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 March 31, 2019 The Coordinator of the
Study Centre allotted to
you
For January 2019 Session September 30, 2019

Wishing you all the best,

Faculty of Political Science

 POLITICAL THEORY (MPS-001)
TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Course Code: MPS-001

Assignment Code: Asst/TMA/2018-19
Marks: 100

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)
TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Course Code: MPS-002

Assignment Code: Asst/TMA/2018-19
Marks: 100

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)
TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Course Code: MPS-003

Assignment Code: ASST/TMA/2018-19
Marks: 100

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 73rd and 74th 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)
TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Course Code: MPS-004

Assignment Code: ASST/TMA/2018-19
Marks: 100

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

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