Carolyn M. Elliott is professor emerita of political science at the University of Vermont. She holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University specializing in comparative politics and the politics of South Asia. Over the course of her career she has resided in India for more than 10 years for the purposes of research, program administration, and development work. She has also made several visits to China, beginning in the Mao Zedong years, and to central Asia.

Her primary research interest is in the development of democracy in India. With several Fulbright awards, she has studied the role of caste in electoral politics, the rise of populism, and the political impact of development programs. She has also written on educational policy, civil society, and women and development. Recent edited volumes are Civil Society and Democracy and Global Empowerment of Women.