Political Science and International Relations UPSC Optional Syllabus

UPSC Political Science and International Relations Syllabus 2020

UPSC Mains Political Science and International Relations Paper 1 Syllabus

• Political Theory and Indian Politics

  Political theory meaning and approaches
  Theories of the state	Liberal, Pluralist, Marxist, Neoliberal, Post-colonial and feminist.
  Justice:	Conceptions of justice with reference to Rawl’s theory of justice; communitarian critiques.
  Equality:	Relationship between equality and freedom; Political, Social, and economic; Affirmative action.
  Rights:	Meaning and theories; the concept of Human Rights; different kinds of rights
  Democracy:	Contemporary and Classical theories; different models of democracy - deliberative, participatory and representative.
  The concept of power, legitimacy, ideology and Hegemony.
  Political Ideologies:	Liberalism, Marxism, Fascism, Feminism, Gandhism, and Socialism.
  Indian Political Thought:	Arthashastra, Dharamshastra, and Buddhist traditions; Sri Aurobindo, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, B.R. Ambedkar, M.K. Gandhi, M.N. Roy.
  Western Political Thought:	Plato, Machiavelli, John S. Mill, Aristotle, Locke, Hobbes, Marx, Gramsci and Hannah Arendt




• Indian Government and politics

  • Indian Nationalism:

    • Perspectives on Indian National Movement:

      Socialist, Liberal, and Marxist; Radical humanist and Dalit.

    • Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle:

      Civil Disobedience, constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Non-cooperation; Peasant and workers’ movements, militant and revolutionary movements.
  
  

  • Making of the Indian Constitution:

    Legacies of the British rule; Different political and social perspectives.
  
  

  • Salient Features of the Indian Constitution:

    Fundamental Rights and Duties, The Preamble, Directive Principles; Judicial Review and Basic Structure doctrine, Parliamentary System and Amendment Procedures.
    • Principal Organs of the Union Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Legislature, Executive, and Supreme Court.
    • Principal Organs of the State Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Legislature, Executive, and High Courts.
  
  

  • Grassroots Democracy:

    Significance of 73rd and 74th Amendments; Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government; Grassroot movements.
  
  

  • Statutory Institutions/ Commissions:

    Comptroller, Election Commission, and Auditor General, Union Public Service Commission, Finance Commission, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Women; National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, National Human Rights Commission, National Backward Classes Commission, National Commission for Minorities.
  
  

  • Federalism:

    Changing nature of centre-state relations; Constitutional provisions; integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations; inter-state disputes.
  
  

  • Planning and Economic Development:

    The role of planning and public sector; Nehruvian and Gandhian perspectives; land reforms and agrarian relations; Green Revolution, liberalization and economic reforms.
  
  
  • Religion, Caste, and Ethnicity in Indian Politics.
  
  

  • Party System:

    Ideological and social bases of parties; National and regional political parties, Pressure groups, trends in electoral behaviour; patterns of coalition politics; changing the socio-economic profile of Legislators.
  
  

  • Social Movements:

    Women's movements; Civil liberties and human rights movements; environmentalist movements

UPSC Mains Political Science and International Relations Paper 2 Syllabus

• Comparative Politics and International Relations

  • Comparative Politics:

    Political economy and political sociology perspectives; Nature and major approaches; limitations of the comparative method.
  
  

  • State in comparative perspective:

    Advanced industrial and developing societies, Characteristics and changing nature of the State in socialist and capitalist economies.
  
  

  • Politics of Representation and Participation:

    Pressure groups, Political parties, and social movements in advanced industrial and developing societies.
  
  

  • Globalisation:

    Responses from developing and developed societies.
  
  

  • Approaches to the Study of International Relations:

    Realist, Idealist, Functionalist, Marxist, and Systems theory.
  
  

  • Key concepts in International Relations:

    Balance of power and deterrence; Security, National interest, and power; World capitalist economy and globalisation; Transnational actors and collective security.
  
  

  • Changing International Political Order:

    • Rise of superpowers; arms race and Cold War; strategic and ideological Bipolarity, nuclear threat;
    • Non-aligned movement: Achievements and Aims;
    • Unipolarity and American hegemony; Collapse of the Soviet Union; relevance of non-alignment in the contemporary world.
  
  

  • Evolution of the International Economic System:

    Socialist economies and the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance); From Brettonwoods to WTO; Globalisation of the world economy; Third World demand for new international economic order.
  
  

  • United Nations:

    specialized UN agencies-aims and functioning; Envisaged role and actual record; the need for UN reforms.
  
  

  • Regionalisation of World Politics:

    SAARC, ASEAN, EU, APEC, NAFTA.
  
  

  • Contemporary Global Concerns:

    Gender justice, Human rights, Democracy, nuclear proliferation, environment, terrorism.




• India and the World

  • Indian Foreign Policy:

    Institutions of policy-making; Determinants of foreign policy; continuity and change.
  
  

  • India's Contribution to the Non-Alignment Movement:

    Current role; Different phases;
  
  

  • India and South Asia:

    • South Asia as a Free Trade Area.
    • Regional Co-operation: SAARC – future prospects and past performance.
    • Impediments to regional co-operation: illegal cross-border migration; river water disputes; ethnic conflicts and insurgencies; border disputes.
    • India's "Look East" policy.
  
  

  • India and the Global South:

    Leadership role in the demand for NIEO and WTO negotiations, Relations with Africa and Latin America.
  
  

  • India and the Global Centres of Power:

    EU, China, USA, Japan, and Russia.
  
  

  • India and the UN System:

    Demand for Permanent Seat in the Security Council; Role in UN Peace-keeping.
  
  

  • India and the Nuclear Question:

    Changing policy and perceptions.
  
  

  • Recent developments in Indian Foreign policy:

    Growing relations with US and Israel; India's position on the recent crisis in West Asia, Afghanistan and Iraq, the vision of new world order.