Political Science and International Relations

About this optional

Political Science and International Relations is one of the optional subjects of the Civil Services (Main) Examination. Like every optional, it is examined in two papers: Paper VI (Optional Subject, Paper 1) and Paper VII (Optional Subject, Paper 2). The syllabus of each is quoted in full below. The paper as a whole is described on the Optional Subject page.

• Both papers are conventional (essay) type. Together they carry 500 of the 1750 marks of the written examination.
• The level of the syllabus is broadly that of an honours degree: higher than a bachelor's degree and lower than a master's degree.
• The question papers are set in Hindi and English. The candidate may answer in English or in any one language of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.

Paper I is political theory and Indian government and politics; Paper II is comparative politics and international relations, followed by India and the world.

Paper I

Political Theory and Indian Politics

1. Political Theory: meaning and approaches.
2. Theories of state: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluiralist, 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.
10. Western Political Thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John S. Mill, Marx, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt.

Indian Government and Politics

1. Indian Nationalism:
   • (a) Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle: Constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Non-cooperation, Civil Disobedience; Militant and Revolutionary Movements, Peasant and Workers Movements.
   • (b) Perspectives on Indian National Movement; Liberal, Socialist and Marxist; Radical Humanist and Dalit.
2. Making of the Indian Constitution: Legacies of the British rule; different social and political perspectives.
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.
4. • (a) Principal Organs of the Union Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature and Supreme Court.
   • (b) Principal Organs of the State Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature and High Courts.
5. Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government; Significance of 73rd and 74th Amendments; Grassroot movements.
6. 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.
7. Federalism: Constitutional provisions; changing nature of centre-state relations; integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations; inter-state disputes.
8. 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.
9. Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics.
10. 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.
11. Social Movement: Civil liberties and human rights movements; women’s movements; environmentalist movements.

Paper II

Comparative Politics and International Relations

Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics

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; Transational actors and collective security; World capitalist economy and globalisation.
7. Changing International Political Order:
   • (a) Rise of super powers; Strategic and ideological Bipolarity, arms race and cold war; Nuclear threat;
   • (b) Non-aligned Movement: Aims and achievements.
   • (c) 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 Brettonwoods 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. Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, AARC, NAFTA.
11. Contemporary Global Concerns: Democracy, human rights, environment, gender justice terrorism, nuclear proliferation.

India and the World

1. Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants of foreign policy; the institutions of policy-making; Continuity and change.
2. India’s Contribution to the Non-Alignment Movement Different phases; Current role.
3. India and South Asia:
   • (a) Regional Co-operation: SAARC-past performance and future prospects.
   • (b) South Asia as a Free Trade Area.
   • (c) India’s “Look East” policy.
   • (d) Impediments to regional co-operation: River water disputes; illegal cross border migration; Ethnic conflicts and insurgencies; Border disputes.
4. India and the Global South: Relations with Africa and Latin America; Leadership role in the demand for NIEO and WTO negotiations.
5. India and the Global Centres of Power: USA, EU, Japan, China and Russia.
6. India and the UN System: Role in UN Peace-keeping; Demand for Permanent Seat in the Security Council.
7. India and the Nuclear Question: Changing perceptions and policy.
8. Recent developments in Indian Foreign Policy: India’s position on the recent crises in Afghanistan, Iraq and West Asia, growing relations with US and Israel; Vision of a new world order.

Overlaps with General Studies

• General Studies II: the largest overlap. The Constitution and its basic structure, the Union and State executive, legislature and judiciary, federalism and centre-state relations, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels, constitutional and statutory bodies, pressure groups, and the whole international relations part: India and its neighbourhood, regional and global groupings, important international institutions, agencies and fora.
• General Studies I: the freedom struggle and its stages, post-independence consolidation, world history themes such as the world wars, decolonisation and political philosophies (communism, capitalism, socialism), and communalism, regionalism and secularism under Indian society.
• General Studies IV: the thinkers of Paper I (Indian and Western political thought) feed the part on moral thinkers and philosophers from India and the world; justice, rights and equality support the ethics answers.
• General Studies III: planning, land reforms and the effects of liberalisation.
• Prelims General Studies Paper I: Indian polity and governance, the history of India and the Indian National Movement, and current events of national and international importance.

Source: UPSC Examination Notice No. 05/2026-CSE, Civil Services Examination, 2026, 4 February 2026, Appendix I, PDF. Last checked 11 November 2026.