Dyuti Saunik

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Politics, University of Virginia (UVA). My research focuses on the relationship between elected politicians and appointed bureaucrats, political parties, elections, and the formation and termination of election alliances. I explore these interests in the developing democracies, with a focus on India. My ongoing dissertation work looks at how urban governance is shaped in developing democracies. I look at the interactions between the distinct career incentives of elected politicians and appointed bureaucrats to analyze under what conditions they each claim credit or share credit for providing governance. I seek to explain disparities in governance and institutional capacity beyond the current themes of clientelism, the politicization of the bureaucracy, and underinvestment in public resources. Before joining the Politics Ph.D. program at UVA, I graduated with a M.A. in International Affairs (2019) and a B.A., magna cum laude, in International Affairs (2017) from The George Washington University, where I took courses on maritime security. I was born in India and grew up in post-war Kosovo. I am a native Hindi speaker but my childhood in Kosovo ensured that I learned to speak Albanian and Turkish. I am also simultaneously learning French, Spanish, and Italian.

• Comparative Politics
• Political Parties
• Bureaucracy
• Elections
• South Asia
• India
• International Relations
• Security Studies
• Conflict Resolution

• Political Behavior
• Political Participation
• Developing Democracies
• Civil Society, Bureaucracy
• Welfare State
• Democracy