Milan Vaishnav
Biographic Data
| ID | 236364 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Milan Vaishnav |
| GIVEN NAMES | Milan |
| FAMILY NAME | Vaishnav |
| SIGNATURE | VAISHNAV M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7696-125X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 50 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Home and Away: Explaining the Paradoxical Political Attitudes of Indian Americans
Do individuals hold fixed political attitudes that persist across different contexts, or do their views shift depending on their group’s relative status within each setting? We argue that political preferences are shaped in part by whether one’s group is positioned as a majority or a minority in a given context. Groups that consistently occupy minority positions tend to hold stable, liberal attitudes driven by support for minority rights. In cont…
The Rise of India's Second Republic
At first glance, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s narrow 2024 general election victory—a win only made possible thanks to the cooperation of alliance partners—suggests a return to a previous era of coalition government in India. While the ruling party may be weakened, the nature of the political order has fundamentally shifted in ways that will have a lasting impact on Indian democracy. India is witnessing the dawn of a "Second Republic," an in…
Legislative Capture in India: Is Democracy Back from the Brink
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won consecutive parliamentary majorities in India's 2014 and 2019 elections, ushering in a period of single-party dominance that has replaced a quarter-century of coalition politics. This new era has been marked by a growing concentration of executive power, crackdowns on dissent, and rising Hindu majoritarianism. The roots of India's democratic backsliding predate the BJP's resurgence, but the trends have intensi…
Who Rallies around the Flag? Nationalist Parties, National Security, and the 2019 Indian Election
National security crises often generate a ‘rally‐around‐the‐flag’ effect, especially under nationalist administrations, but the salience of a security crisis varies within a country. Does exposure to a crisis intensify rallying by fomenting nationalism, inciting hawkishness, and distracting from quotidian economic concerns? Or does exposure deepen dissatisfaction with the incumbent, thereby reducing a rallying effect? We argue the latter using ev…
Rethinking the Study of Electoral Politics in the Developing World: Reflections on the Indian Case
In the study of electoral politics and political behavior in the developing world, India is often considered to be an exemplar of the centrality of contingency in distributive politics, the role of ethnicity in shaping political behavior, and the organizational weakness of political parties. Whereas these axioms have some empirical basis, the massive changes in political practices, the vast variation in political patterns, and the burgeoning lite…
India @75: Religion and Citizenship in India
As India celebrates 75 years of independence, fresh questions are being raised about who is an Indian. This essay introduces a special section of Studies in Indian Politics which puts forward answers to this question considering recent tectonic changes in India’s political climate and party system. We outline how religion is being increasingly adopted as a filter through which citizenship is decided—both in formal, legal terms as well as in infor…
What Is Women’s Work? Reflections from Four North Indian Urban Clusters
The actual extent of the female employment challenge in India is much debated. Data on female labour force participation (FLFP) in India is hampered by shortcomings in data validity and data accuracy . The objective of this article is to explore challenges to data accuracy through two potential sources of error: measurement error and reporting error . Drawing on a unique source of granular survey data from households in four north Indian urban cl…
Working Women’s Decision-Making Power at Home: Evidence from Four North Indian Urban Clusters
Do working women enjoy greater levels of human agency? While the theoretical foundations underlying this connection are clear, the empirical evidence is quite mixed. We leverage detailed, new data on intra-household decision-making and labour market behaviour from four north Indian urban clusters to shed light on this question. We find that women who work exercise greater say in important decisions around the home. However, this ‘work advantage’ …
Gender, Social Change and Urbanisation in Four North Indian Clusters
Urbanisation in India is reshaping established social and economic patterns of behaviour in ways that scholars are struggling to analyse. This article introduces this special issue presenting new empirical research on the interconnections between gender, social change and urbanisation in India. It does so by relying on a unique dataset drawn from nearly 15,000 households across four consequential urban clusters—Dhanbad, Indore, Patna and Varanasi…
The Three Faces of the Indian State
For more than seven decades, India's Constitution has provided a framework for liberal democracy to flourish in one of the world's most diverse societies. Legal changes and shifts in bureaucratic practices, however, have undermined central tenets of the prevailing order. In today's India, the assent of the people is both necessary and sufficient to justify all forms of state action. This article outlines three manifestations of India's new consti…
Introduction to a special issue of India Review: The consequences of the 2019 Indian general election for politics and policy in India
This essay introduces a special issue of India Review on the consequences of the 2019 Indian general election for politics and public policy. The special issue assesses how four key policy and political domains are impacted by a second Narendra Modi-led BJP government: the party system, minority rights, the economy, and federalism
