POLITICAL SCIENCE OPTIONAL UPSC

POLITICAL SCIENCE OPTIONAL UPSC CSE

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Political Science & International Relations Optional Syllabus

Political Science & International Relations Optional Paper – I Syllabus

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:

• 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.

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. Principal Organs of the Government:

• 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.

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 Ethnicityin 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.

Political Science & International Relations Optional Paper – II Syllabus

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:

• Rise of super powers;
• strategic and ideological Bipolarity,
• arms race and Cold War; nuclear threat;
• Non-aligned movement: Aims and achievements;
• 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:

• Regional Co-operation: SAARC – past performance and future prospects.
• South Asia as a Free Trade Area.
• India’s “Look East” policy.
• 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

 

Books For Political Science Optional For UPSC IAS Mains

Books For Political Science Paper I

• An Introduction To Constitution- D.D. Basu
• An Introduction To Political Theory- O.P Gauba
• Fifty Major Political Thinkers- Ian Adams And R W Dyson
• A History Of Political Thought: Plato To Marx – Subrata Mukherjee And Sushila Ramaswamy
• An Oxford Companion To Politics In India – Niraja Gopal Jayal And Pratap Bhanu Mehta
• Foundations Of Indian Political Thought- V.R Mehta
• A New Look At Modern Indian History- B.L Grover And Alka Mehta
• India’s Struggle For Independence – Bipan Chandra
• Indian Government And Politics – B L Fadia

Aspirants targeting UPSC 2021 can check the linked article.

Books For Political Science Paper-II

• India’s Foreign Policy – V P Dutt
• International Organisations- Spectrum Books Publication
• International Relations – V N Khanna
• Challenge And Strategy: Rethinking India’s Foreign Policy- Rajiv Sikri
• Does The Elephant Dance?: Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy- David M. Malone
• Global Politics- Andrew Heywood
• MPS-004 Comparative Politics: Issues And Trends By Expert Panel Of GPH