FACULTY OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD
Prayagraj-211001
ba syllabus
second year
2024-25
B.A. PART-II
PAPER I
WESTERN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Course Objectives:
The aim is to introduce to the students the questions, ideas and values of political philosophy
addressed by the western political thinkers. It will introduce the students to the key debates and
ideas in Western political thought by initiating reading of original texts and understand the
different interpretations of their philosophies. It will cover a few thinkers chronologically in the
history of ideas and aim to evaluate their philosophy with reference to the contexts in which these
grew. It will enable them to understand key debates in the contemporary society and politics.
Course Outcomes:
By the end of the course students would be able to:
● Understand how to read and interpret the text and use them to employ in contemporary
socio-political issues.
● Identify the fundamental thought in the western political philosophy
● Acquire knowledge about the dominant political views and develop a critical
understanding of the political thought
● Understand different perspectives and approaches to state, politics, government,
sovereignty, citizenship and so on.
UNIT I
Ancient Greek Political Thought
Characteristics of Ancient Greek Political Thought.
Plato: Justice, Communism, Education, Ideal State, Sub-Ideal State.
Aristotle: Method, Origin, Nature and End of State, Property and Slavery, Revolution, Justice
and Citizenship.
.
UNIT II
Aquinas: Scholasticism, State- Church Relationship, Law, his Importance
Machiavelli: Life and Times, Views on Religion, Morality, State, Diplomacy, his importance
UNIT III
Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau: State of Nature, Social Contract, Sovereignty, State, Rousseau’s
concept of General Will
Mary Wollstonecraft: The Rights of Woman
UNIT IV
Bentham: Utilitarianism, His importance
J. S. Mill: Revision of Utilitarianism, Liberty, Democracy His Importance
T.H. Green: Idealism, Individualism, State, Rights
UNIT V
Hegel: Dialectics, State, His Importance
Marx: Dialectical Materialism, Economic Analysis of History, Theory of Class Conflict,
Revolution and Communism, Importance of Marx
Lenin: State, Revolution, Party and Imperialism.
BOOKS RECOMMENDED
Brian R Nelson : Western Political Thought (Second Ed)
B.R. Purohit: Rajnitik Chintan Ka ltihas
C.L. Wayper: Political Thought
D.R. Bhandari: A History of European Political Thought
David Mc Lellan: Political Thought of Karl Marx.
Ernest Barker: Plato and Aristotle
G H Sabine and Thorson: History of Political Ideas
J. P. Suda: Adhunik Rajnitik Vichar I
Mukherjee and Ramaswamy: A History of Political Thought (English & Hindi)
K.L. Kamal: Pashchatya Rajnitik Chintan
Martin Cohen: Political Philosophy from Plato to Marx
O.P. Gauba: Rajnitik Chintan ka ltihas
R.S. Chaurasia: History of Western Political thought
Ram Chandra Sharma: Rajnitik Chintan Vol. I & II
Sukhbir Sinqh: History of Political Thought
Mary Wollstonecraft: The Vindication of the Rights of Women: With Strictures on Political
and Moral Subjects
William A Dunning: A Histories of Political Theory, VOL.1 & II
Shefali Jha: Western Political Thought: Ancient Greeks to Modern Times
David Boucher & Paul Kelly: Political Thinkers from Socrates to the Present
B.A. PART II
PAPER - II
COMPARATIVE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Course Objectives:
This course introduces students to the different perspectives, approaches and conceptual
frameworks of comparative government and politics. The course emphasizes the importance of
understanding how and why comparisons are made apart from what is to be compared. It exposes
students to conceptual categories and analytical frameworks which capture and explain both the
similarities and differences in political experiences across the world. Students would be made
familiar to the diversity of approaches to study politics such as political institutions, political
culture and specific debates within each of the approaches.
The main objectives of the course are to help students develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and
values appropriate for the overall civic and cultural development of our society:
i. In terms of knowledge: This course proposes to build on a prior understanding of the
nature and value of theoretical inquiry in government and politics. Students will acquire
a comprehensive understanding of the key concepts and the historical development of
comparative government and politics including the theoretical frameworks and
approaches. The purpose is to help students examine contemporary political realities
with conceptual tools which enable them to see relationship among political phenomena
across the world and understand the debates that have gathered around them.
ii. In terms of skills: To enable students to develop critical thinking and enhance their
communication and analytical skills through a variety of methods ranging from textual
analyses, experiential learning and use of quantitative data. This course will enhance
learning to learn/self-awareness and self-direction, collaboration, creativity and
communication. There has been a shift in education toward recognizing that students
will develop these skills after completing this course.
iii. In terms of attitudes and values: Fostering values and attitudes of solidarity and
empathy is a key part of our learning objective. We often think of the world within our
own parameters and this course will help us to venture into the unknown to see things
from other perspectives. This course will help students to develop motivation and
commitment to take responsibility, empathy, collaboration, conflict resolution and
patience. This also provides opportunities to develop and learn to value friendship based
on trust, and a sense of justice and responsibility for their own actions and those of
others.
