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SAI Event Topic : South Asian Politics

The History of British Diplomacy in Pakistan

START
Wed, Apr 7, 2021 at 11:00am

END
Wed, Apr 7, 2021 at 12:00pm

VENUE
Webinar

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Register here to join the webinar.

Speaker
  • Ian Talbot, Director of the Centre for Imperial and Postcolonial Studies, University of Southampton
With Discussants
  • Mohammad Waseem, Professor of Political Science at Department of Social Sciences, Lahore University of Management Sciences
  • William Milam, Former Ambassador to Pakistan and Bangladesh, United States Department of State
Chaired by
  • Adil Najam, Dean, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Professor of International Relations and Earth & Environment, Boston University

This panel will discuss the development of British diplomatic efforts in Pakistan from 1947 through the “War on Terror,” as chronicled in the new book by Ian Talbot, Director of the Centre for Imperial and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Southampton and Research Affiliate at the Mittal Institute.

Virtual attendees for the panel will also be provided the opportunity to purchase the book at a discount!


Consequences: South and Southeast Asia and the 2020 U.S. Election

START
Thu, Dec 3, 2020 at 12:00pm

END
Thu, Dec 3, 2020 at 01:00pm

VENUE
Webinar

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Location: Online, via Zoom

Register to join the webinar here: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_b-fBxaQxT96uKpkNd5LpfA

Panelists:

Mattias Fibiger, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

Erik Kuhonta, Associate Professor of Political Science, McGill University

Doreen Lee, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Northeastern University; Visiting Scholar, Harvard University Asia Center

Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences; Professor of Political Science; Director; the Center for Contemporary South Asia, Brown University

Chair/Moderator: James Robson, James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations; Victor and William Fung Director, Harvard University Asia Center; Chair, Regional Studies East Asia, Harvard University

Asia Beyond the Headlines Seminar Series, Harvard University Asia Center; co-sponsored with the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute


Maintaining Peace in China-India Relations: Discussion and Book Launch

START
Thu, Sep 3, 2020 at 08:30am

END
Thu, Sep 3, 2020 at 09:30am

VENUE
Webinar

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The China-India relationship is one of the keys to international security, the future of Asia, and the well-being of nearly 3 billion people. Since early May 2020, border tensions between the two powers have underlined the potential for conflict. In 2017, their armies faced off for 73 days. At the same time, they have built a system of engagement designed to manage conflict and their larger rivalry. Their leaders meet regularly, they hold talks on the border quarrel, they have a series of confidence building measures, and they trade and invest with each other. They also cooperate multilaterally.

What are the drivers of the relationship? How can they manage conflict and rivalry? Are there cooperative steps forward, now and looking ahead? Two years ago, the Centre on Asia and Globalization in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, set out to answer these and other vital questions by working with Routledge UK to produce the Routledge Handbook of China-India Relations. The book was published earlier this year. It assembled experts from China, India, Singapore, other parts of Asia, Australia, Brazil, Europe, and the United States and has 35 chapters on a range of China-India issues.


Property, Power, and Women: Positive and Perverse Consequences of Indian Reforms for Gender Equality

START
Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 02:30pm

END
Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 04:00pm

VENUE
CGIS South, S153
Harvard University

ADDRESS
CGIS South, S153
Harvard University
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

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Can political representation help women upend entrenched systems of power? Property and Power, forthcoming with Cambridge University Press, finds evidence that quotas improve women’s ability to claim fundamental economic rights. Yet, greater voice is costly, and whether women experience benefits or backlash will depend on individual bargaining power at the time a woman is elected.

Speaker:
Rachel Brulé, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy, Boston University

Moderator:
Emmerich Davies, Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education


Voting for Strongmen: Nationalist and Populist Leadership in Brazil and India

START
Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 04:30pm

END
Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 06:00pm

VENUE
CGIS South, S020 Belfer
Harvard University

ADDRESS
CGIS South, S020 Belfer
Harvard University
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge MA 02138

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Around the world, numerous nations have witnessed a resurgence of strongman politics — and with it, many governments are bypassing democratic norms and embracing populist ideals. Focusing on President Bolsonaro of Brazil and Prime Minister Modi of India, the speakers on this panel will discuss what nationalist and populist leadership means for Brazil, India, and the global political system at large.

Speakers:

Rachel Brule, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy, Boston University
Bruno Carvalho, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University
Patrick Heller, Professor of Sociology and iNternational and Public Affairs, Brown University

This event is co-sponsored by the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.


