Professor of Sociology and International Studies
Brown University
My main area of research is the comparative study of social
inequality and democratic deepening. I am particularly interested in understanding how democratic institutions and practices can promote more inclusive and more deliberated forms of development. My research has focused primarily on Brazil, India and South Africa. I have done research on a range of related topics, including
comparative democracy, social movements,
development theory and policy, decentralization, the middle class, civil society and state transformation. Most recently, I have worked on questions of urban transformation and governance, including a recent book on Brazil (with Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Marcelo Silva) and a team-project on South Africa that built a data base on spatial transformation of the post-apartheid city.
Latest
Taking Back the City in the Indian Express - the Delhi Gang-rape, social movements and the march through the institutions
The Creative Tension Between Political and Civil Society, Column in Indian Express, November 7, 2012
Urban Transformation in South Africa
A User-friendly data-base with spatial data on demographic, social and economic transformation for Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg
Books
2011. Bootstrapping Democracy: Transforming Local Governance and Civil Society in Brazil (co-authored with Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Marcelo Kunrath Silva). Stanford University Press.
2007. Social Democracy in the Global Periphery: Origins and Prospects (co-authored with Richard Sandbrook, Marc Edelman and Judith Teichman). Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 7 Social and Political Origins
1999. The Labor of Development: Workers and the Transformation of Capitalism in Kerala, India. Cornell University Press.
Chapters on-line:
"Introduction" and "Classes and States in the Making of Development"
Development and the State
2012. “Human Development, State Transformation and the Politics of the Developmental State,” (with Peter Evans) ed. Stephan Leibfried, Frank Nullmeier, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah Levy & John Stephens, The Oxford Handbook of Transformations of the State, forthcoming.
2009. “Dependency and Development in a Globalized World,” (with Dietrich Rueschemeyer and Richard Snyder). Studies in Comparative and International Development, 44:4.
2006. “Can Social Democracies Survive in the Third World,” (with Marc Edelman, Richard Sandbrook and Judith Teichman) Dissent, Summer.
2011. “The Great Transformations of Indian States,” Seminar, 620, April.
Civil Society, Democracy, Participation
2009. “Democratic Deepening in India and South Africa,” Journal of Asian and African Studies, 41:4, pp. 123-149.
2008. “Making Space for Civil Society: Institutional Reform and Local Democracy in Brazil,” (with Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Marcelo Kunrath Silva) Social Forces, 86:3, pp. 911-936.
2001. “Moving the State: The Politics of Decentralization in Kerala, South Africa and Porto Alegre,” pp. 131-163, Politics and Society 29:1.
2000. “Degrees of Democracy: Some Comparative Lessons from India,” pp. 484-519, World Politics 52, July.
2001. “A Civic Movement or a Movement of Civics?: The South African National Civic Organisation (sanco) in the Post-apartheid Period,” (with Libhongo Ntlokonkulu) Research Report No. 84, Social Policy Series, Centre for Policy Studies, Johannesburg, June.
1996. “Social Capital as Product of Class Mobilization and State Intervention: Industrial Workers in Kerala, India,” pp. 1055-1071, World Development 24:6, June.
1995. “From Class Struggle to Class Compromise: Redistribution and Growth in a South Indian State,” pp. 645-672, Journal of Development Studies, 31:5, June.
2007. "The Antinomies of Civil Society and Democracy: Civics as Publics in Post-Apartheid South Africa" (manuscript)
2006. “The Plasticity of Participation: Evidence from a Participatory Governance Experiment,” (with S. Chaudhuri) Columbia University ISERP Working Paper.
Urban Transformation
2010. “The Spatial Dynamics of Middle Class Formation in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Enclavization and Fragmentation in Johannesburg,” (with Amy Kraker-Selzer) Political Power and Social Theory, Volume 21.
2010. “Legacies, Change and Transformation in the Post-Apartheid City: Towards an Urban Sociological Cartography,” (with Daniel Schensul), International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.
2010. “Taking Tilly South: Durable Inequalities, Democratic Contestation and Citizenship in the Southern Metropolis,” (with Peter Evans). Theory and Society, 39:433-450.
The Middle Class
2006. “Hegemonic Aspirations: New Middle Class Politics and India’s Democracy in Comparative Perspective,” (with Leela Fernandes) Critical Asian Studies, 38:4, pp. 495-522.
Selected Book Chapters
2012. “Movements, Politics and Democracy: Kerala in Comparative Perspective,” in Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics edited by Atul Kohli and Prerna Singh. London, Routledge forthcoming.
2011. “Making Citizens from Below and Above: The Prospects and Challenges of Decentralization in India,” in Ruparelia, Sanjay and Sanjay Reddy, John Harriss and Stuart Corbridge (eds). Understanding India’s New Political Economy, Oxfordshire: Routledge.
2010. “Representation by Design? Variations on Participatory Reforms in Brazilian Municípios,” (with Gianpaolo Baiocchi) in Kristian Stokke, Olle Tornquist and Neil Webster (eds) Rethinking Democratic-Popular Representation. Houndsmills Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
2005. “Reinventing Public Power in the Age of Globalization: the Transformation of Movement Politics in Kerala,” in Raka Ray and Mary Katzenstein (eds.), Social Movements in India: Poverty, Power and Politics. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc.
2005. “The Politics and Institutional Design of Participatory Democracy: Lessons from Kerala, India,”(with T.M. Thomas Isaac) pp. 405-443 in Boaventura de Sousa Santos (ed.), Democratizing Democracy: Beyond the Liberal Democratic Canon. London: Verso.
2003. “Reclaiming Democratic Spaces: Civics and Politics in Post-Transition Johannesburg,” in Robert Beauregard and Richard Tomlinson (eds.), Emerging Johannesburg. New York: Routledge.
