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Niraja Gopal Jayal

Professor Niraja Gopal Jayal

Avantha Chair

Contact details

Biography

Niraja Gopal Jayal joined King’s India Institute as Avantha Chair in October 2021. She was formerly Professor at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and presently also Centennial Professor (2019-23) at The London School of Economics, in the Department of Gender Studies.

Her book Citizenship and Its Discontents (Harvard University Press and Permanent Black, 2013) won the Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Prize of the Association of Asian Studies in 2015. She is also the author of Representing India: Ethnic Diversity and the Governance of Public Institutions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006) and Democracy and the State: Welfare, Secularism and Development in Contemporary India (OUP, 1999). She has co-edited The Oxford Companion to Politics in India, and edited, among several others, Democracy in India (OUP, 2001) and Re-Forming India: The Nation Today. (Penguin Random House, 2019) Her most recent book is Citizenship Imperilled: India’s Fragile Democracy (Permanent Black).

Jayal delivered the Radhakrishnan Memorial Lectures at All Souls College, Oxford in 2009, and was Vice-President of the American Political Science Association. (2011-12). During her career she has held visiting appointments at, among others, Princeton University, King’s College, London, and the EHESS, Paris.

Research

Professor Jayal undertakes research in the fields of citizenship, democracy and welfare in India.

News

Experts examine the role of women in elections around the world this year

To mark International Women’s Day, the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy hosted a panel discussion and networking event to explore how much women will...

Panel at the International Women's Day event on women and politics organised by SSPP

Nehru believed democracy is protected by more democracy – not by more laws

Professor Madhavan K Palat spoke on India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru’s thoughts on democracy at the 2023 Nehru Memorial Lecture hosted by the...

Prof Madhavan K Palat delivering the Nehru Memorial lecture 2023

New Avantha Chair appointment for King's India Institute

Internationally renowned political scientist Professor Niraja Gopal Jayal joins King’s College London

Professor Niraja Gopal Jayal

Events

27MarPresidency College, Madras, Illustrated London News, June 6, 1872, p. 8_Page_1-fotor-2024031493026

How King's College London made India modern: the life and times of “Mr. Powell’s Boys”

Political scientist Rahul Sagar will discuss how E B Powell set India on the path to a distinctive form of modernity.

Please note: this event has passed.

20MarNehru cover image

'Nehru's Other Indias' - 2024 Nehru Memorial Lecture by Historian Priya Satia

Professor Priya Satia will explore competing visions of post-independent India in Nehru's time.

Please note: this event has passed.

06MarIWD24 women vote image contensis size

IWD 2024: Will women determine who rules the world in 2024?

Ahead of International Women’s Day, the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy is hosting a panel discussion to explore the role women will play in this...

Please note: this event has passed.

31Jan61Lk9lH5vjL._SL1276_

The Colonial Constitution: An Origin Story

This talk delves into the writings of Indian leaders and debates around the Constitution.

Please note: this event has passed.

07MarGandhi statue

India’s Big Man vs. Everyman political histories – A debate

This debate will juxtapose the ‘big man’ style of historiography, with histories whose chief protagonist is everyman: subaltern, vernacular, ethnographic...

Please note: this event has passed.

03MarJawaharlal Nehru

'Nehru's Democratic Dilemmas' - 2023 Nehru Memorial Lecture by Professor Madhavan K Palat

Prof Madhavan K Palat will speak on 'Nehru's democratic dilemmas' in the 2023 Nehru Memorial Lecture hosted by the King's India Institute

Please note: this event has passed.

22JunSupreme Court of India

Re-hyphenising Indian democracy: From clientelistic and conservative to ethnic and illiberal?

Professor Christophe Jaffrelot and Professor Niraja Gopal Jayal will be discussing the re-hyphenising of Indian democracy, as part of the 2022 King's India...

Please note: this event has passed.

30MayThe Anarchy - William Dalrymple

The Anarchy: The relentless rise of the East India Company, with author William Dalrymple

Historian and bestselling author William Dalrymple will speak about his latest book, 'The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company' for King's...

Please note: this event has passed.

10FebBook cover of Nullius

Nullius: The Anthropology of Ownership, Sovereignty, and the Law in India

A discussion with the author Dr Kriti Kapila

Please note: this event has passed.

News

Experts examine the role of women in elections around the world this year

To mark International Women’s Day, the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy hosted a panel discussion and networking event to explore how much women will...

Panel at the International Women's Day event on women and politics organised by SSPP

Nehru believed democracy is protected by more democracy – not by more laws

Professor Madhavan K Palat spoke on India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru’s thoughts on democracy at the 2023 Nehru Memorial Lecture hosted by the...

Prof Madhavan K Palat delivering the Nehru Memorial lecture 2023

New Avantha Chair appointment for King's India Institute

Internationally renowned political scientist Professor Niraja Gopal Jayal joins King’s College London

Professor Niraja Gopal Jayal

Events

27MarPresidency College, Madras, Illustrated London News, June 6, 1872, p. 8_Page_1-fotor-2024031493026

How King's College London made India modern: the life and times of “Mr. Powell’s Boys”

Political scientist Rahul Sagar will discuss how E B Powell set India on the path to a distinctive form of modernity.

Please note: this event has passed.

20MarNehru cover image

'Nehru's Other Indias' - 2024 Nehru Memorial Lecture by Historian Priya Satia

Professor Priya Satia will explore competing visions of post-independent India in Nehru's time.

Please note: this event has passed.

06MarIWD24 women vote image contensis size

IWD 2024: Will women determine who rules the world in 2024?

Ahead of International Women’s Day, the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy is hosting a panel discussion to explore the role women will play in this...

Please note: this event has passed.

31Jan61Lk9lH5vjL._SL1276_

The Colonial Constitution: An Origin Story

This talk delves into the writings of Indian leaders and debates around the Constitution.

Please note: this event has passed.

07MarGandhi statue

India’s Big Man vs. Everyman political histories – A debate

This debate will juxtapose the ‘big man’ style of historiography, with histories whose chief protagonist is everyman: subaltern, vernacular, ethnographic...

Please note: this event has passed.

03MarJawaharlal Nehru

'Nehru's Democratic Dilemmas' - 2023 Nehru Memorial Lecture by Professor Madhavan K Palat

Prof Madhavan K Palat will speak on 'Nehru's democratic dilemmas' in the 2023 Nehru Memorial Lecture hosted by the King's India Institute

Please note: this event has passed.

22JunSupreme Court of India

Re-hyphenising Indian democracy: From clientelistic and conservative to ethnic and illiberal?

Professor Christophe Jaffrelot and Professor Niraja Gopal Jayal will be discussing the re-hyphenising of Indian democracy, as part of the 2022 King's India...

Please note: this event has passed.

30MayThe Anarchy - William Dalrymple

The Anarchy: The relentless rise of the East India Company, with author William Dalrymple

Historian and bestselling author William Dalrymple will speak about his latest book, 'The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company' for King's...

Please note: this event has passed.

10FebBook cover of Nullius

Nullius: The Anthropology of Ownership, Sovereignty, and the Law in India

A discussion with the author Dr Kriti Kapila

Please note: this event has passed.