RSSB Teaching Associate Political Science syllabus

1Indian Political Thought

• Manu &Kautilya. Traditions of Non-Violence in Buddhism & Jainism.
• Nature of State in Medieval India: Ziauddin Barani, Abul Fazal.
• Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Dayanand Saraswati, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker.
• DadabhaiNaoroji, Aurobindo Ghosh, M. K. Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru.
• Jai Prakash Narain, Ram Manohar Lohiya, B.R. Ambedkar, Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay.

2Political Concepts and Ideologies

• Perspective of the State: Ideal, Liberal, Marxist, Post-Colonial and Sub-altern.
• Sovereignty, Power, Authority, Legitimacy.
• Rights, Liberty, Equality, Justice, Citizenship.
• Concept of Democracy: Classical, Liberal & Marxist Theories; Models of Democracy: Representative, Participatory, Deliberative.
• Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Marxism, Conservatism.

3Comparative Politics and Governments

• (With Special Reference to Constitutional Frameworks of UK, USA, France, China & Canada)
• Constitution, Types of Constitutions, Constitutionalism in Theory and Practice.
• Classification of Government: Democracy and Dictatorship, Unitary and Federal, Parliamentary and Presidential.
• Organs of Government: Theory of Separation of Powers, Executive, Legislature and Judiciary—their interrelationship in comparative perspective.
• Theories of Political parties, Types and functions of Political parties, Pressure Groups and Interest Groups.

4Indian Constitution and Institutions

• Making of Indian Constitution, Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties.
• Constitutional Framework of Indian Federalism, Center-State Relations and institutions of Local Self Governments.
• Union Executive: President, Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Parliament: Composition, Power and Role.
• Judiciary: Supreme Court, High Court, Judicial Review, Basic Structure Debate, Judicial Activism and Judicial Reforms.
• State Executive: Governor, Chief Minister and Council of Ministers. State Legislature: Composition, Power and Role.

5Theories and Concepts of International Relations

• Theories: Idealist, Realist, Neo-Realism, Systems, Marxist, Functionalist, Constructivism and Dependency.
• Approaches: Decision making, Game, Communication and Bargaining.
• Concepts: National Power and its elements, National Interest and its instruments, Balance of Power, Collective Security.
• Arms Race and Arms Control, Disarmament, Nature, Causes and Types of Wars.
• Emerging Concepts: Multiculturalism and Identity Politics, Regionalism, Green Politics, End of History.

6Western Political Thought

• Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, St. Thomas Aquinas.
• Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau.
• Bentham, J.S. Mill, Hegel, T.H. Green.
• Karl Marx, Gramsci, Habermas, Frantz Fanon.
• Hannah Arendt, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Michael Walzer.

7Political Theory

• Nature and Need of Political Theory, its main concerns, decline and resurgence.
• Behaviouralism and Post-Behaviouralism. Fact-Value Dichotomy.
• System’s Approach, Structural Functional Approach.
• Group Theory, Elite Theory, Rational Choice Theory.
• Nationalism: European and Non-European. Feminism and Post-Modernism.

8Comparative Politics Analysis

• Approaches to the study of Comparative Politics: Institutionalism and New Institutionalism, Political Culture, Political Development, Political Socialization.
• State in comparative perspective: Characteristics and changing nature of state in Capitalist and Socialist economies and advanced industrial and developing societies.
• Governance: Bureaucracy, Public Policy, Good Governance and Democratic Governance, Civil Society.
• Colonialism and Decolonization: Development and Under Development, Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization.
• Revolution and Resistance, Democratization. New Social Movements and Patterns of changes in contemporary societies.

9Political Processes and Dynamics in India

• Historical Background of Indian Politics: Making of India as a Nation State, Demands of Autonomy and Separatist movement, Emerging Trend in Centre-State relations, Practices of grass root democracy.
• Socio-Cultural Aspects of Indian Politics: Issue of Caste, Class, Religion, Ethnicity and Gender in Indian Politics, Civil Society, Social and Political Movements.
• National and Regional Political Parties, Ideological and Social bases of Parties, Trends in Electoral behavior, Electoral Reforms, Pressure Groups.
• Commentators of Indian Politics: Granville Austin, Morris Jones, Rudolph and Rudolph, Rajni Kothari, C.P. Bhambri and Amartya Sen.
• Polity of Rajasthan: Formation of Rajasthan; Different Phases of Political competition in Rajasthan, Determinants of Party Politics in Rajasthan, People's Movements in Rajasthan.

10International Politics and Indian Foreign Policy

• Rise of Super Powers, Cold War and Bi-Polarity, Non-Alignment Movement, End of Cold War and Remaking of the World order.
• United Nations: Objectives, structure and functioning, revision of the Charter. India's Contribution to United Nations.
• Regional and Sub-regional Organizations: SAARC, EU, ALBA, ASEAN, African Union, OPEC, BRICS, BIMSTEC, G-20.
• American Hegemony in Contemporary Global Order. Nuclear Proliferation and Disarmament, International Terrorism. Issue of Human Rights in International Politics.
• Political Economy of International Relations: From Bretton Woods to WTO, New International Economic Order, North-South Dialogue, South-South Co-operation, and Environmental issues.
• India’s relations with USA, Russia, China and European Union: India and its Neighbours, ‘Look East’ Policy, India and West Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Latin America. Indian Diaspora, Neo-Liberal Mould of Indian Foreign Policy.

