MA Political Science (MPS) · 19 pages · English + हिन्दी
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Exam notes for MA Political Science, built from the trend of nine official IGNOU papers. Topics are ordered by how often they were asked, and each one gives the core argument, the thinkers and cases to cite, and a 20-mark answer frame.
एम.ए. राजनीति विज्ञान के परीक्षा नोट्स, नौ आधिकारिक IGNOU प्रश्नपत्रों के ट्रेंड पर आधारित। टॉपिक इस क्रम में हैं कि वे कितनी बार पूछे गए, और हर टॉपिक में मूल तर्क, विचारक, उदाहरण और 20 अंकों के उत्तर की रूपरेखा है।
Papers analysed: June 2022, December 2022, June 2023, December 2023, June 2024, December 2024, June 2025, December 2025, June 2026 (9 papers)
Every paper had two sections (I and II; A and B in 2025) of about five questions each, with short notes in some sessions (June and December 2022, June 2025). Follow the attempt rule printed on your paper; MPS papers usually ask for five answers with at least two from each section. The June 2026 paper asked for answers of about 400 words. Section I is mostly approaches, the state, civil society, colonialism, nationalism and globalisation; Section II is mostly identity, regimes, parties, executive, federalism, development and rights.
हर प्रश्नपत्र में दो भाग (I और II; 2025 में A और B), हर भाग में लगभग पाँच प्रश्न; कुछ सत्रों में संक्षिप्त टिप्पणियाँ (जून और दिसम्बर 2022, जून 2025)। प्रश्नपत्र पर छपा निर्देश मानें; MPS प्रश्नपत्रों में प्रायः पाँच उत्तर, हर भाग से कम-से-कम दो। जून 2026 में लगभग 400 शब्दों के उत्तर माँगे गए। भाग I में प्रायः उपागम, राज्य, नागरिक समाज, उपनिवेशवाद, राष्ट्रवाद और वैश्वीकरण; भाग II में पहचान, शासन-प्रणालियाँ, दल, कार्यपालिका, संघवाद, विकास और अधिकार।
| Topic / टॉपिक | Papers (of 9) / प्रश्नपत्र | Sessions / सत्र |
|---|---|---|
| State and civil society / राज्य और नागरिक समाज | 9/9 | Every paper |
| Ethnicity, identity and multiculturalism / नृजातीयता और पहचान | 9/9 | Every paper |
| Approaches to comparative politics / तुलनात्मक राजनीति के उपागम | 8/9 | All except Dec 23 |
| Parties, groups, executive, bureaucracy / दल, समूह, कार्यपालिका, नौकरशाही | 8/9 | All except Jun 25 |
| Globalisation and international actors / वैश्वीकरण और अंतरराष्ट्रीय कर्ता | 7/9 | Jun 23 to Jun 26 |
| Colonialism and imperialism / उपनिवेशवाद और साम्राज्यवाद | 6/9 | Jun 22, Dec 22, Dec 23, Dec 24, Dec 25, Jun 26 |
| Development, environment, gender, participation / विकास, पर्यावरण, जेंडर | 6/9 | Dec 23 to Jun 26 |
| Regimes, constitutions, federalism / शासन, संविधान, संघवाद | 5/9 | Jun 22, Jun 23, Jun 24, Jun 25, Dec 25 |
| Nationalism / राष्ट्रवाद | 5/9 | Jun 23, Dec 23, Jun 24, Dec 24, Jun 25 |
| Human rights / मानवाधिकार | 3/9 | Dec 23, Jun 24, Jun 25 |
Counts are papers, not questions. The appendix lists every question by session. Dates and figures below are standard textbook facts; verify any you plan to quote.
Study plan / अध्ययन योजना: In every one of the nine papers, topics 1–5 alone covered at least five questions. Topics 6–8 give choice and repeat often (modern colonialism, human development, Duverger, democratic and authoritarian regimes). Topics 9–10 are for extra safety.
नौ में से हर प्रश्नपत्र में केवल टॉपिक 1–5 से कम-से-कम पाँच प्रश्न बने। टॉपिक 6–8 विकल्प देते हैं और बार-बार आते हैं (आधुनिक उपनिवेशवाद, मानव विकास, दुवर्जे, लोकतांत्रिक और सत्तावादी शासन)। 9–10 अतिरिक्त सुरक्षा के लिए।
9 of 9 papers. Origin of the state (Jun 2022), Marxian theory of its origin (Dec 2022); Marxian and Gandhian views of the state (Dec 2022 note, Jun 2023, Dec 2025); post-colonial state (Dec 2023, Dec 2024); civil society and the state (Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2025), democracy and civil society (Dec 2022 note); Gramsci on civil society (Jun 2025, Jun 2026).
Origin of the state. Older theories: divine origin; force; social contract (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau: individuals in a state of nature consent to government); evolutionary or historical (kinship, religion, property, war and political consciousness grew into the state over time; the evolutionary view is the most widely accepted in textbooks).
Marxian view. Friedrich Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884): the state is not eternal; it arose when private property and the division of society into classes produced irreconcilable class antagonism. It stands "above" society but serves the economically dominant class; it is an instrument of class rule (slave-owning, feudal, bourgeois states). After a proletarian revolution and a transitional dictatorship of the proletariat, the state "withers away" in a classless society. Later Marxists added nuance: Gramsci (hegemony), Miliband (instrumentalist: the state staffed and influenced by the capitalist class) and Poulantzas (structuralist: the state has "relative autonomy" so it can secure capitalism's long-term interests).
Gandhian view. Gandhi distrusted the state as a centralised machine of coercion that suppresses individuality; violence is its basis. His ideal was "enlightened anarchy" in which self-regulating individuals need no state; as a practical second best he favoured a minimal, decentralised state: self-sufficient village republics, swaraj as self-rule over oneself and the community, sarvodaya, trusteeship of property, non-violence and Ram Rajya as a moral, just order (Hind Swaraj, 1909). Marx vs Gandhi: both see the state as coercive and look to a stateless future; Marx explains it by class and relies on revolution (with violence if needed), Gandhi by violence and centralisation, relying on non-violent moral change and decentralisation.
The post-colonial state. Hamza Alavi (1972, on Pakistan and Bangladesh): the colonial state was "overdeveloped" relative to society because it was built to rule a whole colony from outside; after independence its military-bureaucratic oligarchy enjoyed relative autonomy and mediated among three propertied classes (the metropolitan bourgeoisie, the indigenous bourgeoisie and the landed classes). Other views: Gunnar Myrdal's "soft state" (Asian Drama, 1968), unable to enforce its own laws; the bureaucratic-authoritarian state (Guillermo O'Donnell, Latin America); the developmental state (Chalmers Johnson on Japan, 1982; later South Korea and Taiwan); dependency writers who see the state as a junior partner of foreign capital; and the "strong society, weak state" argument (Joel Migdal, 1988). Indian debates: Bardhan's dominant proprietary classes and Rudolph and Rudolph's "weak-strong state".
