Manali Desai is interested in the tensions between democracy, violence and inequality in contemporary India. Her research encompasses the areas of colonial and post-colonial state formation, political parties, social movements, development, ethnic violence, and post-colonial studies. She has published State Formation and Radical Democracy in India, 1860-1990, numerous journal articles and an edited book on gender and violence titled States of Trauma. Her most recent research on democratization and neoliberalism in India was funded by the Leverhulme Foundation. The project examines the different logics of democratization that have emerged during the period of market reforms and neoliberalization in India. It investigates how caste and religion, in particular, have framed emerging political claims, and the consequences of these frames for participatory and social democratic outcomes.