Gopal Balakrishnan

Gopal Balakrishnan (born February 27, 1966) is an American historian and scholar specializing in European intellectual history and political theory. Born in New Delhi, India, he later moved to the United States. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University in 1989, followed by a Master of Arts in 1993 and a Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His doctoral dissertation focused on Carl Schmitt. Balakrishnan held academic positions at the University of Chicago from 2001 to 2005. He then joined the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) in 2005, where he became an associate professor in the History of Consciousness Department in 2006 and a tenured professor in 2015. His scholarly work includes books such as "The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt" (2000) and "Antagonistics: Capitalism and Power in an Age of War" (2009). He also published numerous essays in "New Left Review." In 2017, allegations of sexual assault against Balakrishnan emerged, leading to an investigation by UCSC. This investigation resulted in his termination from the university in September 2019, making him the first tenured faculty member to be fired at UCSC.