Mara Malagodi

Reader

Co-Director of the Centre for Constitutions in Context (CCC)

Comparative Constitutional Law; Legal History; Law and Film; Human Rights; Law, Gender, and Sexuality

School of Law
B1.14, Social Sciences Building
University of 糖心TV
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

024 765 74802

Bio

Dr Mara Malagodi is a Reader in Law at 糖心TV Law School. She joined 糖心TV in 2022 from Hong Kong. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Centre for Constitutions in ContextLink opens in a new window at 糖心TV Law School with Dr David VitaleLink opens in a new window.

Dr Malagodi is a comparative constitutional lawyer and socio-legal scholar with a linguistically-informed specialism in South Asian law and politics, human rights law, gender and law, legal history, and law and film. She holds her Doctorate, MA in South Asia Area Studies, and BA (Hons) in Nepali & Politics from the University of London (SOAS) and was a at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Dr Malagodi is a scholar of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple () and a non-practising barrister in England and Wales (Call: 2016).

Dr Malagodi is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker; she trained at the in Cuba in 2014 and her work has been screened at the Raindance Film Festival (2015 award for best short doc, "Walking through Havana"), Sheffield Doc Fest (nominated for best student doc, 2015), and Shuffle Film Festival (nominated for best doc, 2015).

Dr Malagodi is the author of the monographs Constitutional Nationalism and Legal Exclusion in Nepal (2013) with Oxford University Press and (forthcoming 2026) with Hart Publishing. She is co-editing a four-volume series on Asian Comparative Constitutional Law (2023-26) and co-edited a volume on Gender, Sexuality and Constitutionalism in Asia (2024) for Hart Publishing. Dr Malagodi's work has appeared in the International Journal of Constitutional Law, the Journal of Law and Society, the Federal Law Review, the Law and History Review, the Modern Law Review, the European Constitutional Law Review, The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia, and numerous other journals and edited collections.

In 2024, Dr Malagodi became the co-Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal and contributed to the journal's re-launch. Constitutional Studies has been reconfigured as the official publication of the jointly with the . She also serves as an Executive Committee Member of the , the UK branch of IACL.

Dr Malagodi is part of the project on gender equality within the European legal order at the University of Pisa.

Dr Malagodi is on the expert roster of iProbono and ROLE UK, has worked as an external consultant for various United Nations agencies, regularly provides judicial training, and has been teaching at the International Academy of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.

Publications

Monographs

- Mara Malagodi, forth. 2026. . Oxford: Hart Publishing, .

- Mara Malagodi, 2013. , Delhi: Oxford University Press, 316 pp.

Edited Books

- Rehan Abeyratne, Ngoc Son Bui, and Mara Malagodi (eds.), forth. 2026. Asian Comparative Constitutional Law, Volume IV: Constitutional Rights, Oxford: Hart Publishing.

- Ngoc Son Bui, Mara Malagodi, and Christopher Roberts (eds.), 2025. , Oxford: Hart Publishing, 512 pp.

- Ngoc Son Bui and Mara Malagodi (eds.), 2024. , Oxford: Hart Publishing, 469 pp.

- Wen-Chen Chang, Kelley Loper, Mara Malagodi, and Ruth Rubio-Marín (eds.), 2024. , Oxford: Hart Publishing, 384 pp.

- Ngoc Son Bui and Mara Malagodi (eds.), 2023. , Oxford: Hart Publishing, 451 pp.

Journal Articles

- Sabrina Germain, Mara Malagodi, Roshani Regmi, Radhika Saxena, and Shivani Shinde, 2025. 'The Case for the Complete Decriminalisation of Abortion in Nepal and Beyond' 38, July 2025 (100616).

- Mara Malagodi and Sebastian Payne. 2025. 'Interview With Baroness Brenda Marjorie Hale of the United Kingdom; Entretien Avec La Baronne Brenda Marjorie Hale Du Royaume-Uni; 專訪英國最高法院前院長Brenda Marjorie Hale of Richmond女爵; Entrevista Con La Baronesa Brenda Marjorie Hale Del Reino Unido' Translated by Christophe Dongmo, Ken (Shr-Shian) Chen, and Guillermo Pérez. 11:1: 317-372.

