International Relations or Political Science ?
 

I, like so many others, have background of neither International Relations nor Political Science. However, it has been days now that i have been looking at both the subjects and scanning through different books for material. The logical necessity, for many of us, of choosing any one subject out of these two has become a big dilemma. Both the subjects require extensive study as far as i have comprehended in these few days when i have been glancing through the books of both these subjects.

Which of these two subjects is easier ? I am from Lahore and what i know is that most of the famous academies are providing International Relations classes only from Group 1. So there will be more candidates for IR than of Political Science. This can make IR vulnerable to strict checking. Just my thought out of frustration.

Please, seniors only. Help ! Anyone who has studied both the subjects is also requested to give an insight.

I opted for political science in 2015, and I found it relatively easy with hardly any studying, though I have studied this subject throughout my education. As for IR, I looked at it and find it difficult in the sense that the syllabus is specific, the events, the organisations are detailed in the syllabus. But in PS if you look at paper 1, you need to know different political theorists which is I think is 30% of the marks. Even though the names listed are extensive, most theorists belong to certain schools of thought, so it isn't as extensive as it looks, in my opinion.
As for the rest of paper 1, its pretty generic.

Moving on to paper 2 of PS, just know your constitutions of select few countries. Due to Pak Affairs you already know most of this paper. Furthermore the only new added feature to this paper is the International relations bit, which is more generic then specific so quite manageable.

I think PS compliments both the current affair and pak affair paper and even Islamiyat.

Vegeta please tell us about 3 or 4 books which cover the whole syllabus of political science.

my suggestion is opt political Science ... political thoughts (western and Muslim) will not be difficult for you if u have background of this subject... u can go through past paper that will help u to chose philosopher and their selective theories. .... rest this time it will be difficult to tackle I.R as compare to P.S. i have opt PS in 2014 and 2015 ... and this time too (subject to Result) ;)

[QUOTE=eama;867106]my suggestion is opt political Science ... political thoughts (western and Muslim) will not be difficult for you if [COLOR="red"][B]u[/B][/COLOR] have background of this subject... [B][COLOR="Red"]u[/COLOR][/B] can go through past paper that will help [COLOR="red"][B]u[/B][/COLOR] to chose philosopher and their selective theories. .... rest this time it will be difficult to tackle I.R as compare to P.S. i have opt PS in 2014 and 2015 ... and this time too (subject to Result) ;)[/QUOTE]

Avoid regular use of "Netspeak" or other "cute" grammar or spelling (For example: writing "R U a woman?" instead of "Are You a woman?").It is against [URL="http://www.cssforum.com.pk/general/forum-policies-rules-regulations/4443-forum-rules-policies.html"]Forum Rules[/URL]. Use "[B]you[/B]" instead of "[B]u[/B]".

[QUOTE=sheikh87;831914]I, like so many others, have background of neither International Relations nor Political Science. However, it has been days now that i have been looking at both the subjects and scanning through different books for material. The logical necessity, for many of us, of choosing any one subject out of these two has become a big dilemma. Both the subjects require extensive study as far as i have comprehended in these few days when i have been glancing through the books of both these subjects.

Which of these two subjects is easier ? I am from Lahore and what i know is that most of the famous academies are providing International Relations classes only from Group 1. So there will be more candidates for IR than of Political Science. This can make IR vulnerable to strict checking. Just my thought out of frustration.

Please, seniors only. Help ! Anyone who has studied both the subjects is also requested to give an insight.[/QUOTE]
Both the subjects are cobsidered as low scoring, however, as per new subject combination one has to opt either pol sc or int relations. In my view, pol sc would not be opted unless one has studied it in his educational career preferably has done masters in it. Pol sc has lengthy syllabi and sometime tricky questions make you feel blank. Further, mcq part is thr most difficult one for those who has no background of it. Whereas, i.r can be handled by lay man easily and can be more scoring than pol sc in such a case.

A late response, but my two cents may help someone. So, here it is.

My vote for Political Sci.

I would suggest to go for Pol Sci for two reasons.

1. Lengthy, yes. But extremely realistic and awakening topics. Every theory that you read would make your mind rich with political ideas. And I know politics sounds boring. Its a wrong assumption, I would say. International politics and thoughts of contemporary thinkers such as Noam Chomsky are exceptional. Mind opening.

2. In international relations, theoretical and conceptual portion is less. This is where marking depends on examiner's intellectual level. You have to write exceptionally good answers to fetch marks. Wjere as in Pol Sci, it is ofcourse mandatory that you produce good arguements but in theoretical answers, you cant get it wrong if you have stated the basic idea of the theory being asked about.

Every subject has pros and cons. At the end, it comes down to your own interest. I fell in love with Political Sci because it gives me theories to explore. Though I avoided it at first.

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What should be the subject combination with political science? I have been told it would be a good idea to opt constitutional law with Political science but so far I am interested in international law because of its short syllabus. Please let me know if it would be a good idea to opt US history, Internation law and Political science.

[QUOTE=whizkid;918441]What should be the subject combination with political science? I have been told it would be a good idea to opt constitutional law with Political science but so far I am interested in international law because of its short syllabus. Please let me know if it would be a good idea to opt US history, Internation law and Political science.[/QUOTE]


It will be fair enough for you to go as per your profound interest. The reason is simply because FPSC syllabus is no longer confined to specific subject but interconnected with all. For instance, CE 16; International Relation contains Bolshevik Revolution from European History, International Law and its significance taken from International Law subject and current affairs related topics like KSA Led 34 Islamic Military state alliances hence, now it is discerned that general as well as extensive research based studies coupled with interest could only yield positive outcome and now it is completely depends upon an individual to go either for their general profound interest or just follow an unpredictable FPSC syllabus :)

Regards,

Books query
 

Friends tell about the books for ps