Milan Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program and the host of the Grand Tamasha podcast at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary research focus is the political economy of India, and he examines issues such as corruption and governance, state capacity, distributive politics, and electoral behavior. He also conducts research on the Indian diaspora.
He is the author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics (Yale University Press and HarperCollins India, 2017), which was awarded the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation book prize for the best non-fiction book on contemporary India published in 2017. He is also co-editor (with Devesh Kapur) of Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India (Oxford University Press, 2018) and (with Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Devesh Kapur) of Rethinking Public Institutions in India (Oxford University Press, 2017). His work has been published in scholarly journals such as American Journal of Political Science, Asian Survey, Governance, India Review, Journal of Democracy, Perspectives on Politics, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Studies in Indian Politics. He is a regular contributor to several Indian publications.
Previously, he worked at the Center for Global Development, where he served as a postdoctoral research fellow, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an adjunct professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University (currently on leave) and has previously taught at Columbia and George Washington Universities. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.
India is witnessing the dawn of a “Second Republic,” an inflection point that is equal in magnitude to the constitutional moment in 1950, when India’s “First Republic” was established.
India is witnessing the dawn of a “Second Republic,” an inflection point that is equal in magnitude to the constitutional moment in 1950, when India’s “First Republic” was established. Several elements of the Second Republic were visible prior to these elections, and the BJP’s narrow victory has not dislodged them.
Leading author and thinker Gucharan Das joins Milan Vaishnav for Grand Tamasha's season finale. Das shares his personal journey to becoming a liberal, which largely mirrors India's own democratic struggle.
Sadanand Dhume and Tanvi Madan join Milan Vaishnav to discuss the outcomes and aftermath of India’s 2024 election.
Trinh Nguyen joins Milan Vaishnav to discuss the steps that the third Modi government must take in response to the country's broader economic challenges.
India’s prime minister will balk at needing allies to stay in power, but coalition rule has proved to have benefits for large democracies.
Three things stood out during the election campaign: Rising unemployment, divisive political rhetoric, and the decline of institutions.
Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party lost its majority in India’s parliament. The stunning blow is forcing Modi to rely on allies to form a government for the first time since he stormed to power a decade ago.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared victory in the country’s elections and will secure a rare third consecutive term in office.
Milan Vaishnav joins Sunetra Choudhury and Rahul Verma for a timely analysis of the latest results from India's general election, focusing on the BJP's unexpected losses.