Write for Us

Spontaneous Order (SO), the digital publication of India’s leading liberal think tank Centre for Civil Society, is inviting article submissions to be featured on our platform. The publication aims to “explore the power of ideas” through a liberal lens and reignite the spirit of dialogue. With this motivation in mind, we think it is essential to establish a liberal platform for scholars/ academicians/ researchers who wish to analyse the current policy landscape and/or comment on contemporary topics.

We welcome contributions from domain experts in areas such as governance and public policy, history of Indian liberal thought, political economy of India as well as philosophy. Under the broader ambit of reexamining classical liberalism in an Indian context , we would also like to introduce three themes which we will be particularly focusing on across the next few months:

1. Liberal reforms in Education policy

Looking into policy perspectives that serve as alternatives to the State-centric narrative dominating the education landscape in India, the theme wishes to explore how private stakeholders and the market can play a more active role in the dissemination of quality and affordable education to children from low income families.

Focus Areas:

• Ease of opening and operating low- income private schools in India
• Education financing (discrepancy in fund allocation between Centre and State, as well as inefficient utilisation of allocated funds)
• Right to Education of Choice (ensuring school choice by empowering parental choice)
• PPP Solutions for ensuring affordable quality education to all
• Critical analysis of the RTE Act and its components

2. Making Markets work for the Poor

Breaking away from the clutches of economic orthodoxy, the theme looks into alternate market- based solutions as a means of tackling current maladies that plague our society and economy. By seeking to analyse the different ways in which market-based solutions can help curtail social inequality, and the policies/regulations (or the lack thereof) that can catalyse this effort, the theme seeks to further differentiate the narratives between crony capitalism and free markets.

Focus Areas:

• Free markets: An economic equaliser or not?
• Enabling entrepreneurship, removing barriers
• Reforming the Agricultural Sector using Market-Based solutions
• Developing Legal Frameworks for Marginalised Entrepreneurs (Street Vendors, Local Recyclers etc)
• Caste, Gender and Capitalism

3. Liberalism in India

In an effort to re-examine liberalism in an Indian context, we are inviting researchers/ academicians/ scholars to write about the history and scope of liberal thought in India. Delving into the economic, political and social motivations that formed the very essence of the liberal mind as seen today, we hope to discover / rediscover the Indian essence of this inclusive tradition of thought, and possibly analyse it from a historical perspective.

To know more, and/or to submit your entries, please contact akshita@ccs.in

Guidelines for prospective authors is provided below.

Hope you join us in our effort to uphold the virtues of freedom and accountability!

Regards,

Spontaneous Order Team

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

The following is a list of guidelines that all writers/ authors are expected to adhere to, while writing for Spontaneous Order. These would ensure that Spontaneous Order is able to maintain uniformity amongst the various elements that constitute it, thus enabling it to provide a more wholesome experience to the readership.

• Authors are expected to submit original work
• The content of the piece should focus on imparting either a new perspective or new information to the reader
• The flow of the argument should be clear- cut and backed by empirics wherever possible
• Sentences should be kept crisp (avoid beating around the bush)
• Spontaneous Order, first and foremost a liberal platform, holds in high regard the free exchange of ideas. Therefore, any author wishing to critique any particular strand of liberal thought is invited to do so, as long as said critique is free from vitriol and/ or unsubstantiated claims.
• All authors must be open to critique and should be respectful towards any suggestion put forth via readers/ fellow authors
• All authors are requested to be respectful towards any suggestion and/ or decision made by the review team
• All decisions will be contingent on the compatibility of the author/ content with the idea of the blog. Incase any misalignment is felt between the two, the review team reserves the right to reject the same.
• All articles will be subjected to a plagiarism check, hence it is expected of authors to submit original pieces and give credit where it is due. Incase the article has already been published elsewhere, the same is to be conveyed at the time of submission.
• Word Limit: 1500 max
• Citation style: APA/ Chicago (along with a bibliography)
• Content to be sent in a word doc format, along with a summary of the article (50- 60 words), picture of the author (15*15 pixels), brief about the author (60–70 words), picture accompanying the body of the text (optional)
• All articles are expected to follow English (UK).
• Authors are expected to send in an appropriate title for the content, however, if the review team feels a revision of the same is required then the author’s permission will be taken before publishing
• The article will be subjected to a rigorous review mechanism
• The response can either be a definitive “yes”/ “no”, or with suggestions for changes
• In case of changes, engagement will be restricted to a maximum of 2 rounds of review
• Changes could be structural or grammatical in nature
• Response can be expected within a week’s time
• Send in your submissions to akshita@ccs.in