Political Science - Theory and Thoughts
Semester 1 · 17 topics in 5 units
Unit I 4 topics
- Political science: definition, nature and scopeWhat political science studies, how far its scope runs, how it relates to history, economics, sociology, ethics and law, and whether it can claim to be a science.6 min
- The State: meaning, nature and elementsDefinitions of the State, its four elements, and how the State differs from society, government, association and nation.6 min
- Origin of the State: social contract and evolutionary theoriesDivine origin, force, patriarchal and matriarchal theories in brief; the social contract of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau; and the evolutionary theory in detail.6 min
- Sovereignty: meaning, aspects, attributes and kindsBodin's and Austin's definitions, internal and external sovereignty, the seven attributes, the kinds of sovereignty and the pluralist attack.5 min
Unit II 5 topics
- Plato and AristotlePlato's justice, education, communism and philosopher-king; Aristotle's State, classification of governments, best practicable State, revolution and slavery.6 min
- Rome, the Church and St. Thomas AquinasRome's contribution as republic and empire, the Roman legal system, the tenets of Christianity, the conflict of Church and State, and the political philosophy of Aquinas.6 min
- Machiavelli and The PrinceThe Italian background, Machiavelli's historical method, the advice and qualities of the Prince, the separation of politics from ethics, and why he is called the first modern political thinker.6 min
- Ancient Indian political thought and the Saptanga theoryPolitical ideas of the Vedic, post-Vedic and classical periods, Kautilya's seven limbs of the State, and the functions and limits of kingship in ancient India.6 min
- Islam: teaching, political thought and the ShariatThe birth and teaching of Islam, the Islamic concept of the State (tawhid, khilafat, shura, ummah), its leading thinkers, and the Shariat as a source of law then and now.5 min
Unit III 3 topics
- Individualism and socialismThe philosophy, arguments, merits and demerits of individualism; the meaning, features and kinds of socialism, revolutionary and evolutionary.5 min
- Marxism and modern communismThe background of Marxism, its main doctrines (dialectical and historical materialism, class struggle, surplus value, the State and revolution), its contribution and critique, and how modern communism departed from it.6 min
- Gandhi's political thoughtTruth and non-violence, satyagraha and its techniques, ends and means, Gandhi's view of the State, swaraj, decentralisation, sarvodaya and trusteeship, and their place in the Constitution.6 min
Unit IV 2 topics
- Rights and duties: kinds, human rights, fundamental rights and dutiesMeaning, nature and kinds of rights, human rights and the fundamental rights in Part III, the meaning and kinds of duties, the fundamental duties in Article 51A, and why rights and duties are correlative.8 min
- Welfare and the welfare StateMeaning of welfare, the rise and principles of the welfare State, its functions and implications, its problems, and India as a welfare State.6 min
Unit V 3 topics
- Democracy: meaning, kinds, merits, defects and direct democracyDefinitions and features of democracy, direct and indirect democracy, merits and defects, the conditions for its success, and the devices of direct democracy in practice.6 min
- Dictatorship, totalitarianism, Fascism, Nazism and Soviet communismMeaning, features, merits and demerits of dictatorship; the totalitarian State; and the three twentieth-century cases of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.6 min
- Secularism and the secular State, with a note on IndiaMeaning of secularism, Western and Indian models, features of a secular State, arguments for and against, and whether India is a secular State.6 min