Balakrishnan's work displays a vast, interdisciplinary erudition spanning the fields of history, political theory, philosophy, and economics. This breadth of interests formed the basis of his doctoral research, which evolved into his groundbreaking first book, "The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt." This work provided a meticulous analysis of Schmitt’s political thought conceived as a series of responses to the crises of the German and European state systems from 1919 to 1945. This work presented the first comprehensive account of Schmitt’s work in any language.
A collection of his essays, "Antagonistics: Capitalism and Power in an Age of War," came out subsequently offering reflections on the history of the interstate system and the future of warfare, the significance of Machiavelli as a theorist of the founding of new orders, of De Tocqueville as a conservative critic of democracy, and on the European origins of identity politics.
Beyond his extensive research and publications, Balakrishnan has contributed significantly as an editor, curating impactful collections on the themes of nationalism and the forms of empire in a supposedly post-national age.
Balakrishnan currently participates in a number of study groups and private seminars on topics as varied as classical political economy, Marxist writing on the Graeco-Roman world, and the Bible in its historical context. Here he seeks to inspire others with the spirit of pure intellectual inquiry, free from current fashion and ideological pieties.
Currently, Gopal Balakrishnan is working on a reconstruction of Marx’s Capital that uncovers its partly concealed conceptual organization demonstrating the assumptions upon which it rests and the questions these raise.
