Rumela Sen

Rumela Sen’s research focuses on civil conflict, rebel governance, political development and state building, primarily in South Asia. Her first book Farewell to Arms: How Rebels Retire without Getting Killed (Oxford University Press, 2021 ) examines how Maoist rebels in India quit armed groups and return to the same political process that they had once tried to overthrow. The book draws on her extensive fieldwork (funded primarily by the American Institute of Indian Studies) in conflict zones in India, where she interviewed current and former Maoist rebels and other stakeholders in the conflict. The book has received multiple endorsements and has been reviewed in detail by Isabelle Duijvesteijn as part of the Critical Dialogue series in Perspective on Politics. 

She is working on her second book on rebel governance and postconflict state-building in Nepal. With support from a SIPA Dean faculty grant, she has done extensive fieldwork in Rolpa and Rukum districts in Nepal and has interviewed Maoist military and political leaders all the way from local to the highest levels. She has earlier published her work on Nepal in Jacobin, and she writes opinion pieces on contemporary Nepali politics in East Asia Forum. Building on her expertise, she is currently collaborating with colleagues in the UK and Australia on a project on comparative rebel governance in South Asia. 

She has also published on Hate in the Times of Covid  and her recent research  is on the evolving landscape of digital transnational repression, pre and post generative AI (under review) Her work has received media coverage in major outlets in South Asia including the India in Transition (CASI), Hindu Business Line, and Ratopati (Nepal). In addition to book chapters and articles, you can find her speaking or writing in diverse outlets including IAPS Dialogue, Mainstream Weekly, CountercurrentsInkstick Media, Alarmist podcast and so on. 

Sen received her PhD in Government from Cornell University. She also holds a Masters from Villanova University and another Masters in IR from Jadavpur University (India). 

Sen is currently the MIA faculty director at SIPA. She teaches the MPA core course as well as another course on political development. She has advised multiple student capstone projects on building peace in conflict zones with the UNDPO as client. She is also affiliated with the South Asia Institute and the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace at Columbia. 

Education

• PhD, Cornell University
• MA, Villanova University
• BA, Jadavpur University