- Mara Malagodi and Elettra Stradella, 2025. ‘Conceptualising the Link between Constitutional Degradation and Gender Populism’ 21:1, 8-36.

- Mara Malagodi, Elettra Stradella, and Stefano Osella, 2025. ‘Introduction to the Special Section on Gender, Populism, and Constitutional Degradation’ 21:1, 1-7.

- Devika Hovell and Mara Malagodi, 2024. ‘Law Out of Context: Problematising Universal Jurisdiction Trials’ 87:6, 1480-1518.

- Holning Lau and Mara Malagodi, 2024. ‘Legal Gender Recognition in Nepal and Comparative Context’ 45:2, 269-298.

- Mara Malagodi, 2023. ‘Nepal’s Constitutional Foundations between Revolution and Cold War (1950-1960)’ 41:2, 273-294.

- Mara Malagodi, 2021. ‘Holy Cows and Constitutional Nationalism in Nepal’ 80:1, 93-119.

- Mara Malagodi, 2020. ‘Intersectional Inequalities and Reproductive Rights: An India-Nepal Comparison’ 3:2, 195-201.

- Mara Malagodi, Luke McDonagh and Thomas Poole, 2019. ‘New Dominion Constitutionalism at the Twilight of the British Empire’ 17:4, 1166-1172.

- Mara Malagodi, Luke McDonagh and Thomas Poole, 2019. ‘The Dominion Model of Transnational Constitutionalism’ 17:4, 1283-1300.

- Mara Malagodi, 2019. ‘Dominion Status and the Origins of Authoritarian Constitutionalism in Pakistan’ 17:4, 1235-1257.

- Mara Malagodi, 2018. ‘The Rejection of Constitutional Incrementalism in Nepal’s Federalisation’ 46:4, 521-540.

- Mara Malagodi, 2018. ‘Challenges and Opportunities of Gender Equality Litigation in Nepal’ 16:2, 527-551.

- Mara Malagodi, 2015. ‘Ivor Jennings’ Constitutional Legacy beyond the Occidental-Oriental Divide’ 42:1, 102-126.

- Madura Rasaratnam and Mara Malagodi, 2012. ‘Eyes Wide Shut? Persistent Conflict and Liberal Peace Interventions in Nepal and Sri Lanka’ 12:3, 299-327.

- Mara Malagodi, 2011. ‘The End of a National Monarchy: Nepal’s Constitutional Transition from Hindu Kingdom to Secular Federal Republic’ 11:2, 234-251.

- Mara Malagodi, 2010. ‘Minority Rights and Constitutional Borrowings in the Drafting of Nepal's 1990 Constitution’ 37, 56-81.

- Mara Malagodi, 2008. ‘Forging the Nepali Nation through Law: A Reflection on the Use of Western Legal Tools in a Himalayan Kingdom’ 8:3, 433-452.

.

Book Chapters

- Mara Malagodi, 2025. ‘Gender Constitutionalism and Reproductive Politics – Lessons from Asia’, in , S. Bui and M. Pongsapan (eds.), Hart Publishing, 123-136.

- Ngoc Bui Son, Mara Malagodi and Christopher Roberts, 2025. ‘Constitutional Structures in Asia: A Comparative Framework’, in , S. Bui, M. Malagodi and C. Roberts (eds.), Hart Publishing, 425-450.

- Mara Malagodi, 2024. ‘Nepal’ in , D. Law, H. Lau, and A. Schwartz (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press (published online on 24 February 2024).

- Mara Malagodi, 2024. ‘Ivor Jennings, The Law and the Constitution’, in , P. O’Brien and B. Young (eds.), London: Routledge, 28-46.

- Mara Malagodi, 2024. ‘Constitutional Amendments in Asia: A Contextual Approach to Comparison’ in , S. Bui and M. Malagodi (eds.), Oxford: Hart Publishing, 413-430.

