Manjeet Ramgotra

Dr Manjeet Ramgotra

Independent Scholar Fellow 2020-21, Small Group Project 2020-21

Postcolonial Republicanism: The Indian Founding and its Impact

This study examines the founding of the Indian republic, it looks at its intellectual origins and considers how this moment produced an innovative postcolonial conception of republicanism. Manjeet's research contributes a new strand of thinking beyond mainstream Cambridge School understanding of republicanism that considers republicanism to be a neglected ideal in the history of western political thought.

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Decolonising political thought: a reconsideration of political thinkers

With Simon Choat

A two-day workshop with invited participants presenting papers on different aspects of the decolonisation of political thought. The ultimate aim is to use the workshop to establish a global network of scholars committed to decolonising political thought. The project is by its nature interdisciplinary, as both our intended participants and the thinkers they will discuss come from a range of disciplinary backgrounds.

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Research outcomes

Ramgotra, M. (2025)

Republics in the Commonwealth hiding under the Crown? A historical perspective. https://www.cpahq.org/knowledge-centre/blogs/republics-in-the-commonwealth-hiding-under-the-crown/

Ramgotra, M., & Choat, S. (Eds.). (2023).

Rethinking Political Thinkers. Oxford University Press.

Ramgotra, M. (2022).

Time, modernity and space: Montesquieu’s and Constant’s ancient/modern binaries. History of European Ideas, 48(3), 263–279.

Areas of interest

Political Theory Republicanism Anti-Colonialism Decolonisation India Southern Asia

Cohort

ISF6 FG6

Biography

Manjeet Ramgotra is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS University of London (UK). She was awarded an Independent Scholars Fellowship with the Independent Social Research Foundation in 2020. In April 2025, she was nominated to be a Founding Fellow of the UK Political Studies Association. Her research focuses on republicanism and its entanglements with imperialism in both the history of European political ideas and anti-colonial political thought. In particular, she examines postcolonial conceptions of the republic in the Indian independence movement.

Recently, she co-organised a series of three workshops in Paris and London on Republicanism in Action in the British Empire. She is a strong advocate of decolonising the curriculum and co-edited a book on Decolonising Curricula and Pedagogy in Higher Education (Routledge, 2021). Her recent textbook Rethinking Political Thinkers (OUP, 2023) reimagines the field of political theory beyond the canon.

Biographical details correct as of 16.03.26