Vinay Sitapati is a professor of political science and law at Shiv Nadar University, Chennai. He was previously associate professor of political science and legal studies at Ashoka University, near Delhi. Sitapati’s political science scholarship includes two books: Half-Lion: How PV Narasimha Rao Transformed India (Penguin/Oxford University Press) and Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi (Penguin/Hurst). The first was a biography of P.V. Narasimha Rao. Published in India (Penguin) and in the United States (OUP), it was translated into Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. A best-seller, it was called ‘A Book Of The Year’ by The Economist and part of Amazon.com’s ‘100 books to read in a lifetime’. It is being made into a web-series of the same name. The second book, a political history of the BJP before Prime Minister Modi, has been published in India (Penguin), UK (Hurst) & US (Hurst, with distribution by OUP). It has also been a best-seller, and has been translated into Hindi, Telugu, and Marathi. 

His law scholarship includes articles in the Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal, and the Economic & Political Weekly. He has a law degree from National Law School Bangalore, and a master’s in law from Harvard Law School. Sitapati has a PhD from Princeton University’s politics department, where his doctoral dissertation was titled ‘After Judgment Day: Under What Conditions are Court Decisions Implemented’.