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About the Centre

About the Centre

Welcome to the Centre for Political Studies in the School of Social Sciences, JNU. Founded in 1971 it has an outstanding reputation for academic excellence. In the first year of its existence, the Centre launched the M.Phil. /Ph.D. programme with 15 students. In the following academic year, the M.A. programme was launched. In keeping with the spirit of the JNU Act of 1966, the Centre for Political Studies incorporated a strong interdisciplinary emphasis in the structure and design of its syllabi. It has become one of the largest Centres of the School of Social Sciences drawing students from all parts of the country and abroad.

Drawing on a variety of philosophical, historical and interdisciplinary approaches, the academic programme of the centre is distinguished by certain characteristic emphases which sets it apart from other departments specialising in Political Science in the country. Since its inception, it has gathered a group of faculty internationally recognized for their seminal contributions in the field of politics. Our faculty explain, interpret and evaluate those assumptions that undergird political life. The assessment is done by several methods such as performance in classrooms, home assignments, tutorials, seminars, term papers and mid-semester tests, besides the end-semester examination. In this way the centre is uniquely positioned to offer students and researchers precious insights for the study of politics in India. The courses and research equip students to become high-performing creative leaders who are ready to make a meaningful difference to their institutions, communities and themselves.

Building on its historical strength, the centre is today a leader in teaching and research in contemporary politics on India. The graduate program, which has entered into an exciting period of expansion, offers several new perspectives alongside more traditional instruction in the study of politics. Long considered one of the top departments in the country, we have now one of the largest and most intellectually diverse political science programs in the world. Our faculty includes 17 scholars whose research and interests span multiple thematic areas in the discipline.

 

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.