Civil society. The sphere of voluntary association between family and state. Hegel: civil society is the sphere of needs and particular interests, which the state transcends. Marx: civil society is bourgeois society, the realm of economic self-interest and class. Tocqueville: voluntary associations sustain American democracy. Gramsci (Prison Notebooks, 1929–35): the ruling class rules not only by force (political society, the state) but by hegemony, the consent organised through civil society (church, schools, media, parties, unions). So civil society is not a free realm opposed to the state but the main site where dominant ideas are reproduced, and also where counter-hegemony can be built through a "war of position" (slow cultural struggle) rather than a "war of manoeuvre" (frontal assault). The integral state is political society plus civil society. Democracy and civil society: associations check state power, aggregate interests, build social capital and trust (Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work, 1993) and spread democratic values; critics note civil society can be exclusionary, elite-dominated, donor-dependent or "uncivil"; in post-colonial societies Partha Chatterjee distinguishes a small "civil society" of rights-bearing citizens from a "political society" of the poor who negotiate with the state through populations and welfare (The Politics of the Governed, 2004).
राज्य की उत्पत्ति: दैवी, शक्ति, सामाजिक समझौता (हॉब्स, लॉक, रूसो), विकासवादी (रक्त-संबंध, धर्म, संपत्ति, युद्ध, राजनीतिक चेतना)।
मार्क्सवादी दृष्टि: एंगेल्स (1884): निजी संपत्ति और वर्ग-विरोध से राज्य बना; यह प्रभुत्वशाली वर्ग का उपकरण है; वर्गहीन समाज में राज्य "मुरझा जाएगा"। ग्राम्शी (प्रभुत्व), मिलिबैंड (उपकरणवादी), पूलांत्ज़ास (संरचनावादी, सापेक्ष स्वायत्तता)।
गांधीवादी दृष्टि: राज्य केंद्रित दमन और हिंसा का यंत्र; आदर्श "प्रबुद्ध अराजकता"; व्यवहार में न्यूनतम, विकेंद्रित राज्य: ग्राम स्वराज, सर्वोदय, न्यासिता, अहिंसा, रामराज्य (हिंद स्वराज, 1909)। तुलना: दोनों राज्य को दमनकारी मानते हैं और राज्यहीन भविष्य चाहते हैं; मार्क्स वर्ग और क्रांति, गांधी अहिंसा और विकेंद्रीकरण।
उत्तर-औपनिवेशिक राज्य: हमज़ा अलवी (1972): "अति-विकसित" राज्य, सैन्य-नौकरशाही कुलीनतंत्र की सापेक्ष स्वायत्तता, तीन संपत्तिशाली वर्गों के बीच मध्यस्थ। मिर्डल का "नरम राज्य" (1968), ओ'डॉनेल का नौकरशाही-सत्तावादी राज्य, चाल्मर्स जॉनसन का विकासात्मक राज्य, मिग्डाल "मज़बूत समाज, कमज़ोर राज्य"।
नागरिक समाज: परिवार और राज्य के बीच स्वैच्छिक संगठन। हेगेल, मार्क्स (बुर्जुआ समाज), तॉकवील (संघ)। ग्राम्शी: शासक वर्ग बल (राजनीतिक समाज) और सहमति (नागरिक समाज में प्रभुत्व/हेजेमनी) दोनों से शासन करता है; नागरिक समाज स्वतंत्र क्षेत्र नहीं, प्रभुत्व का स्थल है; प्रति-प्रभुत्व "स्थिति-युद्ध" से। लोकतंत्र: सत्ता पर अंकुश, सामाजिक पूँजी (पटनम, 1993); आलोचना: अभिजात, बहिष्कारी; पार्थ चटर्जी का "राजनीतिक समाज" (2004)।
9 of 9 papers. Multiculturalism (Jun 2022) and minorities (Jun 2024); melting pot (Jun 2025); assimilation (Jun 2026); ethnic movements and globalisation (Jun 2022), modernisation (Jun 2023), strategies (Dec 2022); Paul Brass on ethnic groups (Dec 2022); community identity (Dec 2022, Dec 2024); consociationalism (Jun 2022, Dec 2023); cultural resistance (Dec 2025); ethno-nationalism (Jun 2022 note).
Explaining ethnicity. Primordialism (Edward Shils, Clifford Geertz, 1963): ethnic ties of blood, language, religion and custom are given, deep and emotional. Instrumentalism: elites mobilise ethnic identity to compete for power and resources. Constructivism: identities are made and remade through history, colonial census and categories, print and politics (Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities, 1983).
Paul Brass (Ethnicity and Nationalism, 1991, and earlier work on language and religion in North India, 1974) is the standard instrumentalist. An ethnic group is marked by objective cultural markers (language, religion, dress, diet); it becomes a community when its members develop subjective self-consciousness and symbols; it becomes a nationality when it makes political demands (recognition, autonomy, statehood). Elites, both within the group and those competing with it, select and manipulate symbols; the state's policies and the competition between elites shape whether identity is mobilised. Check the stages against your IGNOU unit.
Community identity and politics. Community identities (caste, religion, language, tribe) are constructed by colonial classification, social reform movements, electoral competition and state policy (reservations, linguistic states). They give dignity and voice to marginal groups but can produce communalism, exclusion and violence.
Ethnic movements: modernisation and globalisation. Modernisation theorists (Karl Deutsch) expected social mobilisation to dissolve ethnic ties into national identity. Walker Connor (1972) and others showed the reverse: communication, education, urban competition and the state's reach heighten ethnic consciousness. Globalisation adds cultural homogenisation (provoking defensive identity), uneven development between regions, diasporas funding movements, international norms of self-determination and minority rights, and new media. Strategies range from constitutional politics (parties, elections, lobbying, courts), mass agitation and non-violent protest, to cultural revival, international appeal and, at the extreme, insurgency and secession. Examples: Quebec, Catalonia, Scotland, the Basques, Tamils in Sri Lanka, Kurds, North-East India.
Managing diversity. Assimilation: minorities absorb the dominant culture (French republican model). The melting pot (the image popularised by Israel Zangwill's play The Melting Pot, 1908): immigrants fuse into a new American identity; Glazer and Moynihan (Beyond the Melting Pot, 1963) showed ethnic groups persisted. Integration: common public culture with private diversity. Multiculturalism: public recognition and accommodation of group differences: Charles Taylor's "politics of recognition" (1992); Will Kymlicka (Multicultural Citizenship, 1995) on polyethnic rights, self-government rights and special representation rights; Bhikhu Parekh (2000) on intercultural dialogue. Canada (1971 policy) and Australia are standard cases; India's model combines minority rights (Articles 29–30), linguistic states and reservations. Critics: it can freeze identities, harm women within groups (Susan Okin), and weaken common citizenship. Consociationalism (Arend Lijphart, Democracy in Plural Societies, 1977): grand coalition of segment elites, mutual veto, proportionality in representation and jobs, segmental autonomy; cases: the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Lebanon. Critique: entrenches divisions; Donald Horowitz proposes "centripetal" incentives instead.
