CENTRE FOR POLITICAL STUDIES

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY

MONSOON SEMESTER 2021

M.A. COMPULSORY COURSE: PO 414

COURSE TITLE: CITIZENSHIP IN INDIA: LAWS, POLITICS AND INSTITUTIONAL
PRACTICES
INSTRUCTOR: PROFESSOR VIDHU VERMA & DR JUBILEE SHANGREI
Credits 4
Scheme of Evaluation: class participation; 2 written assignments; Mid semester
(50%); End semester exam (50%)

Course Description
There is a body of concepts central to the discipline of Political Science which have been
widely used to explore and evaluate public life and institutions. This course introduces key
concepts underpinning politics as well as the contemporary challenges to the conceptual
vocabulary of our discipline. This paper, the first of a set of two, examines some of these
foundational political concepts, which have been presented here as a set of pairs with a
view to (a) exploring the relationship between the two concepts, and (b) highlighting
aspects of a concept that tend otherwise to be ignored. Placing concepts like state and civil
society, and, power and authority, together allows us to draw attention to the distinction
between the elements of the pair and raises questions that make for a better understanding
of each concept. It also enables us to draw upon a range of different experiences,
particularly from India, and to see how they speak to and impact upon our ways of thinking
about essential political concepts.

State\Civil Society
Power/Authority
Hegemony/Legitimation
Citizenship/Civil Disobedience
Trust\Care

READINGS

State – Civil Society

Calhoun Craig, “Civil Society and Public Sphere”, in Public Culture, Vol 5, No2, 1995.
Chandoke Neera, State and Civil Society, Explorations in Political Theory, Sage, Delhi, 1995
Mclennan, David Held and Stuart Hall, The idea of the Modern state.

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Kaviraj Sudipta and Sunil Khilnani, eds., Civil Society: History and Possibilities, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 2004.
Alavi, Hamza, The State in Post colonial Societies.
Carolyn.M. Elliot, Civil Society and Democracy, OUP.
Elliot C.M., ed., Civil Society and Democracy, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001.
Foley Michael and Bob Edwards, “The Paradox of Civil Society”, Journal of Democracy,
Vol17, No3, 1996.
Held David et, al, ed., The Idea of the Modern State, Open Univ Press, Bristol, 1993.
Phillips Anne, “Does Feminism Need a Conception of Civil Society” in Simone Chambers and
Will Kymlicka, eds., Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society, Princeton University Press,
Princeton, 2002.
Hardt Michael, 'The Withering of Civil Society', Social Text, 45, Winter, No4, 1995.
Kaviraj Sudipta and Sunil Khilnani, eds., Civil Society: History and Possibilities, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 2004.
Keane J., Civil Society and the State: New European Perspectives, Verso, 1988.
Mamdani Mahmood, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of
Colonialism, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1996.
Meadwell Hudson, “Post Modernism No friend of Civil Society”.
Nielson Kai, “Reconsidering Civil Society for Now: Some Somewhat Gramscian Turnings” in
Michael Walzer ed., Toward a Global Civil Society, Bergham Books, Oxford, 1995.
Sadeq Emir, “Beyond Civil Society”, New Left Review, October 17, 2002.
Walzer Michael, “Equality and Civil Society” in Simone Chambers and Will Kymlicka, eds.,
Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2002.
Wood E.M., 'The Uses and Abuses of Civil Society' in Ralph Miliband ed., Socialist Register,
1990.

Power-Authority
Lukes Stephen, (ed) Power, London: Basil Blackwell.
Newmann Saul, Power and Politics in PostStructuralist Thought: New Theories of the
Political, Routledge, London, 2005.
Rudolph and Rudolph, Authority and Power.
Gordon Colin et.al, eds., The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality, University of
Chicago Press, Chicago, 1991.
Sarah Joseph, Political Theory and Power, BRILL, Delhi, 1988.
Nelson C. and L. Grossberg eds., Marxism and Interpretation of Culture, Urbana: University
of Illinois Press. Mullings, L. 1984.
Dahl Robert, Who Governs? Yale University Press, USA, 1961.

