Kanchan Chandra

Kanchan Chandra, Associate Professor of Politics at New York University, will develop and test a theory describing which political institutions are most effective in creating stable states and promoting individual well-being in multi-ethnic democracies. Previous studies of multi-ethnic democracies have viewed ethnic identity as fixed and have focused on macro-level issues like the stability of the states, but Chandra’s analysis views ethnic identities as potentially permeable and fluid, and will take into consideration the impact these governments have on the well-being of individual citizens.