Swarna Rajagopalan's ASI Blogposts Archived

• Bearing Witness: A new report on women in conflict zones

  The Centre for North East Studies & Policy Research, based in New Delhi and Guwahati, and the Heinrich Boll Foundation, have just released a report on the impact of conflict on women in Nagaland and Assam, two states on India’s northeastern frontier.

  Posted on October 6, 2011.

• Once more, with feeling: Hillary Clinton visits Chennai

  July 20, 2011: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Chennai after attending Indo-US Strategic Dialogue meetings in New Delhi. This post is about the speech she made to a select Chennai audience this afternoon.

  Posted on July 20, 2011.

• The good news about post-conflict societies

  Posted on July 8, 2011.

• Progress of the World’s Women: UN Women’s first report

  Posted on July 8, 2011.

• War and accountability in Sri Lanka: Full Report

  Posted on April 25, 2011.

• Women and Peace: A Special Issue

  Posted on April 22, 2011.

• War and accountability in Sri Lanka: Leaked report

  Excerpts from a leaked report on human rights violations and accountability in Sri Lanka.

  Posted on April 16, 2011.

• Talking about women and peace in Kalinga

  At the foot of Asoka’s edict marking his renunciation of war, scholars and activists met to discuss women, war and peace in the Indian context.

  Posted on March 24, 2011.

• Truth, Justice and Protocol

  This long post disentangles the web of questions raised about gender and international relations following the allegations of domestic violence made against a diplomat.

  Posted on January 20, 2011.

• Looking back on a Presidential Visit: Obama in India, 2010

  Notes from November 2010, belatedly blogged, reflect briefly on the three concerns that underpin Indo-US relations, the price of power and human rights as a marker of global ascendance.

  Posted on January 16, 2011.

• Uttaraayan, marking a return

  Posted on January 16, 2011.

• Great Expectations, Or The Limits Of Summit Diplomacy

  President Obama is spending the weekend in India. What can we realistically expect from summit meetings?

  Posted on November 7, 2010.

• Oslo Notes: North by northwest, but where’s the rest?

  What makes a country matter to another?

  Posted on September 19, 2010.

• Oslo Notes: Norwegian Lenses, South Asian challenges

  What are the international relations and security consequences of climate change that South Asia should anticipate?

  Posted on September 19, 2010.

• The region that studies together, works together!

  Exchange programmes, scholarships, collaborative research and of course, a regional university—when academics talk peace, they think first of the classroom.

  Posted on August 30, 2010.

• The Indus Floods and “disaster diplomacy”

  Disasters have been viewed as an opportunity to let humanitarian considerations forge détente in hostile environments. The opportunity is seldom utilized optimally, although assistance is often offered and taken. This post reflects on the mutual impact of the Indus floods and international relations in SouthAsia.

  Posted on August 29, 2010.

• Snapshots from Conflict Zones

  What is it like to live with conflict?

  Posted on August 7, 2010.

• Rules of Engagement: Notes from an Epic

  Posted on July 16, 2010.

• Violence and freedom: Responding to the Maoist challenge

  The debate about the Maoist insurgent groups is also a debate about freedom, equity and violence—do the ends justify the means on either side? And when the price is inequity at one end and loss of freedom at the other, how are state and society to arrive at an acceptable middle-point? This blogpost provides a snapshot of the debate as it is.

  Posted on June 3, 2010.

• Whose Islam?: Religion and Identity Politics in the Maldives

  What price democracy without religious freedom? Religious extremism raises fundamental political questions for newly democratized Maldives.

  Posted on May 30, 2010.

• What fate worse than death

  The question of capital punishment squarely spotlights the close relationship between human rights and security. In India, the debate on capital punishment is limited, muted and occurs in an episodic fashion. India revisits this debate in the wake of death sentences recently awarded in prominent cases.

  Posted on May 23, 2010.

• Cinema and terrorism: Will the world’s largest film industry take note?

  A 2009 RAND report makes the connection between film piracy and terrorism. The Indian film industry is not taking notes, in spite of its own campaign against piracy.

  Posted on April 24, 2010.

• Democracy and Security: “To The Last Bullet” by Vinita Kamte

  What is the relationship between democratic governance and security? A recent book about the events of November 26, 2008, in Mumbai offers an insight.

  Posted on March 27, 2010.

• Soft power and foreign policy: A link and some thoughts

  Article reprint in Dawn on Pakistan’s global image, and reflections on the utility of soft power.

  Posted on March 16, 2010.

• Multi-track diplomacy in South Asia: Recent dialogues

  Posted on February 11, 2010.

• Ending Violence against Women: Official priority

  Posted on February 9, 2010.

• Indian commentator on US Afghanistan policy

  Posted on February 5, 2010.

• A Feminist Foreign Policy for the US?

  Gender issues may not be new to the world of international diplomacy, but the high profile being accorded them by the Obama-Clinton led State Department seems new.

  Posted on January 21, 2010.

• SouthAsian of the Decade: Top Five Candidates

  Who or what has made the most important contributions towards peaceful coexistence in South Asia?

  Posted on December 28, 2009.

• SouthAsian of the Year: Meher Mohammed Khalil

  Who has done the most this last year to promote peace and build confidence in South Asia?

  Posted on December 28, 2009.

• A season for lists and mellow truthfulness… a post for December 31, 2009

  Posted on December 28, 2009.

• Still speaking about Shopian…

  An update on the death of two sisters from Shopian, Kashmir. Also, why this is of interest to us.

  Posted on December 17, 2009.

• Special Report: Rajagopalan on Feminist Flashpoints in East Asia

  A cursory review reveals that sexual violence is a common issue that is salient domestically as well as in the international politics of the region. One of the real challenges though appears to be expanding the space for political activism among women.