2
Foucault M., Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan, New York,
Vintage, 1979.
Mitchell T., 'Everyday Metaphors of Power', Theory and Society, Vol 19, No5, 1990.
Nash Kate, Globalisation, Politics and Power, Blackwell, New York, 2000.
Rabinow Paul ed., The Foucault Reader, Pantheon, 1984.
Raz Joseph, The Morality of Freedom, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1986, chapters 3&4.

Hegemony/ Legitimation
Gramsci Antonio, Selection from the Prison Notebooks, London, Lawrence and Wishart,
1979. pp. 123205, 365-6, 375-7, 106-110, 55-9.
Held David, "Legitimation Problems and Crisis Tendencies" in David Held, Political Theory
and the Modern State, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1989.
Benhabib, Seyla. 1994. “Deliberative Rationality and Models of Democratic Legitimacy.”
Constellations 1(1): 25–53.
Weber,Essay on Three types of legitimate rule in Berkeley Publications in Society and
Institutions 4(1): 1-11, 1958.
Lorrain J., Marxism and Ideology, Macmillan, London, 1985.
Althusser L., “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus” in Lenin and Philosophy and other
Essays, trans. Ben Brewster, London, New Left Books, 1971.
Anderson Perry, ‘The Antinomies of Antonio Gramsci’, New Left Review 100, 197677, pp.
578.
Bobbio Norberto, ‘Gramsci and the conception of civil society’ in Chantal Mouffe, ed.,
Gramsci and Marxist Theory, Routledge, London, 1979.
Butler J., E. Laclau, and S. Zizek, Contingency, Hegemony, Universality, Verso, London,
2000.
Femia J., Gramsci’s Political Thought: Hegemony, Consciousness and Revolutionary Process,
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1981.
Hall Stuart, “The Problem of Ideology: Marxism without Guarantees” in David Morley et al.,
eds., Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, Routledge, London, 1996.
Laclau E. and C. Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, Verso, London, 1985.
Sassoon Ann Showstack, "Passive Revolution and the Politics of Reform" in A.S. Sassoon, ed.,
Approaches to Gramsci, Writers and Readers, London, 1982, pp. 127148.
Texier Jacques, "Gramsci, Theoretician of the Superstructures" in Chantal Mouffe ed.,
Gramsci and Marxist Theory , London, Routledge, 1979, pp. 4879.

3
Citizenship/Civil Disobedience
Marshall T.H., Citizenship and Social Class and Other Essays, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1950, pp.175 (Particularty, Section 4 in the first Essay – Citizenship and Social
Class – ‘Social Rights in the Twentieth Century’, pp.46-75).
Derek Heater, What is Citizenship?
Balibar Etienne, “Propositions on Citizenship”, Ethics, 98 (4) 1988, pp. 723730.
Dawn Oliver and Heater Derek, The Foundations of Citizenship, Harvester Wheatsheaf, New
York, 1994 (Chapter 6: ‘Civic Virtue’ and ‘Active Citizenship’, pp.115132; chapter 10:
Current Perspectives, pp.195215).
Gandhi M.K., ‘Duty of Disobeying Laws’, Indian Opinion, 7 September 1907.
________, ‘For Passive Resisters’, Indian Opinion, 21 October 1907.
Haksar Vinit, Civil Disobedience, Threats and Offers – Gandhi and Rawls, Oxford University
Press, Delhi, 1986, pp.443.
King Martin Luther, Jr., ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail in Hugo Adam Bedau, Civil
Disobedience in Focus, Routledge, London, 1991, 6884.
Kymlicka Will, Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Citizenship,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001 (Part A: The Evolution of Minority Rights Debate,
pp.1567).
Marshall T.H., Citizenship and Social Class and Other Essays, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1950, pp.175 (Particularty, Section 4 in the first Essay – Citizenship and Social
Class – ‘Social Rights in the Twentieth Century’, pp.46-75).
Rawls John, ‘Definition and Justification of Civil Disobedience’ in Hugo Adam Bedau, Civil
Disobedience in Focus, Routledge, 1991, pp.103-121.
Pateman Carole, , The Sexual Contract, The Polity Press, Cambridge, 1988.
Falks Keith, Citizenship, Routledge, London, 2000.
Thoreau Henry David, On Civil Disobedience (Resistance to Civil Government), 1849, in Hugo
Adam Bedau, Civil Disobedience in Focus, Routledge, 1991, pp.28-48.

