Research
Research Interests
State building, local government, bureaucracy, state-society relations, development, developing countries, surveys and interview methods
Dissertation Project
“Natural Hazards and the Transformation of the State”
The project investigates the relationship between natural hazards and state building, focusing on the local government level. The research traces how crises can lead to durable improvements in bureaucratic capacity and reshape bureaucrat-citizen-politician interactions. The project traces the how bureaucrat, citizen and politician behavior evolves over time and collectively transform the state and the region. The project evaluates these claims using a mixed methods approach. It combines natural experiments, administrative data, original surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus groups with key stakeholders in hazard-hit and comparison regions across India.
Working Papers
Nambiar, Preeti. “Natural Hazards, Bureaucrats, and the Transformation of the State”
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Abstract: Contrary to conventional wisdom, this paper proposes that large-scale natural hazards can sustainably enhance bureaucratic capacity. The paper traces how bureaucratic functioning and the state evolve in the aftermath of a natural hazard. The process of disaster management increases bureaucratic embeddedness leading to skill and process improvements that last well beyond the disaster.
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Read the working paper here. [include google docs link]
Nambiar. Preeti. “Weathering the shock: Natural Hazards and Citizen-State Interactions”