Cultural resistance. Groups resist domination through language movements, revival of festivals, literature, dress and religion, indigenous movements, and "everyday forms of resistance" (James Scott, Weapons of the Weak, 1985). It defends dignity and identity; it can also be captured by elites or turn exclusive.
नृजातीयता की व्याख्या: आदिमवाद (शिल्स, गीर्ट्ज़ 1963): रक्त, भाषा, धर्म के जन्मजात बंधन; साधनवाद: अभिजात संसाधनों के लिए पहचान का प्रयोग करते हैं; निर्मितिवाद (एंडरसन, 1983)।
पॉल ब्रास (1991): नृजातीय समूह (वस्तुगत सांस्कृतिक चिह्न) → समुदाय (आत्म-चेतना और प्रतीक) → राष्ट्रीयता (राजनीतिक माँगें)। अभिजात प्रतीकों का चयन और प्रयोग करते हैं; राज्य की नीतियाँ निर्णायक। (IGNOU इकाई से मिलान करें।)
आंदोलन: आधुनिकीकरण से पहचान मिटेगी (डॉयच) पर कोनर (1972): उलटे, चेतना बढ़ती है। वैश्वीकरण: समरूपीकरण, असमान विकास, डायस्पोरा, आत्मनिर्णय के मानदंड। रणनीतियाँ: चुनाव, आंदोलन, सांस्कृतिक पुनर्जागरण, अंतरराष्ट्रीय अपील, विद्रोह। उदाहरण: क्यूबेक, कैटेलोनिया, तमिल, कुर्द, उत्तर-पूर्व भारत।
विविधता का प्रबंधन: आत्मसात्करण (फ़्रांस); मेल्टिंग पॉट (ज़ंगविल, 1908; ग्लेज़र-मॉयनिहान 1963); एकीकरण; बहुसंस्कृतिवाद (टेलर 1992, किमलिका 1995, पारेख 2000; कनाडा 1971; भारत के अनुच्छेद 29–30); आलोचना (ओकिन)। सहभागी लोकतंत्र (लिपहार्ट, 1977): महागठबंधन, पारस्परिक वीटो, आनुपातिकता, खंडीय स्वायत्तता; नीदरलैंड, बेल्जियम, स्विट्ज़रलैंड, लेबनान।
सांस्कृतिक प्रतिरोध: भाषा आंदोलन, उत्सव, साहित्य, जनजातीय आंदोलन, जेम्स स्कॉट (1985) "दैनिक प्रतिरोध"।
8 of 9 papers. Evolution and contribution of comparative politics (Jun 2022, Dec 2022); comparative method (Jun 2023); Easton's systems analysis (Jun 2022, Dec 2022, Dec 2022 note); Almond's structural-functionalism (Jun 2022 note, Dec 2024); political economy (Jun 2022 note, Dec 2025); dependency (Jun 2022 note, Jun 2026); world system (Jun 2024, Jun 2026); public policy (Jun 2025).
Evolution. Traditional phase (to the 1940s): formal-legal and institutional, descriptive, Western-centred (Bryce, Finer, Friedrich). Behavioural revolution after the Second World War: scientific, value-free, interdisciplinary study of behaviour; new states of Asia and Africa widened the field; the US Social Science Research Council's Committee on Comparative Politics (from 1954, led by Gabriel Almond) promoted general theory. Developmentalism and modernisation (1950s–60s), then critiques: dependency and world system (1960s–70s), political economy, the statist turn ("bringing the state back in", Evans, Rueschemeyer and Skocpol, 1985), new institutionalism, rational choice and studies of democratisation and globalisation. Contribution: it tests generalisations, explains differences between political systems, guards against ethnocentrism and informs policy.
Comparative method. Comparing cases to find causes. J. S. Mill's methods of agreement and difference; most-similar and most-different systems designs (Przeworski and Teune, 1970); single case studies, small-n and large-n statistical comparison. Problems: too many variables and too few cases, selecting cases, and "conceptual stretching" when concepts travel (Giovanni Sartori, 1970).
Systems analysis: David Easton (The Political System, 1953; A Framework for Political Analysis and A Systems Analysis of Political Life, 1965). Politics is the "authoritative allocation of values" for a society. The political system receives inputs from its environment (demands and supports), converts them, produces outputs (decisions and policies), and feedback carries their effects back as new inputs; gatekeepers regulate the flow of demands; the system persists by coping with stress. Assumptions: politics can be seen as a system of interactions, distinct from but open to its environment, adaptive and self-regulating. Critique: abstract, conservative bias towards stability and equilibrium, "black box" conversion, weak on power, conflict and change.
Structural-functionalism: Gabriel Almond (Almond and Coleman, The Politics of the Developing Areas, 1960; Almond and Powell, Comparative Politics: A Developmental Approach, 1966). Every political system, however simple, performs the same functions through different structures. Input functions: political socialisation and recruitment, interest articulation, interest aggregation, political communication. Output functions: rule-making, rule application, rule adjudication. Later: system capabilities (extractive, regulative, distributive, symbolic, responsive) and development as structural differentiation and cultural secularisation; with Verba, The Civic Culture (1963). Critique: Western model of development, functions hard to measure, status-quo bias, tautology.
Political economy approach. Studies the interaction of state and market, power and production. Classical (Smith, Ricardo), Marxian (class, mode of production, state and capital), and new political economy (rational choice, public choice, institutions). In comparative politics it explains regime types, development and policy by class coalitions and economic structures (Barrington Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, 1966).
Dependency. Raúl Prebisch and ECLA (declining terms of trade for primary exporters); Paul Baran; Andre Gunder Frank's "development of underdevelopment" (1966): metropolis–satellite chains drain surplus from the periphery; Samir Amin; Cardoso and Faletto's "dependent development" (some growth possible within dependence). World-system: Immanuel Wallerstein (The Modern World-System, vol. I, 1974): a single capitalist world-economy since the "long sixteenth century", with a core, periphery and semi-periphery (which stabilises the system); unequal exchange; states can move between zones. Critique: economic determinism, neglect of internal factors, the East Asian success stories.
Public policy perspectives. Harold Lasswell's policy sciences; models: rational-comprehensive, incrementalism (Charles Lindblom, "muddling through", 1959), group, elite, institutional, systems (Easton) and public choice; the policy cycle (agenda, formulation, adoption, implementation, evaluation).
