UK Board Class 12 Political Science Syllabus

At the senior secondary level students who opt Political Science are given an opportunity to get introduced to the diverse concerns of a Political Scientist. At this level, there is a need to enable students to engage with political processes that surround them and provide them with an understanding of the historical context that has shaped the present. The different courses introduce the students to the various streams of the discipline of Political Science: Political Theory, Indian Politics, and International Politics. Concerns of the other two streams – Comparative Politics and Public Administration- are accommodated at different places in these courses. In introducing these streams, special care has been taken not to burden the students with the current jargon of the discipline. The basic idea here is to lay the foundations for a serious engagement with the discipline at the under graduation stage.

Objectives:

Indian Constitution at Work

• Enable students to understand the historical processes and the circumstances in which the Constitution was drafted.
• Provide an opportunity for students to become familiar with the diverse visions that guided the makers of the Indian Constitution.
• Enable students to identify certain key features of the Constitution and compare these to other constitutions in the world.
• Analyse the ways in which the provisions of the Constitution have worked in real political life.

Political Theory

• Develop the skills for logical reasoning and abstraction.
• Inculcate attention to and respect for viewpoints other than one’s own.
• Introduce students to the different political thinkers in relation to a concept and in everyday social life.
• Enable students to meaningfully participate in and develop internal concerns of the political life that surrounds them.
• Encourage the students to analyse any unexamined prejudices that one may have inherited.

Contemporary World Politics

• Enable the students to expand their horizons beyond India and make sense of the political map of the contemporary world.
• Familiarise the students with some of the key political events and processes in the post cold war era.
• Equip students to be conscious of the way in which global events and processes shape our everyday lives.
• Strengthen their capacity for political analysis by thinking of contemporary developments in a historical
• perspective.

Politics in India after Independence

• Enable students to become familiar with some of the key political events and figures in the postindependence period.
• Develop skills of political analysis through an understanding of events and processes of recent history.
• Develop their capacity to link macro processes with micro situations and their own life.
• Encourage the students to take a historical perspective of making sense of contemporary India.

UK Board Class 12 Political Science Syllabus

One Paper Max. Marks: 100
Time: 3 hrs.

Units		Periods	Marks
Part A: Contemporary World Politics
1	Cold War Era	14	14
2	The End of bipolarity	13
3	US Hegemony in World Politics	13	16
4	Alternative centres of Power	11
5	Contemporary South Asia	13
6	International Organizations	13	10
7	Security in Contemporary World	11
8	Environment and Natural Resources	11	10
9	Globalisation	11
	Total	110	50
Part B: Politics in India since Indepence
10	Challenges of Nation-Building	13	16
11	Era of One-party Dominance	12
12	Politics of Planned Development	11
13	India’s External relations	13	6
14	Challenges to the Congress System	13	12
15	Crisis of the Democratic Order	13
16	Rise of Popular Movements	11
17	Regional aspirations	11	16
18	Recent Developments in Indian Politics	13
	Total	110	50

