Dr. Jayatilleka is a former Ambassador to the UN (Geneva), UNESCO, France and Russia,
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A POLITICAL SCIENTIST,
a columnist in leading English language newspapers in Sri Lanka,
a former political analyst/commentator on TV.
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And an author.
Key highlights of Dr. Jayatilleka’s work and accomplishments
Dr. Jayatilleka graduated with a First-Class Honours degree in Political Science from the University of Peradeniya in 1981, receiving the prestigious CL Wickremesinghe Award for Best Results in Political Science which had been last awarded decades before.
He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and was a doctoral student under Immanuel Wallerstein, Giovanni Arrighi, Mark Selden and James Petras at the State University of New York, Binghamton.
He received a MPhil degree from the University of Colombo and a PhD in Political Science from Griffith University in Australia. He spent a year at the University of Singapore at the Institute of South Asian Studies as a Senior Fellow.
Dr. Jayatilleka has been a prolific presence in the Sri Lankan media, both on TV, Radio and in Newspapers for over 45 years.
He was associate editor of the fortnightly journal Lanka Guardian. Dr. Jayatilleka has essays and interviews also published in several international journals.
His most recent essays have been published in the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and Russia in Global Affairs, a publication influential with the Kremlin, following his stint as Ambassador to Russia.
In his twenties, he was a political activist and became the youngest Minister of the Provincial Council System as Minister of Planning and Youth Affairs.
Later he became a Central Committee member of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party and an Assistant Secretary of the party.
He worked closely with President Ranasinghe Premadasa and was appointed by him as Director, Conflict Studies at the Institute of Policy Studies, during the period of Civil Wars in Sri Lanka.
He was the Executive Director of the Premadasa Centre, which engaged in development research and community outreach.
Dr. Jayatilleka’s abiding interest remains Political Philosophy and International Relations apart from a lifelong interest in rock, blues, and jazz, which made him especially proud to be one of the founding Ambassadors of International Jazz Day at the UNESCO in 2012, an initiative led by Herbie Hancock.
Dr. Jayatilleka currently writes a weekly political column to the leading financial newspaper, the Daily FT in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