Trust/Care
Coleman J.H., ‘Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital’, American Journal of
Sociology, 94, 1988, pp.95119.
Fukuyama Francis, 'Social Capital, Civil Society and Development', Third World Quarterly,
22 (1), 2001, pp.720.
Putnam R.D., ‘Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital’, Journal of Democracy, 6,
pp.6578.
Sevenhuijsen Selma, 'The Place of Care: The Relevance of the Feminist Ethic of Care for
Social Policy' in Feminist Theory, 4(2), pp.179197.

4
Leira and Saraceno, “Care: Actors, relationships and contexts” in B. Hobson et.al.,
Contested Concepts in Gender and Social Politics, Cheltenham, Edward Ellar Publishing
House, 2002, pp.55-83.
Kovalainen Anne, “Social Capital, Trust and Dependency” in Sokratis M. Koniordos, ed.,
Networks, Trust and Social Capital: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations from Europe,
Ashgate, London, 2005.
Putnam R.D., Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Renewal of American Community, New York,
Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Weir Allison, “The Global Universal Caregiver: Imagining Women’s Liberation in the New
Millennium”, Constellations, 12(3), 2005, pp.309-330.

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 1

CENTRE FOR POLITICAL STUDIES

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
MONSOON SEMESTER 2021

M.A. COMPULSORY COURSE: PO 417

COURSE TITLE: COMPARATIVE POLITICS
INSTRUCTOR: DR T. G. SURESH & DR BIJUKUMAR
Credits 4
Scheme of Evaluation: Class participation; Assignments; Mid semester (50%); End
semester exam (50%)

1) Explanations and Theory in Comparative Politics

Explaining social revolutions

Historical sociology
Social – structural approach
Civic Culture concept
World-System Analysis

Essential Readings

Skocpol, Theda (1976), States and Social Revolutions: A C comparative Analysis of France,
Russia and China

Moore, Barrington (1966 ), Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Land and Peasant in
the Making of the Modern World.

Almond, Gabriel. A (1980) “The Intellectual History of Civic Culture Concept” in Almond,
Gabriel. A and Sydney Verba, eds., The Civic Culture Revisited

Almond, Gabriel. A and Sydney Verba (1963) The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and
Democracy in Five Nations

Immanuel Wallerstein, World – Systems Analysis: An Introduction

2) Comparative Political Economy

a) Imperialism and underdevelopment

b) Dependency Analysis
c) Institutions and Economic Ideas: Keynesianism
c) East Asia in world economy
 2

Readings

Dos Santos, T, (1973) “The Crisis of Development Theory and the Problems of Dependence in
Latin America” in Henry Bernstein ( ed.) Underdevelopment and Development

Fernado Henrique Cardoso, (1973) “Dependency and Development in Latin America”

Andre Gunder Frank, (1967 ) Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America: Historical
Studies of Chile and Brazil

Hall, Peter. A. ( 1986) Governing the Economy: The Politics of State Intervention in Britain
and France

Hall, Peter. A ( 1989) Political Power of Economic Ideas: Keynasianism across nations

3) Comparative Nationalism

a) key definitions
b) Civic Nationalism in Western Societies
c) Nationalism as imagined communities
d)Ethnicity and nationalism
e) Asian Nationalisms: Peasant nationalism in China

Readings
Hans Kohn, ( 1944)The Idea of Nationalism: A Study in Its Origins and Background

Benedict Anderson,, ( 1983) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and spread of
Nationalism

Joseph Stalin, ( 1936) Marxism and the national and colonial question.

