(born 27 November 1954) is a noted

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

political theorist A political theorist is someone who engages in constructing or evaluating political theory, including political philosophy. Theorists may be academics or independent scholars. Ancient * Aristotle * Chanakya * Cicero * Confucius * Mencius * ...

, who was professor of political theory at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. His works on political theory,

multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''Pluralism (political theory), ethnic'' or cultura ...

identity politics Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...

and

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

have evoked sharp debates. He is Honorary Fellow and Founder Director, Parekh Institute of Indian Thought, CSDS ( Centre for the Study of Developing Societies) Delhi. He has been former director of the Centre between 2007 and 2014. Faculty, Rajeev Bhargava
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) He is also a Honorary Fellow of Balliol College,

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Education

He received his B.A. degree in economics 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 ...

, followed by M.Phil. and D.Phil. from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Career

Bhargava started his academic career at St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1979, in the following year he joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi where he worked till 2005, when he joined Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi as a senior fellow and, from 2007 to 2014, was its director. He formally retired in 2019 but continues to be an Honorary Fellow and Director of its Parekh Institute of Indian Thought. Over the years, he has been faculty fellow in ethics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Leverhulme Fellow at

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

, senior fellow at Institute of Advanced Studies, Jerusalem, fellow, Wissenschaftkolleg, Berlin, fellow, Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, visiting fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

, Berggruen Fellow, CASBS, Stanford,

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

, China and NYU between 2015 and 2017, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Social Justice, ACU, Sydney and held the Asia Chair at

Sciences Po Paris Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

in 2006. In 2022, he was Senior Research Fellow at the Multiple Secularities project, University of Leipzig. Bhargava writes a regular column for the Indian national daily,

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

. He also served on the Social Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2019. in 2009, Bhargava was awarded the UGC national award for his contribution to political science and in 2011, the Malcolm Adiseshiah award for his contribution to the social sciences.

Selected works

* Individualism in Social Science, (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992) This book offers a balanced, subtle critique of methodoloigical individualism. * Secularism and its critics, (Oxford University Press, 1998) The first major anthology of its kind that sparked international academic interest in secularism. * ''Multiculturalism, Liberalism and Democracy'' (OUP, 1999

This book looks into the cultural dimension of political and political dimensions of identity and culture. * ''Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution'' (OUP, 2008

This book examines Indian constitution from the perspective of political theory. * ''What is Political Theory why do we need it?'' (OUP, Delhi, 2010

In this book Bhargava clarifies concepts like secularism, multiculturalism, socialism, individualism and ethnocentrism etc. * ''The Promise of India's secular democracy'' (OUP, Delhi, 2010

This book explores the politics of secularism in India. * ''Secular States and Religious Diversity'' (UBC Press, Vancouver, 2013). He gave the concept of Principled Distance model of secularism as an alternative model to be more suitable for a heterogeneous society like India. * ''Politics, Ethics and the Self: Re-reading Gandhi's Hind Swaraj'' (Routledge, London and New Delhi, 2022). Based on a conference on Hind Swaraj's centenary, this book puts together essays by the most eminent contemporary writers on Gandhi. * ''Between Hope and Despair: 100 Ethical Reflections on Contemporary India'' (Bloomsbury, New Delhi, 2023). This book, written for a wider, non-academic readership, is on the crisis of India's collective ethical identity. * ''Bridging the Two Worlds: Comparing Classical Political Thought and Statecraft in India and China'' (California University Press, 2023), edited with Amitav Acharya, Daniel A. Bell, and Yan Xuetong.

References

External links

Rajeev Bhargava
at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhargava, Rajeev 20th-century Indian economists 1954 births Living people Indian political philosophers Indian political writers Delhi University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Academic staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University Academic staff of Delhi University Centre for Political Studies (CPS), Jawaharlal Nehru University