Surupa Gupta 
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs | University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, VA, UNITED STATES
Dr. Gupta is an expert on Indian politics and economics, international political economy, gender and development, and South Asian politics.
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Biography
How are Indian farmers attempting to reshape Indian agricultural policy? How will history look upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what long-term impact will he have on India’s economy? How does having an Indian-American vice president affect America’s relations with India?
These are the types of questions that can be answered by Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Surupa Gupta, whose research focuses on Indian foreign economic policy, India’s role in global governance in economic issues, politics of trade liberalization and agricultural policy reform in India.
At the University of Mary Washington, where she is also director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program, Dr. Gupta teaches courses on international political economy, gender and development, and South Asian politics.
Dr. Gupta has recently written and co-edited a special section on India’s foreign policy for the International Studies Perspective. She was an Asian Studies Fellow at the East-West Center in Washington, D.C. during 2015-2016. In addition to numerous articles and book chapters, she is the co-author of The Political Economy of Agricultural Policy Reform in India: Fertilizer and Electricity for Irrigation, along with Regina Birner and Neeru Sharma, published in 2011 by the International Food Policy Research Institute.
Areas of Expertise (5)
Indian Politics and Economics
International Political Economy
Politics of Economic Development
South Asian Politics
Global Economic Governance
Accomplishments (2)
Research Grant
2005-2006; International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C.
Asia Studies Fellow
2015-2016; East-West Center, Washington, D.C.
Education (3)
University of Southern California: Ph.D., International Relations
2002
Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India: M.A., International Relations
1991
Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India: B.A. (Honors), Economics
1988
Media Appearances (9)
What does the Adani Group's crash mean for India's economy?
NPR online
2023-02-10
"This is the last thing India needed. If you are looking for foreign investment, then you also want to signal that the policies framework in the country is strong," said Surupa Gupta.
India's economy has outpaced Pakistan's handily since Partition in 1947 – politics explains why
Times Union; The Herald Press; Peru Tribune; Chronicle Tribune; The Times online
2022-09-20
(THE CONVERSATION) India and Pakistan inherited the same economic legacy of underinvestment and neglect from Britain when they became independent states following the Partition on Aug. 15, 1947.
The Heat: Global leaders agree on a 15% minimum corporate tax
CGTN America online
2021-07-15
Surupa Gupta is a University of Mary Washington political science and international affairs professor.
The Heat: Global leaders agree on 15% minimum corporate tax
CGTN America
2021-07-14
It’s called a global minimum corporate tax – designed to crack down on tax havens and impose new levies on large, profitable multinational corporations. Details remain to be worked out, but according to the OECD, if enacted the plan could bring in about $150 billion in additional global tax revenue per year — and reshape the global economy. CGTN’s Toby Muse has a report.
How a Joe Biden Presidency Could Change U.S.-India Relations
Time Magazine
2020-11-07
While the Biden campaign has committed to further strengthening the security ties between the U.S. and India, there’s a big question mark over how strongly it will push back against the Indian government’s rights abuses. “The U.S. would not go in and intervene in domestic matters in India beyond a certain point,” says Surupa Gupta, a professor at University of Mary Washington’s Department of Political Science and International Affairs.
How Indian Farmers are Trying to Make Modi Listen
Inkstick
2021-06-15
For almost seven months now, Indian farmers have been protesting three laws that the Indian parliament passed in September 2020. They have blocked highways, organized a nationwide strike, and have continued with the protests through the current, deadly COVID-19 crisis. Farmers’ protests are not uncommon in India. In 2018, over 40,000 farmers marched over a hundred miles to Mumbai in Maharashtra to demand better support for farmers from the state government. The current protests, however, have been remarkable for many reasons: The protests have occasionally become violent and have attracted widespread international attention from lawmakers and celebrities alike. After an initial offer to negotiate, the federal government, against whose laws the farmers are protesting, reacted by arresting a young climate activist and with a crackdown against protestors.
Will India’s Farmers Rein in Modi’s Power
The Chicago Council
2021-02-18
Sumit Ganguly and Surupa Gupta join Brian Hanson to discuss the impact of widespread protests to reform the agricultural sector.
Indian Farmers Will Benefit From Reforms
Foreign Affairs
2021-03-03
In September 2020, India’s Parliament passed three bills designed to change the way the country bought and sold agricultural goods. With its commanding majority in the legislature, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) forced the bills through with little discussion. Such haste and unilateralism are not unusual for the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which sought little input before eliminating all high-denomination cash bills in 2016, for example, or rushing a year later to implement a new goods and services tax. But while those earlier policies caused hardship and sparked some minor protests, the consequences of the farm bills are of another order altogether.
Indian farmers are a powerful force in Indian politics, and here is why their protests matter
The Conversation
2021-02-16
For over two months, farmers in India have been on a largely peaceful protest over three laws the Indian Parliament passed in September 2020 to liberalize how and to whom farmers can sell their produce. Men and women, young and old, have been participating in these protests and show no signs of giving up. Tens of thousands of farmers from all over India came together on Feb. 6 to set up blockades across all main roads in the country, shutting down all traffic for nearly three hours.
Event Appearances (1)
Research Related
Professor Gupta has presented her research at various international conferences and has been invited to present her research in countries including Brazil, Denmark, Germany, India and South Africa.
2021-04-06
Articles (4)
Indian Foreign Policy Under Modi: A New Brand or Just Repackaging?
International Studies PerspectivesSurupa Gupta, Rani D Mullen, Rajesh Basrur, Ian Hall, Nicolas Blarel, Manjeet S Pardesi, Sumit Ganguly
2018-08-08
This forum comes from a 2016 panel at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association. The forum participants offered mid-term assessments of the foreign policy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This forum considers whether Modi heralded in a new era in Indian foreign policy, or whether Modi's policies just repackaged older policies. The authors in this forum answer these questions by focusing on a range of issues from the role of religion to economic issues, to the relations between India and major foreign partners.
Agriculture and its Discontents: Coalitional Politics at the WTO with Special Reference to India's Food Security Interests
International Negotiations, Vol 21, 2016J.P. Singh and Surupa Gupta
2016-06-02
The demise of the Doha round of trade negotiations is often attributed to deadlocks in agricultural negotiations between the developed and the developing world. Why has agriculture been so difficult to negotiate? This article explains North-South agricultural negotiations through the lens of coalition politics, especially the shift from bloc to issue-based diplomacy from the developing world.
India and RCEP: challenges and opportunities of opening up the farm/food sector
Oxford University PressSurupa Gupta
Chapter in Sumit Ganguly and Karen Stoll Farrell (eds.) Heading East: Security, Trade, and Environment between India and Southeast Asia
The BRICS and Coexistence An Alternative Vision of World Order
The BRICS and Coexistence: An Alternative Vision of World Order. Routledge.Surupa Gupta
2016-12-02
“Indian foreign policy and co-existence: continuity and change in the post-Cold War era” (with Shibashis Chatterjee) in Cedric de Coning, Thomas Mandrup and Liselotte Odgaard (eds.)
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