Dr. ARUN KANTI JANA

Professor

Department of Political Science

Faculty of Arts, Commerce and Law

University of North Bengal

                                                                                                                    Raja Rammohanpur

Darjeeling-734013

West Bengal, INDIA

Introduction

Professor Arun Kanti Jana obtained his MA, MPhil and PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and he is currently working as a Professor in Political Science at the University of North Bengal, India. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES), Kandy, Sri Lanka for four months in 2005. His areas of interest include; Political Economy of Development, Indian Politics, Social Movements, Identity Politics and Political Parties. He has contributed several articles to various journals and edited books apart from co-editing Class, Ideology and Political Parties in India (2002) and Development and Disorder: The Crises in Governance in the Northeast and East of India (2010). He was awarded the Manas Chatterjee award of excellence in Research on Regional Science in the Annual Indian Regional Science Association Conference in 2008.

His teaching activities at the Post Graduate (MA) level include a course in Western Political Thought, Political Economy of Development, Issues and Movements in Indian Politics and Electoral Politics. At the M Phil and PhD level his teaching activities include courses on Research Methodology/Research Designs and Methods, Social Movements and Political Process in India. Apart from taking classes at the MA, MPhil and PhD level he is also involved in the supervision of MPhil and PhD scholar’s who later on teach in Universities and Colleges.

Out of all the courses that he has taught he has enjoyed teaching three courses; Western Political Thought, Political Economy of Development at the MA level and a course in Research Methodology in MPhil and PhD course work level more than any other course. The courses that he has taught or is teaching are:

MA Courses Currently Teaching

1. Western Political Thought  (Shared Course)
2. Political Economy of Development   (Full Course)
3. Issues and Movements in Indian Politics  (Full Course) 
4. Electoral Politics  (Shared Course)

MA Courses Taught Earlier

a. International Relations Theory   

b. Political Parties in India

M Phil Courses currently Teaching

1. Research Designs and Methods, (Shared Course)
2. Social Movements and Political Process in India (Full Course)

MPhil Courses Taught Earlier

a. Marxist Political Economy   b. Regional Political Parties in India  c. Working Class and Peasant Movements in India

PhD Courses currently Teaching at the Course work Level

1. Research Designs and Methods (Course No. 102)

Course Content:

1. Research Process

2. Types of Research Design

3. Study of Applied Research Designs in major works in Political Science from Methodological Standpoint in the following areas:

a. Political Philosophy

b. Comparative Politics

c. Indian Politics

d. International Relations

e. Public Administration and Policy

Essential Readings

W. Lawrence Neuman, Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, Pearson Education Limited, Edinburgh, 2014. (Seventh Edition)

Kultar Singh, Quantitative Social Research Methods, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2007.

Tim May, Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process, Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education, Berkshire, 2011.

David Marsh & Gerry Stoker (Ed.) Theory and Methods in Political Science, Published by Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, 2010.

Sandra Halperin and Oliver Heath, Political Research Methods and Practical Skills, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012.

Keith F Punch, Introduction to Social Research; Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, Sage Publications London, 1998.

 Janet Buttolph Johnson, H. T. Reynolds & Jason D. Mycoff, Political Science Research Methods, Sage, Los Angeles, 2016.

Gary King, Robert O. Keohane & Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific  Inference in Qualitative Research, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1994.

Earl Babbie, The Practice of Social Research, Chapman University, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, Wadsworth, Belmont, 2010.

Stephen Gorard, Quantitative Methods in Social Science, continuum, New York, 2004 (Reprinted).

Peter Burnham, Karin Gilland, Wyn Grant & Zig Layton-Henry, Research Methods in Politics, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, 2004.    

Apart from teaching and supervising MPhil Dissertations and PhD Thesis he also undertakes research particularly empirical research. Political Science research is usually categorized into two types; Normative and Empirical research. He is keenly interested in the second type of research. The topics in which he has pursued his research work have all come from his teaching interests. Thus teaching courses had always helped him in selecting the area or topic of his research. Teaching thus in one way shapes his research area. Generation of new knowledge in the subject and dissemination of knowledge have gone hand in hand for him. His modest research activities have helped him in travelling to distant places both in the country and abroad for attending and participating in seminars/conferences and for delivering special lectures etc.