Political Science and International Relations
Paper I (Political Theory and Indian Politics:)
- Political Theory: meaning and approaches.
- Theories of the State: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial and feminist.
- Justice: Conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawl’s theory of justice and its communitarian critiques
- Equality: Social, political and economic; relationship between equality and freedom; Affirmative action.
- Rights: Meaning and theories; different kinds of rights; concept of Human Rights.
- Democracy: Classical and contemporary theories; different models of democracy – representative, participatory and deliberative.
- Concept of power, hegemony, ideology and legitimacy.
- Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism
and Feminism. - Indian Political Thought : Dharamshastra, Arthashastra and Buddhist traditions; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M.K. Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, M.N. Roy .
- Western Political Thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John
S. Mill, Marx, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt.
Indian Government and Politics:
- Indian Nationalism:
- Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle: Constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Non-cooperation, Civil Disobedience; Militant and revolutionary movements, Peasant and workers’ movements.
- Perspectives on Indian National Movement: Liberal, Socialist and Marxist;
Radical humanist and Dalit.
- Making of the Indian Constitution: Legacies of the British rule; different social
and political perspectives. - 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.
- Basic numeric skills of the class X level such as numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude and data interpreatation.
- Principal Organs of the Union Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature and Supreme Court.
- Principal Organs of the State Government: Envisaged role and actual working
of the Executive, Legislature and High Courts. - Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government significance of 73 and 74 rd Amendments; Grassroot movements.
- Statutory Institutions/Commissions: Election Commission, Comptroller and
th 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. - Federalism: Constitutional provisions; changing nature of centre-state relations; integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations; inter-state disputes.
- 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.
- Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics.
- 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.
- Social Movements: Civil liberties and human rights movements; women’s movements; environmentalist movements.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Paper II (Political Theory and Indian Politics)
- Comparative Politics: Nature and major approaches; political economy and
political sociology perspectives; limitations of the comparative method. - State in comparative perspective: Characteristics and changing nature of the
State in capitalist and socialist economies, and, advanced industrial and developing societies. - Justice: Conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawl’s theory of justice and its communitarian critiques
- Politics of Representation and Participation: Political parties, pressure groups
and social movements in advanced industrial and developing societies. - Globalisation: Responses from developed and developing societies.
- Approaches to the Study of International Relations: Idealist, Realist, Marxist,
Functionalist and Systems theory. - 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.
- Changing International Political Order:
- Rise of super powers; strategic and ideological Bipolarity, arms race and Cold War; nuclear threat;
- Nonaligned movement: Aims and achievements;
- Collapse of the Soviet Union; Unipolarity and American hegemony; relevance of non-alignment in the contemporary world.
- 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.
- United Nations: Envisaged role and actual record; specialized UN agenciesaims and functioning; need for UN reforms.
- Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC, NAFTA.
- Contemporary Global Concerns: Democracy, human rights, environment,
gender justice, terrorism, nuclear proliferation.