ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT
Initiation and brief overview
The department of Political Science offers an undergraduate three years Honours Course and Generic Electives to other Honours Courses at the B.A. level. The department was established in the year 1962 with two full-time teachers. Later, another two full-time teachers were recruited to increase faculty strength of the department.
The core emphasis of the department is on familiarizing students with the conceptual and applied essence of the discipline. The course offers a set of skills which are an excellent preparation for a wide range of careers in academics, research, civil services and other competitive examinations, non-government organizations and private sectors. Currently, the department has four permanent faculty members, all scholars with a sharp academic bent of mind. They are involved in research and have several individual publications and presentations nationally and internationally.
Vision and outlook
The discipline of Political Science requires students to understand politics in all its nuances, to probe power relationships which exist in human interaction and examine fundamental principles of democratic functioning that guide ideas and institutions.
Methods of teaching
Apart from classroom lectures or the chalk and talk method, the Department uses ICT based classes and audio-visual aids, such as films and Powerpoint presentations, to stimulate learning interests. Members of faculty use innovative teaching methods to make learning experimental. This involves the use of micro-teaching, debates and quiz. Series of public lectures and workshops designed around the course are also used by teachers to provide extensive knowledge to the students. The department recognises the need for making project work as an academic requirement for all courses. Students undertake projects on all papers under the supervision of the concerned faculty. These projects are undertaken in various formats including group work as well as individual presentations. Field visits and study trips aid to the teaching-learning process. Regular assessments through written classwork and class-tests and end of the semester mock-tests ensure that the students are well prepared for their final end-semester examinations.
Infrastructure:
The Department maintains a Seminar Library consisting of relevant books and materials of reference that are not part of or available in the College Library. A laptop and a camera are part of the Departmental assets and are used for enhancing teaching-learning and for documenting and recording special events.
Email:
politicalscience@rksmvv.ac.in
SYLLABUS, COURSES & COURSE OUTCOMES
Syllabus
WBSU syllabus for Political science BA under the UGC prescribed syllabus template for CBCS semester
Courses offered
Honors Generic Elective MIL Skill Enhancement
Course Outcome
This course in B.A. in Political Science enables the students to develop an overall understanding of political institutions, society, culture, politics and international relations. More specifically, it shall enable the students to evolve a critical understanding on Indian Politics and its nature and contemporary trends. It not only introduces the students to the structural and functional dimensions of political institutions but also a range of theories which equips them with a critical understanding of society and politics. Thus after studying the degree programme, the students shall be capable of joining academics, advanced research etc. They can be good political analysts on political parties, party systems, and models of democracy. Students can either opt for higher education such as a masters degree or prepare for various competitive examinations such as Civil services, law and other government jobs. Their training in Public Administrators may help them choose careers in the government sector.It will prepare the students to work in many governmental and other management careers, including health care administration, human resources management and even city management. The program on Comparative Government and Politics will enable the students to apply for jobs in various non-profit organizations, in the scientific and academic fields. in various research institutes or think-tanks, private companies including foreign corporations, educational institutions. Training in Human Rights, Public Policy can train them to take up news analysis and journalism as possible career prospects. It also allows them to take up a career in mass media – with mass communication and public relations.
Course Specific Outcome
| Paper | Course Specific Outcome |
| Semester I
CC1: Understanding Political Theory |
This course introduces the students to the idea of political theory, its history and approaches, and an assessment of its critical and contemporary trends and is designed to reconcile political theory and practice through reflections on the ideas and practices related to democracy. |
| CC2: Constitutional Government and Democracy in India | This course acquaints students with the constitutional design of state structures and institutions, and their actual working over time. It further encourages a study of state institutions in their mutual interaction, and in interaction with the larger extra-constitutional environment. |
| Semester II
CC3: Political Theory-Concepts and Debates
|
This course helps the student familiarize with the basic normative concepts of political theory. Each concept is related to a crucial political issue that requires analysis with the aid of our conceptual understanding. This exercise is designed to encourage critical and reflective analysis and interpretation of social practices through the relevant conceptual toolkit. It further introduces the students to the important debates in the subject.
