Subrata K Mitra was trained as a political scientist at the University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University, both in India, as well as at the University of Rochester, New York, USA. He is currently Professor and Head, Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University and was the coordinator, Area A (Governance and Administration), Cluster of Excellence-Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows (2008-2010). His publications include The Puzzle of India's Governance: Culture, Context and Comparative Theory (2005) and When Rebels become Stakeholders (2009). He is the academic editor of Advances in South Asian Studies, Heidelberg Series in South Asian and Comparative Studies and editor of Critical Issues in the Modern Politics of South Asia (2009).