UGC NET Political Science Comparative Political Analysis Syllabus

Comparative Political Analysis syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Comparative Political Analysis in UGC NET Political Science, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Approaches

   5 topics

   • Institutional
   • Political Culture
   • Political Economy
   • New Institutionalism
   • Comparative Methods
2. 2

   Colonialism and Decolonization

   3 topics

   • Forms of Colonialism
   • Anti-colonial Struggles
   • Decolonization
3. 3

   Nationalism

   2 topics

   • European Nationalism
   • Non-European Nationalism
4. 4

   State Theory

   4 topics

   • Debate over the Nature of State in Capitalist and Socialist Societies
   • Post-colonial State
   • Welfare State
   • Globalization and Nation-States
5. 5

   Political Regimes

   2 topics

   • Democratic Regimes
     • Electoral
     • Liberal
     • Majoritarian
     • Participatory
   • Non-Democratic Regimes
     • Patrimonialism
     • Bureaucratic Authoritarianism
     • Military Dictatorship
     • Totalitarianism
     • Fascist
6. 6

   Constitutions and Constitutionalism

   5 topics

   • Forms of Constitutions
   • Rule of Law
   • Judicial Independence
   • Liberal Constitutionalism
   • Emergency Powers and Crisis of Constitutionalism
7. 7

   Democratisation

   2 topics

   • Democratic Transition
   • Consolidation
8. 8

   Development

   5 topics

   • Underdevelopment
   • Dependency
   • Modernization
   • World Systems Theory
   • Development and Democracy
9. 9

   Structures of Power

   3 topics

   • Ruling Class
   • Power Elites
   • Democratic Elitism
10. 10

    Actor and Processes

    6 topics

    • Electoral Systems
    • Political Parties and Party System
    • Interest Groups
    • Social Movements
      • New Social Movements
    • Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Civil Society Campaigns
    • Revolutions

Comparative Political Analysis flashcards for UGC NET Political Science

23 of 56 cards from the Comparative Political Analysis deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the central concern of the 'institutional' approach in comparative political analysis?

   It studies formal structures of government—constitutions, legislatures, executives, judiciaries and bureaucracies—as the primary units of comparison, focusing on legal-formal rules rather than behaviour or culture.

2. How did Almond and Verba define 'political culture' in The Civic Culture (1963)?

   As the pattern of orientations (cognitive, affective and evaluative) of a population toward political objects; they classified cultures as parochial, subject and participant, with the 'civic culture' being a balanced mix supporting stable democracy.

3. What does the field of 'political economy' study in comparative analysis?

   The reciprocal relationship between politics and economics—how political institutions and power shape economic outcomes and how economic structures (markets, classes, production) shape political life.

4. What is the core claim of 'New Institutionalism'?

   That institutions—including informal norms, rules and routines, not just formal organisations—structure political behaviour and outcomes; it revived institutional analysis with attention to how institutions shape preferences and constrain actors.

5. Name the three main strands of New Institutionalism identified by Hall and Taylor (1996).

   Rational choice institutionalism, historical institutionalism, and sociological institutionalism.

6. In comparative methods, what is the 'Most Similar Systems Design' (MSSD)?

   A strategy that compares cases alike on many variables but differing on the outcome, so the few differences can be isolated as causes; based on Mill's Method of Difference.

7. In comparative methods, what is the 'Most Different Systems Design' (MDSD)?

   A strategy that compares cases differing on most variables but sharing the same outcome, to identify the common factor that explains it; based on Mill's Method of Agreement.

8. What is the 'small-N' problem in comparative politics, and one common solution?

   Having too few cases relative to explanatory variables, which prevents firm causal inference (the 'many variables, few cases' problem); solutions include focusing the comparison, increasing observations, or using Boolean/QCA methods (Ragin).

9. Distinguish settler colonialism from exploitation (extractive) colonialism.

   Settler colonialism involves permanent migration of colonisers who displace natives and build a new society (e.g. Australia, South Africa); exploitation colonialism extracts resources and labour with few settlers, ruling the existing population (e.g. British India).

10. What does 'neo-colonialism' mean as described by Kwame Nkrumah?

    A condition where a formally independent state remains economically and politically dominated by external powers through finance, trade and multinational capital rather than direct rule—'the last stage of imperialism.'

11. What distinguished Gandhi's anti-colonial method from armed/revolutionary nationalism?

    Gandhi used satyagraha—mass non-violent civil disobedience and non-cooperation—mobilising peasants and the masses, in contrast to constitutional petitioning or violent revolt.

12. What is Frantz Fanon's argument about violence in anti-colonial struggle (The Wretched of the Earth)?

    That decolonisation is inherently violent, and that revolutionary violence is a cleansing, psychologically liberating force that restores the colonised's dignity and forges a new national consciousness.

13. What was the main thrust of decolonization after World War II?

    The dismantling of European colonial empires (roughly 1945–1975), producing scores of newly independent states in Asia and Africa, accelerated by war-weakened powers, rising nationalism, and superpower/UN pressure.

14. How does Benedict Anderson define the nation in 'Imagined Communities'?

    As an 'imagined political community—imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign'; imagined because members never know most others yet feel communion, aided by print-capitalism.

15. Distinguish 'civic' nationalism from 'ethnic' nationalism.

    Civic nationalism bases membership on shared citizenship, values and voluntary allegiance (often associated with France); ethnic nationalism bases it on common descent, language and culture (often associated with Germany/Eastern Europe).

16. What did Ernest Gellner argue about the origins of European nationalism?

    That nationalism is a product of industrial modernity—industrial society requires a homogeneous, literate, mobile 'high culture' spread by mass education, so nationalism creates nations rather than the reverse.

17. How does 'non-European' (anti-colonial) nationalism differ from classic European nationalism according to Partha Chatterjee?

    Chatterjee argues it is a 'derivative discourse' yet creates a sovereign 'inner/spiritual' domain (culture) distinct from the 'outer/material' Western domain, so the nation is imagined before political independence is won.

18. What is the liberal-pluralist view of the state in capitalist society?

    The state is a neutral arbiter/referee responding to competing interest groups, with power dispersed among many groups (polyarchy), serving no single class.

19. Contrast the instrumentalist and structuralist Marxist views of the capitalist state (Miliband–Poulantzas debate).

    Miliband (instrumentalist): the state is an instrument run by the capitalist class through shared backgrounds and ties. Poulantzas (structuralist): the state is 'relatively autonomous,' serving capital's long-term interests by the logic of the structure regardless of who staffs it.

20. What is meant by the 'relative autonomy' of the state?

    The capacity of the state to act with some independence from the dominant class, even against particular capitalists' short-term wishes, in order to secure the long-term reproduction of the capitalist system and maintain legitimacy.

21. How is the post-colonial state characterised (Hamza Alavi)?

    As 'overdeveloped' relative to its weak indigenous bourgeoisie—it inherits a powerful colonial bureaucratic-military apparatus and mediates among competing propertied classes (metropolitan bourgeoisie, indigenous bourgeoisie, landed classes).

22. What is a welfare state?

    A state that assumes responsibility for citizens' basic economic security and social well-being through provision such as healthcare, education, pensions, unemployment benefits and social insurance, decommodifying aspects of welfare.

23. Name Esping-Andersen's three worlds of welfare capitalism.

    Liberal (means-tested, market-reliant, e.g. USA), Conservative/Corporatist (status-based social insurance, e.g. Germany), and Social Democratic (universal, decommodifying, e.g. Sweden).

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