विकास: परंपरागत (औपचारिक-वैधानिक, संस्थागत, पश्चिम-केंद्रित) → व्यवहारवादी क्रांति (वैज्ञानिक, मूल्य-मुक्त; 1954 से SSRC समिति, आलमंड) → विकासवाद/आधुनिकीकरण → निर्भरता, विश्व-व्यवस्था, राजनीतिक अर्थशास्त्र → राज्य की वापसी (1985), नव-संस्थावाद। तुलनात्मक पद्धति: मिल की सहमति और अंतर विधियाँ; सर्वाधिक समान/भिन्न व्यवस्थाएँ; सार्तोरी का "अवधारणात्मक खिंचाव" (1970)।
ईस्टन (1953, 1965): राजनीति = "मूल्यों का आधिकारिक आवंटन"; निवेश (माँगें, समर्थन) → रूपांतरण → निर्गत (निर्णय, नीतियाँ) → प्रतिपुष्टि; द्वारपाल। आलोचना: अमूर्त, स्थिरता-पक्षी, "ब्लैक बॉक्स"।
आलमंड (1960, 1966): हर व्यवस्था समान कार्य करती है। निवेश कार्य: समाजीकरण और भर्ती, हित-अभिव्यक्ति, हित-समूहन, संचार। निर्गत कार्य: नियम-निर्माण, नियम-प्रयोग, नियम-निर्णयन। क्षमताएँ; सिविक कल्चर (1963)। आलोचना: पश्चिमी मॉडल, यथास्थितिवाद।
राजनीतिक अर्थशास्त्र: राज्य और बाज़ार; शास्त्रीय, मार्क्सवादी, नव (सार्वजनिक चयन); बैरिंगटन मूर (1966)। निर्भरता: प्रेबिश, फ़्रैंक "अल्पविकास का विकास" (1966), महानगर-उपग्रह, कार्डोसो-फ़लेटो। विश्व-व्यवस्था: वालरस्टीन (1974): केंद्र, परिधि, अर्ध-परिधि। लोक नीति: लासवेल, तार्किक मॉडल, वृद्धिवाद (लिंडब्लॉम 1959), नीति-चक्र।
8 of 9 papers. Bureaucracy (Jun 2022 note), in democratic regimes (Dec 2022); one-party system (Jun 2022 note); pressure groups (Dec 2022 note), interest vs pressure groups (Dec 2024); military in politics (Dec 2022 note); European vs American parties (Jun 2023); political and permanent executive (Dec 2023, Jun 2026); Duverger's classification (Jun 2024, Dec 2025); two-party system (Jun 2026).
Duverger's classification (Maurice Duverger, Political Parties, 1951). By origin: internally created parties (from legislative groups and electoral committees) and externally created parties (from unions, churches, cooperatives, such as the British Labour Party). By structure: cadre parties (small groups of notables, money and influence, loose; nineteenth-century liberals and conservatives) and mass parties (large dues-paying membership, branches, discipline, education; socialist parties); basic units: caucus, branch, cell (communist) and militia (fascist). Party systems: one-party, two-party and multi-party. Duverger's law: single-member plurality elections tend towards two-party systems; proportional representation favours multi-party systems. Later: Giovanni Sartori (Parties and Party Systems, 1976): predominant-party, moderate pluralism and polarised pluralism; Kirchheimer's "catch-all" party.
Two-party system (UK, US): stable majority governments, clear choice and accountability, a ready alternative government; but limited choice, polarisation, exclusion of minorities, and "manufactured" majorities. One-party systems (USSR, China) claim unity and mobilisation but suppress opposition; distinguish a dominant party in a competitive system (the "Congress system" in India, the LDP in Japan).
European vs American parties. European parties are generally ideological and programmatic, class or religion-based, disciplined in parliament (needed for parliamentary government), with mass membership. American parties are decentralised coalitions with weak discipline, candidate-centred campaigns, primaries, federal and state organisations and less ideological distance (though polarisation has grown). Reasons: parliamentary vs presidential government, federalism, class history, the electoral system.
Interest and pressure groups. An interest group is an organisation of people sharing an interest; it becomes a pressure group when it tries to influence public policy without seeking to govern (parties seek office). Almond's types: anomic, non-associational, institutional and associational. Methods: lobbying, campaigns, litigation, protest, funding and advisory roles. Debates: pluralist (groups compete and balance; Robert Dahl), elitist and corporatist views (business has privileged access). Indian examples: FICCI, CII, trade unions, farmers' unions.
Political and permanent executive. The political executive (president, prime minister, ministers) is elected or appointed politically, holds office for a term, sets policy and answers to the legislature and voters. The permanent executive (civil service) is recruited on merit, has security of tenure, is expected to be neutral and anonymous, advises and implements, and provides continuity and expertise. Relationship: ministerial responsibility; tensions over politicisation, "committed bureaucracy", and bureaucratic dominance over ministers.
Bureaucracy. Max Weber's ideal type: hierarchy, written rules, impersonality, specialisation, merit recruitment, career tenure; legal-rational authority. In democratic regimes: accountability to elected leaders, legislative committees, courts, ombudsman and audit; neutrality; tension between expertise and democracy; New Public Management reforms. Military in politics: Samuel Huntington (The Soldier and the State, 1957) on objective civilian control; S. E. Finer (The Man on Horseback, 1962) on levels of intervention (influence, blackmail, displacement, supplantment); causes: weak institutions, low legitimacy, crises; cases: Pakistan, Myanmar, Latin America, Africa.
दुवर्जे (1951): उत्पत्ति: आंतरिक (विधायी समूह) और बाह्य (मज़दूर संघ, चर्च; ब्रिटिश लेबर)। संरचना: कैडर दल (प्रतिष्ठित लोग, ढीले) और जन दल (बड़ी सदस्यता, अनुशासन); इकाइयाँ: कॉकस, शाखा, कोशिका, मिलिशिया। दलीय व्यवस्था: एक, दो, बहु। दुवर्जे का नियम: बहुमत प्रणाली → द्विदलीय; आनुपातिक → बहुदलीय। सार्तोरी (1976), "कैच-ऑल" दल।
द्विदलीय व्यवस्था (UK, US): स्थिर सरकार, स्पष्ट विकल्प; पर सीमित चयन, ध्रुवीकरण। एकदलीय (USSR, चीन) बनाम प्रभुत्वशाली दल (कांग्रेस व्यवस्था, जापान का LDP)।
यूरोपीय बनाम अमेरिकी दल: यूरोप: वैचारिक, वर्ग/धर्म आधारित, अनुशासित, जन-सदस्यता; अमेरिका: विकेंद्रित गठबंधन, कमज़ोर अनुशासन, प्राइमरी, उम्मीदवार-केंद्रित। कारण: संसदीय बनाम अध्यक्षीय, संघवाद, निर्वाचन प्रणाली।
हित और दबाव समूह: हित समूह नीति प्रभावित करने लगे तो दबाव समूह; सत्ता नहीं चाहते। आलमंड: असंगत, गैर-संघीय, संस्थागत, संघीय। तरीके: लॉबिंग, अभियान, मुकदमे, आंदोलन। बहुलवादी बनाम अभिजातवादी/निगमवादी। भारत: FICCI, CII, किसान संगठन।
राजनीतिक बनाम स्थायी कार्यपालिका: मंत्री: निर्वाचित, अस्थायी, नीति, विधायिका के प्रति उत्तरदायी; सिविल सेवा: योग्यता, स्थायित्व, तटस्थता, गुमनामी, क्रियान्वयन। वेबर की नौकरशाही: पदानुक्रम, नियम, निर्वैयक्तिकता, योग्यता। लोकतंत्र में उत्तरदायित्व। सेना: हंटिंगटन (1957), फ़ाइनर (1962): प्रभाव, धमकी, विस्थापन, प्रतिस्थापन; पाकिस्तान, म्यांमार।
7 of 9 papers. Regional integration and the nation (Jun 2023), its benefits (Jun 2024); nationalisation of science and technology (Jun 2023); MNCs and developing nations (Dec 2023), MNCs and sovereignty (Dec 2025); nationalism and globalisation (Jun 2024); international organisations and the state (Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Jun 2026); approaches to globalisation (Jun 2025); globalisation, poverty and human development (Dec 2024).
