UPSC PSIR OPT
PAPER – I
1. Political Theory and Indian Politics:
• Political Theory: meaning and approaches.
• Theories of the State: Liberal, Neoliberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial and feminist.
• Justice: Conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawl’s theory of justice and its
communitarian critiques.
• Equality: Social, political and economic; relationship between equality and freedom; Affirmative
action.
• Rights: Meaning and theories; different kinds of rights; concept of Human Rights.
• Democracy: Classical and contemporary theories; different models of democracy –
representative, participatory and deliberative.
• Concept of power, hegemony, ideology and legitimacy.
• Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism.
• Indian Political Thought: Dharamshastra, Arthashastra and Buddhist traditions; Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M.K. Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, M.N. Roy.
• Western Political Thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John S. Mill, Marx,
Gramsci, Hannah Arendt.
2. Indian Government and Politics:
• Indian Nationalism:
➢ Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle: Constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha,
Non-cooperation, Civil Disobedience; Militant and revolutionary movements, Peasant and
workers’ movements.
➢ Perspectives on Indian National Movement: Liberal, Socialist and Marxist; Radical
humanist and Dalit.
➢ Making of the Indian Constitution: Legacies of the British rule; different social and political
perspectives.
➢ 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.
➢ Principal Organs of the Union Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the
Executive, Legislature and Supreme Court.
➢ Principal Organs of the State Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the
Executive, Legislature and High Courts.
➢ Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government; significance of 73rd and
74th Amendments; Grassroot movements.
➢ 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.
➢ Federalism: Constitutional provisions; changing nature of centre-state relations;
integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations; inter-state disputes.
➢ 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.
➢ Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics.
➢ Party System: National and regional political parties, ideological and social bases of parties;
patterns of coalition politics; Pressure groups, trends in electoral behaviour; changing socioeconomic profile of Legislators.
➢ Social Movements: Civil liberties and human rights movements; women’s movements;
environmentalist movements.
PAPER – II
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:
• Rise of super powers; strategic and ideological Bipolarity, arms race and Cold War; nuclear
threat;
• Non-aligned movement: Aims and achievements;
• 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 Bretton woods 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.Regionalization of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC, NAFTA.
11.Contemporary Global Concerns: Democracy, human rights, environment, gender justice,
terrorism, nuclear proliferation.
12.India and the World:
• Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants of foreign policy; institutions of policy-making; continuity
and change.
• India’s Contribution to the Non-Alignment Movement: Different phases; current role.
• India and South Asia:
➢ Regional Co-operation: SAARC – past performance and future prospects.
➢ South Asia as a Free Trade Area.
➢ India’s “Look East” policy.
➢ Impediments to regional co-operation: river water disputes; illegal cross-border migration;
ethnic conflicts and insurgencies; border disputes.
• India and the Global South: Relations with Africa and Latin America; leadership role in the
demand for NIEO and WTO negotiations.
• India and the Global Centres of Power: USA, EU, Japan, China and Russia.
• India and the UN System: Role in UN Peace-keeping; demand for Permanent Seat in the Security
Council.
• India and the Nuclear Question: Changing perceptions and policy.
• 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.
