Guest Talk by Prof. Indrajit Roy on 13.05.2026 Indo-Capitalism: India’s Resurgence in Historical and Comparative Perspective
About the Talk
This talk introduces “Indo-capitalism” as a framework for understanding India's celebrated economic growth in recent decades. Drawing on International and Comparative Political Economy, it identifies four defining features of the Indian capitalist model. First, India's integration within the global economy remains significant yet constrained. Second, the state plays a pervasive dual role in deepening global embeddedness while expanding welfare provisioning to offset its costs. Third, popular movements consistently extract concessions from the state over farm laws, affirmative action, and retail competition, not by rejecting capitalism, but by seeking to bend it toward subaltern interests. Fourth, formal democracy remains consequential, even though increasingly authoritarian governments must perform responsiveness to public opinion. The talk concludes by distinguishing Indo-capitalism from other varieties of capitalism, including Sino-capitalism.
About the Speaker
Prof. Indrajit Roy (DPhil, Oxford) is Professor of Global Development Politics at the University of York and a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. With over two decades of experience in academia, civil society, and policy consultancy, he is the author of Audacious Hope (Westland), the forthcoming Indians: A Political Biography (Hurst), and Rising Power, Precarious Citizens (Oxford University Press). He is co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to Indian Politics and Society and has published in journals such as International Affairs and World Development. Roy serves as a councillor of the UK DSA and BASAS, and represents the Political Studies Association on the IPSA Executive Committee.
