POLITICAL SCIENCE SYLLABUS | AHSEC CLASS 12 SYLLABUS 2022 - 23

POLITICAL SCIENCE SYLLABUS (Arts Stream)

Academic Year (2022 - 23)

SYLLABUS FOR HIGHER SECONDARY FINAL YEAR COURSE

One Paper - Time - Three Hours - Marks 100

Rationale:

At the higher secondary level students who opt under the Social Sciences/Humanities stream are given an opportunity to get introduced to the diverse concerns of a Political Scientist. At this level course, there is also a need to enable students to engage with political process that surrounds them and provide them with an understanding of the historical context that has shaped the present. The different courses introduce the students to the various streams of the discipline of political science: Political Theory, Indian politics and International politics. Concerns of the other two streams– Comparative Politics and Public Administration– are accommodated at different- places in these courses. In introducing these streams, special care has been taken not to burden the students, with the current jargon of the discipline. The basic idea here is to lay the foundations for a serious engagement with the discipline at the BA stage rather than anticipate the BA syllabi.

POLITICAL SCIENCE

SYLLABUS FOR HIGHER SECONDARY FINAL YEAR COURSE

One Paper

Time: Three Hours

Marks 100

Unit wise Distribution of Marks and Periods:

Unit No.	Title	Marks	Periods
Part-A : Unit-I Unit-II Unit-III Unit-IV Unit-V Unit-VI Unit-VII Unit-VIII Unit-IX	CONTEMPORARY WORLD-POLITICS Cold War Era in World Politics Disintegration of the Second World and the Collapse of Bipolarity US Dominance in World Politics Alternative centres of Economic and Political Power South Asia in the Post-cold war Era International organizations in a unipolar world Security in Contemporary World Environment and Natural Resources in Global Politics Globalization and its Critics	5 7 7 6 5 6 6 4 4	12 14 14 12 10 12 12 8 8
Part-B : Unit-I Unit-II Unit-III Unit-IV Unit-V Unit-VI Unit-VII Unit-VIII Unit-IX Unit-X	POLITICS IN INDIA SINCE INDEPENDENCE Era of one-party dominance Nation-Building and its problems Politics of Planned Development India's External relations Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System Crisis of the Constitutional order Regional aspirations and conflicts Rise of New Social Movements Democratic upsurge and coalition parties Recent issues and challenges	6 4 6 6 4 6 6 4 4 4	12 8 10 13 8 13 13 9 8 8
	Total	100	204

Part-A: CONTEMPORARY WORLD-POLITICS

Course Rationale:

The political map of the world has undergone a dramatic change after the end of the cold war. The present course is an introduction to this new world of politics that we live in. It aims at encouraging and equipping the student to think about India's place in this new world. It seeks to impart relevant information and develop a perspective so as to initiate the student in the discipline of international relations and to a limited extent, comparative politics. The course moves away from the conventional focus of introductory courses on world politics in many ways. Its focus is clearly on the post-1990 world, with a brief introduction to cold war and bipolar world to serve as a background. The emphasis here is not only on relations among nations; the course also seeks to introduce the students to post-democratization political systems across the world and to processes of globalization in internal and external relations of the nations. While paying attention to the role of big powers, it gives careful attention to alternative centres of power and the global South. It seeks to shift the focus away from a formal description of the UN and its organs, to new institutions of global governance. Given its emphasis on locating India in contemporary world politics, the course does not limit the discussion on India to a chapter on India's foreign policy. Instead, it seeks to situate India in the context of each of the themes and regions discussed in the course, while paying special attention to India's relations with its neighbours. An extensive use of maps is strongly recommended for this course.

Learning Objectives:

v  Enable the students to expand their horizon beyond India and make sense of the political map of contemporary world.

v  Familiarize the students with some of the key political events and processes in the post cold war era.

v  Equip student to be conscious of the way in which global events and processes shape our everyday lives.

v  Strengthen their capacity for political analysis by thinking of contemporary development in historical perspective.

Unit wise Distribution of Course contents:

Unit-I: Cold War Era in World Politics:

Emergence of two power blocs after the Second World War. Arenas of the cold war. Challenges to Bipolarity: Non Aligned Movement, quest for new international economic order. India and the cold war.

Unit-II: Disintegration of the ‘Second World’ and the Collapse of Bipolarity:

Russia, Balkan states and Central Asian states, Introduction of democratic politics and capitalism in post-communist regimes. India's relations with Russia and other post-communist countries.

Unit-III: US Dominance in World Politics:

Growth of unilateralism: Afghanistan, first Gulf War, response to 9/11 and attack on Iraq. Dominance and challenge to the US in economy and ideology, India's renegotiation of its relationship with the USA.