|
| CC4: Political Process in India
|
This course maps the working of ̳modern‘ institutions, premised on the existence of an individuated society, in a context marked by communitarian solidarities, and their mutual transformation thereby. It also familiarizes students with the working of the Indian state, paying attention to the contradictory dynamics of modern state power. |
| Semester III
CC5: Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics
|
This is a foundational course in comparative politics. The purpose is to familiarize students with the basic concepts and approaches to the study of comparative politics. More specifically the course will focus on examining politics in a historical framework while engaging with various themes of comparative analysis in developed and developing countries. |
| CC6: Perspectives on Public Administration
|
The course provides an introduction to the discipline of public administration. This paper encompasses public administration in its historical context with an emphasis on the various classical and contemporary administrative theories. The course also explores some of the recent trends, including feminism and ecological conservation and how the call for greater democratization is restructuring public administration. The course will also attempt to provide the students a comprehensive understanding on contemporary administrative developments. |
| CC7: Perspectives on International Relations and World History
|
This paper seeks to equip students with the basic intellectual tools for understanding International Relations. It introduces students to some of the most important theoretical approaches for studying international relations. The course begins by historically contextualizing the evolution of the international state system; then the students are introduced to different theories in International Relations. It provides a fairly comprehensive overview of the major political developments and events starting from the twentieth century. Students are expected to learn about the key milestones in world history and equip them with the tools to understand and analyze the same from different perspectives. A key objective of the course is to make students aware of the implicit Euro – centricism of International Relations by highlighting certain specific perspectives from the Global South. |
| Semester IV
CC8: Political Processes and Institutions in Comparative Perspective
|
In this course students will be trained in the application of comparative methods to the study of politics. The course is comparative in both what we study and how we study. In the process the course aims to introduce undergraduate students to some of the range of issues, literature, and methods that cover comparative political arena |
| CC9: Public Policy and Administration in India
|
The paper seeks to provide an introduction to the interface between public policy and administration in India. The essence of public policy lies in its effectiveness in translating the governing philosophy into programs and policies and making it a part of the community. It deals with issues of decentralization, financial management, citizens and administration and social welfare from a non-western perspective. |
| CC10: Global Politics
|
This course introduces students to the key debates on the meaning and nature of globalization by addressing its political, economic, social, cultural and technological dimensions. It imparts an understanding of the working of the world economy, while analyzing the changing nature of relationship between the state and trans-national actors and networks. The course also offers insights into key contemporary global issues. |
| Semester V
CC11: Indian Political Thought-I
|
This course introduces the specific elements of Indian Political Thought spanning over two millennia. The basic focus of study is on individual thinkers whose ideas are however framed by specific themes. The course as a whole is meant to provide a sense of the broad streams of Indian thought while encouraging a specific knowledge of individual thinkers and texts. Selected extracts from some original texts are also given to discuss in class. |
| CC12: Modern Political Philosophy
|
Philosophy and politics are closely intertwined. We explore this convergence by identifying four main tendencies here. Students will be exposed to the manner in which the questions of politics have been posed in terms that have implications for larger questions of thought and existence. |
| DSE 1: Reading Gandhi
|
This course teaches students the core elements of Gandhian thought and Gandhi’s approach to the key issues of contemporary India. This covers a wide range of issues and subjects from politics to economy, social to religion. Gandhi responded the questions which were posed to him in his times but they continue to agitate the minds even today; whether it is Hindu-Muslim relations or critique of modern society; be it the idea of Swadeshi or the religious conversion which make Gandhi relevant in political discourses. |
| DSE 2: Women, Power and Politics | This is a highly informative course that mentions some very crucial issues related to women and introduces the learners with the understanding of patriarchy and feminism as social constructs. The students will understand various theories associated with Feminism and will gain knowledge about the history of women’s struggle against discrimination and the actual position of women in contemporary India. |
| Semester VI
CC13: Modern Political Philosophy
|
Philosophy and politics are closely intertwined. We explore this convergence by identifying four main tendencies here. Students will be exposed to the manner in which the questions of politics have been posed in terms that have implications for larger questions of thought and existence. |
| CC14: Indian Political Thought-II
|
Based on the study of individual thinkers, the course introduces a wide span of thinkers and themes that defines the modernity of Indian political thought. The objective is to study general themes that have been produced by thinkers from varied social and temporal contexts. Selected extracts from original texts are also given to discuss in the class. The list of essential readings are meant for teachers as well as the more interested students. |
