Polity aims to advance democratic consciousness, gender equality, state reform, and social change in Sri Lanka, while interested in South Asia and the World.
As its predecessor Pravada (1991-2002), Polity is published by the Social Scientists’ Association in Colombo, with critical content on politics, political economy, history, women, ethnicity, sexualities, religion, labour studies, agrarian relations, nationalisms, violence, ecology, and much more.
When crises converge: how uneven agrarian development influences the effects of climate change in Sri Lanka’s North-Central dry zone
Harry M. Quealy and Cherisma Rajaratnam
In 2016-2017, Sri Lanka’s North-Central dry zone suffered what had been described as the worst drought in decades...
Palestine and Us
Editors
Three months of atrocity upon atrocity and abomination upon abomination have passed since the dogs of war were...
Budget 2024: ‘Deep Marketisation’ in Sri Lanka
B. Skanthakumar
Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Budget for 2024 had safe passage on third reading on 13 December as expected, with a majority...
2024 and Beyond: Electoral Politics and the Left
Devaka Gunawardena
Amid a suffocating consensus on austerity, any opportunity to expand on the current stakes of Left strategy in Sri...
Why 2024 Will Not Be 2015 Redux
Ramindu Perera
Amidst the woes of a deepening economic crisis and the disastrous effect of International Monetary Fund-dictated...
Fault Lines in Indian Agriculture: Solidarities and Contradictions in Southern Haryana
Srishti Yadav
November 2023 marks three years of the historic farmers’ protests in India that captured the imagination of people in...
Current Issue
Out Now! Vol. 13 No. 2 (July – December 2025). 148 pages. #SriLanka. Politics. Cyclone Ditwah. Ecology. Feminism. Education. Justice. Domestic Violence Act. History. Culture. Work. Labour. Books. Cover Picture Sakuna M. Gamage. LKR1000 from the Social Scientists’ Association or Barefoot or SLBOOKS.lk.
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Archive
Pravada (1991-2002) and Polity (2003-) back issues available here.
Social Scientists’ Association
The Social Scientists’ Association (SSA) was founded in 1977, at a turning point in Sri Lankan politics, economy, and society, marked by among other aspects: the ‘open economy’ market reforms; deepening ethnic conflict; and the growing concentration of executive power. Its initiators were academics from public universities, seeking an autonomous space to grapple with these shifts; and to promote progressive political, economic, and social change.