ISC Class 11 Syllabus 2027 Political Science

ISC YEAR 2027

INDIAN SCHOOL CERTIFICATE
EXAMINATION

POLITICAL SCIENCE
(852)

February 2025
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endeavours, empowering them to contribute towards
a humane, just and pluralistic society, promoting
introspective living, by creating exciting learning
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Minimum monitoring.
Allowing schools to evolve their own niche.
Catering to the needs of the children.
Giving freedom to experiment with new ideas
and practices.
Diversity and plurality - the basic strength for
evolution of ideas.
Schools to motivate pupils towards the
cultivation of:
Excellence - The Indian and Global
experience.
Values - Spiritual and cultural - to be the bedrock
of the educational experience.
Schools to have an 'Indian Ethos', strong roots in
the national psyche and be sensitive to national
aspirations.

POLITICAL SCIENCE (852)

Aims:
4. To create awareness of rights and duties and to
1. To enable students to gain an understanding of
sensitise students towards social concerns.
basic concepts in Political Science.
5. To expose students to divergent views and
2. To facilitate acquisition of knowledge and
encourage them to develop their own world view.
understanding of the practices of governance.
3. To develop logical reasoning, research and
application skills.

CLASS XI
There will be two papers in the subject: Divine Theory: features only.
Paper I: Theory 3 hours ------ 80 marks The Social Contract theory: features only.
Paper II: Project Work --------20 marks 3. Political Ideologies
Liberalism and Communism.
PAPER I (THEORY) – 80 MARKS Liberalism, meaning and features: Recognition of
SECTION A importance of individuals, Support for human
rights and freedom, Constitutional and liberal
Political Theory
government, and Support for democracy.
1. Introduction to Political Science and State Communism: meaning and features: Dialectical
Meaning of Political Science; Scope of materialism, Class struggle, Dictatorship of
contemporary Political Science: Political Theory, Proletariat, Stateless and Classless society.
Comparative Politics, International Relations,
Public Administration and Political Economy. 4. Sovereignty
State and its elements. Meaning, kinds and characteristics. A historical
Meaning of Political Science (classical and analysis.
modern); Scope of contemporary Political Meaning, definition and characteristics. Kinds:
Science with reference to only the meaning of Titular and Real, Legal and Political; de-jure
Political Theory, Comparative Politics, and de-facto Sovereign, Popular Sovereignty.
International Relations, Public Administration Austin’s Theory and Pluralistic view of
and Political Economy ; Difference between Sovereignty : features only.
politics and political science ; Meaning of State
and elements of State: (a) Population (b) 5. Law
Territory (c) Government (d) Sovereignty ;
Difference between State and Nation. Meaning; Sources and Kinds of Law.
Meaning of law. Sources - Customs, Usages,
2. The Origin of the State Religion, Judicial Decisions, Scientific
Commentaries, Equity, Legislation. Kinds of law
Divine Origin Theory; the Social Contract – meaning and examples of Municipal, National,
Theory (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau). Constitutional and International Law, Statute
Various theories of the origin of State: Law, Ordinances.
1
ISC Examination Year 2027

6. Liberty 12. South Asia
Meaning; Dimensions and kinds of Liberty India’s relationship with its neighbours.
Meaning of Liberty; Dimensions - negative and India’s relations with Pakistan, 1965 war and
positive; kinds of Liberty - Civil, Political and Tashkent Agreement, 1971 war and Shimla
Economic. Agreement, Lahore Declaration and Kargil war;
India’s Relationship with Bangladesh : Water
7. Equality dispute, Teen Bhiga corridor and illegal
Meaning and kinds of Equality migration ; India’s relations with China:
Panchsheel Agreement and Sino-Indian war of
Meaning and kinds of Equality – legal, social,
1962
political and economic.
PAPER II (PROJECT WORK)–20 MARKS
8. Justice
Candidates will be required to undertake one project
Meaning, Contemporary theories. which may be any one of the following:
Meaning of Justice; Theories of Justice – John
Rawls and Amartya Sen (features only). (i) A case study.
(ii) Survey study with a questionnaire.
SECTION B (iii) Research based project with in depth analysis.
Contemporary International Relations (iv) Any contemporary or relevant Social/Local/
national/ global political issue.
9. Disintegration of the Soviet Union
(v) Book review/ film review/ documentaries/
Disintegration of the Soviet Union: Causes and posters/ newspapers/ advertisements/ cartoons
its impact. and art.
Causes of disintegration of the Soviet Union:
The project must not be based primarily on the
Political and economic stagnation, Reforms of
syllabus; students must be encouraged to produce
Gorbachev and Rise of nationalism
original, creative and insightful perspectives on an
Impact of disintegration of the Soviet Union: End allied aspect of the topic.
of cold war and emergence of new states (in
brief). For example, if the theme is Fundamental Rights, the
project could deal with violation, protection, court
10. Unipolar World verdicts, Public Interest Litigations (PILs), etc.
related to socially relevant issues.
U.S. unilateralism: case studies of U.S.
intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. EVALUATION CRITERIA:
Meaning of unilateralism.
Mark allocation for the Project will be as follows:
Case studies of the following (causes and main
events only): S. Assessment Criteria Marks
No. objective
Iraq - Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi
Freedom; 1. Process Candidate should 5
Afghanistan - Operation Enduring Freedom; be able to:
India’s relations with USA after 1991. Defence Identify the topic.
and trade relations only. Plan and detail a
research project.
11. Regional Cooperation Select and use
ASEAN and the European Union, SAARC, appropriate
BRICS, QUAD research methods.
Aims and economic achievements only. 2. Understanding, Candidate should 5
application be able to:
of knowledge Explain issues and

ISC Examination Year 2027 2

and Analysis themes clearly and 8. Civil Society Movements - Role and participation
in context. in India.
Interpret, analyse 9. Relevance of the United Nations in a Unipolar
and evaluate World.
critically a range of 10. Crisis in the Middle East and its impact on World
evidence to present order.
reasoned,
substantiated 11. Rise of Taliban in Afghanistan and the crisis of
arguments/ human rights.
statement. 12. Any other relevant contemporary issue.
3. Presentation Overall format, 5 GUIDELINES FOR TEACHERS:
referencing
(footnotes &/or 1. It must be emphasized that the process of doing the
bibliography), project is as important as the final project.
within word limit 2. Once the project/projects are chosen, there should
of 2000 words, title be a process of brainstorming to encourage
page, students to make out a draft/structure for the
header/footer, etc. project before embarking on research.
4. Viva Range of questions 5 3. During the brainstorming/discussion, the teacher
based on the should discuss the assessment criteria with the
project only. students.
TOTAL 20 4. The teacher should discuss the draft with the
student with regard to the central question and the
type of sources to be used.
List of suggested topics for Project Work: 5. The students should be guided on doing the
1. “The Kingdom of Freedom begins where the research and looking at different types of evidence.
Kingdom of Necessity ends”. 6. Books and suitable reference material could be
2. Right to Freedom and role of Media. suggested by the teachers and made available to
3. The Right to Information – ensuring political the students.
accountability. 7. Internet sites could be suggested, but care must be
4. Citing relevant examples, discuss the relative taken in selecting, using and citing these sites.
importance of negative and positive liberty in the 8. Students must be cautioned against plagiarism and
Indian context. be penalized for the same.
5. India’s response to ASEAN as a dialogue partner. 9. Marks must be awarded for content and originality
6. Relevance of SAARC as a forum of regional and not for decorative elements and
cooperation. embellishments.
7. U.S. dominance in World politics in the Post Cold 10. Projects must be the original work of the student.
War era.

ISC Examination Year 2027 3