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The PhD programme in Politics at Krea University is dedicated to the sustained study of some of the most consequential questions in political life. Situated within the School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences, the programme places political inquiry in dialogue with the wider social sciences and humanities. This enables scholars to draw on diverse intellectual traditions and methods while remaining firmly grounded in the concepts, methods, and debates that define the discipline.
Doctoral scholars work closely with faculty whose research explores how power is organised and contested, how democracies negotiate diversity and inequality, how states and societies shape one another, and how identities, conflict, exclusion, and collective belonging transform political life. Faculty scholarship spans constitutionalism, law, and citizenship; governance, public policy, and the state; caste, religion, minority rights, democratic equality, and social justice; gender, power, and political life; nationalism and ethnic conflict; peace and security; international politics; and the changing relationship between technology, governance, and democracy. Particular attention is given to how artificial intelligence, digital infrastructures, and emerging forms of governance are reshaping citizenship, participation, representation, and public life.
At the heart of the programme is a culture of close intellectual engagement. Through seminars, workshops, reading groups, research colloquia, and regular interaction with visiting scholars and practitioners, doctoral researchers become active participants in a wider community of inquiry. Close collaboration with faculty enables scholars to develop intellectual independence while pursuing ambitious and sustained lines of inquiry.
At Krea, doctoral study in Politics begins with the conviction that important research grows out of important questions. Scholars are encouraged to engage critically with existing bodies of knowledge, challenge established assumptions, and develop new ways of understanding political life. The programme prepares researchers to contribute to enduring debates about power, justice, democracy, and political community while grappling with the transformations reshaping societies in India, the Global South, and the wider world.
Politics at Krea examines how power is organised, exercised, and contested, and how democratic societies negotiate questions of justice, identity, governance, and political change. Research is empirically grounded, theoretically informed, and attentive to the historical, social, institutional, and global forces that shape political life. Drawing on expertise across political science, political theory, public policy, and allied disciplines, the programme explores how political authority is constituted, challenged, and transformed in India, the Global South, and the wider world.
Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism
Core Questions: How do democracies sustain legitimacy and respond to diversity and inequality? How are citizenship, rights, and constitutional principles interpreted, contested, and transformed in plural societies? What institutions enable democratic participation, accountability, and justice?
Research Themes:
State, Governance and Public Policy
Core Questions: How is political authority exercised? How do institutions shape collective life? How are public policies formulated, implemented, and contested? What capacities enable states to respond to social and economic transformation?
Research Themes:
Identity, Difference, Conflict and Social Justice
Core Questions: How are identities formed, politicised, and contested? How do caste, religion, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality shape political experience? How are exclusion, conflict, and inequality reproduced, challenged, and transformed through political action?
Research Themes:
Global Politics, Development and Political Transformation
Core Questions: How do global and transnational processes reshape political authority and collective life? How do development, technological change, geopolitical transformations, and shifting forms of governance reshape political institutions and democratic life?
Research Themes:
Political Theory, Philosophy and Intellectual Histories
Core Questions: What concepts and ideals organise political life? How should we understand power, authority, freedom, equality, democracy, and justice? How do intellectual traditions shape political imagination across different historical and cultural contexts?
Research Themes:
*Please Note: A relaxation of 5% marks or equivalent will be given to candidates who belong to SC, ST, OBC (NCL), PwD, and EWS categories.
Faculty members are drawn from the best universities across the world and are a fine blend of academic expertise, combined with robust research credentials. Each year over 100 peer-reviewed publications published, combining rigorous scholarship and industry-linked expertise to guide PhD research across disciplines.
The pathway to becoming an able researcher seeks a blend of curiosity, critical thinking, perseverance, resilience and to top it all, a knack of handling uncertainty, and the Krea PhD scholars are all of these and more. They are driven with a singular aim to contribute to the welfare of humanity through academia, research, and industry.
Let’s help you take the first step into the Kreaverse. We encourage you to explore the various facets of the admissions process in-depth, and reach out to us in case of any queries. We are here to help.
