Faculty at School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Priyanka Pandit

Priyanka Pandit

Assistant Professor
Department of International Relations and Governance Studies


Contact Information

My research interests are in the areas of international and comparative political economy, economic history, and international economic institutions, with an emphasis on China and the developing world. I am currently working on a book project “China and the World Trade Organisation: Anomalies, Anxieties and Ambitions” which examines China’s negotiating strategies in the multilateral trade organisation, and, by doing so, problematise how we analyse China’s role perception in the WTO as well as the role expectations held by the other WTO members. My other research projects include the new history of capitalism, the political economy of China’s State-Owned enterprises, and the history of India-China engagement at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference.

I am open to supervising doctoral projects in the following areas:         

  • Economic history of China and East Asia
  • Comparative Political Economy
  • International economic institutions
  • The politics of China’s economic reform
  • Comparative development in India and China

2022

Harvard Yenching- Ashoka Post-Doctoral Fellowship in China Studies.

2017

Ph.D, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

2013

M.Phil, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

2010

Masters in East Asian Studies, University of Delhi.

2008

B.A (Hons) History, Miranda House, University of Delhi.

2019-2020

Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs (a think tank under the Ministry of External Affairs), New Delhi.

2020 – 2022

China Studies Post-Doctoral Fellowship jointly awarded by the Ashoka University (India) and Harvard-Yenching Institute (USA).

2020

Book Grant awarded by the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.

2017-2018

Visiting Research Scholar, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming, China.

2017

Invited as Visiting Fellow at the Chongyang Institute of Financial Studies, Renmin University, Beijing.

2014 – 2016

Doctoral Fellowship awarded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi

  • Pandit, Priyanka, and Saheli Chattaraj. "Memories, Morals, and Motives: An Inquiry into China-India Interactions at the World Trade Organization." Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Asian Interactions 21.1-2 (2023): 132-166.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. "Between ‘Retreat’and ‘Recentralisation’: China’s SOE Reform Conundrum." China Report 58.3 (2022): 317-335.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. Delivering ‘public goods’ and the changing financial architecture: can BRICS meet expectations?. Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, Vol. 4, no. 6 (2019): 475-488.
  • Liu Peng & Pandit, Priyanka. Building ports with China’s assistance: Perspectives from littoral countries,  Maritime Affairs, Vol.14, no. 1 (2018): 99-107 (co-authored).
  • Pandit, Priyanka. Domestic Constituencies and Negotiating Positions of India & China at the World Trade Organization: A Comparative Assessment, Indian Ocean Economic and Political Review, Issue 5 (2019): 102-119.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. China and the World Trade Organization: Questioning the Revisionist Hypothesis, International Studies, Vol. 503, Issue 3 (2016):  255-271.

  • Kondapalli, Srikanth, and Priyanka Pandit, eds. China and the BRICS: Setting up a Different Kitchen. Pentagon Press, 2017.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. ‘The United Nations and the Curious Case of Sino-Indian Border Dispute’ in Shin-Wha Lee ed. The United Nations, Korean Peninsula and the Emerging Peace Architecture (London, Routledge: 2024), pp. 149-160.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. ‘Rethinking “Interdependence”: The Changing Nature and Context in India–China Economic Relations’, in Silvio Beretta, Giuseppe Iannini & Axel Berfosky ed. India’s Foreign Policy and Economic Challenges: Friends, Enemies and Controversies (Global Power Shift Series). (Springer: 2023) 47-59.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. “The Growing Salience of Health in Foreign Policy: India’s Experience”, in Malancha Chakraborty & Navdeep Suri (eds.) The 2030 Vision for India’s Economic Diplomacy, (Durham University, Wiley Blackwell: 2021) 134-147.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. Reforming the International Economic Institutions: India and Africa in the IMF and WTO, in Nivedita Ray (ed.) India-Africa Partnership in a Changing Global Order: Priorities, Prospects and Challenges, (Indian Council of World Affairs, KW Publishers: 2022) 29-43.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. Xi Jinping’s Financial Gamble: Will It Succeed? in Arthur Ding & Jagannath Panda (eds.) Xi Jinping: The Strongman Shaping China's Future, (London, Routledge : 2020) 172-188.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. Strait Rituals: China, Taiwan, and the United States in the Taiwan Strait Crises, 1954-1958, Pang Yang Huei.  Hong Kong University Press, 2019. Strategic Analysis, Vol.44, Issue 3, pp. 336-338.
  • Pandit, Priyanka. China’s War on Smuggling: Law, Economic Life and the Making of the Modern State, 1845-1965, Philip Thai. Columbia University Press, 2018. Strategic Analysis, Vol 43, Issue 1, pp. 75-77.