| DSE3: Understanding Global Politics | The course begins by historically contextualizing the evolution of the international state system; then the students are introduced to different theories in International Relations. Students are expected to learn about the key milestones in world history and equip them with the tools to understand and analyze the same from different perspectives. This course introduces students to the key debates on the meaning and nature of globalization by addressing its political, economic, social, cultural and technological dimensions. It imparts an understanding of the working of the world economy, while analyzing the changing nature of relationship between the state and trans-national actors and networks. The course also offers insights into key contemporary global issues. |
| DSE 4: Public Policy in India | The paper is designed to provide an understanding of public policy in India by analysing policy in the context of the theories of state. It helps understand the role of interest groups and social movements in the political economy of the country and its subsequent role in policy-making. The paper introduces various models of policy decision-making and goes deeper in translating the Nehruvian vision, economic liberalization and other recent developments to bring out the interface between public policy and ideology. |
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View ProfileEXTENSION ACTIVITIES
Extension Lectures and Seminars
| Serial No | Date | Name and designation of Visiting Lecturer | Topic |
| 1. | 29.06.2020
(via Google Meet) |
Sri. Amitava Deb
Associate Professor in Political Science Derozio Memorial College, Rajarhat. |
‘Federalism: The Case of USA and India’ |
| 2. | 15.06.2020
(via Google Meet) |
Smt. Roopleena Banerjee
Assitant Professor in Political Science and Vice Principal, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Satabarshiki Mahavidyalaya. |
‘Federation and Confederation: The
Case of Canada’ |
| 3. | 28.08 2019 | Dr. Aparna Badyopadhyay, Associate Professor in History, Diamond Harbour Women’s University | The treaty of Westphalia and its Implications |
| 4. | 27.082019 | Dr. Soma Ghosh, Principal | New Public Management |
| 5. | 20.03. 2019 | Inter-departmental lecture with the department of History. Speaker: Prof. Sobhanlal Datta Gupta, ex-Surendranath Banerjee Professor in Political Science, University of Calcutta. Topic:, | The trajectory of Left Politics in India |
| 6. | 14.02. 2019 | Inter-departmental lecture with the department of Sociology: Speaker: Prof. Prasanta Ray, Emeritus Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Presidency University. | Power and its Guises |
| 7. | 22.03.2018 | Extension Lecture: Smt. Ubhaya Bharati Acharya, Assistant Professor in Political Science, Women’s College, Kolkata | David Held: Classification of Democracy |
| 8. | 31.08. 2017 | Extension Lecture: Dr. Arundhati Bhattacharyya, Diamond Harbour Women’s University | Women in Public Administration |
Educational Trips :
| Serial No | Date | Place or Places visited | Objective |
| 1. | 16/01/2020 | a day long study tour around the city on 16th January 2020. The places covered were Town hall, High court, New Market, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Senapati bhavan, Eden gardens, Akashbani, National Museum, Nabanna, Vidyasagar Setu, Princep ghat, Vivekananda House, College Street area. As most of the students of our department were from remote areas of Bengal, the tour helped them to know the city of Kolkata where they came for higher education. | Familiarizing with city space as part of the civic identity. It was meant to illustrate a sense of public sphere through infrastructure, institutions and urban architecture. |
| 2. | 11.01.2019 | Botanical Garden, Shibpur | To study the political and social history, urban geography and cultural heritage of Kolkata. The trip helped sensitize the students about the imperial designs of the British. |
| 3. | 17.12.2017 | Shantiniketan | Demonstrating swadeshi higher education building exercise – a creative experiment in indigenous university system with a new kind of pedagogic structure. |
| 4. | 11.01.2017 | Nainan | To demonstrate a case study of how a Special Economic Zone is functioning in West Bengal |
Any other activities/programmes carried out in the Department
Project presentations on contemporary political themes involving original thinking and relevant research are an integral part of learning. Hence students, aptly guided by the faculty bring out monthly projects with themes ranging from topics in Political Theories and Thoughts, International Relations and Public Administration.
RESULTS AND STUDENT PROGRESSION
| Year | Appeared | Passed | Class |
| 2020 | 6 | 6 | 1st Class- 6 |
| 2019 | 03 | 03 | IInd Class-3 |
| 2018 | 04 | 04 | 1st Class- 1,
IInd Class-3 |
| 2016 | 04 | 04 | IInd class- 3, Pass-1 |
| 2015 | 05 | 05 | 2nd Class |
Student Progression (in the last five years 2015-2020)
| Pursuing Higher Studies | 4 |
| Preparing for Competitive exams | 2 |
| Employed (private sector) | 2 |
| Employed (in permanent) | 2 |
| TCS Training (RKSMVV) | 1 |
STUDENTS SECTION
Co-curricular Awards:
Sabnam Khatun, participated in the Quiz Competition East Regional Round ConQuest held in Loreto College, August 2019.
Tandra Mondal received the Tripti Chowdhury Memorial Good Conduct Award in the Annual Prize Distribution, March 2019.
Tandra Mondal secured Third Position in Inter-College Debate Competition commemorating 150th Birth Anniversary Celebration of Sister Nivedita held in Bethune College, December 2017.
Tandra Mondal participated in National Seminar organized by the Department of Human Rights and Human Development, Rabindra Bharati University, March 2016.
Beyond curriculum, the students make presentations on contemporary socio-political themes. Examples may be cited of Wall Poster on celebration of 70th year of the making of the Indian Constitution 2019, celebrating Teachers’ Day in India 2018 etc.
The students participate in poster competitions in the College and beyond. Examples may be cited of ‘Safe Drive, Safe Life’ – a poster competition organised by the Kolkata Police 2019; an intra-college poster competition on ‘Women’s Journey towards Empowerment: A Myth or A Reality’, 2017 etc.
