Current Research Projects
My main research interests include political behavior and party-voter linkages, with a regional focus on South Asia. My current research agenda is centered on party strategy, campaigns, and political participation.
Dissertation
Party Campaigns in the Digital Age: Theory & Evidence from India
In my book-length dissertation project, I examine how Internet-based communication technologies are shaping election campaigns and party organization in the world's largest democracy. I adopt a multi-method approach which draws on intensive qualitative fieldwork, grounded theory, content analysis, and original face-to-face surveys, with survey experiments. Below are details of three standalone papers emerging from my dissertation research.
Crowds as Content: Party Campaign Strategy in the Digital Age
(Working Paper, available upon request)
Abstract: Internet-based communication technologies have reduced the costs of voter outreach for political parties. Yet, parties continue to organize costly mass campaign rallies. What explains the puzzling persistence of such rallies, even as lower cost online alternatives for party-voter communication are readily available? Drawing on intensive qualitative fieldwork in India, I develop a theory that emphasizes content-complementarity, or the mutually reinforcing relationship between physical and digital forms of campaigning. I propose that the imperative of the crowd-metric, which parties use to assess rally success, is heightened today as parties use rally crowds as online content. I test my theory in the context of the 2022 state elections in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, using observational data from party social media accounts and original survey experiments conducted with approximately 4,000 voters. My findings suggest that visuals that reveal the size and composition of rally crowds, and narratives about such crowds influence voter evaluations of the rally-organizing party and voter inclination to participate in that party's campaign. I corroborate these findings with data from a novel survey with party functionaries on their perceived effects of such rally content.
Co-ethnic Campaigners: Party Strategy for Voter Mobilization in Multi-Ethnic Contexts
(Working Paper, available upon request)
Abstract: How do political parties mobilize voters in multi-ethnic contexts? How do parties strategize on placing their high-cost and high-effort mass rallies in these contexts during election campaigns? Why does the placement of such rallies still matter in today's digital age? Existing theories suggest that the level of electoral competition determines where a party focuses its rally efforts. According to their logic, a party concentrates its election rallies in either its swing or core districts. In contrast, I emphasize that parties aim to maximize the turnout at a rally’s location. In pursuit of large crowds in multi-ethnic contexts, parties organize rallies where there is an ethnic identity match between high-level campaigners and voters. As a result, we observe rallies of co-ethnic campaigners. I develop my theory using an inductive theory-building approach that draws on qualitative data from rallies of "star campaigners" of India’s competitive parties. I test this theory with data from vignette-type survey experiments with around 400 party functionaries, and from a conjoint survey experiment with around 4,000 voters conducted in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. I find additional support for my theory from an original dataset on rallies during recent state election campaigns in India.
Continuous Messaging & Constant Mobilization: Party Organization in the Digital Age
(Working Paper, available upon request)
Abstract: How have India's political parties adopted Internet-based communication technologies? How is this adoption of new technologies shaping party organization and party-voter linkages? I argue that in today's digital age, parties engage in continuous messaging to keep their functionaries and voters in a state of constant mobilization. Three factors have enabled this. First, dedicated IT and Social Media units that are formalized organizational verticals operating across party levels. I describe the internal party workforce of these units, and how they are distinct from a party's other organizational units. Second, party behavior that emulates their organizations and voter outreach efforts online. Parties do this repeatedly on Internet-based platforms, not only during election campaigns, but months after too. Third, content from offline party events that is used for within-party engagement. Social media increases the importance of offline party events, and online content associated with these events serves organizational purposes. Through such content, lower-level party functionaries signal their ability and loyalty, and higher-level party functionaries project themselves as role models. I draw on data from interviews with party functionaries, speeches of party leaders, and internal party documents, as well as a novel survey of party functionaries in North India to support my claims.
Other Academic Writing
Majoritarian Responses to Minority Mobilization: Evidence from Citizenship Protests in India (with Anirvan Chowdhury, Leja Joe Mathew, and Shamindra Nath Roy)
(Working Paper, available upon request)
Abstract: In December 2019, the Indian government, led by the Hindu-majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), proposed a law to fast-track Indian citizenship for illegal non- Muslim migrants from Muslim-dominated neighboring countries. For the first time in India’s history, religion would determine eligibility for citizenship. This controversial Citizenship Amendment Act sparked protests across the country, many of which were led by Muslim women. How did a majoritarian political party respond to these protests? And what were their effects on the political behavior of both minority and majority groups? We answer these questions by assembling a granular dataset on protest locations, polling-station level electoral outcomes, neighborhood-level characteristics and party campaigns. Using the difference-in-differences method, we estimate the effects of protests on turnout and vote choice for the BJP in downstream elections held in Delhi, the epicenter of these protests. Further, we also demonstrate how the protests influenced the BJP’s electoral campaign strategy, including placement and rhetoric. This study contributes to scholarly work on how multiply marginalized groups can utilize the tools of contentious politics to articulate identity-based concerns, mobilize support across heterogeneous identity groups and affect majority attitudes and behavior.
