Yash Tandon

Yashpal Tandon (born 21 June 1939) is a Ugandan policymaker, political activist, professor, author and public intellectual.

He has lectured extensively in the areas of International Relations and Political economy.

Yash Tandon was born on 21 June 1939 to traders of Indian origin who had settled in the village of Kaberamaido in the Teso District of Uganda.

He is married with two children and several grandchildren.

He speaks English, Punjabi, Gujarati and Swahili.

He holds a B.Sc.

in economics from the London School of Economics (1961).

He won the 1962 David Davies Memorial Institute in International Peace Prize, London, U.K.

From 1964 to 1972 Tandon lectured at the Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda before reading in International relations there.

Tandon went on to attain a Master's in Economics in 1965.

From 1966 to 1968 Tandon was the Director of the Makerere Institute of Diplomacy.

From 1967 to 1968, Tandon spent fifteen months in a senior research fellowship at Columbia University, New York City.

He spent three months as a visiting lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam in 1968.

He completed his PhD. in International relations at the London School of Economics in 1969.

He was deeply involved in the struggle against the dictatorship of Idi Amin in 1970's Uganda and has spent time in exile.

He is the author and editor of numerous books and articles and has served on the editorial boards of many journals.

In the 1970s Tandon engaged in underground political work with broad democratic force for change of the Amin regime in Uganda.

In the 1970s, he was the executive director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR), a consultant at the International Peace Academy in New York and a founder member of the Uganda Asia Evacuees Association.

During this time, Tandon was the vice-president of the International Studies Association (ISA), USA.

He was also a founder member of the African Association of Political Science (AAPS) and its first Research Director.

He spent another three months as a visiting lecturer at the National Institute of Public Administration in Lusaka, Zambia in 1972.

From 1972 to 1973 he lectured in International Relations at the London School of Economics, UK.

He left in 1972 with the rise to power of Idi Amin.

He went into exile, first in Kenya for three months, and then in the UK for nine months.

In 1973, Tandon returned to Africa in the role of Professor in Political Economy at the University of Dar es Salaam.

Upon his return to Uganda following the collapse of Amin's government, he was professor in International Relations at Makerere University, lecturing in African International Relations.

He was a founding member of the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF), and one of the principal organisers of the May 1979 Moshi Conference for the launch of the UNLF Government.

Following the collapse of Amin's regime, Tandon returned to Uganda.

He was a member of the National Consultive Council (National Parliament), with a short spell as Minister of State.

At this time, he was involved in negotiations with intergovernmental organisations and donors for the rehabilitation of Uganda's economy.

He was chairman and member of various parliamentary committees.

In 1980, with the overthrowing of the Government of the UNLF by military coup, Tandon went into exile in Kenya for a year and a half.

There he was the founder and director of Uganda Refugees Relief Service (URRS).

At the same time, he engaged in political work for democratic struggle in Uganda.

In the 1980s he was founder and director of Research and Consultancy Ltd., Nairobi, Kenya.

He was also the founder and managing director of Research and Consultancy (pvt) Ltd., (RESCON), Harare.

From 1982 to 1983, Tandon was a visiting professor/consultant with the Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies in Harare.

Following his completion of education in London, Tandon returned to Uganda.

Spanning the 1990s and 2000s, Tandon was a founder member and the first director of the International South Group Network (ISGN).

He was the founder and director of Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI).