Subrata Kumar Mitra is Professor of Political Science of South Asia at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg.

Education

Subrata Mitra received a Bachelors degree in political science from Utkal University

Utkal University

Utkal University, Bhubaneswar is the oldest university in Orissa and the 17th oldest university in India. It is a teaching-cum-affiliating university that has produced some of the best brains in Orissa. There are at 26 post-graduate departments at the university campus for studies and research in...

 in Orissa

Orissa

Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

, India. Subsequently he obtained an M.A. in political science in 1971 based on a thesis on "The Role of the Bharatiya Kranti Dal in the Politics of Uttar Pradesh, 1967-1970" from the University of Delhi

University of Delhi

The University of Delhi is a central university situated in Delhi, India and is funded by Government of India. Established in 1922, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Vice-President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Chancellor of the university...

. After receiving an M.Phil degree in „Political Development“ from Jawaharlal Nehru University

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Jawaharlal Nehru University, also known as JNU, is located in New Delhi, the capital of India. It is mainly a research oriented postgraduate University with approximately 5,500 students and a faculty strength of around 550.-History:...

 in New Delhi, Mitra moved to the United States to the University of Rochester

University of Rochester

The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...

 in Rochester, New York

Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

. He studied with William Riker and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and received his doctorate in political science in 1976 based on his dissertation on "Ideological Structure, Strategy and Cabinet Stability: a theoretical and empirical exploration" directed by G. Bingham Powell.

Career

He is currently Head of the Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute (University of Heidelberg

Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg

The Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg is a public research university located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386, it is the oldest university in Germany and was the third university established in the Holy Roman Empire. Heidelberg has been a coeducational institution...

) and was elected the South Asia Institute’s director for a term from 2002 to 2004. Professor Mitra previously taught at the University of Hull

University of Hull

The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...

 (England), University of Nottingham

University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

 und University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. He has also held appointments at the Indian Council for Social Science Research (New Delhi), as well as at the Institut Français d’Opinion Public (Paris). Professor Mitra is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies is an Indian social sciences and humanities research institute. It was founded in 1963 by Rajni Kothari and is largely founded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research...

 (New Delhi) and from 2002 until 2006 he was the President of the joint Research Committee on Political Sociology of the International Political Science Association

International Political Science Association

The International Political Science Association , founded under the auspices of UNESCO in 1949, is an international scholarly association. IPSA is devoted to the advancement of political science in all parts of the world...

 and the International Sociological Association. In 2004, Mitra was made Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques for his commitment to promoting cultural exchange between France and Germany.

He is editor of the Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics and a member of the editorial boards of the following publications: International Political Science Review, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, India Review, International Journal of Hindu Studies, Contemporary South Asia, South Asia Research, Journal of South Asian Development. He is also the editor of the Advances in South Asian Studies series of Routledge.

Research

Subrata Mitra's work deals with issues such as democratization in South Asia, the interaction of traditional values and modern institutions, the role of identity and religion in Indian politics, as well as the functioning of political parties and institutions in South Asia.

Books/Edited Volumes (Selection)

• Power, Protest and Participation: Local Elites and Development in India. Routledge, 1992.
• Democracy and Social Change in India: A Cross-sectional Analysis of the Indian Electorate (Co-author). Sage, 1999.
• Culture and Rationality: The Politics of Social Change in Post-colonial India. Sage, 1999.
• Political Parties in South Asia (Co-editor). Praeger, 2004.
• The Puzzle of India’s Governance: Culture, Context and Comparative Theory. Routledge, 2006.
• A Political and Economic Dictionary of South Asia (Co-author). Taylor & Francis/Europa Publications, 2006.
• Politics of Modern South Asia (editor). Five volumes. Routledge, 2008.
• When Rebels Become Stakeholders: Democracy, Agency and Social Change in India (Co-author). Sage, 2009.
• Political Sociology - The State of the Art (Co-editor). Budrich Publishers, 2010.
• Politics in India: Structure, Process and Policy. Routledge, 2011.

