Political Science Class 11 Syllabus 2025

Theory paper is of 80 marks and 3 hours duration. There are 18 units in the syllabus divided into two parts: (A) Indian Constitution at Work (B) Political Theory.

Political Science Class 11 Syllabus 2025

Exam Structure

Unit Topic Marks
Part A: Indian Constitution at Work   40
1 Constitution: Why and How? 8
2 Rights in the Indian Constitution
3 Election and Representation 6 
4 Executive 12
5 Legislature
6 Judiciary
7 Federalism 6
8 Local Governments 4
9 Constitution as a Living Document 4
10 The Philosophy of the Constitution
Part B: Political Theory   40
1 Political Theory: An Introduction 4 
2 Liberty 12
3 Equality
4 Social Justice 6
5 Rights 4
6 Citizenship 8
7 Nationalism
8 Secularism 6

Part A: Indian Constitution at Work

1. Constitution: Why and How?

a) Why do we need a Constitution?

  • Constitution allows coordination and assurance
  • Specification of decision making powers
  • Limitations on the powers of government
  • Aspirations and goals of a society
  • Fundamental identity of a people

b) The authority of a Constitution

  • Mode of promulgation
  • The substantive provisions of a constitution
  • Balanced institutional design

c) How was the Indian Constitution made?

  • Composition of the Constituent Assembly
  • Procedures
  • Inheritance of the nationalist movement
  • Institutional arrangements

d) Provisions adapted from Constitutions of different countries

2. Rights in the Indian Constitution

a) The importance of rights

  • Bill of Rights

b) Fundamental rights in the Indian Constitution

  • Right to Equality
  • Right to Freedom
  • Right against Exploitation
  • Right to Freedom of Religion
  • Cultural and Educational Rights
  • Right to Constitutional Remedies

c) Directive principles of state policy

  • What do the directive principles contain?

d) Relationship between fundamental rights and directive principles

3. Election and Representation

a) Elections and democracy

b) Election system in India

  • First Past the Post System
  • Proportional Representation

c) Why did India adopt the FPTP system?

d) Reservation of constituencies

e) Free and fair elections

  • Universal franchise and right to contest
  • Independent Election Commission

f) Electoral Reforms

4. Executive

a) What is an executive?

b) What are the different types of executives?

c) Parliamentary executive in India

  • Power and position of President
  • Discretionary Powers of the President

d) Prime Minister and Council of ministers

e) Permanent Executive: Bureaucracy

5. Legislature

a) Why do we need a parliament?

b) Why do we need two houses of parliament?

  • Rajya Sabha
  • Lok Sabha

c) What does the parliament do?

  • Powers of Rajya Sabha
  • Special Powers of Rajya Sabha

d) How does the parliament make laws?

e) How does the parliament control the executive?

f) What do the committees of parliament do?

g) How does the parliament regulate itself?

6. Judiciary

a) Why do we need an independent judiciary?

  • Independence of Judiciary
  • Appointment of Judges
  • Removal of Judges

b) Structure of the Judiciary

c) Jurisdiction of supreme Court

  • Original Jurisdiction
  • Writ Jurisdiction
  • Appellate Jurisdiction
  • Advisory Jurisdiction

d) Judicial Activism

e) Judiciary and Rights

f) Judiciary and Parliament

7. Federalism

a) What is Federalism?

b) Federalism in the Indian Constitution

  • Division of Powers

c) Federalism with a strong central government

d) Conflicts in India’s federal system

  • Centre-State Relations
  • Demands for Autonomy
  • Role of Governors and President’s Rule
  • Demands for New States
  • Interstate Conflicts

e) Special provisions

  • Jammu and Kashmir

8. Local Governments

a) Why local governments?

b) Growth of Local Government in India

  • Local Governments in Independent India

c) 73rd and 74th amendments

d) 73rd Amendment

  • Three Tier Structure
  • Elections
  • Reservations
  • Transfer of Subjects
  • State Election Commissioners
  • State Finance Commission

e) 74th Amendment

f) Implementation of 73rd and 74th Amendments

9. Constitution as a Living Document

a) Are constitutions static?

b) How to amend the constitution?

c) Why have there been so many amendments?

d) Contents of amendments made so far

  • Differing Interpretations
  • Amendments through Political Consensus
  • Controversial Amendments

e) Basic structure and evolution of the constitution

f) Constitution as a Living Document

  • Contribution of the Judiciary
  • Maturity of the Political Leadership

10. The Philosophy of the Constitution

a) What is meant by philosophy of the constitution?

  • Constitution as Means of Democratic Transformation

b) Why do we need to go back to the Constituent Assembly?

c) What is the political philosophy of our constitution?

  • Individual freedom
  • Social Justice
  • Respect for diversity and minority rights
  • Secularism
  • Universal franchise
  • Federalism
  • National identity

d) Procedural Achievements

e) Criticisms

f) Limitations

Part B: Political Theory

1. Political Theory: An Introduction

a) What is politics?

b) What do we study in political theory?

c) Putting Political theory into practice

d) Why should we study political theory?

2. Freedom

a) The Ideal of freedom

b) The sources of Constraints - Why do we need constraints?

c) The Harm Principle

d) Negative and Positive liberty

3. Equality

a) Why does equality matter?

  • Equality of opportunities
  • Natural and Social Inequalities

b) Three dimensions of equality

c) Feminism, Socialism

d) How can we promote equality?

4. Social Justice

a) What is Justice?

  • Equal Treatment for Equals
  • Proportionate Justice
  • Recognition of Special Needs

b) Just distribution

c) John Rawls Theory of Justice

d) Pursuing Social Justice

e) Free Markets versus State Intervention

5. Rights

a) What are Rights?

b) Where do rights come from?

c) Legal rights and the state

d) Kinds of rights

e) Rights and responsibilities

6. Citizenship

a) Introduction

b) Full and equal membership

c) Equal Rights

d) Citizen and Nation

e) Universal Citizenship

f) Global Citizenship

7. Nationalism

a) Introducing Nationalism

b) Nations and Nationalism

  • Shared Beliefs
  • History
  • Shared National Identity

c) National self-determination

d) Nationalism and Pluralism

8. Secularism

a) What is Secularism?

  • Inter-religious Domination
  • Intra-religious Domination

b) Secular State

c) The western model of secularism

d) The Indian model of secularism

e) Criticisms of Indian secularism

  • Western Import
  • Minoritism
  • Interventionist
  • Vote Bank Politics