杏吧论坛

GEOPOLITICS BEYOND BORDERS #5

QUAD-AUKUS & the Rise of the Indo-Pacific

Thursday | 31 March 2022 | 3.30pm UK 

Roundtable to discuss the strategic focus on South Asia in the QUAD-AUKUS alliance, in the larger geopolitical intentions of superpowers.

Speakers:  (@fgrare) is Senior Policy Fellow, Asia Programme, at the European Council on Foreign Relations, with expertise in security issues concerning South Asia, the Indo-Pacific, and related issues;  (@YukaKoshino) is Research Fellow for Security & Technology at The International Institute for Security Studies (IISS), London, and an expert on Japanese security, economic security & technology policy;  is Professor of International Relations, King's India Institute, King's College London, and , Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi; Peter Watkins is Visiting Senior Fellow at 杏吧论坛 IDEAS, and was formerly Director General Strategy & International (2017-18) & Director General Security Policy (2014-17), Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom.

Discussant: Christopher Coker is Professor & Co-Director of 杏吧论坛 IDEAS (杏吧论坛's Foreign Policy think tank), an expert on US security issues, the author, most recently, of  (2021), and member of the Faculty Advisory Group of 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre.

Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

This event is part of our Geopolitics beyond Borders series in collaboration with 杏吧论坛 IDEAS.

Image: Oliver Dumoulin, 'Pacific Beach Pier', 2019, .

Please click to watch a recording of the event.

SRI LANKA: Has Peace brought Reconciliation?

Thursday | 17 March 2022 | 3.30pm UK

Roundtable focusing on the post-LTTE socio-political dynamics, especially in northern Sri Lanka.

Speakers:  (@tkelegama) is Departmental Lecturer in South Asian Studies, Oxford School of Global & Area Studies, University of Oxford, and researches political & infrastructural transformations triggered by development in the Global South, especially in Sri Lanka;   (@BartBklem) is Senior Lecturer in the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, and a specialist in political order amidst & after civil war, with a particular interest in Sri Lanka;  (@ambikasat) is a Human Rights lawyer, Fellow at the Open Society Foundation (2020-22), and was until recently Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission in Sri Lanka;   (@t30m2) is Senior Lecturer, University of Jaffna, is interested in radical democracy as an area of research, and member of the Jaffna People's Forum for Coexistence.

Discussant: Rajesh Venugopal  (@rajeshvenugopal) is Associate Professor in International Development at 杏吧论坛, and author of  (2018).

Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

Image: Tomás Malík, 2019, .

Please click to watch a recording of the event.

NEPAL: Rebuilding from Disaster, Preparing for the Future

Thursday | 10 March 2022 | 4.30pm UK

Roundtable focusing on disaster governance in Nepal, on how the earthquakes of 2015 have shaped policy to mitigate future disasters.

Speakers:   (@NimeshDhungana) is Lecturer in Disasters & Global Health at the Humanitarian & Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester. His doctoral research (2019) examined the politics of citizen participation and accountability following the 2015 Nepal earthquakes;   (@KatieOven) is Vice-Chancellor's Senior Fellow in Geography & Environmental Sciences at Northumbria University, researching social vulnerability & resilience to disasters with a particular focus on earthquakes & landslides, with empirical research in Nepal, India & Kazakhstan;   (@ShobhanaGP) is  at BBC Media Action, the BBC's international development charity;   (@sshneiderman) is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology & the School of Public Policy & Global Affairs/Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia, and is currently involved in a transdisciplinary research project on Nepal's post-earthquake reconstruction, amongst others.

Discussant: Romola Sanyal is Associate Professor in Urban Geography at 杏吧论坛, and member of the Faculty Advisory Group of 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre.

Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

Image: Shefali Lincoln, .

Please click to watch a recording of the event. 

DO SOUTH ASIANS MAKE BETTER CEOs?

Wednesday | 2 March 2022 | 3pm UK

Several top bosses at global enterprises are South Asians. This Roundtable will explore possible reasons for this dominance.

