PSIR - Syllabus

Syllabus of PSIR Paper - I

Political Theory and Indian Politics:

Political Theory: meaning and approaches.

Theories of 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; the 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: Dharmashastra, 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 Government and Politics

Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle: Constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Noncooperation, 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.

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 73rd and 74th Amendments; Grassroot movements.

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.

Federalism: Constitutional provisions; changing nature of center-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; liberalization 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 behavior; changing socio-economic profile of Legislators. 

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

Syllabus of PSIR Paper - II

Comparative Politics and International Relations

Comparative Political Analysis and International 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.

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; Transational actors and collective security; World capitalist economy and globalisation.

Changing International Political Order:

Rise of superpowers; 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. 

Evolution of the International Economic System: From Bretton woods 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 agencies—aims and functioning; the need for UN reforms.

Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, AARC, NAFTA.

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

India and the World

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

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

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.

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

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

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

India and the Nuclear Question: Changing perceptions and policy.

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