Political Science Syllabus

Paper-I

Section-A (Political Theory and Indian Politics)

 

• Approaches to the study of political theory: historical, normative and empirical.
• Theories of state: Social contract, Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, communitarian, post-colonial.
• State Sovereignty: Marxist and pluralistic theories; globalisation and the State.
• Democracy and Human Rights: Democratic theory-classical and contemporary. Theories of Human Rights; Theories of Justice, Equality and Revolution, political obligation; New Social Movements.
• Theories of Political Culture; Culture and politics in Third World countries.
• Theories of Political Economy-Classical and contemporary.
• Political Ideologies: Nature of Ideology; Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism and Anarchism.
• Theories of Power and Hegemony: Pareto, Mosca, Mitchels, C. Wright Mills, Weber, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt.
• Indian Political Thought: Manu, Kautilya M.N. Roy Gandhi Ambedkar and E V Ramswami Naicker.
• Political Thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, J S Mill, Hegel and Marx, Lenin, Rosa Luxemberg and Mao Zedong.

Section-B (Indian Government and Politics)

 

• Indian Nationalism: Dadabhai Naoroji, Tilak, Savarkar, Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narain, Nehru, Subhas Bose, Ambedkar, Ram Manohar Lohia.
• Nature and struggle of Indian freedom struggle : From constitutionalism to Mass Satyagraha, Revolutionary movements Non Co-operation, Civil disobedience and Quit India, Indian Naval uprising, Indian National Army; role of women in freedom struggle.
• Socio- economic dimensions of the nationalist movement: The communal question and the demand for partition; backward caste movements, Trade union and Peasant movements, Civil rights movement.
• Landmarks in Constitutional Development during British Rule: Morley-Minto Reforms; Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms; Simon Commission; Government of India Act, 1935; Cripps Mission : Indian Independence Act, 1947.
• Salient Features of the Indian Constitution: The Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles; federalism, parliamentary system; amending procedures; judicial review.
• The Executive System in theory and practice: President, Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers; Governor, Chief Minister and the State Council of Ministers. The Bureaucracy.
• Role and function of the Parliament and Parlimentary Committee-Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha; changing socio economic profile.
• The Supreme Court and the High Courts; Judicial Activism; PIL.
• Statutory institutions/commis sions-UPSC, Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General, Backward Classes Commission, National Commission for women; National Human Rights Commission; Minorities Commission.
• Party system : ideology and social base of parties; fragmentation and regionalisation. Pressure groups; patterns of coalition politics; trends in electoral behaviour.
• Class, caste, ethnicity and gender in Indian politics; politics of regionalism, communalism, backward class and Dalit movements, Tribal people movements, struggle for gender justice.
• Planning and Economic Development : Role of the Planning Commission; Planning in the era of liberalisation; political dimensions of economic reforms.
• Grassroots democracy : Panchayati Raj and municipal government; significance of 73rd and 74th Amendements. Grass root movement and women's empowerment.

Paper - II (Comparative Politics and International Relations)

Section-A (Comparative Analysis and International Politics)

 

• Approaches to the study of comparative politics : traditional approaches; political economy, political sociology or political system approaches; Nature of political process in the Third World.
• The Modern State : Evolution, the contemporary trends in the advanced industrial countries and the third world.
• Development : Strategies and contemporary discourse.
• Concepts of International politics : Power, national interest, balance of power, national security, collective security and peace.
• Theories of International politics Marxist, Realist, Systems, Decision-making and Game Theory.
• Determinants of foreign policy : Domestic compulsions, geopolitics, geoeconomics and global order.
• Origin and contemporary relevance of the Cold War, nature of the post-cold war global order.
• Major issues of world politics : Cuban Missile Crisis; Vietnam War, Oil Crisis, Afghan Civil War, Gulf War, Collapse of the Soviet Union, Yugoslav Crisis.
• Non-alignment : Concept and movement; Third World Movements for global justice, Non-alignment in the post cold war era.
• The evolution of the international economic system-from Bretton woods to WTO, the North-South dimension.
• International organisations UN and its specialized agencies : International Court of Justice; ILO, UNICEF, WHO UNESCO.
• Regional, organizations such as the ASEAN, APEC, EU, SAARC, NAFTA
• Contemporary Global Concerns : Democracy, Human Rights, Ecology, Gender Justice, Global commons, Communication.

Section-B (India and the World)

 

• Indian Foreign Policy : Historical origins, determinants; the institutions of policy-making; continuity and change.
• India and the Non-Alignment Movement : Evolution and contemporary relevance. Socio- political basis of non-alignment-domestic and global.
• Major issues in Indian foreign policy : Sino-Indian Border War (1962); Indo-Pakistan War (1971) and the liberation of Bangladesh; IPKF in Sri Lanka; India as military nuclear power (1998).
• Conflict and co-operation in South Asia : India's relations with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal. Regional co-operation and SAARC. Kashmir question in India's foreign policy.
• India's relation with Africa and Latin America.
• India and South East Asia; ASEAN.
• India and the major powers : USA, EU, China, Japan and Russia.
• India and the UN System : India's role in UN Peace Keeping and global disarmament.
• India and the emerging international economic order; multilateral agencies-WTO, IMF, IBRD, ADB.
• India and the question of nuclear weapons : NPT and CTBT.