For a UPSC CSE aspirant, the optional subject is also an important subject. In the UPSC mains exam, optional marks have two papers, Paper 1 and Paper 2. Each paper is of 250 marks which makes a total of 500 marks. The UPSC optional subject list contains 48 subjects in total, one of which is Political Science.
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CHECK MORE OPTIONAL SUBJECT SYLLABUS AT https://www.naukripakad.com/upsc-cse-optional-subjects-and-syllabus/
SYLLABUS FOR PAPER I
A. Political Theory and Thinkers
- Political theory
- Definition, meaning, and approaches
- Theories of the state
- Liberal
- Neoliberal
- Marxist
- Pluralist
- Feminist
- Post-colonial
- Justice
- Concept of justice with reference to Rawl’s theory of justice along with its communitarian critiques
- Equality
- Affirmative action
- Relationship between freedom and equality
- Political, Social, and economic
- Rights
- Meaning and theories
- the concept of Human Rights
- Democracy
- Different models of democracy – deliberative, Contemporary participatory and representative, and Classical theories
- Concept of power
- legitimacy
- hegemony
- Ideology
- Political Ideologies
- Liberalism
- Marxism
- Fascism
- Gandhism
- Feminism
- Socialism
- Indian Political Thought
- Dharmashastra, Arthashastra, and Buddhist traditions
- B.R. Ambedkar
- Sri Aurobindo
- M.N. Roy
- Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
- M.K. Gandhi
- Western Political Thought
- Plato
- Machiavelli
- John S. Mill
- Aristotle
- Hobbes
- Locke
- Gramsci Marx
- Hannah Arendt
B. Indian Government and Politics
- Indian Nationalism
- Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle: Non-cooperation, Constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Civil Disobedience
- Peasant and workers’ movements,
- The revolutionary and militant movement
- Perspective on INM: Socialist, Liberal, and Marxist
- Radical Humanist, and Dalit
- Making of the Indian Constitution
- Different political and social perspectives
- Legacies of the British rule
- Salient Features of the Indian Constitution
- Fundamental Rights and Duties
- Judicial Review and Basic Structure doctrine
- The Preamble
- Parliamentary System
- Directive Principles
- Amendment Procedures
- Principal Organs of the Union Government
- Executive, Envisaged role and actual working of the Legislature, and Supreme Court
- Principal Organs of the State Government
- Executive, Envisaged role and actual working of the Legislature, and High Courts.
5. Statutory Institutions/ Commissions
- Election Commission
- Comptroller, and Auditor General
- Union Public Service Commission
- Finance Commission
- National Backward Classes Commission
- National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
- National Commission for Women
- National Commission for Scheduled Castes
- National Commission for Minorities
- Federalism
- Constitutional provisions; and regional aspirations
- Changing nature of center-state relations
- integrationist tendencies
- inter-state disputes
- Planning and Economic Development
- The role of planning and public sector
- land reforms and agrarian relations
- Green Revolution
- Liberalization
- Economic reforms
- Party System
- National and regional political parties
- Ideological and social bases of parties
- Patterns of coalition politics
- Trends in electoral behavior
- Pressure groups, changing the socio-economic profile of Legislators
- Social Movements
- Women’s movements
- Civil liberties
- environmentalist movements
SYLLABUS FOR PAPER II
A. Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics
- Comparative Politics
- Nature and major approaches
- Political economy
- limitations of the comparative method
- Globalisation
- Responses from developing and developed societies
- Idealist, Functionalist, Realist, Marxist, and Systems theory
- Approaches to the Study of International Relations
- Key concepts in International Relations
- Security, World capitalist economy and globalization
- National interest, and power
- Balance of power and deterrence
- Transnational actors, and collective security
- Changing International Political Order
- The arms race and Cold War
- Rise of superpowers; strategic and ideological Bipolarity
- Non-aligned movement: Aims, and Achievements
- nuclear threat
- Collapse of the Soviet Union
- Relevance of non-alignment in the contemporary world
- Unipolarity and American hegemony
- Evolution of the International Economic System
- From Bretton woods to WTO
- Socialist economies and the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance)
- Globalization of the world economy
- Third World demand for new international economic order
- United Nations
- Envisaged role and actual record
- The need for UN reforms
- Specialized UN agencies-aims and functioning
- Regionalization of World Politics
- ASEAN
- EU
- APEC
- NAFTA
- SAARC
- Contemporary Global Concerns
- Gender justice
- Human rights
- nuclear proliferation
- Democracy
- Terrorism
- Environment
B. India and the World
- Indian Foreign Policy
- Continuity and change: Determinants of foreign policy, Institutions of policy-making
- India and South Asia
- Regional Co-operation: SAARC –past performance and future prospects
- South Asia as a Free Trade Area
- Impediments to regional co-operation: ethnic conflicts and insurgencies
- river water disputes
- border disputes
- illegal cross-border migration
- India’s “Look East” policy
- India and the Global South
- Leadership role in the demand for NIEO and WTO negotiations
- Relations with Latin America and Africa
- India and the Global Centres of Power
- USA, EU, China, Japan, and Russia
- India and the UN System
- Role in United Nation Peace-keeping
- India and the Nuclear Questions
- Perceptions and Changing policy
- Recent developments in Indian Foreign Policy
- Growing relations with the US and Israel
- India’s position on the recent crisis in West Asia,
- Afghanistan and Iraq, the vision of new world order
