MA Political Science Syllabus: Dharanidhar University, Keonjhar

Foundations of political theory: approaches, theories of the state, democracy and toleration, and the debates on ideology.

1. What is politics; normative and empirical approaches; Liberal, Marxist and Feminist perspectives.
2. Theories of the state: Liberal, Neoliberal, Pluralist, Marxist and Postcolonial.
3. Democracy from classical to contemporary; representative, participatory and deliberative models; toleration, neutrality and recognition.
4. Decline and resurgence of political theory; ideology; the End of Ideology debate.

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• Democracy
• Liberalism
• Marxism
• Feminism
• Multiculturalism

Concepts and approaches for comparing political systems, from traditional methods to democratisation.

1. Meaning, nature and scope; evolution; traditional approaches: normative, historical, legal and institutional.
2. Modern approaches: systems analysis and the structural-functional approach.
3. Constitutionalism and new constitutionalism; democracy (direct and representative; democracy and modernisation); authoritarian regimes.
4. Colonialism and decolonisation; state and society in the Third World; waves of democratisation.

Principles of public administration, organisation theories, leadership and personnel administration.

1. Meaning, nature, scope and significance; public and private administration; New Public Administration.
2. Theories of organisation: Taylor’s Scientific Management, Mayo’s Human Relations, Riggs’ Ecological approach.
3. Leadership types and styles; motivation: Maslow, McGregor (Theory X and Y), Herzberg.
4. Personnel administration: recruitment, training, employee–employer relations; permanent and political executive.

The classical and early modern thinkers who shaped Western political philosophy.

1. Plato: ideal state, theory of knowledge, justice, communism. Aristotle: origin, nature and purpose of the state; classification of constitutions, revolution, slavery.
2. Machiavelli: human nature, ethics and politics, child of the Renaissance. Montesquieu: law, liberty, separation of powers.
3. Hobbes: social contract, absolute sovereignty. Locke: natural law, natural rights, social contract, limited government.
4. Rousseau: state of nature, origin of inequality, social contract, general will, civil liberty.

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• Plato
• Aristotle
• Machiavelli
• Hobbes
• Locke
• Rousseau

How International Relations is studied: its debates, schools and the problems of conflict and peace.

1. Evolution of the discipline, the great debates and the state of the art.
2. Idealism and realism and their variants: neorealism, Kautilya’s realpolitik, Chinese tradition, European schools, the English School, neo-liberal institutionalism.
3. Alternative approaches: critical theory, constructivism, post-modernism, feminism, neo-Marxism, ethics in IR.
4. Conflict and peace: changing warfare, weapons of mass destruction, deterrence, conflict resolution and transformation, the nuclear age (NPT, CTBT).

The relationship between politics and society, from culture and participation to elites and stratification.

1. Origin, development, definition and scope; theoretical approaches.
2. Political culture, socialisation, participation and communication.
3. Power, authority and legitimacy; elite theory and the circulation of elites.
4. Social stratification and its bases; political development and modernisation.

The Constitution, the Union government and federalism in India.

1. Making of the Constitution: Constituent Assembly, background, composition, nature and working.
2. Ideological basis: Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles.
3. Union government: President, Prime Minister, Council of Ministers, Parliament and the Supreme Court.
4. Federalism: federal in form and unitary in spirit; Centre–State conflict in administrative, financial and legislative relations; recent trends.

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• Federalism
• Centre–State relations
• Areas of conflict
• Indian federalism: federal in form, unitary in spirit

Current trends in world politics, global processes, regional conflicts and regional blocs.

1. End of bipolarity and changing superpower relations; terrorism, peace and non-state actors; changing role of the UN: peacekeeping, human development, structural reform.
2. Politics of nuclearisation; ecological and development issues; global commons.
3. Major powers and regional conflicts: West Asia, South Asia, the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea.
4. Regionalism and regional blocs: EU, ASEAN, SAARC, APEC, SCO.

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• European Union
• ASEAN
• SAARC
• APEC
• SCO
• Indian Ocean
• South China Sea

Major theories of administration and management and their application to organisations.

1. Development and growth of administrative theories; Taylor’s Scientific Management; Riggs’ Ecological approach.
2. Bureaucracy and administration: Max Weber’s theory; Herbert Simon on decision-making; the systems approach.
3. Choice-based socio-psychological approach: perspectives of public choice.
4. Conflict and objectives: Mary Parker Follett on managing conflict; Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives.

Modern and contemporary thinkers on power, justice, feminism and liberation.

1. Gramsci and Mao Zedong.
2. Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah Arendt.
3. John Rawls and Robert Nozick.
4. Frantz Fanon and Rosa Luxemburg.

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• Gramsci
• Mao Zedong
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• Hannah Arendt
• John Rawls
• Frantz Fanon

Indian thinkers and the question of how far Indian political thought is original.

1. Manu and Kautilya.
2. Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Vivekananda.
3. B. R. Ambedkar, M. K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
4. Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan.

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• Manu
• Kautilya
• Vivekananda
• M. K. Gandhi

How foreign policy is made and how India deals with the world.

