UPSC : Political Science and International Relations : Main Examination Exams in India

Political Theory and Indian Politics

Section-A

1, Approaches to the study of political theory: historical, normative and empirical.

2. Theories of state: Social contract, Liberal, Neo-liberai, Marxist, communitarian, post-colonial,

3. State Sovereignty: Marxist and pluralistic theories; globalisation and the State.

4 Democracy and Human Rights: Democratic theory-classical and contemporary Theories of Human Rights; Theories- of Justice, Equality and Revolution, political obligation; New Social Movements.

5. Theories of Political Culture; Culture and politics in Third World countries.

6. Theories of Political Economy-Classical and contemporary.

7. Political Ideologies: Nature of Ideology; Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism and Anarchism.

8. Theories of Power and Hegemony: Pareto, Mosca, Mitchels, C. Wright Mills, Weber, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt.

9. Indian Political Thought: Manu, Kautilya M.N. Roy Gandhi Ambedkar and E V Ramswami Naicker.

10. Political Thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, J S Mill, Hegel and Marx, Lenin, Rosa Luxemberg and Mao Zedong.

Section-B

Indian Government and Politics

1. Indian Nationalism: Dadabhai Naoroji, Tilak, Savarkar, Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narain, Nehru, Subhas Bose, Ambedkar, Ram Manohar Lohia.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Landmarks in Constitutional Development during British Rule: Morley-Miito Reforms; Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms; Simon Commission; Government of India Act, 1935; Cripps Mission : Indian Independence Act, 1947.

5. Salient Features of the Indian Constitution: The Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles; federalism, parliamentary system; amending procedures; judicial review.

6. 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.

7. Role and function of the Parliament and Parlimentary Committee-Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha; changing socio economic profile.

8. The Supreme Court and the High Courts; Judicial Activism; PIL.

9. Statutory institutions/commis sions-UPSC, Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General, Backward Classes Commission, National Commission for women; National Human Rights Commission; Minorities Commission.

10. Party system : ideology and social base of parties; fragmentation and regionalisation. Pressure groups; patterns of coalition politics; trends in electoral behaviour.

11. Class, caste, ethnicity and gender in Indian politics; politics of regionalism, comnumalism, backward class and Dalit movements, Tribal people movements, struggle for gender justice.

12. Planning and Economic Development: Role of the Planning Commission; Planning in the era of liberalisation; political dimensions of economic reforms.

13. Grassroots democracy : Panchayati Raj and municipal government; significance of 73rd and 74th Amendements. Grass root movement and womens empowerment.

PAPER - II

Comparative Politics and International Relations

Section-A

Comparative Analysis and International Politics

1. 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.

2. The Modern State : Evolution, the contemporary trends in the advanced industrial countries and the third world.

3. Development : Strategies and contemporary discourse.

4. Concepts of International politics : Power, national interest, balance of power, national security, collective security and peace.

5. Theories of International politics Marxist, Realist, Systems, Decision-making and Game Theory.

6. Determinants of foreign policy : Domestic compulsions, geopolitics, geoeconomics and global order.

7. Origin and contemporary relevance of the Cold War, nature of the post-cold war global order.

8. Major issues of world politics : Cuban Missile Crisis; Vietnam War, Oil Crisis, Afghan Civil War, Gulf War, Collapse pf the Soviet Union, Yugoslav Crisis.

9. Non-alignment: Concept and movement; Third World Movements for global justice. Non-alignment in the post cold war era.

10. The evolution of the international economic system-from Bretton woods to WTO, the North-South dimension.

11. International organisations UN and its specialized agencies : International Court of Justice; ILO, UNICEF, WHO UNESCO.

12. Regional, organizations such as the ASEAN, APEC, EU, SAARC, NAFTA

13. Contemporary Global Concerns : Democracy, Human Rights, Ecology, Gender Justice, Global commons, Communication.

Section-B

India and the World

1. Indian Foreign Policy : Historical origins, determinants; the institutions of policy-making; continuity and change.

2. India and the Non-Alignment Movement: Evolution and contemporary relevance. Socio- political basis of non-alignment-domestic and global.

3. 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).

4. Conflict and co-operation m South Asia: Indias relations with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal. Regional co-operation and SAARC. Kashmir question in Indias foreign policy.

5. Indias relation with Africa and Latin America.

6. India and South East Asia; ASEAN.

7. India and the major powers: USA, EU, China, japan and Russia.

8. India and the UN System: Indias role in UN Peace Keeping and global disarmament.

9. India and the emerging international economic order; multilateral agencies-WTO, IMF, IBRD, ADB.

10. India and the question of nuclear weapons: NPT and CTBT.