Events

Upcoming Events

Apr
03

TAPSA: Title TBA

On April 3, 2025 at 5:00 pm
Apr
10

Eclectic Geographies of Tamil Music

On April 10, 2025 at 12:00 am
Apr
17

TAPSA: Title TBA

On April 17, 2025 at 5:00 pm
Apr
21

Memorial for Marriott McKim

On April 21, 2025 at 12:00 am
Apr
25
May
01

TAPSA: Title TBA

On May 1, 2025 at 5:00 pm
May
08

South Asia Seminar: Title TBA

On May 8, 2025 at 5:00 pm
May
09

Memorial for Norman Zide

On May 9, 2025 at 12:00 pm
May
15

TAPSA: Title TBA

On May 15, 2025 at 5:00 pm
May
21
May
22
May
23

2025 Chicago Tamil Forum: Tamil Horizons and Borders

From May 23, 2025 9:00 am to May 24, 2025 4:00 pm
May
29

Conference in Honor of Muzaffar Alam

From May 29, 2025 9:00 am to May 30, 2025 7:00 pm

How Patrons Select Brokers: Efficacy and Loyalty in Indian Cities

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - 12:00pm

Foster 107

Tariq Thachil, Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University. This lecture is hosted by the Department of Political Science and COSAS.

Scholars of urban politics in India have yet to systematically understand how party leaders select the rank-and-file ‘brokers’, ‘fixers’, or intermediaries that connect them to their local constituencies. We study how these choices are made through in-depth fieldwork in two mid-sized Indian cities: Jaipur and Bhopal. We focus on how local party leaders incorporate brokers who connect them to vote-rich slum settlements. We draw on qualitative fieldwork to argue that local leaders must balance two key concerns: a broker’s efficacy among slum residents and their loyalty to party and the leader. We then test the relative importance of these concerns through a survey-based choice experiment conducted with 343 ward-level political leaders. We verify our findings with unique data on the actual promotion patterns for 629 slum leaders in Jaipur and Bhopal.

Dates:
Wednesday, February 12, 2020 – 12:00pm
Foster 107