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| Rajeev Bhargava | |
|---|---|
| Name | Rajeev Bhargava |
| Birth date | 1950s |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Political theorist |
| Institutions | Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Institute of Human Sciences, University of Delhi |
| Notable works | The Promise of India's Secular Democracy, What is Political Theory? |
Rajeev Bhargava is an Indian political theorist known for his work on secularism, multiculturalism, and the philosophy of social science. He has taught and written on Indian democracy, liberalism, and pluralism, contributing to debates involving figures and institutions across South Asia and the global academy. His scholarship engages with thinkers and movements associated with John Rawls, Isaiah Berlin, Charles Taylor, Amartya Sen, and institutions such as the Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and the Indian Council of Social Science Research.
Bhargava was born in India and educated at institutions associated with major Indian and international scholars, studying at universities linked to the traditions of Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Cambridge, and University of Oxford. His intellectual formation involved interaction with scholars connected to Harvard University, Princeton University, London School of Economics, and University of Chicago traditions. He pursued graduate study that placed him within networks including the Indian Institute of Technology, Institute of Development Studies, and streams of thought influenced by Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, and G. W. F. Hegel.
Bhargava has held academic and administrative positions at prominent research bodies such as the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, the Institute of Human Sciences, and the University of Delhi. He has been associated with research programs connected to the European Commission, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Tata Trusts. His teaching and visiting appointments include ties to Columbia University, Stanford University, Yale University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and collaborations with scholars at the Brookings Institution, Centre for Policy Research, and the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences.
Bhargava's major works include titles published by Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press engaging debates with authors such as Rajni Kothari, Partha Chatterjee, Christophe Jaffrelot, and Nivedita Menon. His book The Promise of India's Secular Democracy dialogues with theories of secularism articulated by Tariq Modood, Bhikhu Parekh, Talal Asad, and Seyla Benhabib. In methodological terms he engages with analytic and continental figures like Karl Popper, Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas, and Gadamer while reflecting on normative frameworks advanced by Ronald Dworkin and Robert Nozick.
Bhargava has theorized pluralism and multicultural accommodation in ways that converse with debates involving Will Kymlicka, Martha Nussbaum, Susan Moller Okin, and Chandran Kukathas. His work on identity politics and state theory engages with case studies and actors such as the Bharatiya Janata Party, Indian National Congress, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, and movements linked to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi.
Bhargava's theorization of secularism situates Indian secular traditions alongside European models exemplified by Laïcité in France, pluralist arrangements in Canada, and church-state relations in the United Kingdom. He critiques rigid separations promoted in readings of John Locke and compares them to accommodationist practices discussed by Jose Casanova, Rajeev Verma, and scholars of comparative politics at Princeton University and Columbia University. His analyses address legal instruments and episodes such as the Indian Constitution, debates over the Uniform Civil Code, rulings of the Supreme Court of India, and controversies involving the Ayodhya dispute, linking jurisprudence to political theory dialogues involving Dharam Vir, Upendra Baxi, and Fali Nariman.
Bhargava's contributions have been cited in interdisciplinary conversations with historians of religion like Romila Thapar, sociologists like Ashis Nandy, and political scientists such as Sudipta Kaviraj and Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
Bhargava's scholarship has been recognized by fellowships and honors connected to institutions such as the American Council of Learned Societies, the Leverhulme Trust, the British Academy, and fellowships at centers like the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton). He has received awards and invitations from bodies including the Indian Council of Social Science Research, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and international universities such as Yale University and Oxford University.
- What is Political Theory? (Oxford University Press) - The Promise of India's Secular Democracy (Oxford University Press) - Edited volumes and essays in journals associated with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Economic and Political Weekly, and collections featuring scholars like Amartya Sen, Partha Chatterjee, Rajni Kothari, and Nivedita Menon. - Contributions to edited volumes alongside editors from Princeton University Press, Harvard University Press, and the University of Chicago Press.
Category:Indian political theorists