Gopal Balakrishnan (gopalbalakrishnan)

Gopal Balakrishnan specializes in European history and political theory. His works critically examine the history of capitalism and the modern inter-state system.

In recent years, Balakrishnan’s focus has shifted toward an in-depth analysis of Karl Marx's economic thought, its logical organization, and historical premises. His goal is to uncover concealed dimensions of Marx’s system in order to examine its fundamental assumptions and assess its contemporary adequacy as a theory of the structure and history of capitalism.

His collaboration with the journal SS African Mercury is particularly notable, as it provides him with a platform to engage robustly with current intellectual debates. Through his work with the journal, he critically examines and contributes to discussions on political and cultural phenomena, ensuring his insights remain relevant to both scholarly and artistic discussions.

Gopal Balakrishnan writes on modern European intellectual history, political theory, philosophy, and economic history. He began his intellectual career as an undergraduate and embarked on his scholarly journey at Cornell University. There, he distinguished himself and where he received a College Scholar B.A. in 1989. He continued his course of studies and academic pursuits, where he completed a Ph.D. in Modern European History in 1998. Subsequently, he was honored with prestigious awards, including the Jean Monnet Fellowship at the European University Institute in Florence and the Harper Schmidt Fellowship at the University of Chicago.

From the beginning of his academic career, he demonstrated a profound commitment to interdisciplinary study, profoundly exploring the intersections of history, philosophy, and social sciences. His interdisciplinary formation laid the groundwork for his first major publication, "The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt." This book study reconstructed the trajectory of Schmitt’s intellectual and political evolution across the Weimar and Nazi periods. He further explored these themes in his subsequent work, Many of the themes of this study were addressed in "Antagonistics: Capitalism and Power in an Age of War," a collection of his essays offering original perspectives on geopolitics, capitalism, and democracy.

This author has no Featured articles yet