InDocSem - First session with Kunal PANDA & Yacine MOUSLI

This seminar is part of InDocSem, the first interdisciplinary doctoral seminar at Sciences Po, which promotes dialogue across disciplines within the Sciences Po Doctoral School. It aims to challenge approaches and methodologies, connecting doctoral candidates from diverse fields of study around a common topic or area of research, fostering a vibrant scientific community.

Kunal PANDA

Second-year doctoral student in Economics, Department of Economics
Essays in Decolonial Development 

Title: Preventive Care, Land Use, and Undernutrition: Unravelling the Colonial Mechanism in India

Abstract: This paper examines the anthropometric health indicators of infants across postcolonial India, focusing on the impact of (in)direct British rule. Utilizing novel data on colonial state capacity, the study reveals new mechanisms behind the persistence of health disparities. By controlling for selective annexation through an exogenous policy that divided India into directly ruled British territories and Native States, the analysis shows that regions under direct British rule exhibit worse health outcomes today. These disparities are attributed to the lack of preventive care during British rule, prioritizing short-term disease prevention, and emphasizing cash-crop-oriented landlordism. Moreover, the findings highlight how deteriorating demographics, material conditions, and food production continue to reflect the enduring negative legacy of British colonialism on public health.

Yacine MOUSLI

First-year doctoral student in Law, Sciences Po Law School PhD Program
Decolonial theory and constitutional law

Title: Decolonial Theory and Constitutional Law

Abstract: The presentation will introduce decolonial methodologies and their constitutional law applications. After describing the core principles of decolonial theory, I will share an overview of decolonial initiatives in constitutions from the Global South. This empirical overview shows how decolonial constitutionalism subverts traditional and euro-centred concepts of constitutional law. Decolonising constitutional law is an ongoing process, partly because its results are continuously debated.