States worldwide use facial recognition technology (FRT) to assist in policing citizens, monitoring public goods, and even running elections. This article asks how FRT in polling stations affects voter turnout. Existing research on technology in elections offer ambiguous predictions for the direction and magnitude of the effect. I leverage a state-run randomized pilot of FRT in local elections in a municipality in Telangana, India to show that polling stations with FRT have lower turnout compared to those without. I discuss how three possible mechanisms might explain this effect: logistical issues, shifts in fraudulent activity, and apprehension about government surveillance particularly among marginalized citizens. Given the small sample of this pilot, the findings should be viewed as suggestive but indicative of the need for future research on the consequences that new technologies in governance can have on citizens in democracies.
How and when can religious times become focal points for communal violence? In the context of Hindu-Muslim riots in India, I argue that incompatible ritual holidays where one religion's rituals are at odds with another (e.g. sacrificing cows or engaging in processions with idolatry) help explain the positive effect of sacred time on religious rioting. Holidays with incompatible rituals provide doctrinal differences that make riots more likely. These types of holidays can be used by riot entrepreneurs to incite violence or can independently raise an individual's willingness to engage in violence. I provide support for this argument by analyzing data on Hindu-Muslim riots across 100 years. I investigate the mechanisms through additional analysis and examining historical and present-day cases of riots that occurred on holidays. By focusing on the content of religion, this paper demonstrates how particular religious holidays can provide the underlying conditions that elites use to incite religious violence.
Working Papers
The Representation Trap: How and Why Muslims Struggle to Maintain Power in India. [Abstract] [Working Paper] (Revise and Resubmit)
Awards: Sage Best Paper Award, APSA Comparative Politics Section (2023); Best Paper Award, APSA Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior Section (2023); Weber Best Paper Award, APSA Religion and Politics Section (2023); Kenneth D. Wald Best Graduate Student Paper Award, APSA Religion and Politics Section (2023); Honorable Mention for Best Paper Award, APSA Democracy and Autocracy Section (2023); Kellogg/Notre Dame Award, Best Paper in Comparative Politics, MPSA (2024); Richard E. Matland Award, Best Paper on Representation, Elections, or Voting, MPSA (2024)
Minority groups often display political divisions even while experiencing marginalization. This article proposes a theory to help account for this division amid marginalization. I argue that gaining political representation can divide the minority group and unify the dominant group. I study this process, termed the representation trap, through a mixed-methods examination of Muslims in India, the world’s largest democracy. Analysis of election results and original survey data show that the election of a Muslim representative divides Muslim votes across an increased number of coethnic candidates and consolidates Hindu votes for the majoritarian party in the subsequent election. Through qualitative evidence and a pre-registered vignette experiment, I show that Hindus consolidate for majoritarianism because of minority scapegoating and Muslims divide on activated sub-identities due to perceptions of unmet expectations. This work challenges existing findings on the benefits of representation and highlights the importance of politics within identity groups.
Works in Progress
Power Undone: How Minority Representation Shapes Identity Politics in India. (book project, tentative title)
This book project is based on my doctoral dissertation, which received the Gabriel A. Almond Award (2024) for the best dissertation in comparative politics, the Juan Linz Prize (2024) for the best dissertation in the comparative study of democracy, and the Best Fieldwork Award (2024) from the APSA Democracy and Autocracy section.
Increasing Polarization of Hindu-Muslim Identity in India. (with Viktor Enssle, Tanushree Goyal, Saad Gulzar, and Gufran Pathan)
Top-Down Representation: How Coethnicity Across Levels Promotes Minority Inclusion in India. (with Rahul Verma)
Leader-Driven Campaigns and Party Building in India. (with Resuf Ahmed)
Marriage, Conversion, and Ethnic Conflict in Colonial Burma.
Non-Partisan Grassroots Organizations as Electoral Actors. (with Pratik Mahajan)
Telegraphs and the Technology of Conflict: Evidence from the 1857 Indian Rebellion. (with Zuhad Hai)
Other Writings
Mapping Muslim Voting Behavior in India. February 2024. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. [India Election 2024 Series] [Republished in the Hindustan Times]
Decoding Bharat Jodo Yatra’s impact on Karnataka elections. May 2023. Hindustan Times. (with Resuf Ahmed) [Link]
Using IOM Flow Monitoring Data to Describe Migration in West and Central Africa. (with Darin Christensen, Guy Grossman, and Jeremy M. Weinstein) [Report] [Coverage in The Economist]
Book Review of Mass Religious Ritual and Intergroup Tolerance: The Muslim Pilgrims’ Paradox. Nationalities Papers. 2019. [Link]