- Ruth Rubio-Marín, Wen-Chen Chang, Mara Malagodi and Kelley Loper, 2024. ‘Gender Constitutionalism in Asia: A Comparative Framework’ in , W. Chang, K. Loper, M. Malagodi and R. Rubio-Marín (eds.), Oxford: Hart Publishing, 1-25.

- Mara Malagodi, 2024. ‘Gender, Sexuality, and Constitutionalism in Nepal’ in , W. Chang, K. Loper, M. Malagodi and R. Rubio-Marín (eds.), Oxford: Hart Publishing, 281-310.

- Mara Malagodi, 2023. ‘Post-Conflict Constitution-Making in Nepal and the Limits of Constituent Assemblies’ in , S. Bui and M. Malagodi (eds.), Oxford: Hart Publishing, 409-427.

- Mara Malagodi, 2022. ‘Constitutional History and Constitutional Migration: Nepal’ in , D. Law (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 113-135.

- Mara Malagodi, 2021. ‘Limiting Constituent Power? Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments and Time-Bound Constitution Making in Nepal’, , R. Abeyratne and S. Bui (eds.), London: Routledge, 133-150.

- Mara Malagodi, 2021. ‘Nepal’s Heroic Judge: Former Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha’, , R. Abeyratne and I. Porrat (eds.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 155-173.

- Mara Malagodi, 2019. ‘Godot Has Arrived! Federal Restructuring in Nepal’ in , S. Choudhry and G. Anderson (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 161-180.

- Mara Malagodi, 2018. ‘Constituent Assembly Failure in Pakistan and Nepal’ in , J. Elster, R. Gargarella, V. Naresh and B. Rasch (eds.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 79-108.

- Mara Malagodi, 2016. ‘Sir Ivor Jennings and the 1959 Constitution of Nepal’ in Constitution-Making in Asia, H. Kumarasingham (ed.), London: Routledge, 154-172.

- Mara Malagodi, 2015. ‘The Locus of Sovereign Authority in Nepal’ in , M. Tushnet and M. Khosla (eds.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 45-85.

- Mara Malagodi, 2013. ‘Protection of Religious Rights in India’ in The Protection of Religious Rights: Law & Practice, J. Dingemans et al. (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 177-194.

- Mara Malagodi, 2013. ‘Constitutional Developments in a Himalayan Kingdom: The Experience of Nepal’ in Comparative Constitutionalism in South Asia, S. Khilnani et al. (eds.), Delhi: Oxford University Press, 87-115.

- Mara Malagodi, 2012. ‘Constitutional Change and the Quest for Legal Inclusion in Nepal’ in Rights in Divided Societies, C. Harvey and A. Schwartz (eds.), Oxford: Hart Publishing, 169-195.

Impact and Policy

Research Impact

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS

Since 2018, Dr Mara Malagodi has been leading the collaborative project , which aims to create a space for all Nepali citizens to understand and realise their sexual and reproductive health rights by using accessible language and engaging explainers to mobilise the power of visual communication methods.

This is a joint project with , a legal design expert, and , a medical law expert, at the City Law School (University of London), , and the .

The Legal Design Toolkit has been illustrated by Nepali artist . It contains case law and legislation explainers to make complex legal processes and policies about SRHR easy to understand and accessible to all. It also features persona cards that represent the lived experience of individuals who face different challenges in accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare. The Toolkit is designed to foster an approach to the enforcement of sexual and reproductive health rights centred around the needs of service users.

The English version of the Legal Design Toolkit and User Manual are available to download free of cost from iProbono's website .

You can watch the video instructions on how to use the Toolkit and navigate its User Manual here:

The Toolkit was officially launched in Kathmandu in September 2024 under the aegis of former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal, the Honourable Kalyan Shrestha and Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal the Honourable Hari Phuyal. Details of the event are available .

Toolkit Launch, Kathmandu, 14 September 2024

In 2025 we have published our Viewpoint article in the Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia (Vol. 38, July 2025) following the multi-stakeholders consultation we held in Kathmandu on barriers to abortion care in Nepal on 13 September 2024.

