Department of Political Science, Kerala University since 1957

The Department of Political Science was established on 18 September 1957 with the appointment of Dr.V.K.Sukumaran Nayar as Head of the Department. It was one of the first Departments of the University of Kerala to be set up on the basis of the second year five year plan schemes of the UGC. M.A Programme with special papers in Public Administration and Local Government was started in the same year. M.Phil programme was started in 1976.

The Department celebrated its silver jubilee during 1983-84 and will host the Golden jubilee celebration this year. During the last 50 years the Department of Political Science has emerged as the leading Post-graduate – Research Centre in South India especially in the areas of Indian Politics with special focus on state and Society in Kerala, International Politics and Administration. The Department is also proud of the fact that it has already produced 80 Ph.Ds and 140 M.Phil dissertations in different areas of political science.

Faculty of the Department

1.Dr. G. Gopa Kumar, Professor and Head.
Areas of Specialisation- Comparative Politics, Kerala politics and Public Policy Analysis

2. Mr.C.P.Suresh (on leave), Reader
Areas of Specialisation- Political Theory and Political Sociology

3. Mr. C. Muraleedhran, Reader,
Areas of Specialisation- International Politics and Foreign Policy

4. Dr. J. Prabhash, Reader
Areas of Specialisation- Indian Government and Politics, Kerala Politics and Human Rights

5. Dr.A.Basheer, Reader
Areas of Specialisation- Public Administration and Theories of Political Development

6. Dr. Shaji Varkey, Lecturer
Areas of Specialisation- South and South-East Asia and Political Economy of Kerala

7. Dr. K.M.Sajad Ibrahim, Lecturer
Areas of Specialisation-Middle East/ West Asian Studies and Political Theory

Courses Offered

The Department offers courses in M.A, M.Phil and P.hD and has identified comparative Politics, Political economy of Kerala, Indian Politics, International Politics, Foreign Policy, Politics of South Asia, Human Rights and Public Administration as thrust areas. The M.A Programme is organized under credit and semester system consisting of 4 semesters and 72 credits and with total students in take of 26.

M.Phil Course beginning from June is for a period of one year and is envisaged mainly as a pre-doctoral programme with an intake of 11 students. The Department provides all facilities for P.hD Programme in the areas mentioned above.

One of the notable features is that many foreign national seek admission to the courses since the Department welcomes all academic programme involving international cooperation.

The International Exposure

The department has a tradition of undertaking international projects with the support of various agencies abroad. One such programme currently run by the Department is the Full-bright international Education Programme. As part of this, the Department has already exchanged six members to a Claremont Graduate University, California, USA for teaching and Research. The Claremont University has also deputed to its teachers and researchers to this Department. This project is mainly funded buy the US State department and the Claremont Graduate University USA while a potion of it on a cost sharing basis is met by the University of Kerala also.

The Department is actively negotiating new collaborations with the University of Leithbridge, Alberta, Canada and New Zealand Asia Institute, Auckland, New Zealand. Proposals for similar exchange Programmes are also initiated with the South Asia Institute at Hidelberg University, Germany and university of Leeds, UK. In the past, the department has also involved in collaborative projects with Maism De Sciences Del Hamme, Paris, France. The faculty of the Department has also won full bright visiting Professor award, Salzburg Awards, Sasthri-Indo Canadian Fellowship etc.

National projects.


The national projects in the Department are funded by University Grants Commission(UGC), Indian council for social Science Research (ICSSR), Indian Council for Historical research(IVHR), University of Pennsylvania Institute for Advanced Study in India(UPIASI), Center for the Study of Developing Societies(CDS) etc. the Department also receives cooperation from the Department of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Kerala.

Currently, the Department has three National Projects-Coalition Politics in India, Problems of Tribal development and Environment, Problems of Rehabilitation of Gulf Returnees in Kerala. Recently, the UGC has also awarded Nehru Study Center to the Department of Political Science. The Department has centers like V.K.Krishna Menon Study Center for International Relations, Survey Research center etc. The department has already approached the UGC for Special Assistance Programme.

The faculty of the Department has also won many national awards like UGC Indo-French Cultural Exchange Award, UGC Research scientist, UGC Research award etc. The first ever grand survey conducted in the nation was held in Kerala in 1965 under the joint collaboration of CSDS, New Delhi and Department of Political Science since, 1996 the Department has bee collaborating with CSDS in all national and state elections, and has already completed 14 surveys. Recently, the Department of participated in the IBN-CSDS Survey on the “State of the Nation “. In addition, the Department had collaborated with the University of Berkeley, California for the World Value Survey held in 2004.