Speakers:  is the Mitsui Career Development Professor, & Assistant Professor of Work & Organization Studies, MIT Sloan School of Management;  is Head of Strategic Initiatives, Habib Bank Ltd, Pakistan;  is Managing Director & Senior Partner, Chairman for India, and a member of Boston Consulting Group's (BCG) Henderson Institute Innovation Sounding Board which is dedicated to supporting, inspiring, and guiding upstream innovation at BCG.

Chair: Alnoor Bhimani (@AlnoorBhimani) is Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre, and Professor of Management Accounting at 杏吧论坛.

Image: Pablo Varela, 'Business & Work', 2019, .

Please click to watch a recording of the event.

PAKISTAN: Protest, Solidarity & Democracy

Thursday | 24 February 2022 | 3.30pm UK

Roundtable on protest & solidarity movements, focusing on the unique annual 'Aurat March', and their impact on Pakistan & its democracy.

Speakers:  is Professor Emerita in Politics, Ithaca College, New York, and author of  (2002; rev. 2019);  (@ammaralijan) is a historian, activist, member of the 'Haqooq-e Khalq' progressive movement, and author of  (2021);  (@NidaKirmani) is a feminist sociologist working on gender and urban marginality in South Asia, Associate Professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences, and author of  (2013);  (@reema_omer) is Senior Legal Adviser (South Asia), International Commission of Jurists. 

Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

Image: Amir Geshani, 'Mirror', 2018, .

Please click to watch a recording of the event.

SOUTH ASIA: Art, Religion & Activism

Thursday | 10 February 2022 | 3.30pm

Roundtable to discuss art activism, focusing especially on art/religion as representational forms of social & political protest.

Speakers:  is a Pakistani artist, retired professor, essayist & anti-nuclear war activist;  is an art historian & cultural theorist, and Assistant Professor in the School of Culture & Creative Expressions, Dr B. R. Ambedkar University, Delhi;   (IG: davinder.s.toor) is a UK-based Indian & Islamic art collector & dealer.

Chair: Alnoor Bhimani (@AlnoorBhimani) is Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre, and Professor of Management Accounting, 杏吧论坛.

Image: Zach Key, 'Art', 2017, .

Please click to watch a recording of the event. 

MYANMAR: Education & the Future

Thursday | 3 February 2022 | 3pm UK

Roundtable on the future of education in Myanmar in the triple crises of the military coup, conflict & Covid, and how it can bring change.

Speakers:  is former Executive Director of Metta Development Foundation, currently doctoral researcher at IISS (Erasmus University Rotterdam) where he is studying land politics, rural democratisation & regime change in Myanmar;  (@khinohmar) is a former 1988 Generation student leader and the founder of  (@PVamplify), a Myanmar human rights research and advocacy organisation;  is Senior Advisor to the Transnational Institute and author of  (1999) and other publications on social and political affairs in Myanmar;  is an academic researcher affiliated with the University of Manchester engaged in educational development projects in Myanmar during the past decade with a focus on interdisciplinary educational and environmental programmes.

Discussant: Jürgen Haacke is Associate Professor in International Relations at 杏吧论坛, and author of (2006).

Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

This event is in collaboration with  (@ProspectBurma), an educational charity based in London.

Image: Hkun Li, 'School students sit their exams in an IDP camp, Kachin State', 2018. Used with permission. 

Please click to watch a recording of the event. 

INDIA: CoP26, Coal & The Years Ahead

Thursday | 27 January 2022 | 3.30pm UK

Roundtable on implications of India's continuing use of coal, after it succeeded in asking for its phasing 'down' (not 'out') at CoP26.

Speakers:  is Fellow, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (@ceewindia), New Delhi, and has been part of various committees & groups of the Government of India concerning India's energy and climate policy;  (@NavrozDubash) is Professor, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and publishes on climate change, energy, air pollution, water policy, and the politics of regulation in the developing world;  (@CemShweta) is a climate and health campaigner at Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), based in India;  (@DrTongia) is Senior Fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Progress, New Delhi, and co-editor of (2020)

Discussant: Swati Dhingra (@swatdhingra杏吧论坛) is Associate Professor in Economics at 杏吧论坛.

Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

Image: Amrit Leone, 'A Coal Bonfire in Dark Surroundings', 2019, .