Amitav Acharya

Amitav Acharya

Amitav Acharya, professor of international relations at American University, Washington, D.C.
Born	1962 Jagatsinghpur, Orissa (now Odisha), India
Alma mater	Ravenshaw University Jawaharlal Nehru University Murdoch University
Main interests	Foreign relations Human security Political freedom International relations Regionalism Intergovernmental cooperation Asia National security Globalization
Website www.amitavacharya.com

Amitav Acharya (born 1962) is an Indian-born Canadian scholar,^[1] and professor of international relations at American University, Washington, D.C., where he holds the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance at the School of International Service, and serves as the chair of the ASEAN Studies Center.^[2][3][4]

Career

Acharya was born in Jagatsinghpur, Orissa (now Odisha), India. After studying at Ravenshaw University and Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, he obtained his doctorate from Murdoch University in Australia in 1987.^[5] After a brief research and teaching stint in Singapore, he joined the faculty of York University, Toronto in 1993.^[6] During 1998-2001, he spent two stints at Harvard University’s newly established Asia Center, first as a visiting scholar and then as a Fellow of the Center. During 2000-2001, he was concurrently appointed to be a Fellow of the Center for Business and Government at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.^[7] From 2001 and 2007, he worked in Singapore as the Deputy Director and Head of Research of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, (which in 2007 became the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies).^[8] In August 2007, he was appointed to the Chair of Global Governance at the University of Bristol.^[9] In January 2009, he moved to his present position at American University.

Acharya was elected to a Christensen Fellowship at St Catherine’s College, Oxford in 2012.^[10] He was appointed to the Nelson Mandela Visiting Professorship in International Relations at Rhodes University, South Africa (2012–13).^[11] He has held a number of other visiting positions, including as the ASEM Chair in Regional Integration at the University of Malaya, the Direk Jayanama Visiting Professor of Political Science at Thammasat University, Bangkok, Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore and Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Economics at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand (since 2004).

Research Interests

Acharya’s major research interests include:

• The diffusion of ideas and norms in world politics
• Comparative regional institutions
• International relations, regionalism and security in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific
• International relations theory, especially constructivism and non-Western international relations theory

Acharya is best known for proposing the frameworks of "localization" and "subsidiarity" to study the diffusion of ideas and norms in world politics, and for his writings on "non-Western international relations theory". He is also a leading scholar on Southeast Asian security, Asian regionalism, and the application of international relations theories to Asia.^[12]

Selected Publications

Other Professional Activities

In 2012, Acharya was elected President of the International Studies Association (ISA) for 2014-15.^[30] He was a vice-President of the ISA in 2008-9. He is one of the founders^[31] of the Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA),^[32] and served as its inaugural co-president in 2003-4.

He is the joint chief editor of the Studies in Asian Security series for Stanford University Press.^[33]

Acharya's work has policy impact on Asian regionalism and human security. His 2001 book, Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order, was the primary basis of the initial Indonesian concept paper which ultimately resulted in the establishment of the ASEAN Political-Security Community.^[34] His work on human security led to him being invited to address the UN General Assembly on the subject of human security on 14 April 2011.^[35]

He has been interviewed by CNN International, BBC T.V.^[36] BBC World Service Radio, CNBC, Channel NewsAsia, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Australia, National Public Radio (NPR),^[37] RT,^[38] and Al Jazeera^[39] on current affairs.

Acharya has written numerous op-eds^[40] for international newspapers and magazines including The Financial Times,^[41] the International Herald Tribune, The New York Times,^[42] National Public Radio (NPR) online,^[43] The Huffington Post,^[44] The Australian Financial Review, Asia Times, The Times of India,^[45] The Indian Express, The Straits Times, The Jakarta Post,^[46] the Bangkok Post,^[47] Asiaweek, the Far Eastern Economic Review, The Japan Times, the South China Morning Post, YaleGlobal Online^[48] covering such topics as international and Asian security, regional integration, the war on terror, and the rise of China and India.

References

External links

• Amitav Acharya on Twitter