Articles

• Citizenship in India: Some Preliminary Results of a National Survey, Economic and Political Weekly, 27 February 2010.
• Nuclear, Engaged, and Non-Aligned: Contradiction and Coherence in India's Foreign Policy, India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 65, No. 1, pp.15-35 (2009).
• Level playing fields: The Post-colonial State, Democracy, Courts and Citizenship in India, German Law Journal, 9:3, 2008, pp.343-366.
• The new Dynamics of Indian Foreign Policy and its Ambiguities] (Co-author), Irish Studies in International Affairs, Volume 18, 2007, pp. 19-34.
• The role of research in a technical assistance agency: the case of the ‘German Agency for Technical Cooperation’ (Co-author), Health Policy, 70 (2004), pp. 229-241.
• The reluctant hegemon: India’s self perception and the South Asian strategic environment. Contemporary South Asia, 12:3 (September 2003), pp. 399-418.
• Sacred Laws and the Secular State: An Analytical Narrative of the Controversy over Personal Laws in India (Co-author), India Review, 2002, 1:3, 99-130.
• War and Peace in South Asia: a revisionist view of India-Pakistan relations. Contemporary South Asia (2001), 10:3, pp. 361-379.
• Language and Federalism: The Multi-ethnic Challenge. International Social Science Journal, No. 167, March 2001, pp. 51-60.
• The discourse vanishes: revolution and resilience in Indian politics. Contemporary South Asia, 9:3 (November 2000), pp. 355-366.
• Parties and the People: India 's party system and the resilience of democracy. (Co-author), Democratization VI (1), Spring 1999, pp. 123-154.
• Effects of Institutional Arrangements on Political Stability in South Asia. Annual Review of Political Science (1999: 2), pp. 405-428.
• Nehru's Policy towards Kashmir: Bringing politics back in again. Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Vol. 35 (2), 1996, pp. 55-74.
• The rational politics of cultural nationalism: subnational movements of South Asia in comparative perspective. British Journal of Political Science, 25:1 (January 1995), pp. 57-78.
• The National Front in France: The Emergence of an Extreme Right Protest Movement. (Co-author), Comparative Politics, Vol. 25, No. 1 (October 1992), pp. 63-82.
• Desecularising the state: religion and politics in India after independence. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 33:4 (October 1991), pp. 755-777.
• Crisis and resilience in Indian democracy. International Social Science Journal, 129 (August 1991), pp. 555-570.
• Room to maneuver in the middle: local elites, political action and the state in India. World Politics, 43:3 (April 1991), pp. 490-413.
• The limits of accommodation: Nehru, religion and the state in India. South Asia Research, 9:2 (November 1989), pp. 107-127.
• The paradox of power - political science as morality play. Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 1988 (November), Vol. 26 (3), pp. 318-337.
• The National Front in France: A Single-Issue Movement?. West European Politics, 11: 2 (1988), pp. 47-64.
• India: dynastic rule or the democratisation of power?. Third World Quarterly, 10:1 (January 1988), pp. 129-159.
• A theory of governmental instability in parliamentary systems. Comparative Political Studies, 13:2 (July 1980), pp. 235-263.
• Ballot box and local power: electoral politics in an Indian village. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 17:3 (November 1979), pp. 283-299.
• Social Class and Belief System in the Indian Political Elite: An Exploratory Study of the Interactions of Attitudes, Ideology and Party Identification (co-author), Indian Journal of Political Science, 40(1), March 1979.

External links

• Homepage Mitra (University of Heidelberg)
• The Rochester School: The Origins of Positive Political Theory, Annual Review of Political Science, 1999, 2, Ss.269-295
• Publications by Subrata Mitra http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/cgi-bin/biblio/ergebnis.cgi?suchkat1=person&suchwert1=Mitra%2C+Subrata&suchkat2=person&suchkat3=person&opt1=AND&opt2=AND&von=1&anz=10