PSIR Optional Question Paper 2014

The PSIR Optional Question Paper 2014 for the UPSC Civil Services Mains examination is reproduced below in full: Political Science and International Relations Paper-I and Paper-II, Section A and Section B, with the marks for every question as UPSC printed them. Each question links to its solved model answer, and after the papers you will find a syllabus-wise mapping of the 2014 questions, the thinkers who were tested and what the paper signals for your preparation. For every other year and the full topic-wise list, see PSIR Optional question papers (year-wise and topic-wise).

Want the answers too? All 56 questions of the 2014 paper are solved in LotusArise PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions — tap Model answer next to any question below to open it.

PSIR Optional Question Paper-I (2014)

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Time allowed: three hours · Maximum marks: 250 · Eight questions in two sections; Question 1 and Question 5 are compulsory, and three more are to be attempted with at least one from each section.

Section ‘A’: Political Theory and Indian Politics

1. Comment on the following in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
   (a) “… political theory is not an escape mechanism but an arduous calling.” (John Plamanetz) 10 · Model answer
   (b) “All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.” (J. S. Mill) 10 · Model answer
   (c) “Nationalism is not a mere political programme but a way of life like religion.” (Aurobindo Ghose) 10 · Model answer
   (d) “India has thrown up a form of judicial democracy that has no parallel anywhere else, and has nurtured a kind of civil society that is uniquely its own.” (Bhikhu Parekh) 10 · Model answer
   (e) “Power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together.” (Hannah Arendt) 10 · Model answer
2. (a) Comment on the view that socialism in the 21st century may be reborn as anti-capitalism. 20 · Model answer
   (b) Examine the conditions that are required for the maintenance of legitimacy in modern societies. 15 · Model answer
   (c) Evaluate the contributions of Buddhist tradition to Indian political thought. 15 · Model answer
3. (a) Explicate the conception of justice in the critiques of communitarian theorists. 20 · Model answer
   (b) Examine the conception of the State in the ideologies of Fascism and Marxism. 15 · Model answer
   (c) How is liberty a precondition for equality? Explicate the relationship between equality and liberty. 15 · Model answer
4. (a) Explain how Machiavelli’s application of empirical method to human affairs marks an important stage in the evolution of political science. 20 · Model answer
   (b) Central to Aristotle’s political thought is his classification of the different types of political constitutions in the Politics. Evaluate. 15 · Model answer
   (c) Explicate the features of deliberative democracy. 15 · Model answer

Section ‘B’: Indian Government and Politics

5. Comment on the following in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
   (a) The dilemmas of the human rights movements in India 10 · Model answer
   (b) Relation between ethnicity and democracy in India 10 · Model answer
   (c) Increasingly higher focus on Directive Principles of State Policy 10 · Model answer
   (d) Marginalization of the left ideology in India 10 · Model answer
   (e) The role of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in promoting good governance 10 · Model answer
6. (a) Discuss the working of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes to curb violence against Dalits. 20 · Model answer
   (b) Examine the scope and limitations of women’s movements in India. 15 · Model answer
   (c) Explain how peasant movements promoted nationalist ideas during the struggle for Indian independence. 15 · Model answer
7. (a) Discuss the nature of reforms of the electoral process in India and explain the further scope for reforms. 20 · Model answer
   (b) Examine the debates on the appointment procedure of judges to the higher judiciary in India. 15 · Model answer
   (c) Explain how the participation of women impacted the functioning of rural local bodies in India. 15 · Model answer
8. (a) Explain how pressure groups have been influencing public policy-making with suitable illustrations. 20 · Model answer
   (b) What are the provisions for constitutional protection of right to freedom of religion and how far have they succeeded in promoting secularism in India? 15 · Model answer
   (c) Account for the changes in the socio-economic profile of legislators during last one decade in India. 15 · Model answer

PSIR Optional Question Paper-II (2014)

Time allowed: three hours · Maximum marks: 250 · Eight questions in two sections; Question 1 and Question 5 are compulsory, and three more are to be attempted with at least one from each section.

Section ‘A’: Comparative Politics and International Relations

1. Answer the following questions in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
   (a) Party system in India is neither western nor indigenous. Explain. 10 · Model answer
   (b) In what respect is the new social movement new in nature? Discuss. 10 · Model answer
   (c) Do you agree that the U.N. has failed to contain transnational terrorism? Elaborate your answer with examples. 10 · Model answer
   (d) “The Feminist approach to international politics is biased.” Comment. 10 · Model answer
   (e) “Ukraine crisis is a product of power politics and geo-politics.” Comment. 10 · Model answer
2. (a) “Despite so many agreed areas of cooperation, innumerable institutional mechanisms and a permanent secretariat, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has not taken off as a meaningful regional grouping.” Discuss. 20 · Model answer
   (b) Critically evaluate the approaches of global south towards addressing environment concerns. 15 · Model answer
   (c) Critically assess the changing nature of the concept of national security. 15 · Model answer
3. (a) Argue a case for U.N. reform in the context of changing global milieu. 20 · Model answer
   (b) Who was Mr. ‘X’ in international politics? Elaborate his approach to foreign policy. 15 · Model answer
   (c) “Morton A. Kaplan’s system theory is contrary to the fundamental precepts of systems approach.” Comment. 15 · Model answer
4. (a) How do you explain the growing importance of multi-national corporations (MNCs) and civil society in contemporary international politics? 20 · Model answer
   (b) What is ‘global village’? Elaborate its main characteristics and also the factors that contributed to its growth. 15 · Model answer
   (c) Discuss the main factors that have contributed to the gradual transformation of the world from ‘Billiard Ball Model’ to ‘Cobweb Model’. 15 · Model answer