  • (2022), “What does Xi’s third term hold for China’s economy? Financial Express, October, 28, https://www.financialexpress.com/world-news/what-does-xis-third-term-hold-for-chinas-economy/2754529/
  • (2022), “The long shadow of sea power and the South China Sea dispute”, The Hindustan Times,  January        22,      2022, https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-insight/international- affairs/the-long-shadow-of-sea-power-and-the-south-china-sea-dispute- 101642851258166.html.
  • (2021), “The bumpy road to 12th WTO Ministerial”, The Indian Express, August 6, https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/12th-world-trade-organisation- ministerial-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-7441739/.
  • (2021), “Will China’s Three-Child Policy Address its Demographic Woes?” in Asia Global       Online,         University     of       Hong   Kong,  24          June, https://www.asiaglobalonline.hku.hk/will-chinas-three-child-policy-address-its- demographic-woes.
  • (2020), “As Global Value Chains Shift, Will China Lose Its Dominance?”, The Diplomat,11     June,  https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/as-global-value-chains-shift-will-china-lose- its-dominance/.
  • (2020), “COVID-19: An Opportunity to Reform the World Health Organisation”, Issue Brief,         Indian  Council         of         World          Affairs, New Delhi, https://www.icwa.in/show_content.php?lang=1&level=3&ls_id=4766&lid=3563.
  • (2020), “COVID-19 and Global Health Diplomacy: A Strategic Opportunity for China?”, Issue Brief, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi, https://www.icwa.in/show_content.php?lang=1&level=3&ls_id=4737&lid=3547.
  • (2020),  “How   Does  COVID-19  Affect  China’s  Economic Juggernaut”,  Viewpoint, Indian    Council         of       World Affairs,        New          Delhi, https://www.icwa.in/show_content.php?lang=1&level=3&ls_id=4665&lid=3510.
  • (2019), “What to Expect from the India-China High-Level Trade Dialogue”, The Diplomat, 01 November. https://thediplomat.com/2019/11/what-to-expect-from-the- india-china-high-level-trade-dialogue/.
  • (2019), “Losing the ‘Developing Country’ Status in the World Trade Organisation: Responses from India and China”, Issue Brief, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi, https://www.icwa.in/show_content.php?lang=1&level=3&ls_id=3344&lid=2594.
  • (2019), Seizing the Momentum: Policy Brief Avenues for EU-Indian Maritime Cooperation in a Connectivity Context, Clingendale Policy Brief, Netherlands, October 2019. (co-authored).
  • (2019), “Bretton Woods and the China challenge”, East Asia Forum, 31st August, https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2019/08/31/bretton-woods-and-the-china-challenge/.
  • (2019),          “G20   Summit         in       Osaka:          What’s          in          Store?”, The Quint, https://www.thequint.com/explainers/the-upcoming-g-20-summit-in-osaka-whats-in- store.
  • (2019), “India’s Loss of GSP Status Is a Diplomatic, Not an Economic, Setback”, The Diplomat, June 15, https://thediplomat.com/2019/06/indias-loss-of-gsp-status-is-a- diplomatic-not-an-economic-setback/.
  • (2018), “China’s global currency aspirations are falling fast”, East Asia Forum, 22nd August, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/08/22/chinas-global-currency-aspirations- are-falling-fast/.

