Exams›UPSC CSE

All India · exam corner

UPSC Civil Services Examination

Live

Optional · Political Science & IR (Paper I & II)

40 topics · 4 sections — from the official UPSC syllabus. Study material lands topic by topic.

Paper I, Section A · Political Theory

1
Political Theory: Meaning and Approaches
1. 1.Political Theory — Meaning and the Contest of Approaches29 min
2
Theories of State: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial and Feminist
1. 1.Six Theories of the Modern State — Liberal to Feminist29 min
3
Justice: Rawls's Theory and the Communitarian Critique
1. 1.Justice: Rawls's Theory and the Communitarian Challenge16 min
4
Equality: Social, Political and Economic Dimensions
1. 1.Equality: Social, Political and Economic Dimensions, its Relationship with Freedom, and Affirmative Action20 min
5
Rights: Meaning, Theories and Human Rights
1. 1.Rights — Meaning, Theories, Kinds, and the Concept of Human Rights24 min
6
Democracy: Classical and Contemporary Theories
1. 1.Democracy: Classical and Contemporary Theories, and the Representative, Participatory and Deliberative Models21 min
7
Concept of Power: Hegemony, Ideology and Legitimacy
1. 1.Power, Hegemony, Ideology and Legitimacy in Political Theory27 min
8
Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism
1. 1.Political Ideologies — Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism37 min
9
Indian Political Thought
1. 1.Indian Political Thought — From Dharmashastra to Radical Humanism48 min
10
Western Political Thought
1. 1.Western Political Thought: From the Polis to the Public Realm — Plato to Arendt39 min

Paper I, Section B · Indian Government and Politics

1
Indian Nationalism
1. 1.Indian Nationalism — Strategies and Historiographical Perspectives36 min
2
Making of the Indian Constitution
1. 1.Making of the Indian Constitution: Colonial Legacies and Contested Perspectives29 min
3
Salient Features of the Indian Constitution
1. 1.Salient Features of the Indian Constitution — Preamble, Rights, Parliamentary Government and the Basic Structure45 min
4
Principal Organs of the Union and State Governments
1. 1.Union and State Organs: Envisaged Role and Actual Working42 min
5
Grassroots Democracy
1. 1.Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj, Municipal Government and the Politics of Decentralisation29 min
6
Statutory Institutions and Commissions
1. 1.India's Fourth Branch: The Constitutional and Statutory Watchdog Commissions46 min
7
Federalism
1. 1.Federalism: Constitutional Design, Centre-State Change, and the Politics of Regional Aspiration35 min
8
Planning and Economic Development
1. 1.Planning, Development and Economic Reform in Indian Politics31 min
9
Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics
1. 1.Identity and Democracy: Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics30 min
10
Party System
1. 1.Party System in India: Parties, Coalitions, Pressure Groups and Electoral Change36 min
11
Social Movements
1. 1.Rights, Gender and Ecology: Social Movements in Indian Politics34 min

Paper II, Section A · Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics

1
Comparative Politics: Nature and Major Approaches
1. 1.Comparative Politics: Nature, Approaches, and the Limits of Comparison30 min
2
The State in Comparative Perspective
1. 1.The State in Comparative Perspective: Capitalist, Socialist, Advanced-Industrial and Developing Formations17 min
3
Politics of Representation and Participation
1. 1.Political Parties, Pressure Groups and Social Movements Compared26 min
4
Globalisation: Responses from Developed and Developing Societies
1. 1.Globalisation: Comparative Responses of Developed and Developing Societies25 min
5
Approaches to the Study of International Relations
1. 1.Approaches to the Study of International Relations — Idealism, Realism, Marxism, Functionalism, Systems Theory23 min
6
Key Concepts in International Relations
1. 1.Key Concepts in International Relations — National Interest, Power, Balance of Power, Deterrence, Transnational Actors, Collective Security and the World Capitalist Economy25 min
7
Changing International Political Order
1. 1.Bipolarity to Unipolarity: The Cold War, Non-Alignment, and the Post-Soviet Order24 min
8
Evolution of the International Economic System
1. 1.The International Economic System: Bretton Woods, CMEA, the NIEO Demand, and Globalisation31 min
9
United Nations
1. 1.The United Nations: Envisaged Role, Actual Record, and the Politics of Reform41 min
10
Regionalisation of World Politics
1. 1.Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC, NAFTA33 min
11
Contemporary Global Concerns
1. 1.Contemporary Global Concerns — Democracy, Human Rights, Environment, Gender Justice, Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation23 min

Paper II, Section B · India and the World

1
Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants and Institutions
1. 1.Indian Foreign Policy — Determinants, Institutions of Policy-Making, and the Politics of Continuity and Change34 min
2
India's Contribution to the Non-Aligned Movement
1. 1.India's Contribution to the Non-Aligned Movement — Phases and Current Role24 min
3
India and South Asia
1. 1.India and South Asia: SAARC, SAFTA, Look East and the Politics of Regional Non-Cooperation35 min
4
India and the Global South
1. 1.India and the Global South: Africa, Latin America, and the Struggle for a New Economic Order28 min
5
India and the Global Centres of Power
1. 1.India and the Global Centres of Power — USA, EU, Japan, China and Russia66 min
6
India and the UN System
1. 1.India and the UN System — Peacekeeping and the Permanent-Seat Demand33 min
7
India and the Nuclear Question
1. 1.India and the Nuclear Question — From Ambiguity to Overt Deterrent33 min
8
Recent Developments in Indian Foreign Policy
1. 1.Recent Developments in Indian Foreign Policy — Afghanistan, Iraq, West Asia, the United States, Israel and the Vision of a New World Order49 min

← Back to the full syllabus