Section ‘B’: India and the World

5. Answer the following questions in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
   (a) Is India’s quest for a permanent seat in the Security Council a possibility or just a pipedream? Elaborate with reasons. 10 · Model answer
   (b) “Afghanistan is a litmus test for India’s ascendance as a regional and global power.” Discuss. 10 · Model answer
   (c) “EU – India relations have a long way to go before they can purposely be termed strategic.” Discuss. 10 · Model answer
   (d) Do you agree with the view that the USA is of late willing to treat India as a partner rather than merely a camp-follower? Give reasons for your answer. 10 · Model answer
   (e) Discuss the grounds for India’s opposition to NPT. 10 · Model answer
6. (a) Evaluate the recent changes in Indo – Japan relations. 20 · Model answer
   (b) “Federal units are critical in the making of India’s foreign policy.” Examine this statement with reference to the role of West Bengal vis-à-vis Bangladesh. 15 · Model answer
   (c) “India’s policy of non-alignment has been guided by the genius of the Indian people and their interests.” Explain. 15 · Model answer
7. (a) Analyse the drivers of Indo – Russian relations in the post-Cold-War era. 20 · Model answer
   (b) Examine the implications of turmoil in Iraq and West Asia for India’s security and foreign policy concerns. 15 · Model answer
   (c) Evaluate India’s participation in United Nations peace-keeping operations over the years. 15 · Model answer
8. (a) The Ministry of External Affairs is losing its importance in the making of India’s foreign policy with the parallel rise of the P.M.O. Explain. 20 · Model answer
   (b) “Some of the major changes that occurred in India’s foreign policy after the Sino – India war in 1962 were within the larger framework of continuity.” Discuss. 15 · Model answer
   (c) In the history of foreign policy, seldom have relations between any two nations blossomed as fast as they have in the case of India and Israel. Discuss. 15 · Model answer

PSIR Optional 2014 Paper Analysis

Paper-I: syllabus-wise mapping

What stood out in Paper-I

• Every Q1 comment was an attributed quotation. 1(a) to 1(e) gave lines from Plamenatz, Mill, Aurobindo, Parekh and Arendt, so placing each line in its author’s wider argument was the core of the answer.
• Western thinkers returned as long questions. 4(a) asked how Machiavelli’s empirical method marked a stage in the evolution of political science, and 4(b) asked for an evaluation of Aristotle’s classification of constitutions in the Politics.
• Contemporary normative theory carried 20 marks. 3(a) on the communitarian critique of justice followed 2013’s question on the communitarian critique of liberalism, while 4(c) on deliberative democracy opened a theme that came back in 2015 and 2019.
• Section B tested institutions by their record. 6(a) on the NCSC and violence against Dalits, 5(e) on the CAG and good governance, and 7(b) on judicial appointments (last asked in 2009) all asked how bodies work in practice, not what the text of the Constitution says.
• Movements and representation filled the rest of Section B. Human rights movements 5(a), women’s movements 6(b), peasant movements in the national struggle 6(c), women in rural local bodies 7(c) and the changing profile of legislators 8(c) together made social and political participation the paper’s largest cluster.

Paper-II: syllabus-wise mapping

What stood out in Paper-II

• Classic IR theory was asked by name. 3(b) on Mr. ‘X’ (George Kennan and containment), 3(c) on Morton Kaplan’s systems theory and 4(c) on the move from the billiard-ball to the cobweb model rewarded close knowledge of the theory literature.
• The year’s crises were set directly. 1(e) asked whether the Ukraine crisis was a product of power politics and geopolitics, and 7(b) asked what turmoil in Iraq and West Asia meant for India’s security and foreign policy.
• The UN appeared from four angles. 1(c) on the UN and transnational terrorism and 3(a) on UN reform in Section A, then India’s Security Council quest in 5(a) and its peace-keeping record in 7(c).
• Section B was a survey of bilateral ties. The USA 5(d), the EU 5(c), Afghanistan 5(b), Japan 6(a), Russia 7(a) and Israel 8(c) were all asked; India–Japan relations had also been set in 2013.
• The making of foreign policy was itself examined. 6(b) used West Bengal and Bangladesh to test the role of federal units, and 8(a) asked whether the PMO was eclipsing the MEA, a theme that returned in 2019.

Each question is counted once, under the syllabus unit its model answer is filed in. The marks show how much of the 400 marks set in each paper came from a unit; a candidate attempts five questions worth 250.

Thinkers and scholars in the PSIR 2014 paper

Solved Answers to the PSIR 2014 Paper

Preparing the syllabus from scratch? Start with the PSIR Optional hub for notes, the official PSIR syllabus and unit-wise PYQs.

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