Gopal Balakrishnan

Gopal Balakrishnan
Born (1966-02-27) February 27, 1966[4]
New Delhi, India[1]
Occupationscholar
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles (Ph.D., 1998) (M.A., 1993)
Cornell University (B.A., 1989)[1]
Thesis'The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt' (1998)
Doctoral advisorRobert Brenner, Perry Anderson[2]
Academic work
DisciplineHistorian
Sub-disciplineEuropean Intellectual History
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Santa Cruz (2005-2019)
University of Chicago (2001-2005)[3]
Websitegopal-balakrishnan.com

Gopal Balakrishnan (born February 27, 1966) is an American historian and scholar of European intellectual history and political theory. He served as professor in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 2015 to 2019.[5]

Education

Balakrishnan completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at Cornell University in 1989. He later studied European intellectual history and historical sociology at UCLA during the 1990s with Perry Anderson, Robert Brenner, Rogers Brubaker, and Michael Mann. He received a Master of Arts degree from UCLA in 1993 and completed his Ph.D. in 1998. His doctoral dissertation, The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt, examined the political thought of the German legal theorist Carl Schmitt and later formed the basis of his book of the same name. His research during this period focused on political thought, intellectual history, and critical theory.

Career

After completing his doctorate in 1998, Balakrishnan held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. In 2001 he joined the University of Chicago faculty, where he taught until 2005.[6]

Balakrishnan joined the University of California, Santa Cruz as a faculty member in 2005.[7] In 2006, he was appointed associate professor in the university’s History of Consciousness Department.[8] In 2015, he was promoted to professor and granted tenure.[9]

Scholarly Work

Balakrishnan’s academic work has been the subject of discussion in several independent scholarly publications. A review in the American Historical Review characterized his book The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt as a systematic study that situates Schmitt’s political theory within the broader crises of twentieth-century European history.[10]

In a review for Newsday, critic Scott McLemee described The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt as a “stimulating” examination of Schmitt’s political thought, noting that the book engages with themes that remain unsettling in contemporary debates.[11] In Boston Review, William E. Scheuerman praised Balakrishnan’s The Enemy for “usefully highlight[ing] those facets of [Schmitt’s] thinking that anticipate present‑day left‑wing political and intellectual concerns.”[12]

In his book Antagonistics: Capitalism and Power in an Age of War (2009), Balakrishnan analyzed the global political economy and the geopolitical dynamics of contemporary capitalism.[13]

From 1995 to 2017, he published essays in New Left Review on geopolitics, sovereignty, and economic stagnation that have been referenced in critical-theory scholarship for their engagement with debates on state power and the long-term trajectory of global capitalism.[14]

Controversy

In 2017, a number of people published allegations that Balakrishnan had committed sexual assault on multiple occasions. UC Santa Cruz launched an investigation in 2017 that was extended in May 2018.[15][16] In October 2018, Balakrishnan remained on paid administrative leave.[17][18][19][20] He subsequently resigned as a member of the editorial board of the New Left Review.[3] In September 2019, he was fired from his position at UCSC, becoming the first tenured faculty member to be fired at UCSC.[21][22]

Selected publications

Books

  • Balakrishnan, Gopal; Anderson, Benedict, eds. (1996). Mapping the nation. Verso.
  • Balakrishnan, Gopal (2000). The enemy: an intellectual portrait of Carl Schmitt. Verso.
  • Balakrishnan, Gopal, ed. (2003). Debating Empire. Verso.
  • Balakrishnan, Gopal (2009). Antagonistics: capitalism and power in an age of war. Verso.

Articles

Review of the book Empire by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri.
Review of the book The Shield of Achilles by Philip Bobbitt.
Review of the book Valences of the Dialectic by Frederic Jameson.

References

  1. ^ a b Balakrishnan 1998, p. iv.
  2. ^ Balakrishnan 1998, p. ii.
  3. ^ a b Faculty Homepage at UC Santa Cruz
  4. ^ Balakrishnan, Gopal (1998). The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt (Ph.D.). University of California, Los Angeles. p. iv. OCLC 41036825. ProQuest 304448547.
  5. ^ Mangan, Katherine (January 5, 2018). "How Sexual-Assault Accusations Against a Professor Brought Paranoia to His Campus". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
  6. ^ "Directory". histcon.ucsc.edu. Archived from the original on April 29, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2026.
  7. ^ "University Could Terminate A Professor For Off Campus Sexually Abusive Conduct Towards Two Women Who Were Not Students". Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. February 28, 2024. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
  8. ^ "Regular Faculty". histcon.ucsc.edu. Archived from the original on December 9, 2013. Retrieved March 19, 2026.
  9. ^ "Regular Faculty". histcon.ucsc.edu. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2026.
  10. ^ Stackelberg, Roderick (December 1, 2002). "Gopal Balakrishnan. The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt . New York: Verso. 2000. Pp. vi, 312. $40.00". The American Historical Review. 107 (5): 1654–1656. doi:10.1086/ahr/107.5.1654. ISSN 1937-5239.
  11. ^ Mclemee, Scott (December 29, 2002). "The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt (review)". Newsday (Suffolk Edition). p. 183 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Scheuerman, William E. (April 1, 2001). "Down on Law: On Carl Schmitt, Germany's most influential jurist of the authoritarian right wing". Boston Review. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
  13. ^ Balakrishnan, Gopal (2009). Antagonistics: capital and power in an age of war. London ; New York: Verso. ISBN 978-1-84467-269-1.
  14. ^ Balakrishnan, Gopal (October 2009). "Speculations on the stationary state". New Left Review. II (59). Retrieved November 24, 2025.
  15. ^ "Some Called It "Vigilante Justice." But An Anonymous Campaign Triggered A Real Investigation Into A UC Santa Cruz Professor". BuzzFeed. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  16. ^ Gladu, Sydney (May 17, 2018). "Sexual Harassment and Assault Allegations Build Against UCSC Professor | City on a Hill Press". www.cityonahillpress.com. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  17. ^ Johnson, Laretta (October 4, 2018). "Balakrishnan Case Closed". City on a Hill Press. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  18. ^ "Professor at UC-Santa Cruz Disputes Sexual-Assault Accusations". The Chronicle of Higher Education. December 3, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  19. ^ Coleman, Mary (December 4, 2017). "Multiple allegations against UCSC professor claim he sexually assaulted/harassed them". KION-TV. Archived from the original on February 20, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  20. ^ Kulkarni, Bhargavi (January 19, 2018). "Calif. professor denies sexual harassment charges". India Abroad. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  21. ^ "Statement on dismissed faculty member|". UCSC Public Affairs. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  22. ^ "UC Santa Cruz Has Fired A Professor After He Violated The University's Harassment Policy". BuzzFeed. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
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