Political Science and International Relations (PSIR) is one of the most widely chosen optional subjects in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, prized for its overlap with the General Studies papers and its consistent scoring track record. The PSIR optional syllabus is split into two papers — Paper I and Paper II — each worth 250 marks, for 500 marks total out of the 1,750 marks awarded across UPSC Mains written papers (2,025 marks including the personality test/interview).
This guide covers the complete, topic-wise PSIR syllabus for both papers, the exam pattern, topic weightage, topper marks, and a free downloadable PDF. The syllabus itself doesn’t change year to year, so this guide applies equally whether you’re preparing for CSE 2027, 2028, or beyond.
2 papers (Paper I & Paper II) · 250 marks each, 500 total · Paper I: Political Theory & Indian Government and Politics · Paper II: Comparative Politics, International Relations & India’s Foreign Policy · 3-hour, descriptive-type paper · Available in both Hindi and English medium.
PSIR Optional at a glance
UPSC PSIR Optional Exam Pattern
Before working through the topic list, it’s worth understanding how the papers are actually structured — it shapes how you should prepare each section.
- Each paper (I and II) carries 250 marks and runs 3 hours, in either Hindi or English medium.
- Each paper has 8 questions, split evenly into Section A and Section B (4 questions each).
- Question 1 and Question 5 are compulsory.
- From the remaining 6 questions, you must attempt 3 more — choosing at least 1 from each section — so your final answer sheet covers 5 questions per paper in total.
- The marks carried by each question and sub-part are printed alongside it on the question paper itself, so allocate your time and word count by the marks weight rather than a fixed rule of thumb.
PSIR Optional Syllabus — Paper I
Paper I is divided into two parts: Section A focuses on Political Theory and Indian Political Thought; Section B covers Indian Government and Politics.
Section A: Political Theory and Indian Politics
| # | Topic |
| 1 | Political Theory: meaning and approaches |
| 2 | Theories of state: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial, and Feminist |
| 3 | Justice: conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawls’ theory of justice and its communitarian critiques |
| 4 | Equality: social, political, and economic; the relationship between equality and freedom; affirmative action |
| 5 | Rights: meaning and theories; different kinds of rights; concept of Human Rights |
| 6 | Democracy: classical and contemporary theories; different models — representative, participatory and deliberative |
| 7 | Concept of power: hegemony, ideology, and legitimacy |
| 8 | Political ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism, and Feminism |
| 9 | Indian political thought: Dharmashastra, Arthashastra, and Buddhist traditions; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M. K. Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, M. N. Roy |
| 10 | Western political thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John S. Mill, Marx, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt |
Section B: Indian Government and Politics
| # | Topic |
| 1 | Indian nationalism — (a) political strategies of India’s freedom struggle: constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Noncooperation, civil disobedience, militant and revolutionary movements, peasant and workers’ movements; (b) perspectives on the Indian National Movement: liberal, socialist, and Marxist; radical humanist and Dalit |
| 2 | Making of the Indian Constitution: legacies of British rule; different social and political perspectives |
| 3 | Salient features of the Indian Constitution: the Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles; parliamentary system and amendment procedures; judicial review and the Basic Structure doctrine |
| 4 | Principal organs of government — (a) Union Government: envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature, and Supreme Court; (b) State Government: envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature, and High Courts |
| 5 | Grassroots democracy: Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government; significance of the 73rd and 74th Amendments; grassroots movements |
| 6 | Statutory institutions/commissions: Election Commission, CAG, Finance Commission, UPSC, National Commissions for SCs, STs, Women, Human Rights, Minorities, and Backward Classes |
| 7 | Federalism: constitutional provisions; changing nature of centre–state relations; integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations; inter-state disputes |
| 8 | Planning and economic development: Nehruvian and Gandhian perspectives; role of planning and the public sector; Green Revolution, land reforms and agrarian relations; liberalisation and economic reforms |
| 9 | Caste, religion, and ethnicity in Indian politics |
| 10 | Party system: national and regional parties, ideological and social bases of parties; patterns of coalition politics; pressure groups; trends in electoral behaviour; changing socio-economic profile of legislators |
| 11 | Social movements: civil liberties and human rights movements; women’s movements; environmentalist movements |
PSIR Optional Syllabus — Paper II
Paper II is divided into Section A: Comparative Politics and Approaches to International Relations, and Section B: India and the World.