Digital India? an email experiment with Indian legislators
Of the many tasks elected representatives perform, constituency service is among the most difficult to observe and, therefore, to measure. However, a burgeoning literature uses digital tools such as email to experimentally evaluate the responsiveness of political elites to requests for constituency service. To date, this literature has overwhelmingly focused on the developed world. In this article, we describe the results of an email experiment i…
Crime, Politics, and the Future of India's Democracy
The review essays by Sunila S. Kale, Sandipto Dasgupta, and Michael J. Watts on Milan Vaishnav's When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics and Steven Pierce's Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria raise a number of theoretically interesting questions about corruption, criminality, and their historical embeddedness. In particular, they force a rethinking of the commonly accepted notion that in m…
Does Higher Turnout Hurt Incumbents? An Analysis of State Elections in India
Conventional wisdom holds that an increase in voter turnout hurts incumbents in Indian elections. This belief has become a central feature of how analysts discuss Indian voter behaviour. Yet there are few systematic analyses of the relationship between turnout and incumbent performance. To fill this gap, we analysed a dataset of elections in India’s 18 major states between 1980 and 2012. Our analyses show that an increase in turnout, relative to …
The Strategic and Moral Imperatives of Local Engagement: Reflections on India
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Ethnic Identifiability in India
The ethnic politics literature assumes that one’s ethnic identity is readily identifiable. This paper evaluates how well this assumption holds in practice, drawing on a voter survey in the Indian state of Bihar. While voters often misidentify the identity of their candidate, the degree of error is small but systematic
Why Voters Sometimes Prefer Criminals as Candidates
Does Good Economics Make for Good Politics? Evidence from Indian States
The proposition that voters reward incumbent governments that perform well economically is considered received wisdom in many democracies. We examine this hypothesis in India, a developing democracy where scholars have found limited evidence of economic voting. Using a unique state-level panel dataset covering the years 1980–2012, we find that there is no relationship between growth and electoral performance in the aggregate. However, since 2000,…
India Today: Economics, Politics and Society
Journal Article India Today: Economics, Politics and Society Get access India Today: Economics, Politics and Society by Stuart Corbridge, John Harriss, and Craig Jeffrey. Oxford, Polity Press, 2012. 332 pp. Paper, $24.95. Milan Vaishnav Milan Vaishnav Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 128, Issue 3, Fall 2013, Pages 582–583, https:…
Electoral Revolution or Democratic Alternation
Over the past few years, a burgeoning literature on Latin American politics has developed, focusing on explanations for the renewed success of the left in the region. Building on electoral trends and public opinion analysis, we argue that the region is experiencing the normalization of democratic politics rather than a backlash or a revolution. Furthermore, we believe that electoral support for the left reflects the disenchantment of voters with …
The Three Faces of the Indian State
For more than seven decades, India's Constitution has provided a framework for liberal democracy to flourish in one of the world's most diverse societies. Legal changes and shifts in bureaucratic practices, however, have undermined central tenets of the prevailing order. In today's India, the assent of the people is both necessary and sufficient to justify all forms of state action. This article outlines three manifestations of India's new consti…
Rethinking the Study of Electoral Politics in the Developing World: Reflections on the Indian Case
In the study of electoral politics and political behavior in the developing world, India is often considered to be an exemplar of the centrality of contingency in distributive politics, the role of ethnicity in shaping political behavior, and the organizational weakness of political parties. Whereas these axioms have some empirical basis, the massive changes in political practices, the vast variation in political patterns, and the burgeoning lite…
Who Rallies around the Flag? Nationalist Parties, National Security, and the 2019 Indian Election
National security crises often generate a ‘rally‐around‐the‐flag’ effect, especially under nationalist administrations, but the salience of a security crisis varies within a country. Does exposure to a crisis intensify rallying by fomenting nationalism, inciting hawkishness, and distracting from quotidian economic concerns? Or does exposure deepen dissatisfaction with the incumbent, thereby reducing a rallying effect? We argue the latter using ev…
The Rise of India's Second Republic
At first glance, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s narrow 2024 general election victory—a win only made possible thanks to the cooperation of alliance partners—suggests a return to a previous era of coalition government in India. While the ruling party may be weakened, the nature of the political order has fundamentally shifted in ways that will have a lasting impact on Indian democracy. India is witnessing the dawn of a "Second Republic," an in…
Does Good Economics Make for Good Politics? Evidence from Indian States
The proposition that voters reward incumbent governments that perform well economically is considered received wisdom in many democracies. We examine this hypothesis in India, a developing democracy where scholars have found limited evidence of economic voting. Using a unique state-level panel dataset covering the years 1980–2012, we find that there is no relationship between growth and electoral performance in the aggregate. However, since 2000,…