Crisis in Kashmir: Current Events Seminar

START
Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 05:00pm

END
Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 07:00pm

VENUE
CGIS South, Tsai Auditorium S010
Harvard University

ADDRESS
CGIS South, Tsai Auditorium S010
Harvard University
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

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The panel will discuss the recent events in Jammu and Kashmir, including the lead-up to the dissolution of its special autonomous status, the current situation on the ground, and the greater geopolitical implications of the recent change in status. Speakers include:

Salil Shetty, Former Secretary General of Amnesty International and Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School
Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for Contemporary South Asia, Brown University
Prerna Singh, Mahatma Gandhi Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs, Brown University
Ashwaq Masoodi, Nieman Fellow, Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard University
Beena Sarwar, Affiliated Faculty, Emerson University; Editor, Aman Ki Asha


Crisis in Kashmir: Valley of Saints Film Screening

START
Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 05:00pm

END
Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 07:00pm

VENUE
CGIS South, S020 Belfer
Harvard University

ADDRESS
CGIS South, S020 Belfer
Harvard University
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge MA 02138

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Film Director Musa Syeed will join Professor Ali Asani for a screening of his film, Valley of Saints, followed by a question-and-answer session.

About the Film:
Dal Lake is a sprawling aquatic community in Kashmir where erupting political violence often distracts from the natural beauty. Gulzar, a young, working-class boatman, plans to skip town with his best friend in search of a better life, but a weeklong military curfew derails their departure. Forced to wait it out, Gulzar takes a job assisting a scientist named Asifa. As they navigate the floating landscape, an unlikely relationship blossoms between the two. When Asifa’s research reveals that the lake and an entire way of life face an alarming threat, everything in Gulzar’s own life begins to take on a new hue. Intricately weaving contemporary issues with traditional culture and ancient myths, VALLEY OF SAINTS is a vibrant, lyrical film about finding one’s path home in a changing world.


India’s Upcoming Elections: What’s at Stake?

START
Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 06:15pm

END
Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 07:30pm

VENUE
Land Lecture Hall, 4th Floor, Kennedy School

ADDRESS
Land Lecture Hall (4th Floor)
Kennedy School
79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

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In this event, Professor Ashu Varshney, Ronak Desai, and Hasit Shah will discuss the pressure points of the upcoming Indian election.

Speakers:
Ashu Varshney, Director of the Center for Contemporary South Asia and Sol Goldman Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Ronak Desai, Vice Chair of the Indian Practice at Steptoe and Law & Security Fellow at New America
Hasit Shah, Journalist and Expert on Digital Media and Internet Access in India


De Facto Suffrage: A Field Experiment to Improve Women’s Turnout in Pakistan’s General Elections

START
Fri, Apr 12, 2019 at 02:00pm

END
Fri, Apr 12, 2019

VENUE
CGIS South, S153
Harvard University

ADDRESS
CGIS South, S153
Harvard University
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

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JOINT SEMINAR ON SOUTH ASIAN POLITICS SERIES

Sarah Khan, Postgraduate Associate, Yale MacMillan Center

Sarah Khan is a postgraduate associate at the Yale MacMillan Center. Her research interests lie at the intersection of gender and comparative politics, with a regional specialization in South Asia. In her work, she explores gender gaps in political preferences, and the barriers to women’s participation and substantive representation in Pakistan. Additionally, she explores questions related to the prevention of violence against women. Her research has been generously supported by grants from the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, the Abdul Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) Governance Initiative, and the National Science Foundation.

Khan has worked with Ali Cheema, Shandana Mohmand, and Asad Liaqat to research potential pathways to increasing women’s voter registration and turnout in Pakistan, culminating in a paper entitled “Exercising Her Right: Civic and Political Action as Pathways for Increasing Women’s Turnout in Pakistan.” According to the team, “there is a large and persistent gender gap in voter registration and turnout in Pakistan, making for a heavily male-skewed electorate in all levels of Pakistani elections. This has implications both for the quality of democracy, and for women’s substantive representation in politics.”


Crisis and Credibility: The Politics of Ideas in India and Developing Democracies

START
Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 02:00pm

END
Fri, Feb 8, 2019

VENUE
CGIS South, S450

ADDRESS
CGIS South, S450
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA

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JOINT SEMINAR ON SOUTH ASIAN POLITICS SERIES

Dr. Bilal A. Baloch is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science & Economics and a Lecturer and Regional Director in South Asia, Middle East and North Africa at The Joseph H. Lauder Institute, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

At CASI, Bilal focuses on the political economy of government behavior in India and other developing democracies. Here, he is revising his doctoral dissertation, Crisis, Credibility, and Corruption: How Ideas and Institutions Shape Government Behavior in India, into a monograph. Bilal has presented academic papers at several international conferences, including the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association. In addition to his scholarly publications, his commentary has appeared in a number of outlets, including: The Guardian, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, and The Hindu. (Source)

In this lecture, Bilal will go beyond the claim that ideas matter in Indian politics, and will identify which set of ideas, as well as how these ideas shape political behavior during a credibility crisis. He will examine two main credibility crisis moments in contemporary Indian history: that which led to the declaration of an internal emergency and suspension of civil liberties by the ruling Congress government in 1974-1975; and the crisis milieu which led to policy paralysis within the UPA government in 2011-2012. This argument draws upon over 120 interviews with state elites, including prime ministers, cabinet ministers, party leaders, senior bureaucrats, and others.