Approaches to globalisation (Held, McGrew and others, Global Transformations, 1999). Hyperglobalists (Kenichi Ohmae): a borderless world economy makes the nation-state obsolete. Sceptics (Hirst and Thompson): today's integration is not unprecedented (pre-1914), is regional rather than global, and states remain powerful. Transformationalists (Giddens, Held): globalisation is real and new but uneven; it transforms rather than ends state power. Also Marxist critiques (global capitalism) and cultural views (homogenisation vs hybridity).
MNCs. Benefits for developing nations: investment, technology, jobs, exports, management skills. Problems: profit repatriation and transfer pricing, enclave development, crowding out local firms, labour and environmental standards, pressure on policy (tax and regulatory competition), and in extreme cases interference (the standard example is ITT in Chile, early 1970s). Sovereignty: MNCs constrain economic sovereignty through capital mobility and investment treaties, but states still regulate, tax and bargain; the "obsolescing bargain" model (Raymond Vernon) says the host's leverage grows after investment.
International organisations and the state. The UN system, IMF and World Bank (1944–45), WTO (1995), regional bodies. They pool and constrain sovereignty: IMF and World Bank conditionality and structural adjustment, WTO rules and dispute settlement, human rights and climate regimes. Realists see them as tools of powerful states; liberals as solutions to collective action problems; critics stress Northern dominance. States still create, fund and can leave them.
Regional integration. Theories: functionalism (David Mitrany: cooperation in technical areas), neo-functionalism (Ernst Haas: "spillover" from one sector to another and towards supranational institutions), intergovernmentalism (states control the pace). Cases: the European Union (Treaty of Rome 1957, Maastricht 1992), ASEAN (1967), SAARC (1985), Mercosur (1991), African Union (2002). Benefits: larger markets and economies of scale, investment, peace and confidence-building, collective bargaining power, shared infrastructure. Nation and integration: pooled sovereignty and supranational law vs national identity; Euro-scepticism and Brexit (UK left the EU in 2020) show the tension.
Nationalism and globalisation. Globalisation was expected to weaken national identity; it has also provoked resurgent nationalism (economic nationalism, anti-immigration movements, populism) and new ethnic claims, while diasporas create "long-distance nationalism" (Anderson).
Nationalisation of science and technology (asked once, Jun 2023; wording may differ, check the paper). The argument is that developing states built national S&T capacity through public institutions and self-reliance (India's CSIR, atomic energy and space programmes) to reduce technological dependence on the North, against the free flow of technology under globalisation and intellectual property rules (WTO's TRIPS).
वैश्वीकरण के उपागम (हेल्ड, मैकग्रू, 1999): अति-वैश्वीकरणवादी (ओहमे: सीमाहीन विश्व, राष्ट्र-राज्य अप्रासंगिक); संशयवादी (हर्स्ट-थॉम्पसन: नया नहीं, क्षेत्रीय; राज्य शक्तिशाली); रूपांतरणवादी (गिडेन्स, हेल्ड: वास्तविक पर असमान; राज्य बदलता है)।
बहुराष्ट्रीय निगम: निवेश, तकनीक, रोज़गार; पर लाभ का बहिर्गमन, ट्रांसफ़र प्राइसिंग, स्थानीय उद्योग पर दबाव, श्रम और पर्यावरण; चिली (1970 के दशक का आरंभ) का उदाहरण। संप्रभुता सीमित, पर राज्य नियमन और मोलभाव करते हैं।
अंतरराष्ट्रीय संगठन: UN, IMF, विश्व बैंक, WTO (1995); शर्तें, संरचनात्मक समायोजन, नियम; यथार्थवादी बनाम उदारवादी दृष्टि।
क्षेत्रीय एकीकरण: प्रकार्यवाद (मित्रानी), नव-प्रकार्यवाद (हास, "स्पिलओवर"); EU (1957, 1992), आसियान (1967), सार्क (1985), मर्कोसुर (1991), AU (2002)। लाभ: बड़ा बाज़ार, निवेश, शांति, सामूहिक मोलभाव। राष्ट्र बनाम अधिराष्ट्रीयता; ब्रेक्ज़िट (2020)।
राष्ट्रवाद और वैश्वीकरण: पहचान कमज़ोर होने की अपेक्षा, पर नया आर्थिक राष्ट्रवाद, लोकलुभावनवाद, डायस्पोरा। विज्ञान-तकनीक का राष्ट्रीयकरण: आत्मनिर्भरता, CSIR, परमाणु और अंतरिक्ष कार्यक्रम बनाम TRIPS।
6 of 9 papers. Modern colonialism: origin and growth (Dec 2022, Jun 2026); colonialism in a South Asian country (Jun 2022); colonial formations in South and Southeast Asia (Dec 2023); economics of colonialism (Dec 2025); religion in anti-colonial struggles (Dec 2024); notes on Marx on colonialism (Jun 2022) and Lenin on imperialism (Dec 2022).
Modern colonialism: origin and phases. From the late fifteenth century (Portuguese and Spanish voyages), European states built overseas empires. Phases usually given: mercantile (trade monopolies through chartered companies such as the English East India Company, 1600, and the Dutch VOC, 1602; plunder and slave trade), industrial capitalist (nineteenth century: colonies as sources of raw materials and markets for manufactures) and finance-capital imperialism (late nineteenth century to 1914: export of capital, the "scramble for Africa" after the Berlin Conference, 1884–85). Causes: capitalism's search for markets and profit, state rivalry, technology and navies, ideology ("civilising mission", racism).
Marx on colonialism. In his 1853 articles on British rule in India (New York Daily Tribune), Marx described a "double mission": destructive (ruining handicrafts and the village economy) and regenerative (railways, unification and private property would lay the material basis of Western capitalist society in Asia). Later Marxists criticised the regenerative claim.
Lenin's imperialism (Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, 1916): imperialism is monopoly capitalism, marked by (1) concentration of production into monopolies, (2) the merger of bank and industrial capital into finance capital and a financial oligarchy, (3) the export of capital becoming more important than the export of goods, (4) international monopolist combines dividing the world, and (5) the completed territorial division of the world among the great powers, which leads to inter-imperialist war. He built on J. A. Hobson (Imperialism, 1902: under-consumption at home drives capital abroad).
