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(Syllabus) Punjab PSC (Main) : Combined State Civil Services Exam - Political Science
Punjab Public Service Commission
SYLLABI FOR THE EXAMINATION PART B MAIN EXAM
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
PART-I
Political Theory and Indian Politics:
1. Political Theory: meaning and approaches.
2. Theories of the State: Liberal, Neo-liberal, 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 73rdand 74thAmendments; 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; liberalization 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) Nonaligned 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.