UPSC Optional · PSIR
PSIR Optional Notes · PYQs · Strategy
Everything for Political Science and International Relations in one place: free topic-wise notes for all four sections, every previous year question arranged by syllabus unit, and the strategy, booklist and study plan to go with them. Solved answers are being written and will appear on the unit pages as they are published.
40
Syllabus units
260+
Free notes
Soon
Solved answers
1991–2026
Years covered
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Paper I units Paper II units PYQs, notes and books Strategy and books
Paper I
Section A: Political Theory and Indian Political Thought
Political Theory: Meaning and Approaches, Theories of the State, Justice, Equality and Liberty, Rights, Democracy, Concept of Power, Hegemony, Ideology and Legitimacy, Political Ideologies, Indian Political Thought, Western Political Thought. Each unit page has the free notes, the year-wise questions and the solved answers together.
Unit 01
Political Theory: Meaning and Approaches
Meaning and approaches to political theory; normative, behavioural and post-behavioural debates.
Unit 02
Theories of the State
Liberal, neo-liberal, Marxist, pluralist, post-colonial and feminist theories of the state.
Unit 04
Equality and Liberty
Social, political and economic equality; relationship between equality and freedom; affirmative action.
Unit 07
Concept of Power, Hegemony, Ideology and Legitimacy
Power, hegemony, ideology and legitimacy.
Unit 09
Indian Political Thought
Dharmashastra, Arthashastra, Buddhist traditions; Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Sri Aurobindo, Gandhi, Ambedkar, M. N. Roy.
Unit 10
Western Political Thought
Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, J. S. Mill, Marx, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt.
Paper I
Section B: Indian Government and Politics
Indian Nationalism, Making of the Indian Constitution, Salient Features of the Indian Constitution, Principal Organs of Government, Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Commissions, Federalism, Planning and Economic Development, Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics, Party System, Social Movements. Each unit page has the free notes, the year-wise questions and the solved answers together.
Unit 01
Indian Nationalism
Political strategies of the freedom struggle; perspectives on the national movement.
Unit 02
Making of the Indian Constitution
Legacies of British rule; social and political perspectives on the Constitution.
Unit 03
Salient Features of the Indian Constitution
Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles, parliamentary system, amendment, judicial review, basic structure.
Unit 04
Principal Organs of Government
Executive, legislature and judiciary at Union and state level; their envisaged role and actual working.
Unit 05
Grassroots Democracy
Panchayati Raj and municipal government, the 73rd and 74th amendments, grassroots movements.
Unit 06
Statutory Institutions and Commissions
Election Commission, CAG, Finance Commission, UPSC, National Commissions for SC, ST, Women, Minorities, Backward Classes, NHRC.
Unit 07
Federalism
Constitutional provisions, changing Centre-state relations, integrationist tendencies, regional aspirations, inter-state disputes.
Unit 08
Planning and Economic Development
Nehruvian and Gandhian perspectives, planning and the public sector, Green Revolution, land reforms, liberalisation.
Unit 09
Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics
Caste, religion and ethnicity in Indian politics.
Unit 10
Party System
National and regional parties, ideological and social bases, coalition politics, pressure groups, electoral behaviour.
Unit 11
Social Movements
Civil liberties and human rights movements, women's movements, environmentalist movements.
Paper II
Section A: Comparative Politics and International Relations
Comparative Politics, State in Comparative Perspective, Politics of Representation and Participation, Globalisation, Approaches to the Study of International Relations, Key Concepts in International Relations, Changing International Political Order, Evolution of the International Economic System, United Nations, Regionalisation of World Politics, Contemporary Global Concerns. Each unit page has the free notes, the year-wise questions and the solved answers together.
Unit 01
Comparative Politics
Nature and major approaches; political economy and political sociology perspectives; limitations of the comparative method.
Unit 02
State in Comparative Perspective
The state in capitalist, socialist and post-colonial economies; advanced industrial and developing societies.
Unit 03
Politics of Representation and Participation
Parties, pressure groups and social movements in advanced industrial and developing societies.
Unit 05
Approaches to the Study of International Relations
Idealist, realist, Marxist, functionalist and systems theory.
Unit 06
Key Concepts in International Relations
National interest, security and power; balance of power and deterrence; transnational actors and collective security; world capitalist economy and globalisation.
Unit 07
Changing International Political Order
Rise of superpowers, Cold War, arms race, nuclear threat; non-aligned movement; collapse of the Soviet Union and unipolarity.
Unit 08
Evolution of the International Economic System
From Bretton Woods to WTO; socialist economies and the CMEA; the Third World demand for a new international economic order.
Unit 09
United Nations
Envisaged role and actual record; specialised agencies; the need for UN reforms.
Unit 11
Contemporary Global Concerns
Democracy, human rights, environment, gender justice, terrorism, nuclear proliferation.
Paper II
Section B: India and the World
Indian Foreign Policy, India and the Non-Aligned Movement, India and South Asia, India and the Global South, India and the Global Centres of Power, India and the UN System, India and the Nuclear Question, Recent Developments in Indian Foreign Policy. Each unit page has the free notes, the year-wise questions and the solved answers together.
Unit 01
Indian Foreign Policy
Determinants of foreign policy; institutions of policy-making; continuity and change.
Unit 02
India and the Non-Aligned Movement
Different phases; current role; India's contribution to the non-aligned movement.
Unit 03
India and South Asia
Regional cooperation, SAARC, South Asia as a free trade area, India's Look East policy, impediments to regional cooperation.
Unit 04
India and the Global South
Relations with Africa and Latin America; leadership role in the demand for NIEO and WTO negotiations.
Unit 06
India and the UN System
Role in UN peacekeeping; demand for a permanent seat in the Security Council.
Unit 08
Recent Developments in Indian Foreign Policy
India's position on the crises in Afghanistan, Iraq and West Asia; relations with the US and Israel; vision of a new world order.
Previous year questions
PYQs, notes and books
Start with the syllabus and the papers, then read the notes unit by unit.
Strategy
Strategy, books and practice
How toppers plan the optional, what to read, and where to practise.
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