Economics of colonialism (India as the case). The drain of wealth (Dadabhai Naoroji, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, 1901; R. C. Dutt): home charges, salaries, pensions and profits sent to Britain without return; deindustrialisation of handicrafts by British machine goods; commercialisation of agriculture and cash crops (indigo, cotton, jute), famines; land revenue systems (Permanent Settlement 1793, ryotwari, mahalwari) creating landlords and debt; railways serving export; one-way free trade. Debates: some economic historians stress investment and integration; nationalist and Marxist historians stress drain and underdevelopment.
Colonial formations in South and Southeast Asia. British India (Company rule, then the Crown from 1858), Ceylon, Burma, Malaya and the Straits Settlements; the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia; the "Cultivation System" of forced cash crops from 1830); French Indochina; the Philippines under Spain and then the US (from 1898). Siam (Thailand) remained independent as a buffer. Common features: plural societies (Furnivall's term for Burma and Indonesia), immigrant labour (Indians, Chinese), export economies, colonial bureaucracy and divide-and-rule classification.
Religion in anti-colonial struggles. Religion gave symbols, networks and mass appeal: in India, reform movements, Tilak's public Ganapati festivals, Gandhi's moral-religious idiom, and the Khilafat Movement (1919–24); in Burma, the Young Men's Buddhist Association (1906) and political monks; in Indonesia, Sarekat Islam (1912). It mobilised masses but could also divide anti-colonial movements along communal lines, as in India's partition (1947).
आधुनिक उपनिवेशवाद: 15वीं सदी के अंत से; चरण: वाणिज्यिक (ईस्ट इंडिया कंपनी 1600, VOC 1602), औद्योगिक पूँजीवादी (कच्चा माल और बाज़ार), वित्त-पूँजी साम्राज्यवाद (पूँजी निर्यात, बर्लिन सम्मेलन 1884–85)। कारण: पूँजीवाद, प्रतिस्पर्धा, तकनीक, "सभ्यता मिशन"।
मार्क्स (1853): "दोहरा मिशन": विनाशकारी (हस्तशिल्प और ग्राम अर्थव्यवस्था नष्ट) और पुनर्निर्माणकारी (रेल, एकीकरण)।
लेनिन (1916): एकाधिकार पूँजीवाद: (1) एकाधिकार, (2) वित्त पूँजी, (3) पूँजी निर्यात, (4) अंतरराष्ट्रीय एकाधिकार संघ, (5) विश्व का क्षेत्रीय बँटवारा → युद्ध। हॉब्सन (1902)।
उपनिवेशवाद का अर्थशास्त्र: धन-निकासी (नौरोजी 1901, आर.सी. दत्त), विऔद्योगीकरण, कृषि का व्यावसायीकरण, अकाल, स्थायी बंदोबस्त (1793), निर्यात हेतु रेल।
दक्षिण और दक्षिण-पूर्व एशिया: ब्रिटिश भारत (1858 से क्राउन), श्रीलंका, बर्मा, मलाया; डच ईस्ट इंडीज़ (1830 "कल्टिवेशन सिस्टम"); फ़्रांसीसी इंडोचीन; फ़िलीपींस (स्पेन, फिर 1898 से अमेरिका); थाईलैंड स्वतंत्र। फ़र्निवाल का "बहुल समाज"।
धर्म और उपनिवेश-विरोध: तिलक के गणपति उत्सव, गांधी, ख़िलाफ़त (1919–24); बर्मा YMBA (1906); इंडोनेशिया सरेकत इस्लाम (1912)। जन-संगठन, पर सांप्रदायिक विभाजन भी (1947)।
6 of 9 papers. Human development (Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Jun 2025), trends (Jun 2026), and globalisation and poverty (Dec 2024); North–South environmental debate (Dec 2023, Jun 2025); sustainable development (Jun 2026); structural adjustment and women (Jun 2024); feminist perspectives on women and development (Dec 2024); decentralisation and participation (Dec 2024); participative development (Dec 2025).
Human development. The UNDP's Human Development Report (from 1990, led by Mahbub ul Haq, drawing on Amartya Sen's capability approach) defines development as enlarging people's choices and freedoms, not only income growth. The HDI combines health (life expectancy), education (years of schooling) and income (GNI per capita); later indices: inequality-adjusted HDI, gender indices and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (2010). Trends: long-run gains in most regions with persistent gaps; reports around 2021–22 recorded a global HDI decline after COVID-19 and later recovery. Check the latest HDR for current figures and India's rank before quoting. Globalisation and poverty: growth lifted many out of extreme poverty (notably China and India) but inequality within countries widened in many places and gains were uneven.
Environment: the North–South debate. The North stresses global limits, emissions from fast-growing economies and conservation; the South stresses historical responsibility, the right to development, poverty and technology and finance transfer. Milestones: Stockholm (1972); Brundtland Report (1987) defining sustainable development as meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs; Rio Earth Summit (1992), the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities; Kyoto Protocol (1997); Paris Agreement (2015) with nationally determined contributions; the UN Sustainable Development Goals (2015, 17 goals to 2030).
Women and development. WID (Ester Boserup, Woman's Role in Economic Development, 1970): integrate women into development. WAD: women were always part of development, but structures are unequal. GAD: analyse gender relations and power, empower women. Feminist critiques of mainstream development stress unpaid care work, invisibility in statistics and the household as a site of inequality. Structural adjustment and women: cuts in health, education and food subsidies, user fees and price rises shifted burdens to women's unpaid labour and pushed them into informal work (Diane Elson and others).
Participatory development and decentralisation. Development "from below": local people plan, implement and monitor; Robert Chambers' Participatory Rural Appraisal; NGOs, self-help groups; decentralisation (India's 73rd and 74th Amendments, 1992). Benefits: relevance, ownership, accountability, empowerment. Limits: elite capture, tokenism, weak local finance.