  • Delivered a lecture on ‘Trends in Chinese Economy’ at Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, 09 January 2024.
  • Invited and presented a paper titled ‘Internationalisation Paradox: China’s State-Owned Enterprises and Global Development Initiative’ at the 6th India Forum on China (IFC) in Mumbai held on 4-6 December 2023.
  • Invited and presented a paper titled ‘US-China Economic competition and the Supply Chain Mess” in India-Taiwan Workshop on Academic Exchanges I: International Studies, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, 27 March 2023.
  • Invited and presented as a panelist in the conference titled Looming Chinese Challenge on the theme ‘Xi Jinping's Tenure and Domestic challenges’ organized by Centre for China Analysis and Strategy (CCAS), New Delhi, 16 March 2023.
  • Invited and presented a paper titled ‘China, India and the alternative visions of development at the Bretton Woods Conference’ in the first China-India Biennial, 13th and 14th January 2023, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.
  • Delivered a lecture titled ‘Is China’s economic miracle over?’ at Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, 16 January 2023.
  • Invited and presented a paper titled ‘SOEs and the Party's Management of the Economy’ in the 5th India Forum on China at Goa organized by the Institute of Chinese Studies and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung India Office, 27 and 28 November 2022.
  • Invited and presented in a panel discussion on ‘Shifting Gears of China’s Post-Covid Economy’, jointly organised by the Institute of Chinese Studies & Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 18 August, 2021.
  • Invited as a panelist at the People’s Forum on BRICS on the theme ‘BRICS: Geopolitics and Marine Infrastructure’, 19 October 2021.
  • Participated in a panel discussion on the book ‘Rising to the China Challenge – Winning Through Strategic Patience and Economic Growth’ at the SKOCH Public Policy Lit Fest, 9 December 2021.
  • Invited and presented a paper titled ‘India -China at the World Trade Organisation’ in the 7th ICWA-CPIFA Dialogue, New Delhi, 15 April, 2021.
  • Delivered a Lecture on “China’s Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping” at Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi on 25th January,2021.
  • Presented a paper titled “China and the Bretton Woods: Towards a New Narrative?”, 2nd Mandala Dialogue on China’s External Economic Engagement, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi, 21st August, 2018.
  • Presented a paper titled “Political economy of "reform" process in China: neo-liberal vs. state-party structures” at the International Conference on Accountability and Control in the Xi Jinping Era organized by University of Melbourne, Australia, August 21-22, 2015.
  • Presented a paper titled “Explaining China’s Engagement with the World Trade Centre, 2011-2012, at the International Conference on China and the Restructuring of International Political Economy organized by University of Oregon, USA, April 14-15, 2013.

  • The ongoing book project “China and the World Trade Organisation: Anomalies, Anxieties and Ambitions” examines China’s negotiating strategies in the multilateral trade organisation, and, by doing so, problematise how we analyse China’s own role perception in the WTO as well as the role expectations held by the other WTO members. 
  • Other research projects include new history of capitalism and the history of India-China engagement at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference.
  • I will be editing a special issue on Taiwan’s political economy of development with the journal Third World Quarterly. The volume aims to explore four axes of analyses (1) Taiwan’s competitive advantages amid technological changes and economic disruption; (2) the changing dynamics of Taiwan’s labour market regime; 3) the internationalisation strategies of Taiwanese firms; and (4) evolving linkages between Taiwan and the East Asian economy as well as potential supply chain opportunities. The special issue proposed is based on a political economy workshop co-organised by the IRGS Department, Shiv Nadar University and Taiwan Economic and Cultural Center (TECC), New Delhi, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) and Graduate Institute of International Politics, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan on 12th April, 2023.