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University of Delhi — B.A. (Hons.) Political Science — official course contents PDF
Semester I papers and unit structure as published in the official Department of Political Science course contents, effective from the academic year 2011-2012 onwards.
The batch above is the student cohort this material is mapped to. The effective period is stated by the official document itself — check your college's current syllabus before relying on either.
Three Year Full Time Programme · Department of Political Science, University of Delhi
The official course contents describe this as a three year full time programme offered by the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. The structure below reproduces the Semester I paper list exactly as printed, including the concurrent qualifying language paper.
Marks pattern (official): Max Marks 100 = Theory Exam 75 + Internal Assessment 25. Teaching: 5 lectures + 1 tutorial per week (main papers).
Programme duration
Semester I core papers
Verified units
Published lectures
| Paper | Official title | Units | Lectures | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper I | Colonialism in IndiaOpen paper hub | 6 | 60 | 100 |
| Paper II | Understanding Political TheoryOpen paper hub | 2 | 60 | 100 |
| Paper III | Constitutional Democracy and Government in IndiaOpen paper hub | 4 | 60 | 100 |
Marks shown are the published pattern for main papers: 100 maximum, split 75 theory examination and 25 internal assessment. The official document prints no paper codes, so none are listed here.
Each paper is listed in the official course contents with its own course objective. The summaries below are written for this site; the paper titles, numbering and lecture counts are verbatim.
Official objective: To help the student understand India’s colonial past, since the roots of many political institutions and ideas, and social and economic structures central to politics in India today, can be traced back to this past. The course studies colonialism in India from social-economic, political, religious, legal and educational perspectives.
Imperialism and colonialism, foundations of colonial rule, economy and society, religion and society, education, and early Indian responses including the 1857 rebellion are all examinable. Long answers commonly take the imperialism or economy-and-society sections.
Official objective: This course is divided into two sections. Section A introduces the student to the idea of political theory, its history and approaches, and an assessment of its critical and contemporary trends. Section B is designed to reconcile political theory and practice through reflections on the ideas and practices related to democracy.
Section A (30 lectures) and Section B (30 lectures) carry equal weight. Section A is theory-heavy and suited to long answers; Section B on the grammar of democracy is highly examinable in both long and short forms.
Official objective: To acquaint students with the constitutional design of state structures and institutions, and their actual working over time. The Indian Constitution accommodates conflicting impulses — liberty and justice, territorial decentralization and a strong union — within itself. The course traces the embodiment of these conflicts in constitutional provisions, and shows how they have played out in constitutional practice, encouraging a study of state institutions in their mutual interaction and with the wider non-institutional environment.
All four sections are 15 lectures and equally weighted. Federalism and decentralization, and Security Laws, are especially frequent long-answer subjects. Paper III also states there will be a compulsory question from Topic 1 with internal choice.
The official course contents list a fourth paper, Paper IV: Concurrent – Qualifying Language, for the Semester I. Its structure is governed by a separate language syllabus that this Political Science document does not reproduce, so it is shown here for completeness only and no notes are published for it.
If you need material for the language paper, the correct source is the syllabus published by your college or the University’s own language department — not a third-party notes bundle. You can submit the exact paper title through our request form and we will match it against an official source before publishing anything.
Open the paper hub for the subject you are actually studying. Each hub lists every unit with its published lecture count, plus the questions and revision material for that paper only.
Unit notes give the official subtopics, a summary and key points. Use them to build the outline of an answer rather than as something to memorise line by line.
The revision sheet compresses each unit into definitions, arguments, key terms and the distinctions most often mixed up. That is the page to revise from in the last fortnight.
Check the batch before you rely on this. This material is mapped to the 2024-25cohort against a syllabus document that states it is effective from the academic year 2011-2012 onwards. If your college has issued a revised structure, treat your college's syllabus as authoritative and tell us what differs so the cluster can be corrected.