BIGD organized an in-house seminar on Informal Agencies of influences: the Inter Dependence of Social, Religion and Political Trends by Prof. Matthew J Nelson of SOAS, University of London. The seminar held on 18 January 2017 at the BIGD conference room. The discussion focused on the comparative and international politics of South Asia, with an emphasis on non-elite politics, comparative political thought, the politics of Islamic institutions, and democracy. The presentation was followed by a short question answer session.