Social Justice Through Inclusion: The Consequences of Electoral Quotas in India

CASI Seminar

A Book Talk with the Author

Francesca Jensenius
Senior Research Fellow, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Center for the Advanced Study of India
3600 Market Street, Suite 560 (5th floor)
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104

About the Speaker:
Francesca R. Jensenius is a Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). She specializes in comparative politics and comparative political economy, with a focus on India. Her work on elections, political representation, and development in India have appeared in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Asian studies, AEJ Applied Economics, Party Politics,and Asian Survey. She is also the author of Social Justice Through Inclusion: The Consequences of Electoral Quotas in India (Oxford University Press, 2017). She earned her Ph.D. from University of California Berkeley in 2013.

About the Lecture:
Across the world, governments design and implement policies with the explicit goal of promoting social justice. But can such institutions change entrenched social norms? And what effects should we expect from differently designed policies? In this lecture, Francesca R. Jensenius will present key findings from her recent book, Social Justice Through Inclusion, about the long-term consequences of reserved seats for the Scheduled Castes (SCs, the former "untouchables") in India's legislative assemblies.

The Nand & Jeet Khemka Distinguished Lecture Series is an endowed public program of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI). Launched in the 2007-08 academic year, and made possible through the generous support of the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation, the series brings renowned India specialists to the Penn community and serves as a critical forum for analyzing and understanding the complex economic, political, social, and cultural changes that the world’s largest democracy is experiencing, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.
The Saluja Global Fellows Program has been made possible by the generous gift from Vishal Saluja ENG’89 W’89. CASI was excited to launch the program during the 2022–23 academic year, coinciding with the Center’s 30th Anniversary. This new program enables CASI to invite eminent leaders and rising experts on contemporary India preferably from the fields of media, culture, law, and contemporary history to be in residence for one to two weeks at CASI.