Basil Bastaki

Broadly speaking, Basil is interested in how organizations impact state formation (i.e. political parties, traditional institutions, armed groups, businesses). His regional focus is Bengal and Northeast India. His approach is post-positivist, broadly realist, and methodologically plural; he is sensitive to case context but oriented to generalization. For his dissertation, Basil will research the origins of political parties and party systems in the colonial province of Assam. Before starting his Ph.D. in Political Science at Yale University, Basil received an MA from the University of Chicago’s Committee on International Relations and a BS from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.