#DesignTheLawNepal has been supported by the programme funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and managed by Advocates for International Development (A4ID), the City Law School, the ESRC Impact Fund at the University of 糖心TV, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Global Challenges Research Fund.

LEGAL GENDER RECOGNITION

In 2023-24, Dr Malagodi served as an Expert Reviewer for the Human Rights Watch report in light of her expertise on gender constitutionalism and comparative constitutional law.

In 2023, Dr Malagodi co-authored with Professor Holning Lau an in support of Rukshana Kapali’s case in the Supreme Court of Nepal. Ms Kapali sought recognition as a binary trans woman in all her identity documents. She was informed orally by the Court in November 2023 that her application had been successful, and the full judgment was handed down in 2024. The English translation of the judgment can be found .

Ms Kapali was selected as one of the 2023 BBC 100 WomenLink opens in a new window and .

In 2024, our Export Report was revised for publication in the .

Policy Reports

- Mara Malagodi, 2019. . Forum of Federations.

- Mara Malagodi, 2018. BTI 2018: Nepal Country Report. Bertelsman Stiftung.

- Mara Malagodi, 2014. ‘Judicial Accountability and Independence in Nepal’ in R. Edrisinha and B. Karki (eds.), Kathmandu: UNDP Nepal, 291-304.

- Mara Malagodi, 2011. ‘Nepal: History’ in The Europa Regional Surveys of the World, London: Routledge, 460-476.

- Mara Malagodi, 2010. ‘The Cost of Reconciliation – Impunity and Accountability in Post-Conflict Nepal’ in Law & Society Trust Review 21, 35-47.

Blogs

- Mara Malagodi, 2025. 'The State of the Comparative Constitutional Law Field and the Re-Launch of Constitutional Studies' (3 July 2025) .

- Mara Malagodi, 2024. ‘Documenting Injustice: Constitutional Challenges on Celluloid – A Reportage from Sheffield DocFest 2024’ (23 June 2024) .

- Mara Malagodi, 2021. ‘Gender Equality and the Complete Decriminalisation of Abortion’ (10 November 2021) .

- Mara Malagodi, Rehan Abeyratne, and Ngoc Bui Son, 2021. ‘Constituent Power and the Politics of Unamendability’ (8 September 2021) .

- Mara Malagodi, 2021. ‘New Frontiers of Gender Constitutionalism in Asia, Part 2: Gender Identity and Sexuality’ (14 July 2021) .

- Mara Malagodi, 2021. ‘New Frontiers of Gender Constitutionalism in Asia, Part 1: Sexual and Reproductive Rights’ (13 May 2021) .

- Mara Malagodi, 2021. ‘The Blurred Line between Law and Politics: The Supreme Court of Nepal Blocks a Parliamentary Dissolution’ (10 March 2021) .

- Mara Malagodi, 2021. ‘International Assistance to Constitution Making between Principle and Expediency’ (13 January 2021) .

- Mara Malagodi, 2019. ‘Kalyan Shrestha: A Foundational, Not Towering Judge’ in Joint Symposium on Towering Judges (22 March 2019) .

- Mara Malagodi, 2015. ‘Cow Protection, Hindu Revivalism, and Constitutional Politics in India and Nepal’ .

- Mara Malagodi, 2015. ‘Nepal’s Constitutional Crisis’ .

- Mara Malagodi, 2014. ‘The Saga of Nepal’s Embattled Constitutional Politics Continues’ .

- Mara Malagodi, 2013. ‘#NepalCounts: A Post-Mortem of the CA2 Elections’ .

- Mara Malagodi, 2013. ‘Nepal at the polls’ .

- Mara Malagodi, 2013. ‘Constitutionalism, State Restructuring, and Identity Politics in Nepal’ .

- Mara Malagodi, 2010. ‘Nepal’s Difficult Constitutional Transition’ .

Teaching Research Supervision Social Media Scholarship