School of Humanities & Social Sciences (SHSS)

Dean: Prof. Ajay Kumar Singh

This School offers programs in humanities and social sciences. The School consists of the Department of Islamic Studies, Center for Federal Studies, Public Policies and Governance, Department of Human Rights and Hamdard Institute of International Studies. The school has gradually emerged as one of important centres of knowledge offering critical studies in the different dimension of knowledge. Its strength lies in the promotion of interface studies across disciplines. 

MISSION

To emerge as a major school of thought on different dimensions of human sciences of knowledge.

VISION

• To promote alternative studies in the plural domains of knowledge.

• To promote interface studies across disciplines.

• To expand in the emerging fields of knowledge relevant to human civilization in the twenty first century.

• To promote studies in the field of Islamic sciences of knowledge, Human Rights, Policy and Governance studies, and new age International Politics.

• To develop professional and academic expertise of students to emerge as leaders in their respective fields of specialization.

• To collaborate with international centres of excellence.

Centre for Federal Studies, Public Policies and Governance

 The Centre, formally established in 1993, is

• A member centre of the prestigious International Association of Centers for Federal Studies (IACFS),

  • Exclusively dedicated to promote advance studies, researches and teachings on the dimensionalities of federal studies, public policies and governance in national and international perspectives.

  • Committed to propound alternative paradigms of knowledge relevant to the academic trajectories of social sciences in the twenty first century.

  • Dedicated to promote inter/multidisciplinary research and teachings in the applied domain of social/human sciences.

  • Internationally known for its original studies in the fields of federal studies, public policy & governance.

  • Widely known for reorienting contemporary debates on Indian federalism, policies and politics.

  • Centre has been part of almost all major global projects on federalism/federal studies

  • Centre is unconventional in nature and scientific in temperament bridging the traditional divide between natural sciences and social sciences.

Founding Mandate

• To develop as an exclusive knowledge resource centre and to grow as internationally acclaimed resource repository on various dimensions of federal studies, public policies and governance in India and other polities of the world.

• To convert academic studies into pragmatic policies i.e. to provide policy alternatives, and

• To promote blended/fusion studies particularly in the applied fields of Political Science, Economics, Law, Federal Studies, Administrative Sciences and others.

MISSION

To emerge as a major centre of global eminence on federal studies and policy governance.

VISION

• To promote inter/ multi-disciplinary studies in the fields of federal studies, public policies and governance.

• To promote advance theorization in the discipline of federal studies and policy sciences.

• To convert academic studies into pragmatic policies.

• To contribute significantly towards emerging paradigms of the twenty first century.

• To emerge as global reference centre on South Asian federalism, besides comparative studies of all major federations and democracies of the world

• To promote collaborative studies with member centres of IACFS.

Areas of Advance Studies and Research

• Federal theories and philosophy

• Comparative federalism

• Coalition studies

• Political ecology and development studies

• Public Policy and Governance (Design Specific) Studies

• Politics and economics of state’s regulation, and regulatory governance

• Sectorial analysis of state policies including science, technology, natural resources, and welfare.

• Political linguistics and discourses.

• Decentralization, development and empowerment

• Politics of bio-social space ( genetics and identity politics)

• Contemporary nationalism

• Globalization and global governance

• Indian Government and politics

• Working of the Union Model of Indian Federalism

• Social/Regional Movements

• Political psychology, behavioral economics and public choices

• Local Self-Government

• Election Studies, party politics and parliamentary democracy

• Political economy and public finance

• New modes of governance such as corporate and networked governance, good governance etc.

• Judicial behavior and politics of benches

• Health humanities and pandemic governance

• Environmental governance and disaster management

• Politics and economics of climate change

Methodologically the Centre promotes interdisciplinary and interface studies on above mentioned themes. It prefers case specific, simulated and guided modes of teachings and research.

Undergraduate Programme

Four years research based multidisciplinary programme in B.A. (Politics and Governance).

Developed in accordance with NEP 2020, and at the inter-sectionality of the Political Science, Governance Studies, Economics, Federal Studies, Public Policy, New Public Management and other important knowledge system, the critical strength of the programme are as follows:

• Unlike conventional Political Science programme focusing more on government, the programme largely deals with new age politics and governance.

• Being thoroughly inter/multidisciplinary programme, students will be equipped with knowledge essential to and in conformity with the academic and professional priorities of the 21^st century.

• Being a critical blend of applied theories and practices, the programme seeks to outdo disciplinary regimentation, marked by linearity and excessive textualism and prototyping. 

• Its pedagogy is likely to promote guided self-learning and application of theories in real life situations.

• Being a research based programme, students will have significant edge not only in branding themselves as subject experts, but also in the professions which they may opt after successful completion of the programme.

• For building students’ competences, a mix of theory, case study and field based problems’ identification and solutions is followed. Skill development and internship are added features of the programme.

Post Graduate Programme

M.A. (Politics, Governance and Public Policy)

Essentially a research based programme, the course has been designed in a manner as to promote inter-disciplinary perspectives/or multidisciplinary studies of public policy governance in comparative settings with advance specialization in different policy sectors of India. Broad objectives of the course include:

• To enrich epistemological canvas of the students.

• To train them in political ecology, policy planning and analysis.

• To develop alternative paradigms of public policy.

• To promote experimental designs of policy formulations and its governance.

• To find appropriate fit between politics, policy development and governance models.

• To contribute to the philosophy of knowledge in general, and policy sciences and governance studies in particular.

Ph.D. in Federal Studies

The centre promotes advance researches in the contemporary challenges of politics, public policy and governance studies. We encourage data based quantitative and qualitative studies. Researchers are professionally guided to produce original studies in the above listed and related field of studies.  We further encourage our researchers to follow multidisciplinary methodology. Some of the stated objectives are:

·         Benchmarking

·         Policy Contribution

·         High end scholarship

·         Disciplinary Contribution

·         Knowledge Leadership

Academic Staff

Prof. Ajay Kumar Singh, Head & Professor

Dr. Neha Kishore Banka, Assistant Professor

Dr. Khalid Ansari, Assistant Professor

Dr. Zainab Farhat, Assistant Professor

Technical Guidance

 Mr. Javed Azmi, Computer Programmer