Behavioral Voters in a Decentralized Democracy
Vimal Balasubramaniam, Apurav Yash Bhatiya, and Sabyasachi Das
April 12, 2021
In the latest issue of India in Transition, Vimal Balasubramaniam (Queen Mary University of London), Apurav Yash Bhatiya (University of Warwick, UK), and Sabyasachi Das (Ashoka University) argue that synchronizing national and state elections in India influences voters' decision-making significantly, leading to changes in electoral outcomes.
*Interested in writing for IiT? Now open for submissions*
IiT articles are now available in two new languages: Bangla and Tamil!
CASI in the News
CASI Director, Tariq Thachil and CASI Non-Resident Visiting Scholar, Adam Auerbach (American University) received the 2021 American Journal of Political Science Best Article Award by the Midwest Political Science Association—which recognizes a single paper from among all research published in the journal the preceding year—for their paper, "Cultivating Clients: Reputation, Responsiveness, and Ethnic Indifference in India’s Slums."
Additionally, Professors Thachil and Auerbach published (along with CASI Non-Resident Visiting Scholars Neelanjan Sircar and Milan Vaishnav, et al) "Rethinking the Study of Electoral Politics in the Developing World: Reflections on the Indian Case" in the March 22, 2021 issue of Perspectives on Politics.
CASI Non-Resident Visiting Scholar, Radhika Khosla (Research Director, Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, Somerville College; Associate Professor, Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford) co-authored "Cooling for Sustainable Development," the cover story in the March 2021 issue of Nature Sustainability; "Patent Landscape of Not-In-Kind Active Cooling Technologies Between 1998 and 2017" in the May 2021 issue of Journal of Cleaner Production; and co-authored (along with CASI Non-Resident Visiting Scholar Neelanjan Sircar, et al) "The What, Why, and How of Changing Cooling Energy Consumption in India's Urban Households" in the March 25, 2021 issue of Environmental Research Letters. Professor Khosla also co-authored the Executive Summary: Climate Action Pathway: Net-Zero Cooling for achieving net-zero cooling by 2050 and co-led a chapter, "Bridging the Gap – the Role of Equitable Low-Carbon Lifestyles" in the December 2020 UNEP Emissions Gap Report.
CASI Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Naveen Bharathi's research was featured in "Impact of Social Segregation on Employment Opportunities" by Pragathi Ravi in the April 12, 2021 issue of Citizen Matters and in "Caste and Religion Based Residential Segregation in Indian Cities," a recent conversation with Sneha Visakha on the podcast "The Feminist City."
CASI Non-Resident Visiting Scholar, Debjani Bhattacharyya (Associate Professor of History and Urban Studies, Drexel University) published "A River Is Not a Pendulum: Sediments of Science in the World of Tides" in the March 2021 issue of Isis.
South Asian Studies Department Offering Postdoctoral Fellowship
For anyone interested—Penn's Department of South Asia Studies is accepting applications for a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Caste, Race, and Social Exclusion as part of the Department’s initiative on “Caste and Race: Past and Present." Please note: this is a different postdoctoral fellowship from the one previously offered by CASI. Read More & Apply
Upcoming Virtual Events
April 15, 2021, 10:00am EDT | 7:30pm IST via Zoom
"Local Governance and Decentralization in Karnataka"
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A CASI Virtual Lecture with Uma Mahadevan (Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj, the Government of Karnataka)
April 22, 2021, 12 noon EDT | 9:30pm IST via Zoom
"Numerical Citizenship Struggles in Contemporary Delhi"
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CASI / South Asia Center / Penn Institute for Urban Research Co-Sponsored Virtual Seminar with Sanjeev Routray (University of British Columbia, Vancouver)
April 28, 2021, 10:00am EDT | 7:30pm IST
"Applications of Economics and Behavioral Science to Public Health"
[Register]
A Penn in India Faculty Speaker Series virtual conversation with Dr. Harsha Thirumurthy (Penn) and moderated by Heather Schofield (Wharton)
Event Videos
April 8, 2021: CASI Seminar "Decolonizing Caste and Rethinking Social Inequality in South Asia" with Chinnaiah Jangam (Carleton University) FULL VIDEO
VIEW VIDEOS of more CASI Spring 2021 events—Transcript, English captions, Hindi subtitles available on select events
CASI Student Programs
Undergraduate Research Assistantship Funds for Penn Faculty
CASI invites Penn faculty members to apply for funding to support undergraduate Research Assistants to aid them with their research related to contemporary India. LEARN MORE
Deadline to Apply: Monday, April 12, 2021 at 11:59pm EDT
Subscribe to the CASI Student Programs Blog and read about how our Summer 2020 Research Grant awardees spent last summer!
Questions about CASI Student Programs?
Please contact Laura Iwanyk, Assistant Director, CASI Student Programs and Outreach, liwanyk@upenn.edu
Campus Location
CASI's office is located close to the heart of Penn's campus at the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science & Economics at 133 South 36th Street (Suite 230) Philadelphia, PA 19104-6215.
Please note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not all of the Penn community has resumed full operations on campus. At this time, CASI is operating remotely.