Anthony Smith, (1986) Ethnic Origins of Nations.

Prasenjit Duara, (1995) Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of modern
China

Chalmers Johnson ( 1962) Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power

4) State in Comparative Perspective

a) Formation of Modern state

b) The state and Democracy in Western Europe
c) Post-colonial state in South Asia
d) Corporatist State and East Asian Economic Development
e) Globalization and the state
 3

Readings

Hall, Stuart ( 1984 ) “ The State in Question”, in McLennan, Gregor, et al. ( eds.) The Idea of
Modern State

Held, David ( 1992) ‘ The Development of Modern State” in Hall, Stuart and Bram Gieben (
eds. ) Formations of Modernity

Tilly, Charles ( 1979 ) Reflections on the history of European State Making” in Charles Tilly (
ed. ) Formations of National State in Western Europe

Alavi, Hamza ,( 1972) ‘State in Post – Colonial Societies-Pakistan and Bangladesh,

Migdal, Joel ( 1988 ) Strong Societies and States and Weak States : State – Society Relations
and State Capabilities in the Third World

Jonathan Unger and Anita Chan, ‘China, Corporatism and the East Asian Model’ The Australian
Journal of Chinese Affairs( No.33 Jan 1995) pp 29-53

Kohli, Atul, Vivienne Shue and Joel Migdal ( eds. ) ( 1994), State, Power and Social Forces :
Domination and Transformations in the Third World

Mann, Michael, “ Has Globalization Ended the Rise and Rise of the Nation State?

Saskia Sassen. 1996. Losing Control? Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization

Please note that the course content is intended for a regular one semester course (four
months). If there are changes in the duration of the semester, corresponding modifications
will be applied with reference to the topics, class lectures and readings
 CENTRE FOR POLITICAL STUDIES
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
MONSOON SEMESTER 2021

M.A. COMPULSORY COURSE: PO 410

COURSE TITLE: INDIAN POLITICS I: POLITICAL THOUGHT IN MODERN INDIA
INSTRUCTOR: DR MANINDRA THAKUR & DR RINKU LAMBA
Credits 4
Scheme of Evaluation: Class participation; Assignments; Mid semester (50%); End
semester exam (50%)

Background Note: There are different ways of imagining India. These different imaginations
are available to us through political ideas and concepts that emerged in modern India against
the backdrop of colonialism. These ideas and frameworks involved among other things, a
reassessment of traditional inheritances as well as an encounter with and specific modes of
appropriation of modernity. Thinkers belonging to diverse intellectual persuasions opened up
refreshingly new ways of envisaging the self, public life and the possibilities of crafting a new
world, and these endeavours offer a window to understand the complex tapestry of political
life in India. This paper approaches this body of thought by identifying certain key issues and
concerns without shelving the contestations they are embroiled in. The perspective framework
proposed here is dovetailed to a nonlinear reading of ideas, particularly those belonging to the
same kindred class.

1. The Context

(i) Colonialism
(ii) Modernity
(iii) Imagination of Nation

2. Political Ideas

(a) Invocation of Tradition: (With special reference to Bhudeb Mukhopadhyay, Tilak, Gandhi,
M.S. Golwalkar)
(i) Assessment of Inheritance
(ii) Designation of Past
iii) Religion, Caste and Culture

(b) Engagement with Modernity: (With special reference to Ranade, Tilak, Tagore, Nehru,
Ambedkar, Pandita Ramabai, M.N Roy and Iqbal)

(i) Social Reforms

(ii) Reconfiguration of space: sacred/polluted, private/public
(iii) Conceptions of Self

1
3. Imagination of the Democratic Ideal

(i) Concerns of Equality

(ii) Dignity and Swaraj
(iii) Representation and Diversity
(iv) Caste, Community and Nation

4. Methodological Debates on Studying India

Derivative, ‘Deshi’ and Beyond

The reading list below is indicative of the materials to be covered in the course. It is not
exhaustive, and some other relevant readings may be added during the course of the semester.
Please note that the course content is intended for a regular one-semester course (four
months). If there are changes in the duration of the semester, corresponding modifications will
be applied with reference to the topics, class lectures and readings.

