UPSC Political Science Syllabus 2026 - Download CSE Syllabus PDF

Political Theory and Indian Politics

• Equality: Social, political and economic; relationship between equality and freedom; Affirmative action

• Theories of state: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial, and Feminist.

• Justice: Conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawl’s theory of justice and its communitarian critiques

• Rights: Meaning and theories; different kinds of rights; Concept of Human Rights

• Political Theory: Meaning and approaches

• Democracy: different models of democracy - representative, Classical and contemporary theories; participatory and deliberative.

• Concept of power: hegemony, ideology and legitimacy

• Political Ideologies: Socialism, Liberalism, Marxism, Gandhism, Feminism, and Fascism

• Western Political Thinkers: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John S. Mill, Marx, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt

• Indian Political Thinkers: Dharamshastra, Arthashastra and Buddhist Traditions; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M. K. Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, M. N. Roy

Indian Government and Politics

• Indian Nationalism:

  • Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle:: Constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Noncooperation, Civil Disobedience; Militant and Revolutionary Movements, Peasant and Workers Movements

  • Perspectives on Indian National Movement: Liberal, Socialist and Marxist; Radical Humanist and Dalit.

• Salient Features of the Indian Constitution: Fundamental Duties, DPSP, The Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Parliamentary System and Amendment Procedures; Judicial Review and Basic Structure doctrine.

• Making of the Indian Constitution: Legacies of the British rule; different social and political perspectives

• Principal Organs of the Union Government: working of the Executive, Legislature and Supreme Court.

• Principal Organs of the State Government: working of the Executive, Legislature and High Courts.

• Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government

• Statutory Institutions/Commissions: Election Commission, Finance Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Women; National Commission for Minorities, National Human Rights Commission, National Backward Classes Commission.

• 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.

• Federalism: Constitutional provisions; changing nature of centre-state relations; integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations; inter-state disputes.

• 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 socio-economic profile of Legislators.

• Social Movement: Women’s movements; Civil liberties and human rights movements; environmentalist movements

Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics

• State in Comparative Perspective: Characteristics and changing nature of the State in capitalist and socialist economies, and advanced industrial and developing societies.

• Comparative Politics: Nature and major approaches, Limitations of the comparative methods.

• Politics of Representation and Participation: Political parties, pressure groups and social movements in advanced industrial and developing societies.

• Approaches to the Study of International Relations: Idealist, Realist, Marxist, Functionalist and Systems theory.

• Globalisation: Responses from developed and developing societies.

• 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.

• Changing International Political Order:

  • Rise of superpowers

  • Non-aligned Movement

  • Collapse of the Soviet Union

• United Nations: Envisaged role and actual record; Specialized UN agencies—aims and functioning; need for UN reforms.

• Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, AARC, NAFTA.

• 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.

• Contemporary Global Concerns: Democracy, human rights, environment, gender justice terrorism, nuclear proliferation.

India and the World

• India’s Contribution to the Non-Alignment Movement: Different phases; Current role

• Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants of foreign policy; the institutions of policy-making; Continuity and change.

• India and South Asia:

  • Regional Cooperation

  • South Asia as a Free Trade Area.

  • India’s “Look East” policy.

  • Impediments to regional cooperation

• India and the Global Centres of Power: USA, EU, Japan, China and Russia.

• India and the Global South: Relations with Africa and Latin America; Leadership role in the demand for NIEO and WTO negotiations.

• India and the UN System: Role in UN Peace-keeping; Demand for Permanent Seat in the Security Council.

• Recent developments in Indian Foreign Policy: India’s position on the recent crises in Afghanistan, Iraq and West Asia, growing relations with the US and Israel; and Vision of a new world order.

• India and the Nuclear Question: Changing Perceptions and Policy.

Books for Paper 1

Author

An Introduction To Constitution

Dd Basu

Fifty Major Political Thinkers

Ian Adams And R W Dyson

A History Of Political Thought: Plato To Marx

Subrata Mukherjee And Sushila Ramaswamy

An Introduction To Political Theory

O.P Gauba

An Oxford Companion To Politics In India

Niraja Gopal Jayal And Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Books for Paper 2

Author

Global Politics

Andrew Heywood

Challenge And Strategy: Rethinking India’s Foreign Policy

Rajiv Sikri

International Relations

V N Khanna

Does The Elephant Dance?: Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy

David M. Malone