Suparna Chaudhry
Associate Professor of International Affairs
Welcome! I am an Associate Professor in the Department of International Affairs. I am also an Affiliated Scholar with the International Justice Lab at the College of William & Mary, and a Director of the Bridging the Gap Project, which promotes engagement between the scholarly, policy, and public spheres to inform debate and decision-making on U.S. foreign policy and evolving global challenges. My research interests include human rights, international law, and political violence, with a specific focus on the causes and consequences of state persecution of NGOs and activists.
My work has been published or is forthcoming in International Organization, Journal of Peace Research, International Interactions, International Studies Review, Journal of Human Rights, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Global Policy, as well as The Washington Post and Foreign Policy.
Previously, I was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College. I received my PhD from Yale University’s Department of Political Science. For more information and updates, please visit www.suparnachaudhry.com
Specialty
Human Rights, International Law, Non-Governmental Organizations and Transnational Advocacy Networks, Political Violence, South Asian PoliticsAcademic Credentials
Teaching
Research
Civil Societies, Uncivil States: Government Repression of NGOs (Cornell University Press, forthcoming 2026)
“The Assault on Civil Society: Explaining State Crackdown Against NGOs.” International Organization. 76.3 (2022): 549-590.
- Winner of the 2022 Robert E. Keohane award for best article published by an untenured scholar in International Organization
“Why Donors Donate: Disentangling Structural and Organizational Heuristics for International Philanthropy,” with Marc Dotson and Andrew Heiss. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, (2025), doi:10.1177/08997640251348654
“Challenges and Opportunities for Transnational Advocacy,” with Nina Hall, Nina Reiners, Laura Henry, Lisa Sundstrom, Andrea Vilan, Kelebogile Zvobgo, Peace Medie, and Soumita Basu. International Studies Review, 27.3 (2025)
“Derogations, Democratic Backsliding, and International Human Rights During the Covid-19 Pandemic, ” with Audrey Comstock and Andrew Heiss. Journal of Human Rights, 24.1 (2025), 95–110.
“Pandemic Pass: Treaty Derogations and Human Rights Practices during Covid-19,” with Audrey Comstock and Andrew Heiss. International Interactions. 50.6 (2024). 1064–1086.
“NGO Repression as Predictor of Worsening Human Rights Abuses,” with Andrew Heiss. Journal of Human Rights. 123-140 (2022).
“Dynamics of international giving: How heuristics shape individual donor preferences,” with Andrew Heiss. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 50.3 (2021): 481-505.
“Who Cares About Crackdowns? Exploring the Role of Trust in Individual Philanthropy,” with Marc Dotson and Andrew Heiss. Global Policy 12.S5 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12984
“Bridging the Gap: The relationship between INGO activism and human rights indicators.” Journal of Human Rights 18.1 (2019): 111-133.
“How Rebellion Shapes Military Recruitment During Civil War,” with Sabrina Karim and Matt Scroggs. Journal of Peace Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343320959381
“Closing Space and the Restructuring of Global Activism: Causes and Consequences of the Global Crackdown on NGOs,” with Andrew Heiss in Beyond the Boomerang: New Patterns in Transcalar Advocacy, edited by Elizabeth Bloodgood and Christopher Pallas. 2022, Alabama University Press
In 2018, I received the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) Human Rights Section’s award for Best Dissertation, as well as the International Studies Association’s (ISA) Best Human Rights Paper Award.
Public Writing and Media Commentary
“India’s prime minister will visit the U.S. next week. What will he say about human rights in Kashmir?” The Washington Post, September 21, 2019.
“In India, Hindus, Muslims and police are fighting on the streets. Here’s what’s behind the violence.” The Washington Post, February 25, 2020.
“How India plans to put 1.3 billion people on a coronavirus lockdown.” (with Shubha Kamala Prasad). The Washington Post, March 30, 2020.
“India is hitting a record number of covid-19 cases. That’s not its only problem.” (with Shubha Kamala Prasad). The Washington Post, September 9, 2020.
“Donors grow more generous when they support nonprofits supporting hostile environments abroad” (with Andrew Heiss). The Conversation. December 7, 2020.
“India’s 1.6 million new coronavirus cases in the past week are breaking its health system.” (with Shubha Kamala Prasad). The Washington Post. April 21, 2021.
Podcast interview – Democratic Backsliding: The Insidious Erosion of Global Democracy. On GlobalPDX: Speaking Change, Season 2 Episode 1.
How the US foreign aid freeze is impacting humanitarian efforts. Oregon Public Broadcasting, Think Out Loud, February 11, 2025.
“Congress Takes Aim at a Pillar of Civil Society.” Foreign Policy, May 28, 2025.
“Why the World Turned on NGOs.” Foreign Policy Magazine, Fall 2025.