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.
One Year On: Reading the NPP “From Below and to the Left”
Janaka Biyanwila
The National People’s Power (NPP) in Sri Lanka achieved a significant two-thirds parliamentary majority in the...
Declaration of the Peoples’ Summit towards COP30
Peoples’ Summit
16.11.25 - Belém (Brazil) We, the Peoples’ Summit, gathered in Belém do Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon, from 12 to 16...
Gehenu Api Eka Mitata: Building a Women’s Political Movement in Sri Lanka
Kaushalya Ariyarathne
The recent election of 22 women to Sri Lanka’s new parliament in November 2024 has sparked significant interest and...
Safety is Not a Wall: Beyond Protection from Domestic Violence
Prasanna Pitigala Liyanage
Call her N.The night she left, she packed her phone, her NIC, and a small bag.A friend waited in a trishaw.At the...
“There is nothing inherently liberatory in the imagination, but it must be made so”
Vajra Chandrasekera
From the Editors: Our warm congratulations to Vajra Chandrasekera, whose writing we have been pleased to feature, on...
Transgender Sex Work in Sri Lanka: The Politics of Nachchi Sex Workers. Kaushalya Ariyarathne. Palgrave Macmillan, 2025.
F. Zahrah Rizwan
Groundbreaking is the word that echoes through Kaushalya Ariyarathne’s book, Transgender Sex Work in Sri Lanka: The...
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.