World Affairs Council of Dallas-Fort Worth presents Milan Vaishnav
October 23, 2017 6:30 pm - 8:00 pmWhen
October 23, 2017 | 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
What
Does crime pay? Is that a fair question in the political world?
In an attempt to determine the answer, the Council has created Breach of Trust: The Crime & Corruption Series.
First up is an examination of politics and crime in India by Milan Vaishnav, Director of the South Asia Program in Washington for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He’s the author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics.
As he will do for our Council program on Monday, October 23, Vaishnav, according to one reviewer, “takes the readers behind the scenes and regales them with a plethora of anecdotes about the foul and fiendish men (while conspicuously leaving out the women) who win in Indian politics.”
He also managed to do this without losing academic integrity, i.e., he supports his positions with careful research.
It takes a lot of work to get the answer to the question, “Does crime pay?” FYI: Chapter V in his book is titled “Doing Good by Doing Bad: The Demand for Criminality.” And it answers these questions: “Does voter ignorance explain why voters back politicians linked to crime? Or might voters have rational reasons for lending their support?”
As his South Asia Program biography explains, “His primary research focus is the political economy of India, examining issues such as corruption, ethnic politics, governance and state capacity, election finance, and distributive politics. One of his ongoing major projects examines the causes and consequences of political corruption in India, with an emphasis on representation and quality of political leadership; connections between the state and private capital; and the management and exploitation of natural resources.”
Before taking his current position, Vaishnav worked at the Center for Global Development, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has taught at Columbia, Georgetown and George Washington Universities. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his M.A., M. Phil. and Ph.D. in Political Science at Columbia.