Legislative Capture in India: Is Democracy Back from the Brink
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won consecutive parliamentary majorities in India's 2014 and 2019 elections, ushering in a period of single-party dominance that has replaced a quarter-century of coalition politics. This new era has been marked by a growing concentration of executive power, crackdowns on dissent, and rising Hindu majoritarianism. The roots of India's democratic backsliding predate the BJP's resurgence, but the trends have intensi…
India Today: Economics, Politics and Society
Journal Article India Today: Economics, Politics and Society Get access India Today: Economics, Politics and Society by Stuart Corbridge, John Harriss, and Craig Jeffrey. Oxford, Polity Press, 2012. 332 pp. Paper, $24.95. Milan Vaishnav Milan Vaishnav Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 128, Issue 3, Fall 2013, Pages 582–583, https:…
Digital India? an email experiment with Indian legislators
Of the many tasks elected representatives perform, constituency service is among the most difficult to observe and, therefore, to measure. However, a burgeoning literature uses digital tools such as email to experimentally evaluate the responsiveness of political elites to requests for constituency service. To date, this literature has overwhelmingly focused on the developed world. In this article, we describe the results of an email experiment i…
Introduction to a special issue of India Review: The consequences of the 2019 Indian general election for politics and policy in India
This essay introduces a special issue of India Review on the consequences of the 2019 Indian general election for politics and public policy. The special issue assesses how four key policy and political domains are impacted by a second Narendra Modi-led BJP government: the party system, minority rights, the economy, and federalism
Ethnic Identifiability in India
The ethnic politics literature assumes that one’s ethnic identity is readily identifiable. This paper evaluates how well this assumption holds in practice, drawing on a voter survey in the Indian state of Bihar. While voters often misidentify the identity of their candidate, the degree of error is small but systematic
Why Voters Sometimes Prefer Criminals as Candidates
Electoral Revolution or Democratic Alternation
Over the past few years, a burgeoning literature on Latin American politics has developed, focusing on explanations for the renewed success of the left in the region. Building on electoral trends and public opinion analysis, we argue that the region is experiencing the normalization of democratic politics rather than a backlash or a revolution. Furthermore, we believe that electoral support for the left reflects the disenchantment of voters with …
India Today: Economics, Politics and Society
Journal Article India Today: Economics, Politics and Society Get access India Today: Economics, Politics and Society by Stuart Corbridge, John Harriss, and Craig Jeffrey. Oxford, Polity Press, 2012. 332 pp. Paper, $24.95. Milan Vaishnav Milan Vaishnav Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 128, Issue 3, Fall 2013, Pages 582–583, https:…
Does Good Economics Make for Good Politics? Evidence from Indian States
The proposition that voters reward incumbent governments that perform well economically is considered received wisdom in many democracies. We examine this hypothesis in India, a developing democracy where scholars have found limited evidence of economic voting. Using a unique state-level panel dataset covering the years 1980–2012, we find that there is no relationship between growth and electoral performance in the aggregate. However, since 2000,…
Why Voters Sometimes Prefer Criminals as Candidates
Ethnic Identifiability in India
The ethnic politics literature assumes that one’s ethnic identity is readily identifiable. This paper evaluates how well this assumption holds in practice, drawing on a voter survey in the Indian state of Bihar. While voters often misidentify the identity of their candidate, the degree of error is small but systematic
Does Higher Turnout Hurt Incumbents? An Analysis of State Elections in India
Conventional wisdom holds that an increase in voter turnout hurts incumbents in Indian elections. This belief has become a central feature of how analysts discuss Indian voter behaviour. Yet there are few systematic analyses of the relationship between turnout and incumbent performance. To fill this gap, we analysed a dataset of elections in India’s 18 major states between 1980 and 2012. Our analyses show that an increase in turnout, relative to …
The Strategic and Moral Imperatives of Local Engagement: Reflections on India
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Digital India? an email experiment with Indian legislators
Of the many tasks elected representatives perform, constituency service is among the most difficult to observe and, therefore, to measure. However, a burgeoning literature uses digital tools such as email to experimentally evaluate the responsiveness of political elites to requests for constituency service. To date, this literature has overwhelmingly focused on the developed world. In this article, we describe the results of an email experiment i…
Crime, Politics, and the Future of India's Democracy
The review essays by Sunila S. Kale, Sandipto Dasgupta, and Michael J. Watts on Milan Vaishnav's When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics and Steven Pierce's Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria raise a number of theoretically interesting questions about corruption, criminality, and their historical embeddedness. In particular, they force a rethinking of the commonly accepted notion that in m…
