Rajen Harshé

Rajen Harshé

Rajendra Govind Harshé, professionally better known as Rajen Harshé is a founder and former Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Allahabad (2005-10). He was also President of the G.B. Pant Social Science institute, a constituent institute of the University of Allahabad, Pryagraj (2014-2020). Dr. Harshé is an eminent social scientist, a distinguished scholar in international relations studies and an educationist. He taught at the Department of International Relations, South Asian University, New Delhi and the Department of Political Science of the University of Hyderabad. A Ph. D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University (J.N.U.) he did part of his doctoral work at the Fondation Nationale Des Sciences Politiques of Paris on a French Government Fellowship (1973-75). He was a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University, New York (1985-86) where he did his post-doctoral research. He was also Linneus-Palme fellow at the Uppsala University, Sweden in Oct-Nov.2003. As a part of the Indian delegation of Vice Chancellors he visited the U.S.A. on International Visitors’ Leadership Program (IVLP) in September 2007. Prof. Harshe has travelled quite widely on important assignments as member /leader of national delegations or a visiting scholar in several countries. He was a member of Indo-Russian Joint Commission for cooperation in social sciences (1997-2003). Besides, he was President of the African Studies Association of India (2005-11), sectional President of the Indian History Congress for the year (2009-10), President of the Indian Congress of Asian and Pacific Studies (2009-10) and Editor in Chief of Africa Review (2006-12). He also has been a member of the Indian National Commission for the cooperation with the UNESCO. Furthermore, he has received several honours, including Honorary Colonel (2007), Fergusson Gaurav Award (2007) and Amity Academic Excellence Award (2008) etc. Among the several books and a wide range of articles that he has written his seminal work entitled Twentieth Century Imperialism Shifting Contours and Changing Conceptions (New Delhi, London, Thousand Oaks, Sage: 1997) has earned him enviable international recognition. His latest book is Africa in World Affairs: Politics of Imperialism, the Cold War and Globalization (Oxon, London, New Delhi, Routledge: 2019). One of the significant contributions of Prof. Harshé to policy oriented issues appeared when he completed a monograph on 'Stakeholder Participation in the Andhra Pradesh Reform Process' (2001) for the World Bank. Dr. Harshé has been a member of several search committees of Vice Chancellors of central and state universities. As expert/advisor he has been associated prestigious academic institutions in India, the Ministry of External Affairs, and Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, the World Bank, the then Planning Commission of India, the National Knowledge Commission, the Ford Foundation, Fulbright Foundation, the European Commission, UNESCO, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).