Presidents, Parties and the People in Direct Democracy (with Susan Stokes, Eli Rau, and Radha Sarkar)
A book-length project based at University of Chicago's Center on Democracy.
Abstract: In theory, referendums and other mechanisms of direct democracy help restore a more immediate and participatory dynamic to representative systems, without which political parties, governments, and policy making can appear distant from the common citizen. But in recent years, a chorus of voices has grown louder questioning the legitimacy and effectiveness of these mechanisms. The Brexit vote and ensuing political paralysis in the UK, and the failure of Colombians to approve a long-awaited peace deal, are two events that, in the eyes of many, marred the image of referendums. Critics argue that the results of referendums tend to be volatile and often do not reflect public opinion on the issue at hand. This book project addresses the value of referendums for democracies. We begin by testing a series of specific propositions about how referendums function, from a positivist perspective. Who participates in referendums and why? When do politicians choose to call referendums instead of pursuing other means of institutional or policy change? Can citizens’ initiatives serve as a check on legislative gerrymandering? The answers to these questions inform a broader normative question: do mechanisms of direct democracy outperform representative elections in aggregating societal preferences? And if so, under what conditions? As part of this project, we are creating a large dataset of every national referendum and plebiscite held in a democracy from 1960 to the present day, including novel measures of key variables such as issue salience and party strategies. This work is part of a broader initiative to create publicly accessible tools for studying and tracking democratic functioning and erosion throughout the world. This research is funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).
Urban Politics in India (with Adam Auerbach and Bhanu Joshi)
A book chapter for the Cambridge Companion to Indian Politics and Society, edited by Manali Desai & Indrajit Roy
Abstract: Within the next three decades, more than half of India’s population will live in cities and towns. In absolute terms, this represents an additional 315 million urban dwellers between now and 2050, on top of what is currently an urban population of 500 million people (UN 2015). Our chapter centers on the politics of India’s rapidly expanding urban spaces. We first motivate the chapter by (a) tracing India’s demographic shift to cities and towns and (b) describing the shape of municipal governance following decentralization reforms in the early 1990s. Next, drawing on several multi-disciplinary literatures, we discuss urban politics in India along three fronts. First, we review wide-ranging scholarship on inequalities in access to housing and public services, and the fractured nature of citizenship that is both a cause and consequence of those inequalities. Second, we discuss the politics of rural-urban migration and its influence on both small and large urban centers, as well as ethnic diversity and segregation in India’s cities. Third, we examine the emerging literature on electoral politics and the nature of party-voter linkages in urban India. To conclude, we highlight several areas of research that should command greater scholarly attention as India’s population marches toward being mostly urban.
Dissertation
Party Campaigns in the Digital Age: Theory & Evidence from India
In my book-length dissertation project, I examine how Internet-based communication technologies are shaping election campaigns and party organization in the world's largest democracy. I adopt a multi-method approach which draws on intensive qualitative fieldwork, grounded theory, content analysis, and original face-to-face surveys, with survey experiments. Below are details of three standalone papers emerging from my dissertation research.
Crowds as Content: Party Campaign Strategy in the Digital Age
(Working Paper, available upon request)
Abstract: Internet-based communication technologies have reduced the costs of voter outreach for political parties. Yet, parties continue to organize costly mass campaign rallies. What explains the puzzling persistence of such rallies, even as lower cost online alternatives for party-voter communication are readily available? Drawing on intensive qualitative fieldwork in India, I develop a theory that emphasizes content-complementarity, or the mutually reinforcing relationship between physical and digital forms of campaigning. I propose that the imperative of the crowd-metric, which parties use to assess rally success, is heightened today as parties use rally crowds as online content. I test my theory in the context of the 2022 state elections in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, using observational data from party social media accounts and original survey experiments conducted with approximately 4,000 voters. My findings suggest that visuals that reveal the size and composition of rally crowds, and narratives about such crowds influence voter evaluations of the rally-organizing party and voter inclination to participate in that party's campaign. I corroborate these findings with data from a novel survey with party functionaries on their perceived effects of such rally content.
Co-ethnic Campaigners: Party Strategy for Voter Mobilization in Multi-Ethnic Contexts
(Working Paper, available upon request)
Abstract: How do political parties mobilize voters in multi-ethnic contexts? How do parties strategize on placing their high-cost and high-effort mass rallies in these contexts during election campaigns? Why does the placement of such rallies still matter in today's digital age? Existing theories suggest that the level of electoral competition determines where a party focuses its rally efforts. According to their logic, a party concentrates its election rallies in either its swing or core districts. In contrast, I emphasize that parties aim to maximize the turnout at a rally’s location. In pursuit of large crowds in multi-ethnic contexts, parties organize rallies where there is an ethnic identity match between high-level campaigners and voters. As a result, we observe rallies of co-ethnic campaigners. I develop my theory using an inductive theory-building approach that draws on qualitative data from rallies of "star campaigners" of India’s competitive parties. I test this theory with data from vignette-type survey experiments with around 400 party functionaries, and from a conjoint survey experiment with around 4,000 voters conducted in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. I find additional support for my theory from an original dataset on rallies during recent state election campaigns in India.