Paper-I — common to every subject

1History, Art, Culture, Literature and Heritage of Rajasthan

• Ancient Civilizations of Rajasthan with special Reference to Mesolithic (Late Stone Age) sites in Rajasthan i.e. Nimbahera, Bagor and Mandia.
• Major dynasties of Rajasthan and its rulers through the Ages and their cultural achievements (1000-1800 A.D.).
• Political resistance of Rajput rulers against Muslim Power. Special reference to Rattan Singh, Hammir, Kanhad dev and Maldev, Chandrasen and Pratap.
• (i) Bhakti Movement and Sufism in Medieval Rajasthan, Special reference to Mira, Dadu and Khawaja Moin-ud-din Chishty. Saints: Special emphasis to be paid to teachings of Ramdevji, Gogaji, Tejaji, Pabuji, Mallinath, Dhanna, Pipa, Haridas, Raidas, Jasnath and other Sects.
• (ii) Folk gods and goddesses.
• Political Awakening and Freedom Movement in Rajasthan: 1857, Peasant and Tribal Movements, Prajamandal Movements, Contribution of Women in Social and Political awakening.
• (i) Folk Culture: Fairs and Festivals, Different Schools of Painting, Folk Tales and Gathas, Folk Songs, Folk Dances, Folk Music and Instruments.
• (ii) Dress and Ornaments, Handicrafts.
• Rajasthani Language: Origin and Development.
• Main Dialects and Region.
• Rajasthani Scripts: Mudia and Devnagari.
• (a) Rajasthani Literature: Its Evolution.
• (i) Early Period
• (ii) Pre-Medieval Period
• (iii) Post- Medieval Period
• (iv) Modern Period.
• (b) Famous Writers and their Works.
• Tourism and Rajasthan: Heritage, Tourism Policy and Vision.

2Geography of Rajasthan

• Physiographic regions, Rivers and lakes.
• Climate, Natural Vegetation, Soil, Minerals and Energy Resources – Renewable and Non-renewable.
• Population – Characteristics, Livestock, Biodiversity and its conservation.
• Production and Distribution of Major crops, Major Irrigation Projects, Major Industries.
• Drought and Famines, Desertification, Environmental Problems, Disaster Management and Pandemics.

3Political and Administrative System of Rajasthan

• Governor, Chief Minister and Council of Ministers.
• State Legislative Assembly, High Court and Judicial System of Rajasthan.
• Rajasthan Public Service Commission, State Election Commission, State Finance Commission, State Human Rights Commission, State Commission for Women, State Information Commission, Lokayukta and Auditor General.
• Chief Secretary, Government Secretariat, Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Divisional Commissioner, District Administration, Institutions of Panchayati Raj and Urban Local- Self Government.
• Government Policies and Right based Citizenship: Right to Information, Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services, Citizen's Charters, Social Audit, Jan Soochna Portal, Rajasthan Sampark Portal etc.

4Economy of Rajasthan

• Characteristics of state economy.
• Occupational distribution.
• Compositional trend of state domestic product.
• Major Sectoral Issues.
• (i) Agricultural Sector: Characteristics of agricultural sector in Rajasthan. Major rabi and kharif crops with special reference to oil seeds and spices. Irrigated area and trends, Problems of migrant workers and their rehabilitation. Agricultural credit.
• (ii) Livestock: Trends in livestock population. Milk production in Rajasthan.
• (iii) Industrial Outlook: Major industries of Rajasthan. Constraints to development of industries. MSMEs in Rajasthan. Roles and problem of small industries. Industrial sickness. Major state public sector enterprises. SEZ in Rajasthan. Role of RIICO and RFC. Agro-processing policy (2020).
• (iv) Service Sector: Primary education, Development in recent years. Health programmes of state government. Mid-day meal programme. Indira Rasoi Yojana.
• (v) Infrastructure Development: Progress in national highways, state highways and village roads. Power: Progress in power generation. Recent progress in solar power projects.
• (vi) Handicrafts of Rajasthan.
• (vii) Major items of exports from Rajasthan.
• (viii) Latest major welfare schemes of state government with special reference to economically and socially backward classes, disabled people, old aged people. Steps taken for women empowerment and child development.
• (ix) Regional economic inequalities in Rajasthan.

5Contemporary Events

• Major Contemporary Events and Issues of Rajasthan.
• Persons and Places in News.
• Sports and Games.

Official syllabus from RSSB Advertisement 06/2026 (Teaching Associate), verbatim. Paper-I (General Studies of Rajasthan) is common to all subjects.