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Political Science and International Relations

PSIR Course for UPSC 2024

Prerna Madam’s courses are known for being extremely comprehensive and ensure conceptual and analytical understanding of PSIR and Polity to aid students in tackling any question that may come their way. Under her guidance, a number of aspirants have secured ranks in UPSC through PSIR Optional including Aditya Raj (AIR 225- 2021), Anurag Nayan (AIR 279-2021), Raghvendra Sharma (AIR 340-2021), Preeti Panchal (AIR 449-2021), Anjali Birla (2019), Ravinderpreet Kaur (AIR 389- 2018), Rupesh Kumar (AIR 487- 2018) and more.

Test Series and Current Affairs 2024

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Syllabus Covered

Paper – I: Political Theory and Indian Politics: 

PART – A: Political Theory and Thinkers

  • Political Theory: meaning and approaches.
  • Theories of state: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluiralist, post-colonial and Feminist.
  • Justice: Conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawl’s 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.
  • Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism.
  • Indian Political Thought: Dharamshastra, Arthashastra and Buddhist Traditions; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M. K. Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, M. N. Roy.
  • Western Political Thought : Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John S. Mill, Marx, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt.

PART – B: Indian Government and Politics:

  • Indian Nationalism: Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle : Constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Non-cooperation, Civil Disobedience; Militant and Revolutionary Movements, Peasant and Workers Movements; 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.
  • Principal Organs of the Union Government : Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature and Supreme Court; 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.
  • 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 Government strives to have a workforce which reflects gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply. 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.

Paper II: Comparative Politics and International Relations

PART – A: Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics:

  • 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; Transational actors and collective security; World capitalist economy and globalisation.
  • Changing International Political Order: Rise of super powers; Strategic and ideological Bipolarity, arms race and cold war; Nuclear threat; Non-aligned Movement : Aims and achievements; Collapse of the Soviet Union; Unipolarity and American hegemony; Relevance of non-alignment in the contemporary world.
  • 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.

PART – B: India and the World

  • Indian Foreign Policy : Determinants of foreign policy; the institutions of policy-making; Government strives to have a workforce which reflects gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply. Continuity and change.
  • India’s Contribution to the Non-Alignment Movement Different phases; Current role.
  • India and South Asia: Regional Co-operation : SAARC-past performance and future prospects; South Asia as a Free Trade Area; India’s “Look East” policy; 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.
  • 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 Isreal; Vision of a new world order.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will be the time duration for answer writing in PSIR course?

The course duration will be from 4-6 months depending on your batch. The detailed schedule of classes will batch specific and attached in the related batch course.

What about material in the PSIR course and what books do we have to follow?

We proudly claim that our PDFs are the most holistic source to cover this subject. We make our notes from various sources, from Western Political thought to An Introduction to Political Theory, from IGNOU material to Justice Series by Michael Sandel, we cover it all. We constantly extract content from editorials of Shyam Saran, C. Raja Mohan, Harsh Pant, Amitabh Mattoo, Suhasini Haider, Happymon Jacob, Stanly Johnny and from websites like ORF, IDSA, Project Syndicate, Council on Foreign Relations etc.

How will answer writing be done in PSIR mentorship course?

You will be given the tests in answer writing in once as soon as related topics get covered you can attempt them. Tests expiry will be the same as the course expiry – 30th September, 2024. So you can attempt them as per your comfort whenever you want. It will all be evaluated irrespective of how late you attempt them considering it’s done before the expiry of the course in 2024.

Is this course sufficient enough to clear the paper?

It is very important for students to divide the syllabus into smaller portions. It makes learning smoother. To save your time, we have covered the whole syllabus topic wise. We provide 300 hours of course distributed across 120 videos. We have covered every minute detail of the syllabus.

How will doubts of students be handled?

We provide private telegram groups for enrolled students with PSIR mentors and faculty where you can raise your doubts via text, images or voice notes and detailed answer to your query will be sent across as quickly as possible. This makes our doubt resolution the most seamless and interactive one out there.

Is there a separate current affairs course for PSIR?

PSIR is a very dynamic optional and requires coverage of current affairs of both papers which our course provides through monthly coverage of important topics from resources like ORF, IDSA, Project Syndicate, EPW and others. This course is complementary for those who join the complete PSIR optional course while others can purchase it separately.

Batch 2

UPSC CSE 2024 Batch

Registrations Open 

Use Coupon Code: ‘BATCH2‘ (Get 10% off)

Programme Fee 

Mentorship Course                   ₹22,000/- 

With Answer Evaluation         ₹18,000/- 

Without Answer Evaluation  ₹12,000/-  

PSIR Current Affairs       ₹6,000/-

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