Bio

I am a third year Ph.D. student at the Department of Politics, University of Virginia. My research focuses on the relationship between elected politicians and appointed bureaucrats, political parties, elections, and the the formation and termination of election alliances. I explore these interests in the developing world, with a focus on India.
 

I conducted a pilot study for what I hope would be a dissertation project in Maharashtra, India in the summer of 2022 to analyze the interactions between politicians and bureaucrats and how they may impact governance at the municipal level. I attempted to understand when and under what conditions are interests of municipal corporators and appointed officials either aligned or unaligned, with implications for policy implementation and service delivery.

 

Before joining the Politics Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia, I graduated with a M.A. in International Affairs (2019) and a B.A., magna cum laude, in International Affairs (2017) from The George Washington University, where I took courses on inter-state strategic partnerships, maritime security, conflict resolution, and counter-insurgency.

 

I was born in India and grew up in post-war Kosovo. Showing up to the wrong classroom as a freshman led me to learn German instead of Spanish in college for four years. I also speak Hindi and I am re-learning Albanian and Turkish – the two langauges I learned to speak as a child before finally becoming fluent in English at the age of nine.