UGC NET political science syllabus: the ten units of subject code 02

Exam pattern for political science aspirants

Every question must be attempted from your side, since NTA deducts nothing for errors; a blank is simply a lost 2 marks. For the common paper, read the UGC NET paper 1 syllabus guide, and the overall scheme for every subject on the UGC NET syllabus page.

Units 1 to 3: theory and thinkers

Unit 1: Political theory

• Concepts: liberty, equality, justice, rights, democracy, power, citizenship
• Political traditions: liberalism, conservatism, socialism, Marxism, feminism, ecologism, multiculturalism, postmodernism

Unit 2: Political thought

• Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Hegel
• Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Gramsci
• Hannah Arendt, Frantz Fanon, Mao Zedong, John Rawls

Unit 3: Indian political thought

• Ancient texts and ideas: Dharmashastra, Kautilya, the Aggannasutta
• Medieval voices: Barani, Kabir
• Modern thinkers and reformers such as Pandita Ramabai, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, M.K. Gandhi, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, Muhammad Iqbal, M.N. Roy and B.R. Ambedkar
• Several leaders of the freedom movement and of post independence socialist and nationalist thought; read the full list of names in the official syllabus

Unit 2 and Unit 3 questions often match a thinker to a book or a famous idea, so a table of thinker, main work and key concept is the most useful note you can make.

Units 4 to 6: comparative politics and the world

Unit 4: Comparative political analysis

• Approaches: institutional, political culture, political economy, new institutionalism; comparative methods
• Colonialism and decolonisation; nationalism in Europe and beyond
• Theories of the state, including the post colonial and welfare state and the effect of globalisation
• Democratic and non democratic regimes; constitutions, the rule of law and constitutionalism
• Democratisation, theories of development and dependency, structures of power
• Electoral systems, parties and party systems, interest groups, social movements, NGOs and revolutions

Unit 5: International relations

• Approaches: idealism, realism, Marxism, neoliberalism, neorealism, constructivism, critical theory, feminism, postmodernism
• State, sovereignty, power and security, traditional and non traditional
• War and peace: weapons of mass destruction, deterrence, conflict resolution
• The United Nations, international law and the International Criminal Court
• Global political economy: Bretton Woods bodies, the WTO, G20, BRICS, the North South dialogue
• Regional bodies such as the European Union, African Union, SCO and ASEAN; terrorism, climate, human rights, migration

Unit 6: India's foreign policy

• India's identity as a post colonial, developing and rising power; principles and determinants
• Non alignment and its relevance; nuclear policy
• Relations with the USA, Russia, China and the European Union; the neighbourhood and Act East policies
• India in the UN, WTO, IMF and climate negotiations; maritime, energy, water and cyber security

Units 7 and 8: Indian institutions and politics

Unit 7: Political institutions in India

• The making of the Constitution, the Constituent Assembly and its debates
• Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and the basic structure debate
• Union executive and Parliament, parliamentary committees
• Supreme Court and High Courts, judicial review, public interest litigation and judicial reform
• Governor, Chief Minister and state legislatures; federalism and the Inter State Council
• Election Commission and electoral reform; local government
• Constitutional and statutory bodies such as the CAG and the national commissions for women, minorities, human rights and backward classes

Unit 8: Political processes in India

• The nature of the Indian state, planning, the new economic policy and globalisation
• Identity politics of religion, caste, region and language
• Dalit, tribal, women's, farmers' and labour movements; civil society groups
• Reorganisation of states, regional disparity and demands for new states
• Gender and representation; national and state parties; electoral participation and trends

Units 9 and 10: administration and policy

Unit 9: Public administration

• Theories: scientific management, bureaucratic and classical theory, human relations, rational choice, ecological approach, development administration
• New Public Administration, New Public Management, good governance
• Principles of organisation such as hierarchy, unity of command and span of control
• Personnel administration, leadership, decision making and communication
• Bureaucracy, Weber and his critics, the minister and civil servant relationship

Unit 10: Governance and public policy in India

• Good and democratic governance; accountability through Parliament, audit, courts and committees
• Right to Information, consumer protection, citizen's charters, Lokpal and Lokayukta
• Panchayati Raj in practice; decentralised and participatory planning; NITI Aayog
• Policies on health, housing, drinking water, food security, rural employment and the right to education
• Monitoring and evaluation, social audit and public hearings

Where the political science syllabus rewards effort

Each unit carries a share of the 100 questions, but NTA does not publish fixed unit weights, so do not trust any list that claims exact numbers. What helps more is knowing the question types. Matching lists, assertion and reason, and chronological order questions are common, which means precise facts (who wrote what, which article or amendment did what) score better than vague understanding.

Units 7, 8 and 10 overlap strongly with your MA coursework and with Indian polity in general, so they are your fastest marks. Units 2, 4 and 5 need the most new reading for students whose MA focused on Indian politics.

A sixteen week plan for code 02

Revise with the official syllabus in front of you and tick each line once you can answer a matching question on it. Old papers from the UGC NET previous year papers page show how factual the questions are. If you also aim at the civil services, the PSIR optional shares many of these thinkers and themes.

Books in general terms

Start with standard university texts on political theory, Western and Indian political thought, international relations and Indian government that you used in your BA and MA. Read the Constitution of India itself for Unit 7, and the governance reports of the Second ARC for Units 9 and 10. NCERT books on political science for Classes 11 and 12 are a quick revision base for the Indian units. One good guide of past questions is enough; more books rarely mean more marks.

UGC NET political science syllabus in Hindi

यूजीसी नेट राजनीति विज्ञान (कोड 02) के पाठ्यक्रम में दस इकाइयाँ हैं: राजनीतिक सिद्धांत, पाश्चात्य राजनीतिक चिंतन, भारतीय राजनीतिक चिंतन, तुलनात्मक राजनीतिक विश्लेषण, अंतरराष्ट्रीय संबंध, भारत की विदेश नीति, भारत की राजनीतिक संस्थाएँ, भारत में राजनीतिक प्रक्रियाएँ, लोक प्रशासन तथा भारत में शासन और लोक नीति। पेपर 2 के 100 प्रश्नों में प्रत्येक के 2 अंक हैं, यानी कुल 200 अंक। पेपर 1 को मिलाकर समय 3 घंटे है और नकारात्मक अंकन नहीं है। तैयारी के लिए हर इकाई को बराबर समय दें और चिंतकों की एक तालिका बनाएँ।