Frank de Zwart is lecturer of comparative politics and policy analysis. He graduated in political anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and wrote a PhD on political corruption and patronage in India. De Zwart was attached to the centre of sociology and anthropology at the University of Amsterdam, and to the department of public administration at Leiden University.

His research interests are politics and bureaucracy in India, formation of states, corruption, and ethnic and racial diversity. His present research, States and Ethnic Groups, is a comparative study of state attempts to cope with inequality and conflict related to ethnic and racial diversity.

Publications