1. Determinants (domestic and international); evolution from pre- to post-independence.
2. Making of foreign policy: institutions, structure and processes; continuity and change: non-alignment, terrorism, energy security, Indian diaspora.
3. Global and regional institutions: UN, WTO, ASEAN, APEC, EU, IORA, SAARC.
4. Neighbours (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka); major powers (USA, PRC, Russia); global aspirations and constraints, with national security, economic and nuclear policy.

Society, parties and institutions in the working of Indian politics.

1. Nature of the Indian state; New Economic Policy; globalisation and its effects.
2. Social movements (Dalit, tribal, women, farmers, environment); civil society groups.
3. National and regional parties; coalition politics; electoral process and the Election Commission.
4. Constitutional and statutory bodies: CAG, Finance Commission, NCSC, NCST, NHRC, NCW, minorities commission.

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• Indian party system
• Coalition politics
• Electoral process
• Electoral reforms

South Asia as a region: states, security and conflict.

1. Origins and nature of South Asian states; post-colonial state and nation building.
2. Limits of structural realism and South Asian security.
3. Deterrence theory and the nuclearisation of South Asia.
4. Borders, internal conflict, porous borders; democratisation and crises of governance; migration and refugees; human development.

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• SAARC

Feminist theories and the Indian experience.

1. Sex and gender; biologism versus social constructivism; patriarchy; liberal, socialist, Marxist, radical and new feminisms.
2. Origin of feminism; family in contemporary India (patrilineal and matrilineal); gender relations, entitlements and property rights.
3. Women’s work and labour: productive and reproductive labour; visible and invisible, paid and unpaid work.
4. Social reform movements and the position of women; women in anti-colonial and national liberation movements.

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• Feminism

Key institutions and processes of Indian governance.

1. Preamble and salient features of the Constitution.
2. Union executive, Parliament, Supreme Court, High Courts and subordinate courts.
3. Political parties, pressure groups and electoral politics.
4. Indian federalism: Centre–State relations, national integration, NDC and NITI Aayog.

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• Federalism
• Centre–State relations

An elective on the Constitution, open to students from other disciplines.

1. Constituent Assembly and the Constitution: formation and working, Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Duties.
2. Organs of government: legislature, executive, Supreme Court and High Courts; judicial review and judicial activism.
3. Federalism: Centre–State relations, recent trends and tension areas.
4. Decentralisation: Panchayati Raj institutions, municipalities, problems of and control over local self-government.

Tools for designing, conducting and reporting social science research.

1. Meaning and need for research; fundamental and applied research; political science research; traditional and scientific methods.
2. Research design and types; formulating the research problem; literature review, sources and use of IT.
3. Qualitative and quantitative techniques; data collection; surveys, observation, questionnaires, interviews and sampling.
4. Analysing primary and secondary documents; presentation and interpretation of data; report writing.

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• Research Aptitude (UGC NET Paper-I)

Movements that challenge development paradigms and shape Indian politics.

1. Concepts, theories and types of movements; background and history of movements in India.
2. Peasant movements; tribal movements.
3. Dalit and backward caste movements; women’s movement, gender justice and challenges such as fundamentalism, caste, violence and moral policing.
4. Environmental movements: Chipko, Silent Valley, Narmada Bachao Andolan; state, civil society and movements.

Governance concepts and the way policy is made and reformed in India.

1. Governance: meaning, types, government versus governance, and its neoliberal critique.
2. State, society and market; New Public Management and its critique.
3. Public policy: meaning, types and process in India; policies on housing, health, drinking water, food security, MGNREGA, NHM and RTE.
4. Good governance, e-governance, RTI, Citizen’s Charter, public delivery systems, CSR, Ombudsman, Lokpal and Lokayukta.

Regionalism and India’s role in regional organisations.

1. Concepts and theories of regionalism; classification of regional organisations; their significance in India’s foreign policy.
2. SAARC: genesis, growth, issues, summit diplomacy; India’s role; the European Union.
3. India and South-East Asia: Look East and Act East; security, energy and trade priorities.
4. BRICS: origin, agenda and influence; India–BRICS engagement; New Development Bank.

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• SAARC
• ASEAN
• European Union

Human rights in theory, the Constitution and institutional practice.

1. Understanding human rights; historical evolution; origin and development in India.
2. Human rights and the Constitution: Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles, rights of the marginalised.
3. Institutional protection: NHRC, State Human Rights Commissions and the judiciary.
4. Non-state actors: civil society and human rights activists.

A close study of Odisha’s political process.

1. Emergence of Odisha as a separate state; political culture; sub-regionalism and regional disparity.
2. Elections and voting behaviour; coalition politics in Odisha.
3. Regional political parties: Ganatantra Parishad, Jana Congress, Utkal Congress, Biju Janata Dal.
4. Women’s participation; Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes: leadership and political participation.

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• Government and Politics in Odisha (UG course)

A 100-mark project and seminar in the final semester. The syllabus gives no further detail; follow your department’s guidelines.