Vatsal Naresh

Welcome!

I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Haverford College. My research interests span democratic theory, political violence, realism, and constitutionalism in 19th and 20th century political thought.

My book project presents a new theory of majoritarian domination through an interpretation of Alexis de Tocqueville, W. E. B. Du Bois, and B. R. Ambedkar’s writings on democracy, identities, and collective violence.

Recent publications include an article in the American Political Science Review and co-edited volumes on Negotiating Democracy and Religious Pluralism: India, Pakistan, and Turkey (Oxford UP 2021) and Constituent Assemblies (Cambridge UP 2018).

Between 2022 and 2025, I taught in Social Studies at Harvard University. I completed my PhD in Political Science at Yale in 2022. Before that, I studied History at Delhi University and Political Science at Columbia University; and worked as a graduate researcher at the Center for Democracy, Toleration, and Religion, in New York City.