Department of Political Science

Emeritus Professor Y.R. Amarasinghe was a distinguished scholar who commenced his career as Assistant Lecturer in 1967, he advanced to Chair the Department of Political Science (1998–2008) and served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts (2003–2006) at the University of Peradeniya. He obtained a BA from the University of Ceylon, a B.Phil. from the University of York, and a PhD from the University of London, with a doctoral thesis on Trotskyism in Ceylon. His scholarly expertise was recognized internationally through appointments as a Visiting Professor and Research Fellow in the United States, India, and Japan. Domestically, he contributed to key national advisory bodies - including the National Advisory Council on Peace and Reconciliation, the Official Language Commission, and the National Science Foundation, while advising ministries such as Constitutional Affairs and Justice. A strong administrator and principled academic leader, Professor Amarasinghe remains a role model and enduring source of inspiration for subsequent generations of scholars in the department. Some of his publications include:

• Power sharing: The international experience (2011). With Wickramaratne, J., Institute for Constitutional Studies.
• Twenty two years of devolution: An evaluation of the working of provincial councils in Sri Lanka (2010). Institute for Constitutional Studies.
• A study on the issues related to the enforcement of environmental laws: Sri Lanka and Japan (2002). With Ajia Keizai Kenkyūjo, & Nihon Bōeki Shinkōkai. Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization.
• Provincial council experience: Centre - Province relations (2000). In Devolution experience in Sri Lanka, 1988- 1998 (pp. 16–43). Colombo: National Integration Programme Unit.
• Revolutionary idealism and parliamentary politics: A study of Trotskyism in Sri Lanka (1998). Colombo: Social Scientists' Association.
• Internationalism vs. Parliamentarism: Fourth International and the Ceylonese Trotskyites (1976). Modern Ceylon Studies, 7(1), 89-90.