  Posted on November 19, 2009.

• Special Report: Defining Asia

  As President Obama travels from “Asian summits” at the Asia-Pacific Economic (APEC) forum and the U.S.-ASEAN summit, the Asia Security Initiative blog investigates what we mean by Asia.  Today, three views from India.  In this post, Swarna Rajagopalan asks “What is Asia?”

  Posted on November 15, 2009.

• Maldivians in 26/11: The power of ‘security’?

  President Nasheed stated this week in an interview that Maldivian nationals may have been involved in the November 26, 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.

  Posted on October 28, 2009.

• Hearts, Minds and Maoists

  Discussion continues in op-ed pages of the Maoist insurgent groups and how best to interpret their politics and respond to their tactics.

  Posted on October 18, 2009.

• What Pakistanis think of the US: A Poll published by Dawn

  Public opinion survey report from Pakistan

  Posted on October 12, 2009.

• New Delhi Notes: Where you stand = what you see

  Geography determines many things, including the perspective that one holds on international relations. The way Indians from different parts of the country view South Asia has been a good example, although this is changing somewhat.

  Posted on October 11, 2009.

• New Delhi Notes: Attending darbar, reflecting on federalism in large states

  This is a series of small travel notes, containing observations and reflections on broader issues. This one is about the everyday dimensions of federalism in a continental state.

  Posted on October 6, 2009.

• The Politics of Making Sexual Violence an Issue

  The UN Security Council mandated peacekeeping missions to secure women and girls from sexual violence. Hillary Clinton, who was in the chair, stirred a hornet’s nest when she included Sri Lanka in a list of cases where rape had been used as a weapon of war.

  Posted on October 5, 2009.

• Shopian: A Twist in the Tale

  A new investigation finds there may have been no rape at Shopian.

  Posted on September 29, 2009.

• Interpreting Maoist Violence

  An op-ed by a leading political commentator points out that Maoist idealogues and the government in fact, interpret the appeal of insurgency in similar ways.

  Posted on September 27, 2009.

• Back to Basics?

  Drought, a burgeoning demand for energy and a global recession affect foreign policy.

  Posted on September 14, 2009.

• Remembering Pokharan 1974

  Reflections and recollections of India’s first nuclear test in 1974

  Posted on September 13, 2009.

• Postscript to a Tragedy: The Shopian Story

  What’s happened to the investigation of the rape and murder of the sisters from Shopian?

  Posted on September 10, 2009.

• No One Is an Island: India and the Maldives

  The Indian defence minister’s visit to the Maldives drew attention to the India-Maldives relationship.

  Posted on September 9, 2009.

• We live here too!

  Is climate change a threat to national security? First reflections from Asia on a debate elsewhere and an invitation to extend the debate.

  Posted on August 11, 2009.

• The fragile thread of life: H1N1 and other perils

  The H1N1 virus begins to claim lives in India. The public health crisis blots out all other concerns, at least on television news channels.

  Posted on August 9, 2009.

• ‘Seminar’ on India’s National Security

  Useful resource for contemporary debates on South Asian and global issues.

  Posted on August 6, 2009.

• Reflections on the Sharm El Shaikh Joint Communique

  Why Indians and Pakistanis are deconstructing the Sharm El Shaikh joint communiqe ad nauseum.

  Posted on July 27, 2009.

• Eventful fortnight in South Asia: Catching up

  Communique from Egypt; a visit by Hillary Clinton; True confessions in a Mumbai court; misgivings in Sri Lanka; and outrage and introspection over airline security regulations.

  Posted on July 25, 2009.

• Past as Prologue? Military History and India’s Foreign Policy

  Dr. C. Raja Mohan draws attention to the global history of the Indian army.

  Posted on July 13, 2009.

• True or False? Can anyone know?

  Multiple versions of variously experienced realities appear to characterize the political experience, not just in Sri Lanka, the subject of this post, but everywhere.

  Posted on July 8, 2009.

• Truth is Stranger than Fiction

  A book recommendation.

  Posted on July 8, 2009.

• I Just Called to Say I Love You

  Reflections on the importance of “soft power” in international relations.

  Posted on June 27, 2009.

• In the News: “We will spread this fire”

  Report on Indian Maoists in Times of India.

  Posted on June 20, 2009.

• Martyrs, metaphors or wasted lives? Story from Shopian, Kashmir

  Two young girls were found dead in a Kashmir stream. Outrage and grief have quickly become both political crisis and political opportunity.

  Posted on June 15, 2009.

• Two reactions from India to Obama’s Cairo speech

  Responses by two leading Indian commentators who happen to be Muslim.

  Posted on June 11, 2009.

• Interview with Koteswar Rao, Maoist leader in India

  Hindustan Times interview with Koteswar Rao aka Kishanji, deputy leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

  Posted on June 10, 2009.

• What happened in Mumbai on 26/11?

  Sections of the press are already discussing the 26/11 inquiry commission’s report, which is yet to be tabled in the state legislature.

  Posted on June 6, 2009.

• To boldly go… to study abroad?

  Attacks on Indian students in Australia have outraged the Indian public.

  Posted on June 6, 2009.

• How many crows in Agra?

  Death tolls in conflict and a postscript on the LTTE after Prabhakaran

  Posted on May 30, 2009.

• The Human Cost of War and Peace: Sri Lanka

  A generation raised in the shadow of war is the generation which is going to have to build the peace in Sri Lanka.

  Posted on May 27, 2009.

• This South Asian moment

  A brief contextual review of South Asia at the moment the blog is launched.

  Posted on May 27, 2009.

• A mutual orientation

  Swarna Rajagopalan introduces herself and the themes on which she will blog.

  Posted on May 27, 2009.