On 11th April 2025, Lady Shri Ram College Office of International Programmes (OIP) in collaboration with Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) organized a lecture session with Dr Subir Sinha, Director, SOAS South Asia Institute (SOAS, Department of Development Studies) on the topic “The Geopolitics of Development Studies: Then and Now”. Dr. Subir Sinha was accompanied by Durgha Ramji, International Recruitment and Conversion Manager (South Asia) SOAS University of London, and Mitika Tiwari, Student Recruitment Officer at UKIBC supporting SOAS University of London.
The lecture was attended by students and faculty members from various departments of LSR. Dr Sinha began by highlighting the five key moments in the history of development studies. From tracing its roots to the 19th-century anti-colonial movements and socialist movement, American Hegemony during the Cold War era, the 1960s with the emergence of modernization theory, the 1980s with the rise of neoliberalism, and the 2000s with the proliferation of postwar liberal world order, rise of decoloniality as state ideology in global south to poli-crisis of authoritarian populism. Dr Sinha walked the audience through the various phases of development studies, highlighting the shifts in the discourse and their implications on the field. He also discussed the current state of development studies, emphasizing the need for a more nuanced understanding of development that considers the global landscape’s complexities.
Dr Subir Sinha and his team briefed the students about the various programmes and opportunities available at SOAS University of London, including undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Development Studies and research opportunities in various fields.
