Kumar Ramanathan is a doctoral candidate in political science at Northwestern University. His research investigates the intersection of racial inequality, public policy, and political institutions, and has been published in Studies in American Political Development, the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, and Political Research Quarterly. His dissertation, “Building a Civil Rights Agenda: The Democratic Party and the Origins of Racial Liberalism,” investigates how liberal politicians in the northern Democratic Party contested and constructed a civil rights legislative agenda during the 1930s-60s, and aims to explain the origins and limitations of racial liberalism as it emerged among party elites. His other research includes work on the development of family and medical leave policy, the role of the Supreme Court in democratic backsliding, partisanship, and racial attitudes during the U.S. Civil War, and the effects of immigration policy on immigrant political participation. He was previously a Doctoral Fellow at the American Bar Foundation and received his B.A. in political science and philosophy from Tufts University.

More on Kumar’s work here.