CUET 2026 Political Science Important Topics and Chapter Wise Weightage

The End of Bipolarity:

• Soviet System, Gorbachev, Disintegration of USSR

Contemporary Centres of Power:

• European Union, ASEAN, Rise of China

Contemporary South Asia:

• Conflicts and Cooperation (Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka)

International Organisations:

• UN and its Agencies, Restructuring

Security in the Contemporary World:

• Traditional and Non-traditional threats

Environment and Natural Resources:

• Global Commons, Indigenous People

Globalization:

• Causes and Consequences (Economic, Political, Cultural)

Challenges of Nation-Building:

• Partition, Integration of Princely States

Era of One-Party Dominance:

• Congress System, Opposition Parties

Politics of Planned Development:

• Planning Commission, Five-Year Plans

India’s External Relations:

• Foreign Policy, Conflicts with China & Pakistan

Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System:

• Split in Congress, 1971 Election

Crisis of the Democratic Order:

• The Emergency (1975), Resistance

Regional Aspirations:

• Punjab, Northeast, Jammu & Kashmir

Recent Developments in Indian Politics:

• Coalition Era, Mandal Commission

Politics in India Since Independence

Era of One-Party Dominance

- First three general elections

- Nature of Congress dominance at the national level, uneven dominance at the state level

- Coalitional nature  of Congress

- Major opposition parties

Nation-Building and Its Problems

- Nehru’s approach to nation-building,

- Legacy of partition, the challenge of ‘refugee’ resettlement, the Kashmir problem

- Organization and reorganisation of states

- Political conflicts over language.

Politics of Planned Development

- Five-year plans

- Expansion of the state sector 

- Rise of new economic interests

India’s External Relations

- Nehru’s foreign policy

- Sino-Indian War of 1962

- Indo-Pak war of 1965 and 1971

- India’s nuclear programme 

- Shifting alliances in world politics

Challenge to and Restoration of Congress System

- Political succession after Nehru

- Non-Congressism and Electoral Upset of 1967

- Congress split and reconstitution

- Congress’s victory in 1971

- Politics of ‘garibi hatao’

Crisis of the Constitutional Order

- Search for ‘committed’ bureaucracy and judiciary.

- Navnirman Movement in Gujarat and Bihar Movement

- Emergency: Context, Constitutional and extra-constitutional dimensions

- Resistance to Emergency

- 1977 elections and formation of the Janata Party

- Rise of civil liberties organisations

Regional Aspirations and Conflicts

- Rise of regional parties

- Punjab crisis and anti-sikh riots of 1984

- The Kashmir situation

- Challenges and responses in the North East

Democratic Upsurge and Coalition Politics

- Participatory upsurge in the 1990s

- Rise of the JD and the BJP

- Increasing role of regional parties and coalition politics

- UF and NDA governments

- Elections 2004-2019

- UPA government with addition of NDA government

Recent Issues and Challenges

- Challenge of and responses to globalisation

- New economic policy and its opposition

- Rise of OBCs in North Indian politics

- Dalit politics in the electoral and non-electoral arena

- Challenge of communalism

- Ayodhya issue

Contemporary World Politics

Disintegration of the ‘Second World’ and the Collapse of Bipolarity

- New entities in world politics: Russia, Balkan states, and, Central Asian states

- Introduction of democratic politics and capitalism in post-communist regimes

- India’s relations with Russia and other post-communist countries.

Alternative Centres of Economic and Political Power

- Rise of China as an economic power in the post-Mao era

- Creation and expansion of European Union, ASEAN.

- India’s changing relations with China, Japan and South Korea

South Asia in the Post-Cold War Era

- Democratisation and its reversals in Pakistan and Nepal

- Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

- Impact of economic globalisation on the region

- Conflicts and efforts for peace in South Asia

- India’s relations with its neighbours.

International Organisations in a Unipolar World

- Restructuring and the future of the UN

- India’s position in the restructured UN

- Rise of new international actors

- New international economic organisations, NGOs.

- How democratic and accountable are the new institutions of global governance?

Security in the Contemporary World

- Traditional concerns of security and politics of disarmament

- Non-traditional or human security: global poverty, health, and education. 

- Issues of human rights and migration.

Environment and Natural Resources in Global Politics

- Environment movement and evolution of global environmental norms

- Conflicts over traditional and common property resources

- Rights of indigenous people

- India’s stand-in global environmental debates

Globalisation and Its Critics

- Economic, cultural and political manifestations.

- Debates on the nature of consequences of globalisation

- Anti-globalization movements

- India as an arena of globalisation and struggles against it.