Arun Agrawal (born September 20, 1962) is a

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and the Pulte Family Professor of Development Policy in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

. Agrawal is the coordinator for the International Forestry Resources and Institutions network and does research in Africa and South Asia. Agrawal was the editor-in-chief of the scholarly journal '' World Development'' from 2013-2021. Agrawal was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

in 2011 and was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2018.

Education

Arun Agrawal was born in Forbesganj, Bihar, India, where he grew up in a middle-class family. Eventually he moved to

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

to live with an aunt, so that he could attend a better school. Agrawal received his BA in History from the

University of Delhi The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

in 1983. He received an MBA in Development Administration and Public Policy from the

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad or IIM-A), is a business school, located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is one of the Indian Institutes of Management and was accorded the status of an Institute of National Impor ...

in 1985. Moving to the United States, he received his Ph.D. in political science from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

in 1992. His Ph.D. work involved following Indian shepherds in the Himalayas to better understand how those communities managed commonly held resources.

Career

Agrawal has taught at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

(1993-1996),

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

(1997-2002) and

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

(2002-2003). From 2003 to 2024, he taught at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, where he worked on issues of environmental politics, governance, and sustainable development. As of January 2025, Agrawal is the inaugural director of the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative at the

. In 2022, Agrawal was chosen to be a co-chair of the Transformative Change Assessment for the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The Transformative Change Assessment will address "the underlying causes of

biodiversity loss Biodiversity loss happens when plant or animal species disappear completely from Earth (extinction) or when there is a decrease or disappearance of species in a specific area. Biodiversity loss means that there is a reduction in Biodiversity, b ...

, the determinants of transformative change, and options for achieving the 2050 vision for biodiversity".

Publications

Agrawal's work has been published in journals such as ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'', ''

Conservation Biology Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an i ...

'', '' World Development'', and ''

PNAS ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of S ...

''. In a publication in ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'', Agrawal explores the positive side of disaster in his case study of a 1998 hurricane in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. According to Agrawal, natural disasters like this set the stage for alternative social trajectories.

Books

Agrawal's best known book is ''Environmentality: Technologies of Government and the Making of Subjects'', published in 2005. Previously published books included ''Greener Pastures: Politics, Markets, and Community Among a Migrant Pastoral People,'' (1999) and ''Decentralization in Nepal: A Comparative Analysis'' (1998).

Reviews

*"Arun Agrawal (in ''Environmentality'') provides a most lucid account of the people-government- forest interplay in the 20th century Kumaon Himalayas in this book.... Arun Agrawal addresses these fascinating questions on the basis, not only of archival research, but significantly, on the strength of extensive long-term fieldwork."—The Hindu *"This book (''Environmentality'') aims to promote Arun Agrawal's own neologism - "environmentality" ... This book, too, has hidden its worthwhile arguments in thickets of verbal profusion, which make it hard to see the teak for the forest."--The Times Higher Education

Books edited

*2001: ''Agrarian Environments: Resources, Representations and Rule in India''. Duke University Press, Durham, *2001: ''Social Nature: Resources, Representations and Rule in India''. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, *2001: ''Communities and the Environment: Ethnicity, Gender, and the State in Community-Based Conservation''. Rutgers University Press, Piscataway, *2003: ''Regional Modernities: The Cultural Politics of Development in India''. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agrawal, Arun 1962 births American political scientists Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni Environmental social scientists Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad alumni Indian political scientists Living people Delhi University alumni University of Michigan faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences