I am a Doctoral Candidate (ABD) at the Department of Political Science, Georgia State University and I will be defending my dissertation in early Spring 2019. I am on the job market this year. My research interests concentrate on comparative politics and international relations.

My research in comparative politics focuses on the critical role bureaucracy plays in democratization. My dissertation puts forth a framework that predicts the potential within a nascent democracy for either backsliding or consolidation, conditional upon the quality of the bureaucracy and its links to the ruling coalition. My current research fits into the broader literature on democratization and political/economic development.

Within the domain of International Relations, I concentrate on international organizations, specifically regional organizations in East and South Asia like South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). My research posits that regional organizations and their success is idiosyncratic based on the region of application. My focus is on understanding how regional organizations can operate as facilitators of political and economic development in member states. I use mixed methods approach across all my research. I employ approaches like process tracing, network analysis based on extensive key personnel interviews, and Medium N data sets. I am also proficient in programs like Python, Node XL and Gephi that help create innovative visualizations through sophisticated data scraping.

My dissertation puts forth a framework that predicts the potential within a nascent democracy for either backsliding or consolidation, conditional upon the quality of the bureaucracy and its links to the ruling coalition. My current research fits into the broader literature on democratization and institutions. I support my argument with evidence gathered through extensive fieldwork in Taiwan, Turkey, and Pakistan. I utilize a mixed methods approach with a focus on detailed network analysis based on key personnel interviews in each of these countries.

My other research interests include survival of populist authoritarian regimes through bureaucracy and judiciary, understanding the relationship of bureaucracy with different players during the democratic transition process, regional organizations’ limits to integration and foreign policy strategies of small states.

Previously, I was working professionally as a policy expert with international organizations like the United Nations, Asian Development Bank, and the USAID in South and South East Asia for over 5 years before joining the graduate school.