Introduction to a special issue of India Review: The consequences of the 2019 Indian general election for politics and policy in India
This essay introduces a special issue of India Review on the consequences of the 2019 Indian general election for politics and public policy. The special issue assesses how four key policy and political domains are impacted by a second Narendra Modi-led BJP government: the party system, minority rights, the economy, and federalism
What Is Women’s Work? Reflections from Four North Indian Urban Clusters
The actual extent of the female employment challenge in India is much debated. Data on female labour force participation (FLFP) in India is hampered by shortcomings in data validity and data accuracy . The objective of this article is to explore challenges to data accuracy through two potential sources of error: measurement error and reporting error . Drawing on a unique source of granular survey data from households in four north Indian urban cl…
Working Women’s Decision-Making Power at Home: Evidence from Four North Indian Urban Clusters
Do working women enjoy greater levels of human agency? While the theoretical foundations underlying this connection are clear, the empirical evidence is quite mixed. We leverage detailed, new data on intra-household decision-making and labour market behaviour from four north Indian urban clusters to shed light on this question. We find that women who work exercise greater say in important decisions around the home. However, this ‘work advantage’ …
Gender, Social Change and Urbanisation in Four North Indian Clusters
Urbanisation in India is reshaping established social and economic patterns of behaviour in ways that scholars are struggling to analyse. This article introduces this special issue presenting new empirical research on the interconnections between gender, social change and urbanisation in India. It does so by relying on a unique dataset drawn from nearly 15,000 households across four consequential urban clusters—Dhanbad, Indore, Patna and Varanasi…
The Three Faces of the Indian State
For more than seven decades, India's Constitution has provided a framework for liberal democracy to flourish in one of the world's most diverse societies. Legal changes and shifts in bureaucratic practices, however, have undermined central tenets of the prevailing order. In today's India, the assent of the people is both necessary and sufficient to justify all forms of state action. This article outlines three manifestations of India's new consti…
Rethinking the Study of Electoral Politics in the Developing World: Reflections on the Indian Case
In the study of electoral politics and political behavior in the developing world, India is often considered to be an exemplar of the centrality of contingency in distributive politics, the role of ethnicity in shaping political behavior, and the organizational weakness of political parties. Whereas these axioms have some empirical basis, the massive changes in political practices, the vast variation in political patterns, and the burgeoning lite…
India @75: Religion and Citizenship in India
As India celebrates 75 years of independence, fresh questions are being raised about who is an Indian. This essay introduces a special section of Studies in Indian Politics which puts forward answers to this question considering recent tectonic changes in India’s political climate and party system. We outline how religion is being increasingly adopted as a filter through which citizenship is decided—both in formal, legal terms as well as in infor…
Who Rallies around the Flag? Nationalist Parties, National Security, and the 2019 Indian Election
National security crises often generate a ‘rally‐around‐the‐flag’ effect, especially under nationalist administrations, but the salience of a security crisis varies within a country. Does exposure to a crisis intensify rallying by fomenting nationalism, inciting hawkishness, and distracting from quotidian economic concerns? Or does exposure deepen dissatisfaction with the incumbent, thereby reducing a rallying effect? We argue the latter using ev…
The Rise of India's Second Republic
At first glance, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s narrow 2024 general election victory—a win only made possible thanks to the cooperation of alliance partners—suggests a return to a previous era of coalition government in India. While the ruling party may be weakened, the nature of the political order has fundamentally shifted in ways that will have a lasting impact on Indian democracy. India is witnessing the dawn of a "Second Republic," an in…
Legislative Capture in India: Is Democracy Back from the Brink
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won consecutive parliamentary majorities in India's 2014 and 2019 elections, ushering in a period of single-party dominance that has replaced a quarter-century of coalition politics. This new era has been marked by a growing concentration of executive power, crackdowns on dissent, and rising Hindu majoritarianism. The roots of India's democratic backsliding predate the BJP's resurgence, but the trends have intensi…
Home and Away: Explaining the Paradoxical Political Attitudes of Indian Americans
Do individuals hold fixed political attitudes that persist across different contexts, or do their views shift depending on their group’s relative status within each setting? We argue that political preferences are shaped in part by whether one’s group is positioned as a majority or a minority in a given context. Groups that consistently occupy minority positions tend to hold stable, liberal attitudes driven by support for minority rights. In cont…
Political science (17 works) · Politics (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Economics (11 works) · Law (11 works) · Political economy (10 works) · Democracy (7 works) · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies (7 works) · Public Administration (5 works)