Lawyer Gautam Bhatia Wins CS' Ran Hirschl Prize For Best Article In Constitutional Studies

Advocate Gautam Bhatia has won Constitutional Studies' inaugural Ran Hirschl Prize for the Best Article in Constitutional Studies.

The award has been given for his article titled Economic Inequality and the Separation of the Economic and the Political in Modern Constitutionalism, published in “Constitutional Studies” for December, 2025, issue.

According to the platform, Bhatia's article is an outstanding example of innovative scholarship in the field and makes a significant theoretical contribution by challenging the conventional separation between the economic and political spheres that has long underpinned constitutional law.

“The article adopts a sophisticated interdisciplinary approach, bringing political economy into productive dialogue with comparative constitutional law to assert that constitutionalism and capitalism each separate political and economic arenas in ways that prevent democratic principles from being applied in the economic realm, leaving the economic sphere deeply unjust and unequal,” the platform says.

It adds that Bhatia provides nuanced doctrinal and political-economic analysis through case studies on discrimination, social rights, and horizontal rights.

“The comparative methodology is particularly noteworthy, drawing on constitutional experiences across diverse jurisdictions in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and North America. Overall, the analysis offers both conceptual originality and broad comparative insights that advance contemporary constitutional scholarship,” it adds.