2003. “Democracy and Development: Decentralized Planning in Kerala,” (with T.M. Thomas Isaac) in Archon Fung and Erik O. Wright (eds.), Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Democracy. London, Verso Press.
Taking Back the City in the Indian Express - the Delhi Gang-rape, social movements and the march through the institutions
The Creative Tension Between Political and Civil Society, Column in Indian Express, November 7, 2012
Urban Transformation in South Africa
A User-friendly data-base with spatial data on demographic, social and economic transformation for Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg
Books
2011. Bootstrapping Democracy: Transforming Local Governance and Civil Society in Brazil (co-authored with Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Marcelo Kunrath Silva). Stanford University Press.
2007. Social Democracy in the Global Periphery: Origins and Prospects (co-authored with Richard Sandbrook, Marc Edelman and Judith Teichman). Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 7 Social and Political Origins
1999. The Labor of Development: Workers and the Transformation of Capitalism in Kerala, India. Cornell University Press.
Chapters on-line:
"Introduction" and "Classes and States in the Making of Development"
Development and the State
2012. “Human Development, State Transformation and the Politics of the Developmental State,” (with Peter Evans) ed. Stephan Leibfried, Frank Nullmeier, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah Levy & John Stephens, The Oxford Handbook of Transformations of the State, forthcoming.
2009. “Dependency and Development in a Globalized World,” (with Dietrich Rueschemeyer and Richard Snyder). Studies in Comparative and International Development, 44:4.
2006. “Can Social Democracies Survive in the Third World,” (with Marc Edelman, Richard Sandbrook and Judith Teichman) Dissent, Summer.
2011. “The Great Transformations of Indian States,” Seminar, 620, April.
Civil Society, Democracy, Participation
2009. “Democratic Deepening in India and South Africa,” Journal of Asian and African Studies, 41:4, pp. 123-149.
2008. “Making Space for Civil Society: Institutional Reform and Local Democracy in Brazil,” (with Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Marcelo Kunrath Silva) Social Forces, 86:3, pp. 911-936.
2001. “Moving the State: The Politics of Decentralization in Kerala, South Africa and Porto Alegre,” pp. 131-163, Politics and Society 29:1.
2000. “Degrees of Democracy: Some Comparative Lessons from India,” pp. 484-519, World Politics 52, July.
2001. “A Civic Movement or a Movement of Civics?: The South African National Civic Organisation (sanco) in the Post-apartheid Period,” (with Libhongo Ntlokonkulu) Research Report No. 84, Social Policy Series, Centre for Policy Studies, Johannesburg, June.
1996. “Social Capital as Product of Class Mobilization and State Intervention: Industrial Workers in Kerala, India,” pp. 1055-1071, World Development 24:6, June.
1995. “From Class Struggle to Class Compromise: Redistribution and Growth in a South Indian State,” pp. 645-672, Journal of Development Studies, 31:5, June.
2007. "The Antinomies of Civil Society and Democracy: Civics as Publics in Post-Apartheid South Africa" (manuscript)
2006. “The Plasticity of Participation: Evidence from a Participatory Governance Experiment,” (with S. Chaudhuri) Columbia University ISERP Working Paper.
Urban Transformation
2010. “The Spatial Dynamics of Middle Class Formation in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Enclavization and Fragmentation in Johannesburg,” (with Amy Kraker-Selzer) Political Power and Social Theory, Volume 21.
2010. “Legacies, Change and Transformation in the Post-Apartheid City: Towards an Urban Sociological Cartography,” (with Daniel Schensul), International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.
2010. “Taking Tilly South: Durable Inequalities, Democratic Contestation and Citizenship in the Southern Metropolis,” (with Peter Evans). Theory and Society, 39:433-450.
The Middle Class
2006. “Hegemonic Aspirations: New Middle Class Politics and India’s Democracy in Comparative Perspective,” (with Leela Fernandes) Critical Asian Studies, 38:4, pp. 495-522.
Selected Book Chapters
2012. “Movements, Politics and Democracy: Kerala in Comparative Perspective,” in Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics edited by Atul Kohli and Prerna Singh. London, Routledge forthcoming.
2011. “Making Citizens from Below and Above: The Prospects and Challenges of Decentralization in India,” in Ruparelia, Sanjay and Sanjay Reddy, John Harriss and Stuart Corbridge (eds). Understanding India’s New Political Economy, Oxfordshire: Routledge.
2010. “Representation by Design? Variations on Participatory Reforms in Brazilian Municípios,” (with Gianpaolo Baiocchi) in Kristian Stokke, Olle Tornquist and Neil Webster (eds) Rethinking Democratic-Popular Representation. Houndsmills Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
2005. “Reinventing Public Power in the Age of Globalization: the Transformation of Movement Politics in Kerala,” in Raka Ray and Mary Katzenstein (eds.), Social Movements in India: Poverty, Power and Politics. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc.
2005. “The Politics and Institutional Design of Participatory Democracy: Lessons from Kerala, India,”(with T.M. Thomas Isaac) pp. 405-443 in Boaventura de Sousa Santos (ed.), Democratizing Democracy: Beyond the Liberal Democratic Canon. London: Verso.
2003. “Reclaiming Democratic Spaces: Civics and Politics in Post-Transition Johannesburg,” in Robert Beauregard and Richard Tomlinson (eds.), Emerging Johannesburg. New York: Routledge.
2003. “Democracy and Development: Decentralized Planning in Kerala,” (with T.M. Thomas Isaac) in Archon Fung and Erik O. Wright (eds.), Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Democracy. London, Verso Press.
