Subrata Kumar Mitra (born 16 June 1949 in Orissa, India, naturalized French) was director and research professor at the Institute for South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore till May 20, 2018. Currently emeritus at the University of Heidelberg.
Education
Subrata Mitra received a bachelor's degree in political science from Utkal University in Orissa, India. Subsequently, he obtained an M.A. in political science in 1971 based on a thesis on "The Role of the Bharatiya Kranti Dal in the Politics of Uttar Pradesh, 1967–1970" from the University of Delhi. After receiving an M.Phil degree in Political Development from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, Mitra moved to the United States to the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. He studied with William Riker and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and received his doctorate in political science in 1976 based on his dissertation on "Ideological Structure, Strategy and Cabinet Stability: a theoretical and empirical exploration" directed by G. Bingham Powell.
Career
Subrata Mitra is professor emeritus of political science of South Asia at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. He was previously Head of the Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute (University of Heidelberg) and was elected the South Asia Institute’s director for a term from 2002 to 2004. Professor Mitra previously taught at the University of Hull (England), University of Nottingham and University of California, Berkeley. He has also held appointments at the Indian Council for Social Science Research (New Delhi), as well as at the Institut Français d’Opinion Public (Paris). Professor Mitra is a visiting fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (New Delhi) and from 2002 until 2006 he was the president of the joint Research Committee on Political Sociology of the International Political Science Association and the International Sociological Association. In 2004, Mitra was made Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques for his commitment to promoting cultural exchange between France and Germany.
He is editor of the Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics and a member of the editorial boards of the following publications: International Political Science Review, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, India Review, International Journal of Hindu Studies, Contemporary South Asia, South Asia Research, Journal of South Asian Development. He is also the editor of the Advances in South Asian Studies series of Routledge.
Research
Subrata Mitra's work deals with issues such as democratization in South Asia, the interaction of traditional values and modern institutions, the role of identity and religion in Indian politics, as well as the functioning of political parties and institutions in South Asia.
