Pravar is Head of the Strengthening Democracy Desk at the International Centre for Sustainability (ICfS). The ICfS is an independent and non-partisan think-tank fostering a deeper alliance between the India, the UK, the USA and other global stakeholders by placing sustainability at the heart of everything it does. Through research, training and development, and influencing policy, it focuses on harmonising the needs of people, planet and profit to build a more sustainable future.
Since joining the ICfS in 2024, Pravar has led and contributed to research examining how democratic institutions can be strengthened, how citizens can participate more meaningfully in public decision-making, and how political and cultural identities shape international relations. His policy research focuses on six interconnected areas:
- India’s foreign policy and the civilisational-state: Examining how India’s cultural and civilisational identity influences its foreign policy, international partnerships and positioning within the emerging global order, particularly since 2014.
- Parliamentary reform in the UK and India: Assessing the functions, powers and effectiveness of representative institutions, particularly the UK’s House of Lords and India’s Rajya Sabha, and developing proposals to strengthen legislative scrutiny and accountability.
- Electoral systems and democratic representation: Investigating the democratic, constitutional and policymaking implications of electoral systems in the UK and India, including the relationship between First-Past-the-Post, parliamentary scrutiny, federalism and devolution.
- Participatory and deliberative democracy: Exploring how citizens’ assemblies and other participatory processes can complement representative institutions, and how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, can make democratic participation more accessible, inclusive and scalable.
- Democracy and emerging technologies: Examining the implications of AI for democratic governance, electoral integrity and political accountability, including the risks posed by AI-driven decision-making and the influence of technology companies on democratic institutions.
- Higher Education and democracy: Investigating how innovative pedagogies, institutional reform and international collaboration in Higher Education can strengthen civic engagement, democratic participation and sustainable governance.
Pravar’s major research publications include:
Interpreting India’s Worldview: Foreign Policy, Culture and the Civilisational-State (April 2026), which develops an analytical framework for understanding the cultural dimensions of India’s foreign policy.
Majorities, Mandates and Law-Making: What First-Past-the-Post Means for Policy Scrutiny in the UK and India (June 2026), co-authored with researchers at the Pahlé India Foundation
Participatory and Deliberative Democracy in the Digital Age (February 2026), which considers how emerging technologies can help overcome barriers to meaningful citizen participation.
His ongoing research builds on these publications, with forthcoming work examining the options for electoral reform in the UK in light of devolution and the increasingly fragmented political landscape; reforms to the House of Lords that could strengthen its legislative scrutiny and revising functions; and the role, composition and powers of India’s Rajya Sabha within the country’s federal constitutional system.
Alongside his longer research publications, Pravar regularly writes policy commentary and analysis on democratic developments in the UK, USA and India. His recent work has addressed electoral integrity and political violence in India, the changing electoral landscape in Britain, the influence of AI companies on American electoral politics, and India’s approach to BRICS and the international order. He has also contributed analysis of UK–India relations and regional security, including a series of briefings on the April 2025 Pahalgam terrorist attack and the subsequent India–Pakistan conflict.
To view more of Pravar’s policy research output, click here.