PRIMARY TEXTS

Ambedkar, Bhimrao Ramji. Texts accessible at

https://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/ambedkar/web/index.html
“Annihilation of Caste,” “Ranade, Gandhi & Jinnah:” Address Delivered on the 101st Birthday
Celebration of Mahadev Govind Ranade Held on the 18th January 1943 in the Gokhale Memorial
Hall, Poona. Thacker, 1943.
Also, selections from the speeches and writings of B R Ambedkar, on the themes of democracy
and representation

Gandhi, Mohandas K. Hind Swaraj. Ahmedabad. India: Navajivan (1938).

Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore · The Mahatma and the Poet: Letters and Debates
Between Gandhi and Tagore, 1915-1941 Edited by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, 1997.

Gandhi, M. K., and U. R. Rao. The way to communal harmony. Ahmadabad, India: Navajivan
Publishing House, 1963. Selections from this text

Iqbal, Muhammad. 1930 Presidential Address

accessible at
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_iqbal_1930.html

Marcuse, Herbert, 1969. An Essay on Liberation, Beacon Press, Boston.

O'Hanlon, Rosalind, and Tārābāī Śiṅde. A comparison between women and men: Tarabai Shinde
and the critique of gender relations in colonial India. Oxford University Press, USA, 1994.

2
Parel, Anthony M.K Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and Other Writings, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Phule, Jotīrāva Govindarāva, and Govind P. Deshpande. Selected Writings of Jotirao Phule.
Leftword books, 2002. Selections from this text

Rāmabāī, Pandita. The high caste Hindu woman. Inter-India Publications, 1984.

Ranade, Mahadev Govind. The Miscellaneous Writings of the Late Hon'ble Mr. Justice MG
Ranade; with an Introd. by DE Wacha. Ramabai Ranade, 1915. Selections from this text

Ranade, Mahadev Govīnd. Rise of the Maratha power. Vol. 1. Punalekar & Company, 1900.
Selections from this text
Roy, Arundhati, The Doctor and the Saint, Illinois Haymarket Books, 1997.

Tagore, Rabindranath. “Nationalism.” Introduction by Ramachandra Guha. New Delhi: Penguin,

2014. Nationalism essays of Tagore are also accessible at
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/40766/40766-h/40766-h.htm

Tagore, Rabindranath. “Swadeshi Samaj.” (text will be circulated)

ARTICLES/BOOK CHAPTERS

Bhargava, R., 2001. Are there alternative modernities. Culture, Democracy, and Development
in South Asia, pp.9-26.

Bilgrami, Akeel. “Gandhi, the philosopher.” Economic and Political Weekly (2003): 4159-4165.

Chatterjee, Partha. The nation and its fragments: Colonial and postcolonial histories. Vol. 11.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993. Selections from this text

Dalmia, Vasudha, and Heinrich von Stietencron, eds. Representing Hinduism: The construction
of religious traditions and national identity. SAGE Publications Pvt. Limited, 1995. Selections
from this text

Guru, Gopal, 2011. The Idea of India: 'Derivative, Desi and Beyond', Economic and Political
Weekly, SEPTEMBER 10-16, Vol. 46, No. 37 pp. 36-42
Guru, Gopal, 2017. “Ethics in Ambedkar’s Critique of Gandhi” Economic & Political Weekly,
APRIL 15, vol liI no 15, 95-100.

Hegde, Sasheej, 2007. The 'Modern' of Modern Indian Political Thought: Outline of a Framework
of Appraisal” Social Scientist, May - Jun., Vol. 35, No. 5/6, pp. 19-38

3
Heredia, C. Rudolf 2009 Gandhi’s Hinduism and Savarkar’s Hindutva, EPW, July 18, 2009 vol xliv
no 29, 62-67.

Hawley, John Stratton. Three Bhakti Voices: Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Time and Ours.
New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005. Selections from this text

Kaviraj, Sudipta. “An outline of a revisionist theory of modernity.” European Journal of

Sociology/Archives Européennes de Sociologie 46, no. 3 (2005): 497-526.

