Pravin Prakash

Contact Mail: pravin.prakash@uni-heidelberg.de  pravinprakash.research@gmail.com   Professional Sites: LinkedIn

Vita

Pravin Prakash is currently pursuing a PhD at the Institute of Political Science, Universität Heidelberg, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Aurel Croissant. Pravin is also a Doctoral Fellow at the Heidelberg Graduate School for the Humanities and Social Sciences, supported by the prestigious DAAD-GSSP Scholarship. He holds a Master of Social Sciences and a Bachelor of Social Sciences (with honors) in Political Science from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Pravin has extensive experience in public policy research and think tank work, having consulted for government agencies and the private sector on issues related to social cohesion, radicalization, and extremism. He previously served as an Associate Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, where he conducted research on social resilience, violence, and extremism. Currently, he is the Head of Strategic Initiatives at the Centre for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), where he plays a key role in developing and implementing strategies to address and combat hate, extremism, and disinformation. His research focuses on social cohesion and resilience in plural and multicultural societies, contributing to policy discussions on multiculturalism, secularism, and violence.
A prolific writer, Pravin has been actively publishing for over a decade, producing journal articles, book chapters, and commentary pieces across various academic and policy platforms. His work engages with critical issues such as political violence, authoritarianism, and democratic decline, shaping scholarly and public discourse on these topics.
With over a decade of teaching and lecturing experience, Pravin has designed and delivered courses in political science at universities including the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Heidelberg University. At NUS, he tutored and guest lectured in the Political Science and South Asian Studies departments, while at Heidelberg, he independently developed and lectured modules on collective violence, extremism, and democratic decline. Beyond formal teaching, he has been actively involved in syllabus development, student mentorship, and speaking engagements at academic and policy-making forums.

Doctoral Dissertation

Working Title: Poisoned from the Roots: Bottom-up Autocratization in India

Pravin's dissertation examines how illiberal social movements drive autocratization from below, reshaping state-society relations through violence, disinformation, and mutual legitimization. Focusing on India, his research analyzes how grassroots movements can act as agents of norm erosion, fostering a slow but sustained shift toward autocracy. Drawing on contentious politics theory and a Gramscian perspective, the study conceptualizes bottom-up autocratization as a collective change project. It examines how social movements, through the strategic use of violence and hate-spin, contribute to processes of radicalization and institutionalization. By reshaping norms and reinforcing exclusionary narratives, these movements help entrench authoritarian politics, blurring the boundaries between state and society in the autocratization process.

Published work

Journal Articles

• Prakash, Pravin, and Walid Jumblatt Abdullah. "The State Prunes the Banyan Tree: Calibrated Liberalisation in Singapore." Australian Journal of International Affairs 76, no. 4 (2022): 379-397.
• Prakash, Pravin, and Julia Weissmann. "Political Violence and Bottom-Up Autocratization in India." Forthcoming.

Book Chapters

• Vasu, Norman, and Pravin Prakash. "What If We Ignore Race and Religion." In Singapore Perspectives 2017: What If?, edited by Gillian Koh and Carol Soon, World Scientific Publishing, 2017.
• Mani, A., Pravin Prakash, and Shanthini Selvarajan. "Tamil Community and Culture in Singapore." In The Singapore Ethnic Mosaic: Many Cultures, One People, edited by Mathew Mathews, World Scientific Publishing, 2018.
• Singh, Bilveer, and Pravin Prakash. "The Rise of a Political Community in Singapore." In Community Development Arenas in Singapore, edited by S. Vasoo, Bilveer Singh, and Chan Xian Jie, World Scientific Publishing, 2019.
• Prakash, Pravin. "Dravidian-Tamil-Indian: Morphing of Multiple Identities." In Sojourners to Settlers: Tamils in Southeast Asia and Singapore, edited by Arun Mahizhnan and Nalina Gopal, Indian Heritage Centre and Institute of Policy Studies, 2019.
• Prakash, Pravin. "The Leviathan and Its Muscular Management of Social Cohesion in Singapore." In Social Cohesion in Asia: Historical Origins, Contemporary Shapes and Future Dynamics, edited by Aurel Croissant and Peter Walkenhorst, Routledge Studies on Comparative Asian Politics, Routledge, 2020.
• Prakash, Pravin. "God, Gory and Glory: Hegemony, Hindutva and the Legitimisation of Violence in India." In Securing India: Navigating Internal Security Threats, edited by Mohammed Sinan Siyech and Jolene Jerard, Forthcoming.

Commentaries

• "The Punggol Evolution." Today Newspaper, January 22, 2013.
• "The Need for an Evolving Meritocracy." Today Newspaper, February 15, 2013.
• "Heed History’s Ghosts of City-States." Today Newspaper, April 5, 2013.
• "Three Stumbling Blocks in the Politics of Identity." Today Newspaper, April 30, 2013.
• "Keeping It Civil: How Now for Political Engagement." Today Newspaper, June 1, 2013.
• "The Lion, The Haze and the People." Today Newspaper, July 23, 2013.
• "Understanding Meritocracy." Today Newspaper, June 24, 2014.
• "Bali Nine: The Death Penalty Debate and Poster-Boys." International Policy Digest, June 5, 2015.
• "Evolving the Leviathan: What Does the AHPETC Saga Reveal About the Shifting Tides Within the Public Sphere in Singapore Today?" Inconvenient Questions, September 2, 2015.
• "The Other Lesson Singapore Can Learn from Brexit." The Diplomat, July 12, 2016 (co-authored with Norman Vasu).
• "Glocalisation, English and Singlish: Creating a Singaporean Identity." RSIS Commentaries, June 13, 2016.
• "State and Society: Securing Social Cohesion." RSIS Commentaries, March 13, 2017 (co-authored with Nur Diyanah Binte Anwar).
• "Revolution and Evolution: Supra-Nationalism and Pragmatism in Iran’s Foreign Policy." International Policy Digest, March 28, 2017 (co-authored with Hamoon Khelghat-Doost).
• "Cow Vigilantism in India: Modi’s Dilemma or Legacy?" RSIS Commentaries, July 7, 2017 (co-authored with Juhi Ahuja).
• "The Rajini Show." The Indian Express, January 8, 2018.
• "New Violence Against Muslims in Sri Lanka Has Old Roots." East Asia Forum, March 30, 2018.
• "Competing Shades of Saffron in Indian Politics." The Interpreter – Lowy Institute, December 13, 2018 (co-authored with Juhi Ahuja).
• "Are Tamil Nadu’s Dravidian Parties on a Terminal Decline?" The Diplomat, January 31, 2019.
• "Fake News in Indian and Indonesian Elections 2019." The Diplomat, April 9, 2019 (co-authored with Jennifer Yang).
• "Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad and Amethi: What’s There to Lose?" The Diplomat, April 5, 2019 (co-authored with Juhi Ahuja).
• "Being Patriots in Time of Nationalism: Networked Legitimacy." The Deccan Chronicle, July 14, 2019.
• "BJP in 2019: A More Militant Hindutva?" RSIS Commentaries, February 19, 2019.
• "The Long Winter of American Discontent." The Indian Express, November 2, 2020.
• "Transnational Islamophobia: Networked Legitimacy and Hate Spin in Sri Lanka and Myanmar." Centre for the Study of Organised Hate, August 31, 2024.