Biography

Dr. Ipshita Basu is a political sociologist specialising on governance and policy processes in developing countries. Her key interests over the last 8 years of research  include redistributive justice, democracy and the institutional dimension of ethnic conflict and poverty in South Asia.

Following her PhD in 2009, she was based as Head of Research at BRAC's Institute of Governance Studies where she was managing the IDRC Think Tank Initiative Programme. For 2 years she steered an IDRC funded research programme on urban governance in Bangladesh, and led a multi-disciplinary team of 12 researchers on the publication of the influential State of Governance in Dhaka City Report.

Ipshita is committed to advancing the scope for research-based policy making in developing countries. Her academic career  has therefore  involved a close collaboration between theorising on the politics of development and  considering  policy relevant recommendations for change. Her development experience spans from grassroot NGO work to high-level policy advocacy.  She has been working with think tanks and NGOs in South Asia on several donor supported research initiatives on governance and poverty reduction. 

Ipshita is originally from West Bengal, India and grew up in Bangalore where she graduated from Bangalore University with a first class undergraduate degree in Economics (1999). A postgraduate scholarship brought her first to the University of Warwick where she studied for an M.A. in Sociology (2001) and after 2 years as journalist in India she returned to the University of Bath with a University Research Studentship to complete her PhD. She is now settled in the U.K. but like most cosmopolitan migrants she has her feet firmly rooted in India, Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia.

Research Interests

Current Research Interests

Politics of Governance Reform and Foreign Aid

Anthropology of the state

Urban Space, Inequality and Violence

New Middle Classes in Emerging Powers (BRICS)

Discourses of Violence and Counter-Violence

Research Collaborations

International Centre for Taxation and Development Based at IDS, University of Sussex this is a 5 year research programme consortium that focuses on investigating the relationship between tax and good governance. I have been involved with ICTD since its inception year (2009), focussing on augmenting research on the political economy of tax in South Asia, and have been a key note speaker at regional conferences and meetings in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

South Asia Urban Research Network This is a consortium of 12 (and counting) partner institutions who are based in South Asia and who are at the epicentre of urban research in the region. This network has been set up as a virtual plus portal to enable researchers to collaborate and exchange knowledge and identify and bid for prospective research projects on urban issues.

Centre for Development Studies In collaboration with academics based at University of Bath and BRAC University in Bangladesh  an international conference on 40 years of Bangladesh was held in Dhaka in November 2012, and an edited volume with Routledge is currently under prodcution.

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Basu, I., 2011 “Security and Development: are they two sides of the same coin?”  Investigating India’s two-pronged policy towards left wing extremism.” Contemporary South Asia Vol. 19 Issue 4 (December). http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09584935.2010.537745

Basu, I., 2012 “The politics of recognition and redistribution: Development, Tribal identity politics and Distributive justice in India’s Jharkhand.” Development and Change Vol. 43 Issue 6 (November) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2012.01803.x/abstract

Forthcoming Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Basu, I. (Under Review) “China-India Relations in South Asia: Aid Diplomacy, Security and Regional Power.” Asian Journal of Political Science.

Basu, I. (Under Review) “Political Subjectivity and Violence as Agency:  Tribal Identity in the Extreme Left and Extreme Right of Indian Politics.” Modern Asian Studies.

Basu, I. (Under Review) “Middle Classes as Drivers of Good Governance, or not?: The Workings of Discourse, Power and Identity.” Journal of International Development.

Books

Basu, I. (Under Contract) Identity, Development and Resistance: Policy and Politics of Recognition and Redistribution in India’s Jharkhand.  (To be completed by Jun 2013)

Book Chapters

Basu, I. (with Devine, J. and Brown, G.), 2013. "Good Governance, Rights and the Demand for Democracy: Evidence from Bangladesh." In: Basu, I., Devine, J , Khair, R.and Wood, G. (eds.) (Forthcoming 2013) (Re) thinking Democracy, Governance and State Building: Insights from Bangladesh at 40. London: Routledge.

Teaching

POLMO13 Theories of International Relations (Postgraduate, Autumn Term)

POL2034 International Organisations (Undergraduate, Spring Term)

POL3068 Politics of the Middle East (Undergraduate, Spring Term)

POLM023 Politics of International Intervention II (Postgraduate, Spring Term)

Affiliations

Research Fellow, BRAC, Institute of Governance Studies, Dhaka.

Visiting Lecturer, Centre for Global Politics, Freie University of Berlin

Invited Lectures

Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore. 10th Sep 2012. Dhaka - the City of a 100 villages: Megacity Growth, Urban Poverty and Informal Governance. (Media Coverage)

School of Habitat Studies, TISS, Mumbai. 14th Sep 2012. State of Governance in Dhaka City.