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Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor

Writing for PS since 2002
191 commentaries
1 videos & podcasts

Shashi Tharoor, a former UN under-secretary-general and former Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and Minister of State for Human Resource Development, is an MP for the Indian National Congress. He is the author, most recently, of Ambedkar: A Life (Aleph Book Company, 2022).

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  1. Might Modi Lose?
    tharoor190_R. SATISH BABUAFP via Getty Images_india elections R. SATISH BABU/AFP via Getty Images

    Might Modi Lose?

    May 3, 2024 Shashi Tharoor predicts that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will perform worse than expected in India’s general election.

  2. Does Pakistan Still Matter to India?
    tharoor189_R.SATISH BABUAFP via Getty Images_voting R.SATISH BABU/AFP via Getty Images

    Does Pakistan Still Matter to India?

    Apr 9, 2024 Shashi Tharoor explains why India’s upcoming election is unlikely to change its policy of benign neglect toward its neighbor.

  3. Indian Democracy’s Moment of Truth
    tharoor188_Ritesh ShuklaGetty Images_indiaelection Ritesh Shukla/Getty Images

    Indian Democracy’s Moment of Truth

    Mar 13, 2024 Shashi Tharoor warns that the ruling BJP will do everything it can to curtail dissent ahead of this year's general election.

  4. Why Is the Maldives Spurning India?
    tharoor187_Zhai JianlanXinhua via Getty Images_muizzu china Zhai Jianlan/Xinhua via Getty Images

    Why Is the Maldives Spurning India?

    Feb 15, 2024 Shashi Tharoor worries that the island nation is becoming a Chinese client and nurturing Islamist radicalism.

  5. India’s Hindu “Emperor” Wants a Third Term
    tharoor186_EVELYN HOCKSTEINPOOLAFP via Getty Images_modi EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

    India’s Hindu “Emperor” Wants a Third Term

    Jan 5, 2024 Shashi Tharoor expects the coming election campaign to focus on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist credentials.

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  1. zizek30_Fatima ShbairGetty Images_gaza Fatima Shbair/Getty Images

    Protests of Despair

    Slavoj Žižek sees the pro-Palestinian student demonstrations as a signal of a much deeper, widespread malaise.
  2. carstens5_Getty Images_finternet Getty Images

    The Rise of the Finternet

    Agustín Carstens & Nandan Nilekani foresee a world in which cheap, secure, and near-instantaneous financial transactions are available to all.
  3. rodrik222_Kevin FrayerGetty Images_china solar panel Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

    Don’t Fret About Green Subsidies

    Dani Rodrik sees no good argument against industrial policies that accelerate growth in decarbonization industries.
  4. gros186_Sean GallupGetty Images_euro Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    Europe’s Geoeconomic Competitiveness Challenge

    Daniel Gros highlights the security risks raised by the prolonged decline of the EU’s relative economic power.
  5. op_ang1_retrorocketGetty Images_corruption retrorocket/Getty Images

    How Exceptional Is China’s Crony-Capitalist Boom?

    Yuen Yuen Ang

    While both the American and Chinese Gilded Ages raised material standards of living for hundreds of millions of people, their endemic corruption produced radically unequal and unsustainable growth. Ultimately, both periods offer cautionary tales about unbridled crony capitalism, not models for blind emulation.

    explains how corruption both drove the country's GDP growth and sowed the seeds for its current economic problems.
  6. bp india election Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images

    Will India’s Election Destroy Its Democracy?

    Since taking power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have stoked Hindu nationalism, hollowed out India’s democracy, and overseen an economy that is probably performing far worse than official figures suggest. And yet Modi and the BJP are genuinely popular, making them likely – though not certain – to emerge victorious when the ongoing parliamentary election concludes in June.

  7. benami213_YEHUDA RAIZNERAFP via Getty Images_israelflag Yehuda Raizner/AFP via Getty Images

    The Unbearable Lightness of Anti-Zionism

    Shlomo Ben-Ami warns that demonizing all Israelis will only make peace less likely – though that may be the point.
  8. alfredsdottir1_Getty Images_pay gap Getty Images

    How to Close the Gender Wage Gap

    Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir argues that Iceland’s experience lends further support to Nobel laureate economist Claudia Goldin’s research.
  9. brown107_Jeff J Mitchell - Pool Getty Images_covidvaccine Jeff J. Mitchell/Pool/Getty Images

    Getting the Pandemic Treaty Across the Finish Line

    Gordon Brown hopes negotiations will conclude this month, and pushes back on a last-minute wave of misinformation.

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