Professor Nitasha Kaul
University of Westminster
Expertise on
Countries: India, Bhutan
Policy Areas & Themes: China, Climate & Environment, Conflict, Defence & Security, Development Policy, Diplomacy, Economics, Elections, Foreign Policy, Gender, Governance, History, Institutions, Multilateralism, Politics, Religion, Strategic partnerships, Violence
Bio
Nitasha Kaul is Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and a multidisciplinary academic who has held positions in politics, IR, economics, and literature; publishing across areas covering economics, gender, human rights, geopolitics, authoritarianism, democracy, AI technology, misogyny, Himalayas, small states, Kashmir, Bhutan, Kerala, politics, and international relations. She is the author of over 150 publications, including 7 single-authored or edited books, book chapters in numerous critical and ground-breaking edited collections, plus peer-reviewed original research articles in numerous journals across humanities and social science disciplines. In addition, she is also a multilingual, widely travelled (95 countries), award-winning novelist, public intellectual, and media commentator. Her interventions have appeared in major international radio, televisual, and print media. She has delivered invited lectures and keynotes at universities and institutions around the world, addressing diverse audiences, including U.S. Congress, U.N, and European Parliament.
special research expertise on
Kashmir and South Asia: political conflict, identity, human rights, gender, and the socio-political dynamics in the region.
India: Politics, society, and economy, including political strategies of Hindu nationalism, populism, and the changing political landscape of contemporary India and transnational influence of Indian diaspora communities.
India's regional neighbourhood dynamics in the Himalayan border regions, including Bhutan, Nepal, and the North-East.
India's engagements beyond the region (with Russia, China, West) and implications for transnational global right wing dynamics involving circulations of ideologies, infrastructures, narratives.
Bhutan: transformations in democracy, identity, culture, and development in the country, at domestic political level and in diplomacy and foreign policy.
Engagement experience includes
On the Kashmir Conflict and Human Rights: Provided expert testimony at the US Congress, lectured for the State Department, knowledge exchange interventions for Bar Human Rights Council UK, European Parliament, FCDO Chevening journalists, LSE Strategic Studies, universities and professional institutions around the world.
Democracy and Authoritarianism: Work helps inform policy discussions on safeguarding democratic institutions and civil liberties in an age of rising authoritarianism. Expert consultations have included Freedom House, National Endowment for Democracy, Human Rights Watch, V Dem, and FCDO.
Gender and Sustainability: Work in research partnerships with gender and democracy advocates in India, and the US. Work with government departments, CSOs, UN and other prominent institutions in Bhutan on biodemocracy, sustainability, and development.
Read a sample of Nitasha’s research outputs
The Misogyny of Authoritarians in Contemporary Democracies
Beyond India and China: Bhutan as a small state in international relations
Rise of the political right in India: Hindutva-development mix, Modi myth, and dualities
Written Testimony for Hearing on ‘Human Rights in South Asia: Views from the State Department and the Region, Panel II’, 116th Congress, US House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington D.C.
