Class 11 Political Science Notes
CBSE Syllabus for Class 11 Political Science subject is available here. Link to download CBSE Class 11 Political Science Notes is given at the end of this article. With this article, you will get complete details about the course structure, project work, paper pattern, and other important details.
Part A: Indian Constitution at Work
1. Constitution Why and How and Philosophy of the Constitution:
Constitution: Why and How, The making of the Constitution, the Constituent Assembly, Procedural achievements and Philosophy of the Constitution.
Constitution as a Living Document
Are Constitutions static? The procedure to amend the Constitution. Why have there been so many amendments? Basic Structure and Evolution of the Constitution. Constitution as a Living Document.
2. Rights and Duties in the Indian Constitution:
The importance of Rights, Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution,
Directive Principles of State Policy, Relationship between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles
3. Election and Representation:
Elections and Democracy, Election System in India, Reservation of Constituencies,
Free and Fair Elections, Electoral Reforms.
4. Legislature:
Why do we need a Parliament? Two Houses of Parliament. Functions and Power of the
Parliament, Legislative functions, control over Executive. Parliamentary committees. Self-regulation.
5. Executive:
What is an Executive? Different Types of Executive. Parliamentary Executive in India, Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Permanent Executive: Bureaucracy.
6. Judiciary:
Why do we need an Independent Judiciary? Structure of the Judiciary, Judicial Activism,
Judiciary and Rights, Judiciary and Parliament
7. Federalism:
What is Federalism? Federalism in the Indian Constitution, Federalism with a strong Central Government, conflicts in India’s federal system, Special Provisions
8. Local Governments:
Why do we need Local Governments? Growth of Local Government in India, 73rd and 74th Amendments, implementation of 73rd and 74th Amendments
Part B: Political Theory
1. Political Theory: An Introduction:
What is Politics? What do we study in Political Theory? Putting Political Theory to practice.
Why should we study Political Theory?
2. Freedom :
The Ideal of Freedom. What is Freedom? Why do we need constraints? Harm principle. Negative and Positive Liberty
3. Equality:
Significance of Equality. What is Equality? Various dimensions of Equality. How can we promote Equality?
4. Justice with special reference to Social Justice:
What is Justice? Just Distribution. Justice as fairness. Pursuing Social Justice.
5. Rights:
What are Rights? Where do Rights come from? Legal Rights and the State. Kinds of Rights. Rights and Responsibilities.
6. Citizenship:
What is citizenship? Citizen and Nation, Universal Citizenship, Global Citizenship
7. Nationalism:
Nations and Nationalism, National Self-determination, Nationalism and Pluralism
8. Secularism:
What is Secularism? What is a Secular State? The Western and the Indian approaches to Secularism. Criticisms and Rationale of Indian Secularism.
9. Peace:
What is Peace? Can violence ever promote peace? Peace and the State. Different Approaches to the pursuit of peace. Contemporary challenges to peace.
10. Development:
What is development? Dominant, development Model and alternative conceptions of development.
Prescribed Books:
1. Indian Constitution at work, Class XI, Published by NCERT
2. Political Theory, Class XI, Published by NCERT
Note: The above textbooks are also available in Hindi and Urdu versions.
According to the students, the political science exam was easy. Most of the questions, asked in the paper, were straight from the NCERT. Majority of them hope to score good marks. There were no tricky questions, which could have surprised the students. Most of the questions were from the expected lines and as per the CBSE pattern. In a nutshell, the paper was high scoring, said the students.