MPS MASTER S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSIGNMENT (First Year) July 2018 and January 2019 Sessions School of Social Sciences Indira Gandhi National Open University Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-11006
M.A. (Political Science) CORE COURSES Dear learner, As explained in the Programme Guide, you will have to do a Tutor Marked Assignment for each course in Political Science. This booklet contains the assignments of the first year courses of the Masters Programme in Political Science. You need to submit all the assignments within the stipulated time for being eligible to appear in the term-end examination. Before you attempt the assignments, please read the instructions carefully provided in the Programme Guide. It is important that you write the answers in your own words. Your answers should be within the approximate range of the word-limit set for a particular section. Remember, writing answers to assignment questions will improve your writing skills and prepare you for the term-end examination. All assignments, including these, have to be submitted to the Coordinator of your Study Centre. Remember to obtain a receipt from the Study Centre for the assignments submitted and retain it. If possible, keep a Xerox copy of the assignments with you. The Study Centre will have to return the assignments to you after they are evaluated. Please insist on this. The Study Centre will note down the marked awarded for each assignment and forward them to the Student Evaluation Division (SED) at IGNOU, New Delhi. Submission: The completed assignments should be submitted as per the following schedule. Session Last Date of Submission To be Submitted to For July 2018 Session For January 2019 Session March 31, 2019 September 30, 2019 The Coordinator of the Study Centre allotted to you Wishing you all the best, Faculty of Political Science
POLITICAL THEORY (MPS-001) Course Code: MPS-001 Assignment Code: Asst/TMA/2018-19 Answer five questions in all, selecting at least two questions from each section. Each question is to be answered in about 500 words. Each question carries 20 marks. SECTION- I 1. Enumerate and describe the features of contemporary political theory. 2. Discuss the choice theory of duties and rights. 3. Examine the Marxist view of citizenship. 4. Elaborate upon the challenges to sovereignty in the age of globalisation. 5. Distinguish between state and civil society. SECTION- II Write a short note on the following in about 250 words each. 6. (a) Fascism (b) Feminism 7. (a) Communitarianism (b) Civic Republicanism 8. (a) Globlisation and Identity Politics (b) New dimensions in the theory of federalism 9. (a) Critique of Liberalism (b) Contemporary debate on the welfare state 10. (a) Individualism (b) Theory of Surplus Value
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: THEORY AND PROBLEMS (MPS-002) Course Code: MPS-002 Assignment Code: Asst/TMA/2018-19 Answer five questions in all, selecting at least two questions from each section. Each question is to be answered in about 500 words. Each question carries 20 marks. SECTION- I 1. Discuss the key concepts in the realist approach and its impact on International Relations. 2. Examine the Marxist and other radical approaches to International Relations. 3. Discuss the concept of self-determination in International Relations. 4. Examine the role of China as an emerging power in International Relations. 5. Explain the nature of international organisations in the post Second World War era. SECTION- II Write a short note on the following in about 250 words each. 6. a) Marginalisation of poor countries b) Technological change and state sovereignty 7. a) Formation of regional economic groupings b) India in the New Global Order 8. a) Neo-Functionalism b) Marxist approach to International Relations 9. a) Interrogating the Nation States b) Globalisation and sustainability 10. a) World view of nationalist and pan-nationalist b) Disarmament initiatives of the United Nations in post-cold war International Relations
INDIA: DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT (MPS-003) Course Code: MPS-003 Assignment Code: ASST/TMA/2018-19 Answer any five questions in about 500 words each. Attempt at least two questions from each section. Each question carries 20 marks. SECTION-I 1. Analyse Gandhi s perspective on Swaraj and its implications for India s freedom movement. 2. Comment on the following in about 250 words each: a) Significance of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) b) Democracy as a form of good governance 3. Discuss the main provisions of the 73 rd and 74 th Constitutional Amendments and what are their limitations. 4. Discuss various forms of manifestation of ethnicity. 5. Comment on the following in about 250 words each: a) Emergence of new political parties is making Indian Politics more democratic b) Social Inequality affects political system and development policies SECTION-II 6. Comment on the following in about 250 words each: a) Role of NGOs in Indian Democracy b) Women in Development (WID) approach 7. Comment on the following in about 250 words each: a) Sustainable Development b) Internal migration contributes towards a productive economy 8. Analyse the impact of new economic policy on working class in India. 9. Comment on the following in about 250 words each: a) Religious Politics in India b) Substantive Democracy 10. Democracy and Development are related to each other. Explain.
COMPARATIVE POLITICS: ISSUES AND TRENDS (MPS-004) Course Code: MPS-004 Assignment Code: ASST/TMA/2018-19 Answer five questions in all, selecting at least two questions from each section. Each question is to be answered in about 500 words. Each question carries 20 marks. SECTION- I 1. Critically examine Dependency Theory as a tool for understanding underdeveloped nations. 2. Write an essay on different approaches to the study of nationalism. 3. Analyse the nature of state in post-colonial societies. 4. Explain the Marxist theory of the Origin of the State. 5. Discuss the main challenges to sovereignty of the state in contemporary times. SECTION- II Write a short note on the following in about 250 words each. 6. a) Gabriel Almond s Structural-Functional Approach b) Comparative politics and its evolution 7. a) MNCs and their role in globalisation b) Gandhian perspective of the modern State 8. a) Globalisation and state sovereignty b) Colonialism and anti-colonial struggles in Asia 9. a) Lenin s view of imperialism. b) State building and nation-building 10. a) Gramsci on Hegemony b) State and civil society *********