Unit-IV: Alternative Centres of Economic and Political Power:

Rise of China as an economic power in post-Mao era, creation and expansion of European Union, ASEAN. India's changing relations with China.

Unit-V: South Asia in the Post-Cold War Era:

Democratization and its reversals in Pakistan and Nepal. Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Impact of economic globalization on the region. Conflicts and efforts for peace in South Asia. India's relations with its neighbours.

Unit-VI: International Organisations in a Unipolar World:

Restructuring and the future of the UN. India's position in the restructured UN. Rise of new international across: new international economic organisations, NGOs. How democratic and accountable are the new institutions of global governance?

Unit-VII: Security in Contemporary World:

Traditional concerns of security and politics of disarmament. Non-traditional or human security: global poverty, health and education. Issues of human rights and migration.

Unit-VIII: Environment and Natural Resources in Global Politics:

Environment movement and evolution of global environmental norms. Conflicts over traditional and common property resources. Rights of indigenous people. India's stand in global environmental debates.

Unit-IX: Globalization and Its Critics:

Economic, cultural and political manifestations. Debates on the nature of consequences of globalization. Anti-globalization movements. India as an arena of globalization and struggles against it.

Part-B: POLITICS IN INDIA SINCE INDEPENDENCE

Course Rationale:

It is a common experience that the younger generation of citizens does not know very much about the first and formative fifty years in the history of independent India. They often know more about India of 1920s or 1940s than they do about any decade in post-independence period including even the 1990s. This course seeks to fill this lacuna with a view to providing the students with information and perspective that would help them in their further study of Political Science and their role as a citizen. That is why there is a focus on political history; other dimensions are brought in only to the extent they impinge on political history. In doing so, the course seeks to incorporate the lessons learnt from the discipline of history: that history must not become a mere chronicle of dates and events, that it should be integrated into an analytical narrative, that the history of politics must not become a narrow history of national political events and personalities and that history writing must not take place from a narrow partisan angle. The syllabus has to be illustrative rather than comprehensive: the idea is to identify some major developments in any period and then illustrate it with some events and personalities at the national level as well as in a select state or region. It is suggested that some of the recent political developments should be handled in general terms avoiding reference to persons active in today's politics.

Learning Objectives:

v  Enable students to be familiar with some of the key political events and figures in the post-independence period.

v  Develop skills of political analysis through events and processes of recent history.

v  Develop their capacity to link macro processes with micro situations and their own life.

v  Encourage the students to take a historical perspective of making sense of the contemporary India.

Unit wise Distribution of Course contents:

Unit-I: Era of One-Party Dominance:

First three general elections, nature of Congress dominance at the national level, uneven dominance at the state level, coalitional nature of Congress. Major opposition parties.

Unit-II: Nation-Building and Its Problems:

Nehru’s approach to nation-building; Legacy of partition; challenge of ‘refugee’ resettlement, the Kashmir problem. Organisation and reorganization of states; Political conflicts over language.

Unit-III: Politics of Planned Development:

Five year plans, expansion of state sector and the rise of new economic interests. Famine and suspension of five year plans. Green revolution and its political fallouts.

Unit-IV: India’s External Relations:

Nehru’s foreign policy. Sino-Indian war of 1962, Indo-Pak war of 1965 and 1971. India’s nuclear programme and shifting alliance in world politics.

Unit-V: Challenge to and Restoration of Congress System:

Political succession after Nehru. Non-Congressism and electoral upset of 1967, Congress split and reconstitution, Congress victory in 1971 elections, politics of ‘garibi hatao’.

Unit-VI: Crisis of the Constitutional Order:

Search for ‘committed’ bureaucracy and judiciary. Navnirman movement in Gujarat and the Bihar movement. Emergency; context, constitional and extra-constitutional dimensions, resistance to emergency. 1977 elections and the formation of Janata Party. Rise of civil liberties organisations.

Unit-VII: Regional Aspirations and Conflicts:

Rise of regional parties. Punjab crisis and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. The Kashmir situation. Challenges and responses in the North East.

Unit-VIII: Rise of New Social Movements:

Farmers’ movements, Women’s movement, Environment and Development-affected people’s movements. Implementation of Mandal Commission report and its aftermath.

Unit-IX: Democratic Upsurge and Coalition Politics:

Participatory upsurge in 1990s. Rise of the JD and the BJP. Increasing role of regional parties and coalition politics. UF and NDA governments. Elections 2004 and UPA government.

Unit-X: Recent Issue and Challenges:

Challenge of and responses to globalization: new economic policy and its opposition. Rise of OBCs in North Indian politics. Dalit politics in electoral and non-electoral arena. Challenge of communalism: Ajodhya dispute, Gujarat riots.

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