Ashutosh Varshney Explained

Ashutosh Varshney
Main Interests:	Ethnic and religious conflict
Awards:	2008 Guggenheim Fellowship 2008 Carnegie Scholar 2003 Gregory Luebbert Prize 1990 Daniel Lerner Prize
Birth Place:	Uttar Pradesh, India

Ashutosh Varshney (born 1957) is an Indian-born political scientist and academic. He is currently the Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Brown University, where he also directs the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Varshney previously taught at Harvard University and the University of Michigan. He is notable for his contributions to the study of ethnic conflict and civil society, as well as the study of politics in India.^[1] He is also a frequent columnist for the Indian Express.^[2]

Early life and education

Varshney was born in Uttar Pradesh in 1957. He received Bachelors and Master's degrees from the University of Allahabad. He spent a year at Jawaharlal Nehru University before matriculating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Sc.M. and Ph.D. in 1985 and 1990, respectively.^[3]

Work

Varshney's books include Battles Half Won: India’s Improbable Democracy (2013), Collective Violence in Indonesia (2009), Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India (Yale 2002), India in the Era of Economic Reforms (1999), and Democracy, Development and the Countryside: Urban-Rural Struggles in India (Cambridge 1995).

He is currently working on three projects; a multi-country project on cities and ethnic conflict; political economy of urbanization in India; and Indian politics and society between elections.

He served on the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan’s Millennium Task Force on Poverty (2002-5). He has also served as an adviser to the World Bank, UNDP and the Club of Madrid.^[4]

Publications

• Book: Varshney, Ashutosh . Beyond urban bias . Frank Cass . London, England Portland, Oregon . 1993 . 9780714645117 . Based on a special issue of the Journal of Development Studies guest edited.
• Book: Varshney, Ashutosh . Democracy, development, and the countryside: urban-rural struggles in India . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge England New York, New York, USA . 1998 . 9780521646253 . Cambridge University Press, 1995; paperback edition, 1998. Winner of the Daniel Lerner Prize in its PhD dissertation form, MIT, 1990. Indian edition published by Foundation Books (Delhi) in 1996.
• Book: Varshney . Ashutosh . Sachs . Jeffrey D. . Bajpai . Nirupam . Jeffrey Sachs . India in the era of economic reforms . Oxford University Press . New Delhi Oxford . 2000 . 9780195655292 .
• Book: Varshney, Ashutosh . Ethnic conflict and civic life: Hindus and Muslims in India . Yale University Press . New Haven, Connecticut . 2003 . 9780300100136 .
• Book: Varshney, Ashutosh . India and the politics of developing countries: essays in memory of Myron Weiner . SAGE Publications . New Delhi Thousand Oaks, California . 2004 . 9780761932888 . Based in part on a special issue of Asian Survey.
• Book: Varshney . Ashutosh . Herwitz . Daniel . Midnight's diaspora: critical encounters with Salman Rushdie . University of Michigan Press . Ann Arbor . 2008 . 9780472050482 .

Reprinted as: Book: Varshney . Ashutosh . Herwitz . Daniel . Midnight's diaspora: critical encounters with Salman Rushdie . Penguin Viking . Delhi, India . 2009 . 9780670083435 .

• Book: Varshney, Ashutosh . Collective violence in Indonesia . Lynne Rienner Publishers . Boulder, Colorado . 2010 . 9781588266873 . Based in part on a special issue of the Journal of East Asian Studies, guest edited.
• Book: Varshney, Ashutosh . Battles Half Won: India's Improbable Democracy . Penguin . 2014 . 9780143423515.

External links

• Brown University faculty bio

Notes and References

1. News: Khan . Mahvish . July 27, 2002 . To Keep the Peace, Study Peace . New York Times . April 9, 2024.
2. Web site: Ashutosh Varshney, Leading Columnist. . The Indian Express . 9 April 2024.
3. Web site: CV . Ashutosh Varshney . ashutoshvarshney.net . 9 April 2024.
4. Web site: Ashutosh Varshney . Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs . 9 April 2024.