Course Learning Outcomes:
After completing this course, the students would:
i. Become familiar with the debates on key concepts and theoretical perspectives in
comparative government and politics.
ii. Learn to use the comparative method to analyse why and how political institutions,
processes, regimes, and ideologies change over time and across regions.
iii. Learn to use conceptual tools to understand new developments in political experiences
across the world in their historical, sociological, political economy, and institutional
perspectives.
iv. Develop a thorough understanding on how to study politics comparatively, that is,
understand similarities and differences in political experiences.
v. Gain an understanding of the nature, scope, approaches, and development of the
discipline.
vi. Acquire an understanding of a range of concepts such as constitution and
constitutionalism, unitary and federal form of governments.
vii. Demonstrate knowledge of federal designs and unitary model form of government based
on different notions of nationalism.
viii. Learn how to distinguish between different kinds of political systems based on their
electoral design and party systems.
Unit I
Understanding Comparative Government and Politics
i) Nature and Scope
ii) Meaning and Importance
iii) Approaches to Studying Comparative Politics: Traditional and Modern
Unit II
Constitution and Constitutionalism
i) Constitution and Constitutionalism: Meaning, Nature and Kinds
ii) Rule of Law
iii) Organs of Government: Legislature, Executive and Judiciary
Unit III
Organizations of Governments
i) Unitary and Federal
ii) Parliamentary and Presidential
iii) Democracy
iv) Dictatorship and Authoritarian Systems
Unit IV
I) Political Culture, Political Socialization, Political Modernization, Political
Development
II) Party System:
a. Political Parties: One-Party, Two-Party and Multi-Party Systems
b. Party System: Liberal Democratic and Communist Models
II) Pressure Groups:
a) Meaning and Kinds
b) Role and Techniques of Pressure Groups in Democracy
Unit V
Electoral Process
i) Electoral System and Voting Behaviour
ii) Public Opinion
Suggested Readings
1. Aldrich John Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Party Politics in America,
Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1995).
2. Chibber, Pradeep and Kollman, Ken (1998). “Party Aggregation and the Number of
Parties in India and the United States” American Political Science Review 9 (2):
3. Calvo, Ernesto and Maria Murillo ‘Who Delivers? Partisan Clients in the Argentine
Electoral Market’, American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 48, No. 4, (October
2004),
4. Cox, Gary (1997), Making Votes Count: Strategic Coordination in the World’s Electoral
Systems. New York: Cambridge University Press.
5. Hauss, C. (2014). Comparative politics: Domestic responses to global challenges.
Cengage Learning.
6. Kesselman, M. Krieger, J. & Joseph, W. A. (2018) Introduction to comparative politics:
political challenges and changing agendas, Cengage Learning.
7. Kitschelt, Herbert. (1992) “The Formation of Party Systems in East Central Europe”
Politics and Society,
8. Kohli, A. & Singh, P. (Eds.), (2013). Routledge handbook of Indian politics, Routledge.
9. Lipset, Seymour Martin and Stein Rokkan 1967 “Cleavage Structures, Party Systems,
and Voter Alignments: An Introduction,” in Lipset and Rokkan eds., Party Systems and
Voter Alignments,
10. Magaloni, Beatriz. (2006). Voting for Autocracy: Hegemonic Party Survival and its
Demise in Mexico. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
11. Martin Shefter. (1981). “Parties and Patronage: England, Germany, and Italy.” Politics
and Society
12. Thachil, Tariq. (2014). Elite Parties, Poor Voters: Social Services as Electoral Strategy
in India. Cambridge University Press.
13. Edward Weisb and, Courtney I P Thomas, Political Culture and the Making of Modern
Nation-States, 2015, Routledge
14. The Oxford Handbook of Transformations of the State, 2015
15. J C Johari, Comparative Politics, Sterling, 2011
16. O P Gauba, An Introduction to Political Theory, Macmillan Publishers, 2013
17. Carole Spary, Gender, Development, and the State in India, Routledge, 2019
18. Zoya Hasan, Politics and the State in India, 2015, Sage