Continuous Messaging & Constant Mobilization: Party Organization in the Digital Age
(Working Paper, available upon request)
Abstract: How have India's political parties adopted Internet-based communication technologies? How is this adoption of new technologies shaping party organization and party-voter linkages? I argue that in today's digital age, parties engage in continuous messaging to keep their functionaries and voters in a state of constant mobilization. Three factors have enabled this. First, dedicated IT and Social Media units that are formalized organizational verticals operating across party levels. I describe the internal party workforce of these units, and how they are distinct from a party's other organizational units. Second, party behavior that emulates their organizations and voter outreach efforts online. Parties do this repeatedly on Internet-based platforms, not only during election campaigns, but months after too. Third, content from offline party events that is used for within-party engagement. Social media increases the importance of offline party events, and online content associated with these events serves organizational purposes. Through such content, lower-level party functionaries signal their ability and loyalty, and higher-level party functionaries project themselves as role models. I draw on data from interviews with party functionaries, speeches of party leaders, and internal party documents, as well as a novel survey of party functionaries in North India to support my claims.
Other Academic Writing
Majoritarian Responses to Minority Mobilization: Evidence from Citizenship Protests in India (with Anirvan Chowdhury, Leja Joe Mathew, and Shamindra Nath Roy)
(Working Paper, available upon request)
Abstract: In December 2019, the Indian government, led by the Hindu-majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), proposed a law to fast-track Indian citizenship for illegal non- Muslim migrants from Muslim-dominated neighboring countries. For the first time in India’s history, religion would determine eligibility for citizenship. This controversial Citizenship Amendment Act sparked protests across the country, many of which were led by Muslim women. How did a majoritarian political party respond to these protests? And what were their effects on the political behavior of both minority and majority groups? We answer these questions by assembling a granular dataset on protest locations, polling-station level electoral outcomes, neighborhood-level characteristics and party campaigns. Using the difference-in-differences method, we estimate the effects of protests on turnout and vote choice for the BJP in downstream elections held in Delhi, the epicenter of these protests. Further, we also demonstrate how the protests influenced the BJP’s electoral campaign strategy, including placement and rhetoric. This study contributes to scholarly work on how multiply marginalized groups can utilize the tools of contentious politics to articulate identity-based concerns, mobilize support across heterogeneous identity groups and affect majority attitudes and behavior.
Presidents, Parties and the People in Direct Democracy (with Susan Stokes, Eli Rau, and Radha Sarkar)
A book-length project based at University of Chicago's Center on Democracy.
Abstract: In theory, referendums and other mechanisms of direct democracy help restore a more immediate and participatory dynamic to representative systems, without which political parties, governments, and policy making can appear distant from the common citizen. But in recent years, a chorus of voices has grown louder questioning the legitimacy and effectiveness of these mechanisms. The Brexit vote and ensuing political paralysis in the UK, and the failure of Colombians to approve a long-awaited peace deal, are two events that, in the eyes of many, marred the image of referendums. Critics argue that the results of referendums tend to be volatile and often do not reflect public opinion on the issue at hand. This book project addresses the value of referendums for democracies. We begin by testing a series of specific propositions about how referendums function, from a positivist perspective. Who participates in referendums and why? When do politicians choose to call referendums instead of pursuing other means of institutional or policy change? Can citizens’ initiatives serve as a check on legislative gerrymandering? The answers to these questions inform a broader normative question: do mechanisms of direct democracy outperform representative elections in aggregating societal preferences? And if so, under what conditions? As part of this project, we are creating a large dataset of every national referendum and plebiscite held in a democracy from 1960 to the present day, including novel measures of key variables such as issue salience and party strategies. This work is part of a broader initiative to create publicly accessible tools for studying and tracking democratic functioning and erosion throughout the world. This research is funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).
Urban Politics in India (with Adam Auerbach and Bhanu Joshi)
A book chapter for the Cambridge Companion to Indian Politics and Society, edited by Manali Desai & Indrajit Roy
Abstract: Within the next three decades, more than half of India’s population will live in cities and towns. In absolute terms, this represents an additional 315 million urban dwellers between now and 2050, on top of what is currently an urban population of 500 million people (UN 2015). Our chapter centers on the politics of India’s rapidly expanding urban spaces. We first motivate the chapter by (a) tracing India’s demographic shift to cities and towns and (b) describing the shape of municipal governance following decentralization reforms in the early 1990s. Next, drawing on several multi-disciplinary literatures, we discuss urban politics in India along three fronts. First, we review wide-ranging scholarship on inequalities in access to housing and public services, and the fractured nature of citizenship that is both a cause and consequence of those inequalities. Second, we discuss the politics of rural-urban migration and its influence on both small and large urban centers, as well as ethnic diversity and segregation in India’s cities. Third, we examine the emerging literature on electoral politics and the nature of party-voter linkages in urban India. To conclude, we highlight several areas of research that should command greater scholarly attention as India’s population marches toward being mostly urban.