Dr Aswathi A Nair - RV University

Dr Aswathi A Nair

Assistant Professor


  • About
  • Publication & Works
  • Research Summary
  • Awards & Achievements

As a doctorate holder in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University and as a recipient of the ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship in the field of Area Studies, my core research interests include international political economy, geopolitics, decolonization of indigenous knowledge systems, and policy analysis, with specific focus on the possibility of policy alternatives for the developing world. My attempt as a social science researcher has always been to provide for an insightful view of the behaviour, attitudes, opinions and motivations of people in relation to the contours of state policies. Accordingly, my research interest in international political economy as well as geopolitics emerged out of how it fundamentally throws insights into the likely behaviour of states. My PhD work on the Political Economy of Transformation in Zimbabwe, 1980-2013 sought to inquire into and understand the economic and political instabilities in the country as the consequence of the state system’s failure to introduce pragmatic policies in tandem with the socio-cultural milieu of the continent. My current research interest is centred on exploring the potential of traditional justice mechanisms in Sub-Saharan African countries to effectively complement conventional judicial systems, along with their ability to link justice to democratic development. My attempt has been to develop critical insights towards the idea and practice of justice in Sub-Saharan Africa, from a consent and justice- oriented informal system that accorded primacy to better access to justice to a purely state centred concept of the rule of law. Interrogating the modern justice system’s commitment to instrumental objectives such as reconciliation, accountability, truth-telling, legitimacy and reparation, and their role in restoring and rebuilding hope and confidence in conflict-ridden communities of Sub-Saharan Africa, has been the focus of my current research paper. I believe that inquiring in to the viability of the traditional socio-religious systems in promoting justice, reconciliation and a culture of democracy, equips me to initiate conversations on the Eurocentric bias or basis of the formal legal structures that most often obscures the lived experiences of indigenous communities world over.

Golden divider

Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.

Delineating the Western Orders of Rights and Reason in Post-Colonial Africa: An Appraisal of the Zimbabwean Variant Under and After Mugabe” in the African Journal of Political Science (ISSN 1027-0353, Vol. 10, No.1) in June, 2022.


“End of Mugabe’s Regime and the Beginning of a New Mugabean Regime: Reworking the Praxis of Politics and Power in Present-Day Zimbabwe” in the Economic & Political Weekly (ISSN 0012- 9976,Vol.55, No.35) on 29th August 2020.


“State, Capital & Labour: Contours of a Political Economy in Transition in Zimbabwe” in a quarterly journal, Annals of Multi-Disciplinary Research (ISSN 2249-8893, Vol. VII, Issue I) in March 2017.


  • My PhD work on the Political Economy of Transformation in Zimbabwe, 1980-2013 was an attempt to interrogate the behaviour of governments in underdeveloped/ developing countries like Zimbabwe, as revealed by their economic policy decisions over a period of time.
  • As economic growth is a critical factor influencing poverty, the need to have in place stable macroeconomic policies to achieve growth along with efficient public investment in a country’s health, education, and other priority social service sectors was a key focus area of my doctoral thesis.
  • Further as any study of geopolitics or foreign policy relations has always pivoted on the state as the main power agency in the world, my field experience as a researcher in Zimbabwe helped me adopt both a classical and critical approach to international relations as a researcher and teacher- the former focusing on the interrelationship between the territorial interests of a state and its geographical environments, and the latter inclining more towards the role of discourse and ideology.
  • Research Interests
  • My current research interest is centred on exploring the potential of traditional justice mechanisms in Sub-Saharan African countries to effectively complement conventional judicial systems, along with their ability to link justice to democratic development. My attempt has been to develop critical insights towards the idea and practice of justice in Sub-Saharan Africa, from a consent and justice- oriented informal system that accorded primacy to better access to justice to a purely state centred concept of the rule of law. Interrogating the modern justice system’s commitment to instrumental objectives such as reconciliation, accountability, truth-telling, legitimacy and reparation, and their role in restoring and rebuilding hope and confidence in conflict-ridden communities of Sub-Saharan Africa, has been the focus of my current research paper. I believe that inquiring in to the viability of the traditional socio-religious systems in promoting justice, reconciliation and a culture of democracy, equips me to initiate conversations on the Eurocentric bias or basis of the formal legal structures that most often obscures the lived experiences of indigenous communities world over.
  • ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship (2017-2018)

Let's Chat
1
Need Help ?
Hello! Thank you for expressing your interest in RV University. 👋

If you have any enquiries or questions regarding our courses and admissions, we are happy to assist you with all your needs. 😊