Rate My Professor Ramesh Ganohariti

Ramesh Premaratne Ganohariti is a lecturer for the Bachelor Security Studies programme at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University, since 2017. He previously worked as a tutor for the BSc in Security Studies at the same institute. In 2023, he obtained his PhD in Political Science from Dublin City University, Ireland, with a dissertation entitled 'Citizenship and Contested Statehood: A Comparative Analysis of Aspirant States in the Former Soviet Space,' examining the relationship between contested statehood, citizenship regimes, and the politics of belonging in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria using lenses of multiplicity and human/state security. Ganohariti holds an MSc in International Relations and Diplomacy from Leiden University and a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Culture Studies and Languages from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan. His early career includes a research assistant position at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies in Sri Lanka and a public relations internship at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Tokyo. He serves as a Country Expert for the European University Institute's Globalcit Observatory.

Ganohariti's research focuses on citizenship and statelessness, ethnic identity politics, de facto states, statehood and self-determination, and human security. His key publications include the co-authored book Sub-State Recognition: The Politics of Recognition from Below (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025) with Gëzim Visoka; 'Redefining the demos: a tool for ethnodemographic security or a sign of backsliding? Evidence from Abkhazia' (Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2026); '(Non)recognition of legal identity in aspirant states: evidence from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria' (Citizenship Studies, 2024); 'Para- and Proto-Sports Diplomacy of Contested Territories: CONIFA as a Platform for Football Diplomacy' (The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 2020, with Ernst Dijxhoorn); 'Dual citizenship in De Facto States: comparative case study of Abkhazia and Transnistria' (Nationalities Papers, 2019); contributions to the Handbook on Public Diplomacy (2025), The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies (2021), and various working papers. His work has garnered over 120 citations on Google Scholar, contributing to scholarship on contested statehood and citizenship. Ganohariti delivers public lectures, such as on sub-state recognition, and participates in podcasts discussing border issues.