Politics of Populism

Call for Papers

Twenty first century has witnessed several changes in politics. Many of the concepts and theories that were taken for granted are being questioned. Liberal democratic world order has been increasingly haunted by the spectre of populism. Populism which was relegated to election campaigns has now become the word of the decade as we see many populist leaders assuming government power in several countries. What are the long term effects of this new ‘populist moment’? How will this change the disciplinary study of politics, governance and administration? These are some of the issues and debates that will be discussed in this section of the Encyclopaedia. For this conference, topics related to the following are welcome but are not limited to:


  • Sovereigntist

  • New nationalism

  • Electoral behavior

  • Political rhetoric

  • Neo-sovereigntist

  • Jingoism

  • New nationalism

  • Electoral behavior

  • Demagogues

  • Politics of exclusion

  • US populism

  • New isolationism

  • Illiberalism

  • Authoritarian populist

  • Politics of exclusion

  • Pluralism

Panel Conveners

Dr. Madhumati Deshpande

Section Editor of 'Politics of Populism' in the Encyclopaedia

Dr. Madhumati Deshpande is the Department coordinator, Assistant Professor in the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST University, India. She completed her Masters in Political Science from Karnataka University, Dharwad and her MPhil and PhD from JNU, New Delhi. Dr. Deshpande has previously been a graduate Assistant and election observer in the Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta, USA and observed elections in East Timor and Guyana. She also worked as Editor for Springer Reference works. She has several articles published in various peer reviewed journals and 3 book chapters. Her areas of research interest are, International Relations and Foreign policy analysis, Indian Foreign Policy, US foreign Policy and Political theory.

Prof. Michael Dreyer

Section Editor of 'Politics of Populism' in the Encyclopaedia

Dr. Michael Dreyer Is Professor for political theory and history of ideas at the FSU Jena since 2005. Previously he was a DAAD Professor at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. He secured his Doctorate with Prof. Dr. Ulrich Matthée (Kiel) in 1986 with a work on the German theory of federalism in the 19th century. He has been the Director of the institute; Institute for Political Science from 2006-2009. He is the Deputy member of the faculty council of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences since 2006. since 2007: DAAD expert for the North America program. He is a member of several academic associations. His research interests include History of ideas of the 19th and 20th centuries (Germany, USA) Constitutional order, political theory and international impact of the Weimar Republic, Minorities and Political Theory, federalism and Theory of the revolution.

Confirmed Participants

Interest: Gender & Development, Women’s Studies

Dr. Suraiya Tabassum is a researcher, trainer, teacher and a writer, currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. Since receiving her doctorate from Jawarharlal Nehru University in 2001, she has been working on the issue of women, gender and human rights through research and advocacy. From May 2004 to March 2011, Dr. Tabassum worked as a senior technical advisor to IFES’s Women’s Legal Rights Initiative in India, where she headed the Muslim Women’s Initiative.

Interest: Socio-Legal studies, Sustainable Development

Dr. Tapan R. Mohanty is the dean of the Department of Distance Education and Chairperson of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and Professor of Sociology of Law at the National Law Institute University at Bhopal. His doctoral dissertation was on “Culture, Development and Entrepreneurship: A Study of Silk Trader of Chanderi” which explored the nuances of entrepreneurial dimensions of a traditional craft among the rural artisans of Madhya Pradesh. During the last few years he has worked extensively in the areas of globalisation, tribal development and culture of consumption besides Sociology of Law.

Interest: Maritime Security, East Asian Studies

Dr. Joshy M Paul is a Research Fellow at CAPS, focusing on the PLA Navy. He has fifteen years of research-cum-academic experience on Asian Security, East Asian Affairs and Maritime Security of the Indo-Pacific. Before joining CAPS, he worked as an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Studies, School of Law, Christ University, Bangalore, and also with a premier naval think tank, National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi. He earned an M Phil and Ph D in International Politics from CIPOD, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Interest: Indian Foreign Policy, US foreign policy, Terrorism, Security, Risk Analysis

Dr. Shreya Upadhyay is Assistant Professor, Christ (Deemed to be) University, Bangalore. She is also Honorary Deputy Director, Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies. She has worked as a risk analyst and has done projects with several research institutions, including the International Labor Organisation, the National Institute of Advanced Studies, the Takshashila Institution, etc. She holds a PhD degree in US Area Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University and was a Fulbright-Nehru scholar at American University, Washington DC.