Biography:Ashutosh Varshney

Ashutosh Varshney
Awards	2008 Guggenheim Fellowship 2008 Carnegie Scholar 2003 Gregory Luebbert Prize 1990 Daniel Lerner Prize
Academic background
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi & University of Allahabad
Academic work
Institutions	University of Michigan
Main interests	Ethnic and religious conflict

Ashutosh Varshney Ashutosh Varshney is Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Brown University, where he also directs the Center for Contemporary South Asia. Previously, he taught at Harvard (1989-98) and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2001-2008).

His 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).

The awards based on his research include the Guggenheim fellowship, the Carnegie Fellowship, the Gregory Luebbert Prize, and the Daniel Lerner Prize. He has also won research grants, among others, from the Ford Foundation, Social Science Research Council, U.S. Institute of Peace, Open Society Foundation, and Indian Council of Social Science Research.

His research and teaching cover three areas: Ethnicity and Nationalism; Political Economy of Development; and South Asian Politics and Political Economy. His academic papers have appeared in World Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Comparative Politics, Daedalus, Journal of Development Studies, World Development, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Democracy, Journal of East Asian Studies, Foreign Affairs, and Economic and Political Weekly. In addition to professional journals, he also contributes guest columns to newspapers and magazines and is a contributing editor to the Indian Express.

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 UN Secretary General 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.

Selected publications

Books

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

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

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

Chapters in books

• Varshney, Ashutosh (2009), "Poverty and famines: an extension", Arguments for a better world: essays in honor of Amartya Sen | Volume II: Society, institutions and development, Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 139–156, ISBN 9780199239979. 

Journal articles

• Varshney, Ashutosh; Barron, Patrick; Jaffrey, Sana; Palmer, Blaire (February 2010). "Final Reflections: Looking Back, Moving Forward". Collective Violence in Indonesia (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner) 39 (2): 145-161. http://ashutoshvarshney.net/wp-content/files_mf/finalreflectionslookingbackandmovingforward.pdf. 

• Varshney, Ashutosh; Kanbur, Ravi; Beall, Jo (February 2011). "Ethnic diversity and ethnic strife. An interdisciplinary perspective". World Development (Elsevier) 39 (2): 147–158. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.034. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.034. 

• Varshney, Ashutosh; Ahmed, Sadiq (2012). "Battles Half Won: Political Economy of India’s Growth and Economic Policy Since Independence". The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Economy (Oxford University Press): 56-102. http://ashutoshvarshney.net/wp-content/files_mf/battleshalfwonpoliticaleconomyofindiasgrowthandeconomicpolicysinceindependence83.pdf. 

• Varshney, Ashutosh; Iyer, Lakshmi; Khanna, Tarun (February 2013). "Caste and Entrepreneurship in India". Economic and Political Weekly XLVIII (6): 52-60. http://ashutoshvarshney.net/wp-content/files_mf/04_25.4varshneypp.3445.pdf. 

• Varshney, Ashutosh (June 2013). "How has Indian Federalism Done?". Studies in Indian Politics 1 (1): 43-63. http://ashutoshvarshney.net/wp-content/files_mf/howhasindianfederalismdone.pdf. 

• Varshney, Ashutosh (October 2014). "India’s Watershed Vote: Hindu Nationalism in Power?". Journal of Democracy (National Endowment for Democracy and Johns Hopkins Press) 24 (4): 34-45. http://ashutoshvarshney.net/wp-content/files_mf/avjournalofasianstudiesnov2015.pdf. 

• Varshney, Ashutosh (November 2015). "Asian Democracy through an Indian Prism". The Journal of Asian Studies (Cambridge Journals) 74: 917-926. doi:10.1017/S0021911815001643. http://ashutoshvarshney.net/wp-content/files_mf/avjournalofasianstudiesnov2015.pdf. 

• Varshney, Ashutosh; Barron, Patrick; Jaffrey, Sana (August 2016). "When Large Conflicts Subside: The Ebbs and Flows of Violence in Post-Suharto Indonesia". Journal of East Asian Studies (East Asia Institute) 16: 191-217. doi:10.1017/jea.2016.6. http://ashutoshvarshney.net/wp-content/files_mf/whenlargeconflictssubside.pdf. 

• Varshney, Ashutosh (July 2017). "Growth, Inequality, and Nationalism". Journal of Democracy (National Endowment for Democracy and Johns Hopkins Press) 28 (3): 41–51. http://ashutoshvarshney.net/wp-content/files_mf/jodvarshneygrowthinequalityandnationalism.pdf. 

• Varshney, Ashutosh; Bertorelli, Ebony; Heller, Patrick; Swaminathan, Siddharth (August 2017). "Does Citizenship Abate Class? Evidence and Reflections from a South Indian City". Economic and Political Weekly LII (32): 47–57. http://ashutoshvarshney.net/wp-content/files_mf/epwvarshneyswaminathanhellerbertorellidoescitizenshipabateclass.pdf.