Sanjay Ruparelia

SNF Agora Visiting Fellow, AY 23-24

Sanjay Ruparelia is associate professor of politics and public administration, and the inaugural Jarislowsky Democracy Chair, at Toronto Metropolitan University. 

His major publications include Divided We Govern: Coalition Politics in Modern India (2015); The Indian Ideology: Three Responses to Perry Anderson (edited; 2015); and Understanding India’s New Political Economy: A Great Transformation? (co-edited; 2011). He has published a range of papers in edited volumes and academic journals (Comparative Politics, Economic & Political Weekly, International Journal for Politics, Culture and Society, Pacific Affairs, South Asia), as well as general essays and opinion pieces in various media (Dissent, Global Policy, Globe and Mail, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Open Canada, Policy Options, and Toronto Star). 

Ruparelia is a co-chair of the Participedia network, which examines democratic innovations around the world; contributing editor to Indian Politics and Policy, and associate editor of Pacific Affairs and the Oxford Encyclopedia of Asian Politics; and a country expert for V-Dem: Varieties of Democracy. He hosts On the Frontlines of Democracy, a monthly podcast and lecture series, the latter with the Toronto Public Library. 

His research has been supported by fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies; the universities of Notre Dame, Princeton, and Yale; and the Social Science Research Council (New York), as well as major grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (Canada). He previously taught at the New School for Social Research and Columbia University, and served as a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme (New York) and the Asia Foundation (Kabul). He earned a BA (first-class honors) in political science from McGill University, and an MPhil (distinction) in sociology and politics of development and a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge.