For Immediate Release: October 23, 2013
Media Contact: Doug Gavel, (617) 495-1115
Future of Diplomacy Project Selects Senior Indian Strategist as Fall 2013 Fisher Family Fellow
Cambridge MA -- The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School has appointed C. Raja Mohan as a fall 2013 Fisher Family Fellow. Mohan will be in residence for two weeks in October, teach a study group on India’s foreign policy and regional priorities and deliver a public address on October 31 titled “India and the U.S. pivot to Asia: Between Geopolitical Opportunity and Strategic Autonomy.”
Mohan is a nonresident senior associate in Carnegie’s South Asia Program, where his research focuses on international security, defense, and Asian strategic issues. He is also a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, a columnist on foreign affairs for the Indian Express, and an adjunct professor of South Asian studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is currently a member of India’s National Security Advisory Board.
From 2009 to 2010, Mohan was the Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress. Previously, he was a professor of South Asian studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He also served as the diplomatic editor and Washington correspondent of The Hindu and has published a number of books on strategic issues, including most recently “Power Realignments in Asia: China, India and the United States” (Sage, 2009) (co-edited with Alyssa Ayres).
Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics and founder of the Future of Diplomacy Project said: “We are delighted to welcome Raja Mohan as a Fisher Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Raja is one of India’s most respected strategic thinkers and a widely admired author.We look forward to his interactions with our students and faculty. India and the U.S.-India relationship are issues of great interest to our Harvard community and we expect that Raja’s speech, study groups and meetings here will further our understanding of India’s major role in international politics.”
The work of the Fisher Family Fellows at Harvard Kennedy School is made possible through The Richard and Nancy Fisher Family Fellows Program, created by Nancy and Richard W. Fisher, AB ’71, long-time supporters of Harvard University’s international engagement and teaching. The fellowship was created in 2010. Previous fellows include Said T. Jawad, former Afghan Ambassador to the United States (Fall 2010); Celso Amorim, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Brazil (Spring 2011); Roger Cohen, Columnist, New York Times (Fall 2011); Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary of India; Javier Solana, former Secretary General of NATO; David Miliband, former UK Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Tim Shriver, President and CEO of Special Olympics (September 2012); Soli Özel, Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University, Turkey (February 2013); Douglas Alexander, UK Shadow Foreign Secretary (March 2013); Christopher de Bellaigue, Author and Iran expert (April 2013) and Josette Sheeran, former Vice Chairman of the World Economic Forum and now President of the Asia Society (April 2013).
Led by R. Nicholas Burns (Director) and Cathryn Clüver (Executive Director), the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is dedicated to promoting the study and understanding of diplomacy, negotiation and statecraft in international politics today. The Project aims to build Harvard Kennedy School’s ability to teach in this area, to support research in modern diplomatic practice and to build public understanding of diplomacy’s indispensible role in an increasingly complex and globalized world.