Research Programs of the Department

• University Leadership Program of UGC (1982-87)

• Department of Special Assistance (1991-96) –Thrust area: Politics of Maharashtra and Political thinking in Maharashtra

• Special Assistance Program Phase II (1996-2001)

• Special Assistance Program Phase III (2002-07)—Trust Area: Politics and Development Administration in India

• Assistance for strengthening Infrastructure in Social Sciences and Humanities (ASIHSS) (2004-07)

• Centre for Advanced Studies in Indian Politics (CAS-2008-13)

• CAS ( phase II)-(2015-2020)- Thrust area- State and Democracy in India in the Global Context

• Besides these, the faculty members have individually and jointly undertaken many Minor and Major Research Projects of the UGC; also under the University’s Centre for Social sciences and Humanities and under the BCUD grants.

• As part of these research programmes the department undertook large research projects like Study of Land, Caste and Power in Contemporary Maharashtra; Making of contemporary Pune; and Party competition in Maharashtra. Since 1995, the Department is associated with the National Election Study programme of Lokniti, CSDS and also the State of Nation Opinion Study of Lokniti, CSDS since 2005.

Specific themes of research

• Studies on the nature of party competition,

• Profile of state level elites,

• Studies to empirically understand the linkages between caste, class and power,

• Politics of the poor- slum dwellers, informal sector workers, urban poor

• Caste-politics interaction in terms of caste occupation linkages and shaping of caste identities.

• Studies in political thinking with reference to tradition-modernity paradigm and issues of religion and caste

• Comparative state politics and public policy in India

• Patterns of migration in South Asia

• Masculinity studies