AMIGOS IAS

( Saturday)

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

* Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism, and Feminism.

(Saturday)

* Political Theory: meaning and approaches.

*Theories of state: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluralist, post-colonial and Feminist

*             Justice: Conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawls’ theory of justice and its communitarian critiques.

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

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

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

*Concept of power: hegemony, ideology and legitimacy.

(Saturday)

Indian Political Thought:

*             Dharamshastra, Arthashastra, and Buddhist Traditions; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M.K. Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, M. N. Roy.

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.

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

*             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.

(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.

*    Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government; Significance of 73rd and 74th Amendments; Grassroot movements.

(Saturday)

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.

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

*             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.

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: Civil liberties and human rights movements; women’s movements; environmentalist movements.

(Saturday)

*             Comparative Politics: Nature and major approaches; Political economy and political sociology perspectives; Limitations of the comparative method.

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

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

*             Globalisation: Responses from developed and developing societies.

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

*             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:

(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.

(Saturday)

*             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.

*             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.

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

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

*             India’s Contribution to the Non-Alignment Movement Different phases; Current role.

(Saturday)

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.

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

(Saturday)

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

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

*  India and the Nuclear Question:Changing perceptions and policy.

*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.

(Saturday)

9 am – 12 pm

(Saturday)

9 am – 12 pm