मानव विकास: UNDP रिपोर्ट (1990 से, महबूब उल हक़, अमर्त्य सेन का क्षमता उपागम): विकल्पों और स्वतंत्रताओं का विस्तार। HDI: स्वास्थ्य, शिक्षा, आय; बाद में IHDI, जेंडर सूचकांक, MPI (2010)। प्रवृत्ति: लंबी अवधि में प्रगति, पर अंतर बने रहे; कोविड के बाद लगभग 2021–22 में वैश्विक गिरावट दर्ज। ताज़ा आँकड़े नवीनतम HDR से जाँचें।
पर्यावरण: उत्तर-दक्षिण: उत्तर: वैश्विक सीमाएँ, उत्सर्जन; दक्षिण: ऐतिहासिक उत्तरदायित्व, विकास का अधिकार, तकनीक और वित्त। स्टॉकहोम (1972), ब्रंटलैंड (1987) सतत विकास, रियो (1992) साझा पर विभेदित उत्तरदायित्व, क्योटो (1997), पेरिस (2015), SDGs (2015, 17 लक्ष्य)।
महिला और विकास: WID (बोसरुप, 1970), WAD, GAD; अवैतनिक देखभाल श्रम। संरचनात्मक समायोजन: स्वास्थ्य, शिक्षा, सब्सिडी में कटौती का बोझ महिलाओं पर, अनौपचारिक काम (डायन एल्सन)।
सहभागी विकास: नीचे से विकास; रॉबर्ट चैम्बर्स PRA; स्वयं सहायता समूह; 73वाँ-74वाँ संशोधन (1992)। सीमाएँ: अभिजात कब्ज़ा, दिखावटी भागीदारी।
5 of 9 papers. Totalitarian regime (Jun 2022); democratic regimes (Jun 2023, Jun 2025); authoritarian regimes (Dec 2025); constitutionalism in the USA and Britain (Jun 2023); evolutionary vs revolutionary constitution-making (Jun 2024); federalism and consociationalism (Jun 2022), federalism as power-sharing (Jun 2023), federal distribution of powers (Dec 2025), federalism note (Jun 2022); bicameralism (Jun 2025 note).
Democratic regimes. Free and fair competitive elections, universal suffrage, civil liberties, rule of law and accountable government. Robert Dahl's polyarchy (1971): contestation and participation. Types: parliamentary (UK, India) and presidential (US), majoritarian and consensus (Lijphart). Debates on democratic consolidation and backsliding.
Authoritarian regimes. Juan Linz: limited, non-responsible pluralism; no elaborate guiding ideology but distinctive mentalities; little mass mobilisation; a leader or small group exercising power within ill-defined but predictable limits. Types: military, one-party, personalist, monarchic, and today "competitive authoritarian" or electoral authoritarian regimes (Levitsky and Way).
Totalitarian regimes. Hannah Arendt (The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951); Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski (1956): official ideology, single mass party led by one man, terroristic police control, monopoly of communications, monopoly of weapons and a centrally directed economy. Cases: Nazi Germany, Stalin's USSR. Critique: Cold War concept, overstates control.
Constitutionalism. Government limited by law and accountable. USA: written, rigid constitution (1787, Bill of Rights 1791), separation of powers with checks and balances, federalism, judicial review (Marbury v. Madison, 1803). Britain: uncodified constitution of statutes, conventions and common law; parliamentary sovereignty, rule of law (A. V. Dicey), conventions and an independent judiciary; flexible. Evolutionary vs revolutionary constitution-making: evolutionary constitutions grow gradually through custom, statutes and conventions (Britain: Magna Carta 1215, Bill of Rights 1689, Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949); revolutionary or "enacted" constitutions are framed at once by a constituent body after a break with the past (USA after independence, France after 1789, the USSR, and India's Constituent Assembly, 1946–49, after decolonisation).
Federalism. K. C. Wheare: general and regional governments each "co-ordinate and independent" within its sphere. Features: written constitution dividing powers, supremacy of the constitution, an independent judiciary, and usually bicameralism. Distribution of powers: the US gives enumerated powers to the federation and residuary powers to the states; Canada and India list powers (India's Union, State and Concurrent Lists, residuary with the Union). Coming-together vs holding-together federations (Alfred Stepan): the US and Switzerland vs India, Belgium and Spain. Federalism as power-sharing: vertical sharing of power accommodates territorially concentrated groups (linguistic states in India). Bicameralism: a second chamber represents units (US Senate, two seats per state), revises legislation and checks majorities; critics call it delaying or undemocratic.
लोकतांत्रिक शासन: स्वतंत्र-निष्पक्ष चुनाव, अधिकार, विधि का शासन; डाल का पॉलीआर्की (1971); संसदीय और अध्यक्षीय, बहुमतवादी और सहमति (लिपहार्ट)। सत्तावादी (लिंज़): सीमित बहुलवाद, विस्तृत विचारधारा नहीं, कम जन-लामबंदी; सैन्य, एकदलीय, व्यक्तिवादी; "प्रतिस्पर्धी सत्तावाद"। सर्वाधिकारवादी: आरेंट (1951); फ़्रेडरिक-ब्रज़ेज़िंस्की (1956): विचारधारा, एक दल, आतंक, संचार और हथियारों पर एकाधिकार, केंद्रीकृत अर्थव्यवस्था; नाज़ी जर्मनी, स्टालिन।
संविधानवाद: सीमित सरकार। अमेरिका: लिखित, कठोर (1787), शक्ति-पृथक्करण, न्यायिक पुनर्विलोकन (1803)। ब्रिटेन: असंहिताबद्ध, संसदीय संप्रभुता, अभिसमय, डाइसी का विधि शासन। विकासवादी बनाम क्रांतिकारी: ब्रिटेन (मैग्ना कार्टा 1215, बिल ऑफ़ राइट्स 1689) बनाम अमेरिका, फ़्रांस, USSR, भारत (1946–49)।
संघवाद: व्हीयर: केंद्र और इकाइयाँ अपने क्षेत्र में स्वतंत्र। शक्ति-विभाजन: अमेरिका: अवशिष्ट शक्तियाँ राज्यों के पास; भारत: तीन सूचियाँ, अवशिष्ट संघ के पास। स्टेपन: "साथ आने" बनाम "साथ बनाए रखने" वाले संघ। द्विसदनीयता: इकाइयों का प्रतिनिधित्व (US सीनेट), पुनरीक्षण, अंकुश।
5 of 9 papers. Liberal nationalism (Jun 2023); liberal and Marxist theories of nationalism (Dec 2023, Dec 2024, Jun 2025); nationalism and globalisation (Jun 2024, see topic 5).
Liberal theory. The nation is a community of people with the right to govern itself; nation and state should coincide (Giuseppe Mazzini; J. S. Mill in Considerations on Representative Government, 1861, argued free institutions are hard to sustain in a multinational state). Civic, inclusive and tied to democracy and self-determination (Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, 1918). Critique: it ignores power and class and can turn exclusive when one nation dominates others.
Marxist theory. Nations and nationalism belong to the capitalist era; the bourgeoisie uses nationalism to unify markets and divide workers; the working class should be internationalist (the Communist Manifesto, 1848). Lenin supported the right of nations to self-determination, including secession, as a weapon against imperialism and Tsarist oppression; Stalin (1913) defined the nation as a historically constituted, stable community of language, territory, economic life and psychological make-up expressed in a common culture. Later Marxists (Tom Nairn, Eric Hobsbawm) linked nationalism to uneven development. Anti-colonial nationalism was supported by Marxists as progressive.
Modernist and other views. Ernest Gellner (Nations and Nationalism, 1983): industrialisation requires a shared high culture; Benedict Anderson (1983): print capitalism created imagined communities; Hobsbawm: "invented traditions"; Anthony Smith: ethno-symbolism, nations built on older ethnic cores.
