Introduction

Dr Rajni Gamage is a Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS). Her research interests are the politics of governance and state transformation, and development and inequality in Sri Lanka. She holds a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from the School of Political Science & International Studies (POLSIS), University of Queensland; a Post-doctorate from ISAS, NUS; an MSc in International Relations from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Relations (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and a BSc in Political Science from NUS. She is a Visiting Researcher at the Center for South Asian Studies (CSAS), Gifu Women’s University, Japan (April 2025-March 2026).

Her PhD titled ‘Nation as Village: Historicising the Authoritarian Populist Regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka’, was a critical analysis of the politics of Rajapaksism in Sri Lanka. Among her other publications are “Negotiating left politics in Sri Lanka: The NPP in government,” “Authoritarian Politics and Gender in Sri Lanka: A Survey (Routledge, 2024),” “Reforms in Sri Lanka: Emerging Trends in Elite Politics,” (Economic & Political Weekly, 2023), and “Buddhist Nationalism, Authoritarian Populism, and the Muslim Other in Sri Lanka,” (Islamophobia Studies Journal, 2021).

Prior to joining ISAS, Dr Gamage worked as a researcher in Colombo, Sri Lanka and as a senior analyst at RSIS, NTU.

Areas of Interest and Expertise

• Domestic Politics and Political Parties in Sri Lanka
• Democracy Studies
• Politics of Development and Inequality
• Foreign Policy & Security Issues in Sri Lanka