Syllabus: CS(Mains) Political Science and International Relations

PAPER - I 

Political Theory and Indian Politics: 

1. Political Theory: meaning and approaches. 

2. Theories of the State: Liberal, Neoliberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial and feminist. 

3. Justice: Conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawl’s theory of justice and its communitarian critiques. 

4. Equality: Social, political and economic; relationship between equality and freedom; Affirmative action. 

5. Rights: Meaning and theories; different kinds of rights; concept of Human Rights. 

6. Democracy: Classical and contemporary theories; different models of democracy – representative, participatory and deliberative. 

7. Concept of power, hegemony, ideology and legitimacy. 

8. Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism. 

9. Indian Political Thought : Dharamshastra, Arthashastra and Buddhist traditions; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M.K. Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, M.N. Roy . 

10. Western Political Thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John S. Mill, Marx, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt. 

Indian Government and Politics: 

1. Indian Nationalism: 

(a) Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle: Constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Non-cooperation, Civil Disobedience; Militant and revolutionary movements, Peasant and workers’ movements. 

(b) Perspectives on Indian National Movement: Liberal, Socialist and Marxist; Radical humanist and Dalit. 

2. Making of the Indian Constitution: Legacies of the British rule; different social and political perspectives. 

3. Salient Features of the Indian Constitution: The Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles; Parliamentary System and Amendment Procedures; Judicial Review and Basic Structure doctrine. 

4. 

(a) Principal Organs of the Union Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature and Supreme Court. 

(b) Principal Organs of the State Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature and High Courts. 

5. Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government; significance of 73rd and 74th Amendments; Grassroot movements. 

6. Statutory Institutions/Commissions: Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General, Finance Commission, Union Public Service Commission, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, National Commission for Women; National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Minorities, National Backward Classes Commission. 

7. Federalism: Constitutional provisions; changing nature of centre-state relations; integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations; inter-state disputes. 

8. Planning and Economic Development : Nehruvian and Gandhian perspectives; role of planning and public sector; Green Revolution, land reforms and agrarian relations; liberalilzation and economic reforms. 

9. Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics. 

10. Party System: National and regional political parties, ideological and social bases of parties; patterns of coalition politics; Pressure groups, trends in electoral behaviour; changing socio- economic profile of Legislators. 

11. Social Movements: Civil liberties and human rights movements; women’s movements; environmentalist movements.

PAPER – II 

Comparative Politics and International Relations 

Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics: 

1. Comparative Politics: Nature and major approaches; political economy and political sociology perspectives; limitations of the comparative method. 

2. State in comparative perspective: Characteristics and changing nature of the State in capitalist and socialist economies, and, advanced industrial and developing societies. 

3. Politics of Representation and Participation: Political parties, pressure groups and social movements in advanced industrial and developing societies. 

4. Globalisation: Responses from developed and developing societies. 

5. Approaches to the Study of International Relations: Idealist, Realist, Marxist, Functionalist and Systems theory. 

6. Key concepts in International Relations: National interest, Security and power; Balance of power and deterrence; Transnational actors and collective security; World capitalist economy and globalisation. 

7. Changing International Political Order: 

(a) Rise of super powers; strategic and ideological Bipolarity, arms race and Cold War; nuclear threat; 

(b) Non-aligned movement: Aims and achievements; 

(c) Collapse of the Soviet Union; Unipolarity and American hegemony; relevance of non-alignment in the contemporary world. 

8. Evolution of the International Economic System: From Brettonwoods to WTO; Socialist economies and the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance); Third World demand for new international economic order; Globalisation of the world economy. 

9. United Nations: Envisaged role and actual record; specialized UN agencies-aims and functioning; need for UN reforms. 

10. Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC, NAFTA. 

11. Contemporary Global Concerns: Democracy, human rights, environment, gender justice, terrorism, nuclear proliferation. 

India and the World: 

1. Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants of foreign policy; institutions of policy-making; continuity and change. 

2. India’s Contribution to the Non-Alignment Movement: Different phases; current role. 

3. India and South Asia: 

(a) Regional Co-operation: SAARC – past performance and future prospects. 

(b) South Asia as a Free Trade Area. 

(c) India’s “Look East” policy. 

(d) Impediments to regional co-operation: river water disputes; illegal cross-border migration; ethnic conflicts and insurgencies; border disputes. 

4. India and the Global South: Relations with Africa and Latin America; leadership role in the demand for NIEO and WTO negotiations. 

5. India and the Global Centres of Power: USA, EU, Japan, China and Russia. 

6. India and the UN System: Role in UN Peace-keeping; demand for Permanent Seat in the Security Council. 

7. India and the Nuclear Question: Changing perceptions and policy. 

8. Recent developments in Indian Foreign policy: India’s position on the recent crisis in Afghanistan, Iraq and West Asia, growing relations with US and Israel; vision of a new world order.