1), (3), and (4) are incorrect because statement 1 is false and statement 2 is correct.