COURSE CONTENTS
Part A: Contemporary World Politics

1	Cold War Era Emergence of two power blocs after the second world war. Arenas of the cold war. Challenges to Bipolarity: Non Aligned Movement, the quest for new international economic order. India and the cold war.	14 Periods
2	The End of Bipolarity New entities in world politics: Russia, Balkan states and Central Asian states, Introduction of democratic politics and capitalism in post-communist regimes. India’s relations with Russia and other post-communist countries.	13 Periods
3	US Hegemony in World Politics Growth of unilateralism: Afghanistan, first Gulf War, response to 9/11 and attack on Iraq. Dominance and challenge to the US in economy and ideology. India’s renegotiation of its relationship with the USA.	13 Periods
4	Alternative Centres of Power Rise of China as an economic power in post-Maoera, creation and expansion of European Union, ASEAN. India’s changing relations with China.	11 Periods
5	Contemporary South Asia in the Post-Cold War Era Democratisation in Pakistan and Nepal. Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, Impact of economic globalization on the region. Conflicts and efforts for peace in South Asia. India’s relations with its neighbours.	13 Periods
6	International Organizations Restructuring and the future of the UN. India’s position in the restructured UN. Rise of new international actors: new international economic organisations, NGOs. How democratic and accountable are the new institutions of global governance?	13 Periods
7	Security in Contemporary World Traditional concerns of security and politics of disarmament. Non-traditional or human security: global poverty, health and education. Issues of human rights and migration.	11 Periods
8	Environment and Natural Resources Environment movement and evolution of global environmental norms. Conflicts over traditional and common property resources. Rights of indigenous people. India’s stand in global environmental debates.	11 Periods
Part B: Politics in India since Independence
10	Challenges of Nation- Building Nehru’s approach to nation-building; Legacy of partition: the challenge of ‘refugee’ resettlement, the Kashmir problem. Organisation and reorganization of states; Political conflicts over language.	13 Periods
11	Era of One-Party Dominance First three general elections, the nature of Congress dominance at the national level, uneven dominance at the state level, coalitional nature of Congress. Major opposition parties.	12 Peroids
12	Politics of Planned Development Five year plans, expansion of the state sector and the rise of new economic interests. Famine and suspension of five year plans. Green revolution and its political fallouts.	11 Periods
13	India’s External Relations Nehru’s foreign policy. Sino-Indian war of 1962, Indo-Pak war of 1965 and 1971. India’s nuclear programme. Shifting alliance in world politics.	13 Periods
14	Challenges to the Congress System Political succession after Nehru. Non Congressism and electoral upset of 1967, Congress split and reconstitution, Congress’ victory in 1971 elections, politics of ‘garibi hatao’.	13 Periods
15	Crisis of the Democratic Order Search for ‘committed’ bureaucracy and judiciary. Navnirman movement in Gujarat and the Bihar movement. Emergency: context, constitutional and extra-constitutional dimensions, resistance to an emergency. 1977 elections and the formation of the Janata Party. Rise of civil liberties organisations.	13 Periods
7

Prescribed Books For UK Board Class 12 Political Science Syllabus

1. Contemporary World Politics, Class XII, Published by NCERT
2. Politics in India since Independence, Class XII, Published by NCERT

Note: The above textbooks are also available in Hindi and Urdu versions.

Weightage of ContentNote: Care to be taken to cover all chapters.
The weightage or the distribution of marks over the different dimensions paper shall be as follows:-

Part A: Contemporary World Politics

Units		Marks
1	Cold War Era	14
2	The End of Bipolarity
3	US Hegemony in World Politics	16
4	Alternative Centres of Power
5	Contemporary South Asia
6	International Organizations	10
7	Security in Contemporary World
8	Environment and Natural Resources	10
9	Globalization
	Total	50
Part B: Politics in India since Independence
Units		Marks
10	Challenges of Nation-Building	16
11	Era of One-Party Dominance
12	Politics of Planned Development
13	India’s External Relations	6
14	Challenges to the Congress System	12
15	Crisis of the Democratic Order
16	Rise of Popular Movements	16
17	Regional Aspirations
18	Recent Developments in Indian Politics
	Total	50

Weightage of Difficulty Level

Estimated difficulty level	Percentage
Difficult	20%
Average	50%
Easy	30%

Scheme of Options:

1. There is an internal choice for long answer questions.
   Map question has the choice only with another map.
   There are three passage-based or picture-based questions.
2. In order to assess different mental abilities of learners, question paper is likely to include questions based on passages, visuals such as maps, cartoons, etc. No factual question will be asked on the information given in the plus(+) boxes in the textbooks.

For study material on UK Board Class 12, Political Science Syllabus download the myCBSEguide app.UK Board Class 12 Political Science Syllabus is also available in the myCBSEguide website. UK Board Class 12 Political Science Syllabus for the session 2018-19 is available here in PDF format. For the latest UK Board Class 12 Political Science Syllabus, please visit UBSE official website.