Kaviraj, Sudipta. “On the enchantment of the state: Indian thought on the role of the state in
the narrative of modernity.” European Journal of Sociology/Archives Européennes de
Sociologie 46, no. 2 (2005): 263-296.

Kaviraj, Sudipta. The Enchantmentof Democracy in India, Ranikhet, Permanent Black, 2011.
Essay on “Ideas of Freedom in Modern India” from this text

Mahajan, Gurpreet, ed. Accommodating Diversity: Ideas and Institutional Practices. Oxford
University Press, 2011. Selections from this text

Mantena, Karuna. “Another realism: The politics of Gandhian nonviolence.” American Political
Science Review 106, no. 2 (2012): 455-470.

Mukherjee, Gangeya 2016 In Argument: Considering of the Political in Gandhi Tagore: Politics,
Truth and Conscience, Routledge

Palshikar, Suhas, 1996. “Gandhi-Ambedkar Interface ...when shall the twain meet?” EPW,
August 3, pp. 2070-2072.

Puri, Bindu, 2015. “The Tagore–Gandhi Debate: An Account of the Central Issues”, in The
Tagore–Gandhi Debate on Matters of Truth and Untruth, Springer

Raghuramraju, A. 2007. “Savarkar and Gandhi: From Politicising Religion to Spiritualising

Politics” in Debates in Indian Philosophy: Classical, Colonial, and Contemporary, Oxford
University Press.

Rodrigues, Valerian. 2011. “Reading Texts and Traditions: The Ambedkar-Gandhi Debate”
January 8, vol xlvi no 2 EPW Economic & Political Weekly, 56-66.

Stepan, Alfred, and Charles Taylor, eds. Boundaries of toleration. Columbia University Press,
2014. Selections from this text

Taylor, C., 2002. Modern social imaginaries. Public Culture, 14(1), pp.91-124.

Taylor, C., 1995. Two theories of modernity. Hastings Center Report, 25(2), pp.24-33.

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 CENTRE FOR POLITICAL STUDIES
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
MONSOON SEMESTER 2021

M.A. COMPULSORY COURSE: PO 411

COURSE TITLE: INDIAN POLITICS II: POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
INSTRUCTOR: PROFESSOR ANUPAMA ROY & DR TAPAN BIHARI
Credits 4
Scheme of Evaluation: Class participation; Assignments; Mid semester (50%); End
semester exam (50%)

Parliamentary and representative institutions traverse a distinctive course in India. By and

large, these institutions have held their own and guided the course of India’s complex polity.
However, they have also been transformed in significant respects when confronted with the
demands of Indian democracy and the challenges of development. The relations between
some of these institutions, such as the Legislatures and Courts, and Union Government and
State Governments have been highly tortuous at times but such tensions have often led to
redefine the scope of these institutions without necessarily leading to their breakdown.
Several new institutions and modes of accountability have arisen to take charge of demands
that have been mounted from time to time. This course introduces the student to the leading
institutions of Indian polity and the change that has taken place overtime.

1. Making of Political Institutions

(i) Constitutionalism in the Postcolonial Context

(ii) Constituent Assembly Debates
(iii) Constitutional Law and Change

Required Readings:
Constituent Assembly Debates (Selections).
Austin Granville, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, Oxford University Press,
Delhi, 1966.
Baxi, Upendra, ‘Outline of a ‘Theory of Practice’ of Indian Constitutionalism’, in Rajeev
Bhargava ed., Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution, New Delhi, Oxford University
Press, 2008, pp.93-118.

