PSIR Optional Syllabus for UPSC: Paper 1 and Paper 2

How the PSIR optional fits into the mains

The mains has nine papers, of which seven count for merit. Your optional subject fills two of those seven, so it carries the same weight as two General Studies papers. You choose the optional while filling the main exam form, and you write both papers on the same day in recent schedules. Every other optional follows this same format, for instance the one on our UPSC sociology optional syllabus page.

Each paper is split into Section A and Section B, with four questions in each. Questions 1 and 5 are compulsory, and you then choose three of the remaining six, taking at least one from each section. Most questions have parts of 10, 15 or 20 marks, and the marks are printed against each part. For the full mains scheme, see the UPSC Mains syllabus.

PSIR optional syllabus: Paper 1, Section A (political theory)

• Political theory: meaning and approaches
• Theories of the state: liberal, neo liberal, Marxist, pluralist, post colonial and feminist
• Justice: conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawls and his communitarian critics
• Equality: social, political and economic; the relation between equality and freedom; affirmative action
• Rights: meaning and theories, different kinds of rights, the concept of human rights
• Democracy: classical and contemporary theories, and models such as representative, participatory and deliberative democracy
• Power, hegemony, ideology and legitimacy
• Political ideologies: liberalism, socialism, Marxism, fascism, Gandhism and feminism
• Indian political thought: Dharmashastra, Arthashastra and Buddhist traditions; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M.K. Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and M.N. Roy
• Western political thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John S. Mill, Marx, Gramsci and Hannah Arendt

This section rewards precise use of thinkers' ideas. A good answer on justice, for example, names Rawls's principles and then sets a communitarian objection against them.

Paper 1, Section B: Indian government and politics

• Indian nationalism: political strategies of the freedom struggle, from constitutionalism to mass satyagraha, non cooperation, civil disobedience, militant and revolutionary movements, and peasant and workers' movements; liberal, socialist, Marxist, radical humanist and Dalit perspectives on the national movement
• Making of the Constitution: legacies of British rule and different social and political perspectives
• Salient features: the Preamble, the rights and duties of citizens, the directive principles of state policy, the parliamentary system and amendment procedures, judicial review and the basic structure doctrine
• Principal organs of the Union and state governments: envisaged role and actual working of the executive, legislature and Supreme Court
• Principal organs of the state governments: executive, legislature and high courts
• Grassroots democracy: Panchayati Raj and municipal government, the 73rd and 74th Amendments, and grassroots movements
• Statutory institutions and commissions, such as the Election Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Finance Commission, UPSC and the national commissions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women, human rights, minorities and backward classes
• Federalism: constitutional provisions, the changing nature of centre state relations, integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations, inter state disputes
• Planning and economic development: Nehruvian and Gandhian perspectives, the role of planning and the public sector, the Green Revolution, land reforms and agrarian relations, liberalisation and economic reforms
• Caste, religion and ethnicity in Indian politics
• Party system: national and regional parties, ideological and social bases, patterns of coalition politics, pressure groups, trends in electoral behaviour, and the changing socio economic profile of legislators
• Social movements: civil liberties and human rights movements, women's movements and environmentalist movements

Paper 2, Section A: comparative politics and international relations

• Comparative politics: its nature and major approaches, political economy and political sociology perspectives, and the limits of the comparative method
• The state in comparative perspective: characteristics and changing nature of the state in capitalist and socialist economies, and in 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: national interest, security and power; balance of power and deterrence; transnational actors and collective security; world capitalist economy and globalisation
• The changing international political order: rise of superpowers, strategic and ideological bipolarity, the arms race and Cold War, the nuclear threat; the non aligned movement; the collapse of the Soviet Union, unipolarity and American hegemony; relevance of non alignment today
• Evolution of the international economic system: from Bretton Woods to the WTO, socialist economies and the CMEA, the Third World demand for a new international economic order, globalisation of the world economy
• The United Nations: envisaged role and actual record, specialised agencies, and the need for reform
• Regionalisation of world politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC and NAFTA
• Contemporary global concerns: democracy, human rights, environment, gender justice, terrorism and nuclear proliferation

Paper 2, Section B: India and the world

• Indian foreign policy: its determinants, the institutions of policy making, and continuity and change
• India's contribution to the non alignment movement: different phases and current role
• India and South Asia: regional cooperation through SAARC, past performance and future prospects, South Asia as a free trade area, India's Look East policy, and impediments such as river water disputes, illegal cross border migration, ethnic conflicts and insurgencies, and border disputes
• India and the Global South: relations with Africa and Latin America, and leadership in the demand for a new international economic order and in WTO negotiations
• India and the global centres of power: USA, EU, Japan, China and Russia
• India and the UN system: role in UN peacekeeping and the demand for a 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 crisis in Afghanistan, Iraq and West Asia, growing relations with the US and Israel, and the vision of a new world order

The last topic invites current examples. Keep a running file of India's recent summits, agreements and positions so you can add one fresh fact to each answer.

Where PSIR overlaps with General Studies

This is the main reason many aspirants take PSIR. Paper 1 Section B covers much of the polity and governance part of General Studies Paper II, and Paper 2 overlaps with the international relations part of the same GS paper. Indian nationalism links to modern history in GS Paper I, and thinkers and justice give you material for the essay and for ethics.

The overlap is real but not complete. GS questions are short and current, while optional questions want theory, thinkers and debates in 150 to 250 words. You still need separate notes. The UPSC syllabus page shows the whole picture across prelims and mains, and if you are also eyeing lecturer posts, the UGC NET political science syllabus shares much of this theory. More exams of this kind sit in our civil services section.

A plan to cover the PSIR syllabus for UPSC

1. Months 1 and 2: political theory and western thinkers. Read one primary idea per thinker and write a 150 word summary for each.
2. Month 3: Indian thinkers and Indian government and politics, linking each topic to Constitution articles and recent court judgments.
3. Month 4: comparative politics and IR theory, with clear definitions of realism, liberalism and their newer forms.
4. Month 5: India's foreign policy, using official briefings and annual reports for facts.
5. From month 6: answer writing, two questions a day, and one full paper every fortnight.

Your class 11 and 12 NCERT political science books give a good start, especially for Indian politics and world politics. Old UPSC question papers on the Commission's website show how often the same themes return.

PSIR optional syllabus in Hindi

पीएसआईआर का पूरा नाम राजनीति विज्ञान एवं अंतरराष्ट्रीय संबंध है। यूपीएससी मुख्य परीक्षा में यह वैकल्पिक विषय दो प्रश्नपत्रों में आता है, हर प्रश्नपत्र 250 अंक और तीन घंटे का। प्रश्नपत्र 1 में राजनीतिक सिद्धांत, भारतीय और पश्चिमी चिंतक, राष्ट्रवाद, संविधान, संघवाद, दल प्रणाली और सामाजिक आंदोलन हैं। प्रश्नपत्र 2 में तुलनात्मक राजनीति, अंतरराष्ट्रीय संबंधों के सिद्धांत, संयुक्त राष्ट्र, वैश्वीकरण और भारत की विदेश नीति शामिल हैं। हिंदी माध्यम से भी यह विषय लिखा जा सकता है।