The APSA-PSA International Partnerships Award honors political scientists engaged in collaborative and productive cross-national partnerships that make a significant contribution to the discipline in the areas of teaching, research, or civic engagement.
Citation from the Award Committee:
The APSA/PSA International Partnership Award Entry has been awarded to Akshay Mangla (Associate Professor of International Business, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford) and Sandip Sukhtankar and Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner (University of Virginia), for ‘Policing the patriarchy – an experimental evaluation of reforms to improve police responsiveness to women in India.’ We were very impressed by the high level of scholarship, the public policy results, the impact on actual practice, and the excellent example of international cooperation with others to create change.
Sandip Sukhtankar is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Virginia. He is a co-editor of the Journal of Public Economics, on the Board of Reviewing Editors at Science, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a Fellow of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), and an affiliate of the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). He received his PhD from Harvard University in 2009, and a BA from Swarthmore College (with Highest Honors) in 2000. He previously worked at Dartmouth College, the Brookings Institution, and the Center for Global Development.
Prof Sukhtankar’s research interests are in development economics, political economy, and public economics, with a focus on governance and the delivery of public benefits and services. Prof Sukhtankar’s research has been published in top journals such as the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Science, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, and the Journal of Public Economics. His paper published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy was awarded the Best Paper award by the American Economics Association. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Akshay Mangla is an Associate Professor of International Business at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He specializes in comparative politics and the political economy of development, with regional expertise in South Asia. His research investigates when and how government agencies, local communities and nongovernmental organizations work collectively to address societal needs. An interdisciplinary scholar, Akshay studies these questions using qualitative and multimethod field research. His book, Making Bureaucracy Work: Norms, Education and Public Service Delivery in Rural India (Cambridge University Press, 2022), has won several awards and helps advance our understanding bureaucracy’s role in implementing primary education and promoting inclusive development.
Akshay’s current research examines institutional reform processes aimed at building state capacity in various policy domains, such as education, child welfare, policing and women’s security. He is a Principal Investigator for the What Works Hub for Global Education and an Associate Editor of Indian Politics and Policy. Previously, Akshay was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MSc in Management Research from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Philosophy and BS in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner is an Associate Professor of Politics & Global Studies at the University of Virginia. She specializes in comparative politics and political economy of development, with a regional focus on South Asia. Her research explores citizen-state relations, participation, and accountability in local governance, as well as the politics of bureaucracies. Her first book, Claiming the State: Active Citizenship & Social Welfare in India (Cambridge University Press, 2018), was awarded the 2018 Joseph W. Elder Prize by the American Institute for Indian Studies. She is also the co-author of Claim-Making in Comparative Perspective: Everyday Citizenship Practice and its Consequences (Cambridge Elements, 2024). Her articles appear in the journals Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Economic & Political Weekly, Perspectives on Politics, Science, World Development, and World Politics (for which she was awarded the 2019 Luebbert Prize). Prior to joining University of Virginia, Gabrielle was an Assistant Professor at Boston College, and an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. She received her PhD in Political Science and Masters in International Development Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Swarthmore College.
APSA thanks the committee members for their service: Dr. John Berg of Suffolk University (Co-Chair), Dr. Donna Smith of the Open University (Co-Chair), John Craig of the University of Hull, and Karen Beckwith of Case Western Reserve University.