2. Judicial Power and Rule of Law

(i) Judicial Independence, Judicial Review

(ii) Judicial Activism, Public Interest Litigation
(iii) Civil Liberties, Preventive Detention and Extraordinary Laws (MISA, TADA, POTA, NSA
etc.).
Required Readings:
Hasan Zoya et al., eds., India’s Living Constitution: Ideas, Practices, Controversies,
Permanent Black, New Delhi, 2002.
Bhuwania, Anuj, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India, New
Delhi, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
Singh Ujjwal Kumar, State, Democracy and Anti-Terror Laws, Sage Publications, New Delhi,
2007.

3. Executive and Political Leadership

(i) President: Modes of exercise of powers

(ii) Prime Minister and the Cabinet: Collective Responsibility and Accountability to the
Parliament. The PMO
(iii) Governors and Chief Ministers: Changing Role and Institutional Relationship

Required Readings:
Manor James, ed., Nehru to the Nineties: The Changing Office of Prime Minister in India,
Viking Press, New Delhi, 1994.
Mehra Ajay K. and V. A. Pai Panandiker, The Indian Cabinet: A Study in Governance, Konark
Publishers, New Delhi, 1996.
MorrisJones W.H., Parliament in India, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA,
1957.
Rudolph Lloyd and Susanne, The Realm of Institutions: State Formation and Institutional
Change, Vol II, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2008.

4. Legislatures and Representation

(i) Composition, Powers, Reservations

(ii) Antidefection Provisions, and Parliamentary Committees
(iii) Election Commission and Electoral Reforms

Required Readings:
Shankar, B.L. and Valerian Rodrigues, The Indian Parliament: A Democracy at Work, New
Delhi, Oxford University, 2011.
Ujjwal Kumar Singh and Anupama Roy, The Election Commission of India: Institutionalising
Democratic Uncertainties, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2019.

5. Federal Institutions

(i) Strong Centre Framework and Commissions on Centre state Relations

(ii) Central Interventions and State Rights
(iii) Autonomy and Devolution: Federal Reforms and multilevel Federalism
Required Readings:
Arora Balveer and Douglas Verney, eds., Multiple Identities in a Single State: Indian
Federalism in Comparative Perspective, Konark Publishers, New Delhi, 1995.
Brass Paul R., The Politics of India since Independence, Cambridge University Press,
London, 1991.
Kapur Devesh and Pratap B Mehta., eds., Public Institutions in India: Performance and
Design, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2007.
Mukherji Nirmal and Balveer Arora, eds., Federalism in India: Origins and Development,
Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1992.
Saez Lawrence, Federalism without a Centre: The Impact of Political and Economic
Reforms on India’s Federal System, Sage, New Delhi, 2002.

6. New Institutions and Governance

(i) Transparency and Accountability: CVC, NHRC, CIC.

(ii) Inclusion and Accommodation: NCSC, NCST, NCM, NCLRM.

Required Readings:

Frankel Francine et al., eds., Transforming India: Social and Political Dynamics of Democracy,
Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2000.
Galanter Marc, Law and Society in Modern India, edited with an introduction by Rajeev
Dhavan, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1989.
Hardgrave Robert L., India: Government and Politics in a Developing Nation, Harcourt,
Jovanovich, New York, 1980.
Keith A.B., Constitutional History of India, Methuen and Co, London, 1936.
Kohli Atul, ed., The Success of India’s Democracy, Cambridge University Press, London, 2001.
MorrisJones W.H., The Government and Politics in India, B.I. Publications, New Delhi, 1971.
Noorani A.G., Constitutional Questions in India: The President, Parliament and the States,
Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2000.
Pylee M.V., India’s Constitution, Asia Publishing House, New Delhi, 1962.
Rao K.V. and K.M. Munshi, Parliamentary Democracy of India, The World Press Private Ltd,
Calcutta, 1965.
Weiner Myron, The Indian Paradox: Essays in Indian Politics, edited by Ashutosh Varshney
Ashutosh, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1989.

" Please note that the course content is intended for a regular one semester course (four
months). If there are changes in the duration of the semester, corresponding modifications
will be applied with reference to the topics, class lectures and readings"