The article discusses the differences between kubectl apply and kubectl create commands in Kubernetes. Declarative management is where we specify the required outcome without detailing individual steps, while imperative management involves giving a series of instructions to reach a goal. kubectl apply is a declarative command that applies a configuration to a resource by file name or stdin and creates it if it doesn't exist. On the other hand, kubectl create is an imperative command that creates a resource from a file or from stdin but errors if the resource already exists. The article provides usage examples for both commands on an Azure Kubernetes Service cluster (AKS).