उदारवादी सिद्धान्त: राष्ट्र को स्वशासन का अधिकार; राष्ट्र और राज्य एक हों (माज़िनी; मिल 1861); नागरिक, समावेशी, आत्मनिर्णय (विल्सन 1918)। आलोचना: शक्ति और वर्ग की उपेक्षा।
मार्क्सवादी सिद्धान्त: राष्ट्रवाद पूँजीवादी युग की उपज; बुर्जुआ बाज़ार एकीकरण और मज़दूरों को बाँटने हेतु प्रयोग; अंतरराष्ट्रीयतावाद (1848)। लेनिन: आत्मनिर्णय का अधिकार (पृथक्करण सहित); स्टालिन (1913): भाषा, क्षेत्र, आर्थिक जीवन और मनोवैज्ञानिक बनावट वाला स्थिर समुदाय। नायर्न, हॉब्सबॉम: असमान विकास; उपनिवेश-विरोधी राष्ट्रवाद का समर्थन।
आधुनिकतावादी: गेलनर (1983), एंडरसन (1983), हॉब्सबॉम "आविष्कृत परंपराएँ", एंथनी स्मिथ (नृजातीय-प्रतीकवाद)।
3 of 9 papers. Evolution of human rights (Dec 2023); Western vs socialist perspectives (Jun 2024); short note (Jun 2025).
Evolution. Natural rights (Locke: life, liberty, property); Magna Carta (1215), the English Bill of Rights (1689), the US Declaration of Independence (1776) and Bill of Rights (1791), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789); after the Second World War the UN Charter (1945) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); the two Covenants (ICCPR and ICESCR, 1966, in force 1976); conventions on racial discrimination, women (CEDAW, 1979), torture and the child (1989); the Vienna Declaration (1993) on the universality and indivisibility of rights; the UN Human Rights Council (2006). Karel Vasak's three generations: civil-political, socio-economic, and solidarity rights (development, environment, peace).
Western vs socialist perspectives. Western-liberal: rights belong to individuals, are prior to the state and protect against it; priority to civil and political rights (speech, religion, property, fair trial, vote), enforced by courts. Socialist: rights are social and historical; formal liberties mean little without economic security; priority to work, education, health and housing; rights are linked to duties and realised through the state; property rights are limited. Cold War division between the two Covenants reflected this. Third World and Asian views: right to development and collective rights; the "Asian values" debate (Bangkok Declaration, 1993). Today the consensus is that rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent, but enforcement remains selective.
विकास: प्राकृतिक अधिकार (लॉक); मैग्ना कार्टा (1215), बिल ऑफ़ राइट्स (1689), अमेरिकी घोषणा (1776) और बिल ऑफ़ राइट्स (1791), फ़्रांसीसी घोषणा (1789); UN चार्टर (1945), मानवाधिकारों की सार्वभौम घोषणा (1948), दो प्रसंविदाएँ (1966, लागू 1976), CEDAW (1979), बाल अधिकार (1989), वियना (1993), मानवाधिकार परिषद (2006)। वासाक की तीन पीढ़ियाँ।
पश्चिमी बनाम समाजवादी: पश्चिमी: व्यक्तिगत, राज्य से सुरक्षा, नागरिक-राजनीतिक अधिकार प्राथमिक, अदालतों द्वारा लागू। समाजवादी: सामाजिक-ऐतिहासिक, आर्थिक सुरक्षा के बिना औपचारिक स्वतंत्रता अर्थहीन; काम, शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य; अधिकार और कर्तव्य। तीसरी दुनिया: विकास का अधिकार; "एशियाई मूल्य" (बैंकॉक, 1993)। आज: सार्वभौम, अविभाज्य, परस्पर निर्भर।
Questions are summarised in a few words, not quoted. Sources: IGNOU question-paper archive (2022–2024) and ignou.ac.in (2024–2026). SN = short notes.
| Session / सत्र | Section I / A | Section II / B |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 2022 | Evolution of comparative politics; Easton's systems approach; origin of the state; colonialism in a South Asian country; SN: Almond, Marx on colonialism, political economy, dependency | Multiculturalism; federalism and consociationalism; ethnic movements under globalisation; totalitarian regime; SN: ethno-nationalism, bureaucracy, federalism, one-party system |
| Dec 2022 | Contribution of comparative politics; Easton's assumptions; Marxian origin of the state; origin and growth of modern colonialism; SN: Lenin on imperialism, Gandhian state, democracy and civil society, systems analysis | Paul Brass on ethnic groups; construction of community identity; strategies of ethnic movements; bureaucracy in democratic regimes; SN: community identity, pluralism, pressure groups, military in politics |
| Jun 2023 | Comparative method; Marxian vs Gandhian state; regional integration and the nation; liberal nationalism; constitutionalism in the USA and Britain | Federalism as power-sharing; modernisation and ethnic movements; democratic regimes; European vs American parties; nationalisation of science and technology |
| Dec 2023 | Theories of the post-colonial state; liberal and Marxist nationalism; civil society and the state; MNCs and developing nations; colonial formation in South and Southeast Asia | Consociationalism; political and permanent executive; North–South environmental debate; human development; evolution of human rights |
| Jun 2024 | World system approach; nationalism and globalisation; civil society and the state; benefits of regional integration; evolutionary vs revolutionary constitution-making | Multiculturalism and minorities; structural adjustment and women; human development; Duverger's classification; Western vs socialist human rights |
| Dec 2024 | Almond's structural-functionalism; post-colonial state; international organisations and the state; liberal and Marxist nationalism; religion in anti-colonial struggles | Community identities and politics; feminist views of women and development; interest vs pressure groups; globalisation, poverty and human development; decentralisation and participation |
| Jun 2025 | Public policy perspectives; liberal and Marxist nationalism; Gramsci on civil society; international organisations and the state; approaches to globalisation | Melting pot; democratic regimes; environmental debate; human development; SN: bicameralism, human rights |
| Dec 2025 | Political economy approach; Marxian and Gandhian state; civil society and the state; MNCs and sovereignty; economics of colonialism | Cultural resistance; authoritarian regimes; federal distribution of powers; Duverger's classification; participative development |
| Jun 2026 | World system approach; dependency; Gramsci's critique of civil society; international organisations and states; modern colonialism | Assimilation; political and permanent executive; two-party system; trends in human development; sustainable development |
Honesty notes. Written from standard sources, not IGNOU blocks: check lists (Brass's stages, Duverger's types, Linz) against your study material. Verify development figures in the latest UNDP reports. Trends describe past papers, not future ones.
ईमानदारी नोट: मानक स्रोतों से लिखे गए; सूचियाँ IGNOU सामग्री से मिलाएँ, आँकड़े नवीनतम UNDP रिपोर्ट से जाँचें। ट्रेंड भविष्य की गारंटी नहीं।
Read your IGNOU blocks for MPS-004 first, then use these notes to decide which topics to revise more. Practise writing at least a few answers in about 500 words, and check the official question papers for the current pattern. More material for this programme is on the MA Political Science (MPS) page, and the official IGNOU site is at ignou.ac.in.