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 .

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-Minto 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 / commissions- 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, communalism, 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 women's empowerment.

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 of 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 in South Asia:

India's relations with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal. Regional co-operation and SAARC. Kashmir question in India's foreign policy.

5. India's 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:

India's 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.