NEW YORK (TIP): The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace announced that Senior Fellow Milan Vaishnav will serve as the director of the South Asia Program in Washington.

The author of the widely acclaimed new book, When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics (Yale University Press and HarperCollins India, 2017) and co-editor of the recent Rethinking Public Institutions in India (Oxford University Press, 2017), Vaishnav is an expert on India’s political economy and examines issues such as corruption, ethnic politics, governance and state capacity, election finance, and voter behavior. He joined Carnegie in 2012 after serving as a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Global Development. He holds a PhD in political science from Columbia University.

“This is a critical moment in the internal and external trajectory of South Asia,” said Vaishnav. “I am excited about what my colleagues and I can accomplish together and honored to take on this new role at an institution I care so much about.”

Carnegie President William J. Burns said, “Milan offers a vivid demonstration of Carnegie at its very best. He is a first-rate scholar with uncanny policy savvy and a deep-seated commitment to offer real world solutions to some daunting governance challenges. He has more than earned his reputation as one of the most thoughtful analysts of his generation and one of the most admired members of the Carnegie Endowment family.”