Ijlal Naqvi

Ijlal Naqvi is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean (Curriculum and Teaching) at the School of Social Sciences (SOSS), Singapore Management University (SMU). He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2011), a MALD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (2004), and a BA in Economics from Middlebury College (1998). His work focuses on development studies, political sociology, and urban governance, with a particular emphasis on infrastructure and state processes of inclusion/exclusion. He is the author of Access to Power: Electricity and the Infrastructural State in Pakistan (Oxford University Press, 2022), which received an honorable mention for the American Institute of Pakistan Studies Book Award 2025.

Naqvi’s research employs mixed methods, combining ethnography with quantitative analysis to explore themes like governance reforms, citizen engagement, and developmental state dynamics. His teaching spans undergraduate and graduate programs at SMU, including courses on public policy, global development, and the sociology of South Asia. He also contributes to executive education programs such as the Growing Infrastructure Asia Leaders Programme and Complexity and Emergence in Business and Administrative Systems.

His articles address topics like infrastructure governance in Karachi, democracy attitudes globally, and frameworks for citizen-led research. He has collaborated on projects analyzing healthcare policy reforms in Singapore and urban citizenship strategies in Chennai, India. His work bridges theoretical sociology with practical governance challenges, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches and participatory methodologies.