Political Science – Government General Degree College, Mangalkote

Political Science

History of the DepartmentFaculty ProfileGallery

Politics as an art of statecraft dates back to the times of Chanakya and Aristotle in the 3rd and 4th century B.C. respectively. Scientific explanations about the emergence of the organized state system, a rational body of laws, the duties and responsibilities of the ruler and the ruled have all been deliberated long before the academic emergence of the discipline. Thereafter political analyses, development of critical theories, theories of state, empirical researches and anatomy of political systems have made steady progress through scholars like Confucius, Cicero, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Thomas Jefferson, Montesquieu and others. Political discourse as we find in the 21st century has been a culmination of theoretical revolution and counter-revolution, the struggle for independence, social movements and most importantly the fight for human rights. The students of Political Science gain knowledge and experience about society-politics and politics-economics interaction which enables them to pursue careers in civil service, public policy making, multinational corporations as politico-social analysts, political journalism, apart from career in academics.

The Department of Political Science has been operative with both honours and general courses at the undergraduate level since the foundation of the college in 2015. The department started functioning with 9 students in the honours course and 58 students in the general course and two faculty members. Renowned scholar Dr. AneekChatterjee was one of the founding faculty members of this institution and needless to say the students benefitted immensely fromhis lectures. From its inception the department saw the incorporation of students from various socio-economic backgrounds and as such close interaction with them both during class hours and beyond was very critical for their academic upliftment. The teacher-student equation has always been elemental to the slow but steady growth of this department. The discipline offers major courses in Western Political Thought, Indian Political Thought, International Relations and Organizations, Comparative Politics and Political Analyses, Legal Awareness and Democratic Rights among others. The faculty members serving the department are all well versed in the discipline with expertise in the papers of political theory, international relations, public administration, local rural and urban governments.

Now, in the 2022-2023 academic session, there are 27 students in the honoursprogrammeand over a hundred students in the general courses offered by the department. The departmental library, operative since 2015, initially had books mainly in Bengali but now boasts of a considerable collection of texts both in Bengali and English languages. Students are regularly encouraged to participate in interdisciplinary seminars and webinars organized by the departments of Political Science, History, Sociology and Bengali. This has profoundly influenced their public speaking capabilities and the ability to communicate. This is particularly important for a college situated in a remote and rural area. Every year the students and teachers from the department of Political Science participate in the Youth Parliament Competition organized by the Election Commission of India. Here they gain valuable information regarding the functioning of the Indian democratic system.

Following the COVID pandemic, the use of Information and Communication Technologies has become critical to the teaching-learning process where the department has relentlessly made use of the digital platforms and has successfully encouraged the students to build up their technical know-how, which would immensely benefit them in the long run. Nonetheless teacher-student interaction in the classroom and on a one-to-one basis remains the strong point of the department.

MADHUMITA CHAKRABORTY

Assistant Professor, W. B. E. S. & HOD

M.A. M. Phil (Calcutta University)

TINAT RUKSHANA

Assistant Professor, W. B. E. S.

M.A., Pursuing PhD (The University of Burdwan)

Teacher’s Day celebration
A Student is delivering lecture in an interactive session
Ms. Madhumita Chakraborty and Ms. Tinat Rukshana with their student

 

Departmental Seminar at Master Classroom