Section A: Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics
| # | Topic |
| 1 | Comparative politics: nature and major approaches; political economy and political sociology perspectives; limitations of the comparative method |
| 2 | State in comparative perspective: characteristics and changing nature of the state in capitalist and socialist economies, and in advanced industrial and developing societies |
| 3 | Politics of representation and participation: political parties, pressure groups and social movements in advanced industrial and developing societies |
| 4 | Globalisation: responses from developed and developing societies |
| 5 | Approaches to the study of International Relations: Idealist, Realist, Marxist, Functionalist, and Systems theory |
| 6 | 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 |
| 7 | Changing international political order — (a) rise of superpowers; strategic and ideological bipolarity, arms race and Cold War; nuclear threat; (b) Non-Aligned Movement: aims and achievements; (c) collapse of the Soviet Union; unipolarity and American hegemony; relevance of non-alignment in the contemporary world |
| 8 | Evolution of the international economic system: from Bretton Woods to WTO; socialist economies and the CMEA; Third World demand for a New International Economic Order; globalisation of the world economy |
| 9 | United Nations: envisaged role and actual record; specialised UN agencies — aims and functioning; the need for UN reforms |
| 10 | Regionalisation of world politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC, NAFTA |
| 11 | Contemporary global concerns: democracy, human rights, environment, gender justice, terrorism, nuclear proliferation |
Section B: India and the World
| # | Topic |
| 1 | Indian foreign policy: determinants of foreign policy; the institutions of policy-making; continuity and change |
| 2 | India’s contribution to the Non-Alignment Movement: different phases; current role |
| 3 | India and South Asia — (a) regional cooperation: SAARC, past performance and future prospects; (b) South Asia as a free trade area; (c) India’s “Look East” policy; (d) impediments to regional cooperation: river-water disputes, illegal cross-border migration, ethnic conflicts and insurgencies, border disputes |
| 4 | India and the Global South: relations with Africa and Latin America; leadership role in the demand for NIEO and WTO negotiations |
| 5 | India and the global centres of power: USA, EU, Japan, China, and Russia |
| 6 | India and the UN system: role in UN peace-keeping; demand for a permanent seat on the Security Council |
| 7 | India and the nuclear question: changing perceptions and policy |
| 8 | Recent developments in Indian foreign policy: India’s position on recent crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, and West Asia; growing relations with the US and Israel; vision of a new world order |
Download the PSIR Optional Syllabus PDF
Download the complete PSIR Optional syllabus (Paper I & Paper II) as a free, printable PDF — in English / Hindi.
PSIR Optional Weightage — Which Topics Matter Most
Not every topic in the PSIR syllabus carries equal weight in the actual exam. Sections like Western Political Thought, Indian Political Thought, Federalism, and Approaches to International Relations show up in some form almost every year, while others appear far less often. For a full year-by-year, topic-wise breakdown of how marks have actually been distributed since 1986, see our PSIR Optional PYQ (Topic-wise) guide.
Why Choose PSIR Optional for UPSC?
Choosing an optional subject is one of the most consequential decisions in UPSC Mains preparation — it accounts for 500 of the 1,750 written marks. PSIR consistently ranks among the top three most-chosen optionals, for a few concrete reasons:
- Strong scoring track record: toppers regularly cross 300/500 in PSIR, with the highest recorded scores going past 320 — see the topper table below.
- Heavy overlap with General Studies: Political Theory and Indian Political Thought feed directly into GS I (Society, Modern & World History) and GS IV (thinkers used in Ethics answers); Indian Government & Politics and International Relations overlap almost entirely with GS II; and the conceptual grounding helps Essay too.
- Built-in current-affairs relevance: the International Relations and India’s Foreign Policy sections update naturally with the news cycle, so regular newspaper reading doubles as optional preparation rather than competing with it.
- A workable static-dynamic balance: Paper I is largely conceptual and stable year to year, while Paper II leans more on current developments — giving your revision schedule a natural rhythm.
- The widest guidance ecosystem of any optional: because so many aspirants choose PSIR, there’s no shortage of test series, mentors, and peer answer-writing groups to learn from.
- No academic background required: unlike some optionals, PSIR doesn’t assume a political science degree — motivated aspirants from any background can pick it up from scratch.
PSIR vs Other Optionals — Which Should You Choose?
PSIR is frequently compared against Sociology, Geography, Public Administration, and Anthropology — the other high-overlap, GS-adjacent optionals.
In short: PSIR suits aspirants who enjoy conceptual/theoretical reading and want maximum GS II overlap; Sociology suits those who prefer society-and-institutions framing with a slightly shorter syllabus; Geography suits aspirants comfortable with maps, diagrams and a more static, learnable syllabus; Public Administration overlaps well with GS II/IV but has shown more volatile scoring in recent years.
- Read the full PSIR vs Geography Optional comparison
- Read the full PSIR vs Sociology Optional comparison
PSIR Optional Toppers — Marks & Ranks
Scores of 300+ out of 500 are considered exceptional in PSIR and have consistently been posted by candidates who go on to secure top ranks.
| Candidate | PSIR Marks (/500) | AIR | Year |
| Yashraj Nain | 324 | 272 | 2018 |
| Utkarsh Dwivedi | 314 | 5 | 2021 |
| Ishita Kishore | 313 | 1 | 2022 |
| Swati Sharma | 304 | 17 | 2023 |
| Tina Dabi | 299 | 1 | 2015 |
| Damanpreet Arora | 299 | 103 | 2024 |
| Trilok Singh | 282 | 20 | 2024 |
| Abhi Jain | 281 | 34 | 2024 |
Best Books for PSIR Optional
A focused, well-sequenced booklist matters more in PSIR than in most optionals, given how much reference material is out there. See our complete, ranked PSIR Optional booklist for Paper I and Paper II — covering primary texts, class notes, and current-affairs sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Steps in Your PSIR Optional Preparation
Once you’re through the syllabus, the next steps are picking your booklist, starting topic-wise PYQ practice, and getting your answers evaluated. LotusArise’s PSIR mentorship and test series are built around exactly this sequence.