POLITICAL SCIENCE

Course Content

Indian Constitution at Work

The making of the Constitution, the constituent Assembly, Procedural achievements and Philosophy of the Constitution.

The importance of Rights, Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution, Directive Principles of State Policy, Relationship between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles

Elections and Democracy, Election System in India, Reservation of Constituencies, Free and Fair Elections, Electoral Reforms

Why do we need a Parliament? Two Houses of Parliament. Functions and Power of the Parliament, Legislative functions, control over Executive. Parliamentary committees. Selfregulation.

What is an Executive? Different Types of Executive. Parliamentary Executive in India, Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Permanent Executive: Bureaucracy.

Why do we need an Independent Judiciary? Structure of the Judiciary, Judicial Activism, Judiciary and Rights, Judiciary and Parliament.

What is Federalism? Federalism in the Indian Constitution, Federalism with a strong Central Government, conflicts in India's federal system, Special Provisions.

Why do we need Local Governments? Growth of Local Government in India, 73rd and 74th Amendments, implementation of 73rd and 74th Amendments.

Are Constitutions static? The procedure to amend the Constitution. Why have there been so many amendments? Basic Structure and Evolution of the Constitution. Constitution as a Living Document.

Political Theory

What is Politics? What do we study in Political Theory? Putting Political Theory to practice. Why should we study Politial Theory?

The Ideal of Freedom. What is Freedom? Why do we need constraints? Harm principle. Negative and Positive Liberty.

Significance of Equality. What is Equality? Various dimensions of Equality. How can we promote Equality?

What is Justice? Just Distribution. Justice as fairness. Pursuing Social Justice.

What are Rights? Where do Rights come from? Legal Rights and the State. Kinds of Rights. Rights and Responsibilities.

What is citizenship? Citizen and Nation, Universal Citizenship, Global Citizenship

Nations and Nationalism, National Self-determination, Nationalism and Pluralism

What is Secularism? What is Secular State? The Western and the Indian approaches to Secularism. Criticisms and Rationale of Indian Secularism.

What is Peace? Can violence ever promote peace? Peace and the State. Different Approaches to the pursuit of peace. Contemporary challenges to peace.

What is development? Criticism of the dominant. Development Model. Alternative conceptions of development.