PSIR Paper 1 syllabus
Political Science and International Relations Paper I — political theory and Indian politics, as GS 1 of the optional.
Political Theory and Indian Politics
- 1 Political Theory: meaning and approaches. 39 PYQs
- 2 Theories of the State: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial and feminist. 5 PYQs
- 3 Justice: Conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawl’s theory of justice and its communitarian critiques. 5 PYQs
- 4 Equality: Social, political and economic; relationship between equality and freedom; Affirmative action. 7 PYQs
- 5 Rights: Meaning and theories; different kinds of rights; concept of Human Rights. 3 PYQs
- 6 Democracy: Classical and contemporary theories; different models of democracy — representative, participatory and deliberative. 3 PYQs
- 7 Concept of power, hegemony, ideology and legitimacy. 4 PYQs
- 8 Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism. 1 PYQ
- 9 Indian Political Thought: Dharamshastra, Arthashastra and Buddhist traditions; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M.K. Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, M.N. Roy. 3 PYQs
- 10 Western Political Thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John S. Mill, Marx, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt. PYQs
Indian Government and Politics
- 1 Indian Nationalism: Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle; Perspectives on Indian National Movement; Gandhi, Tagore, Nehru, Ambedkar, and the socialists. 32 PYQs
- 2 Making of the Indian Constitution: Legacies of the British rule; different social and political perspectives. 6 PYQs
- 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. 6 PYQs
- 4 Principal Organs of the Union Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature and Supreme Court. 4 PYQs
- 5 Principal Organs of the State Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature and High Courts. PYQs
- 6 Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government; significance of 73rd and 74th Amendments; Grassroot movements. PYQs
- 7 Statutory Institutions/Commissions: Election Commission, CAG, Finance Commission, UPSC, NCSC, NCST, NCBC, National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Women and National Commission for Minorities, NITI Aayog. 8 PYQs
- 8 Federalism: Constitutional provisions; changing nature of centre-state relations; integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations; inter-state disputes. 6 PYQs
- 9 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. 3 PYQs
- 10 Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics. PYQs
- 11 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. 5 PYQs
- 12 Social Movements: Civil liberties and human rights movements; women’s movements; environmentalist movements. PYQs