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Brahma Chellaney

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Brahma Chellaney
Chellaney in 2009
Born (1962-01-18) 18 January 1962 (age 62)
New Delhi, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materJawaharlal Nehru University
Occupation(s)Academic and public intellectual
Websitechellaney.net

Brahma Chellaney (born 18 January 1962) is a New Delhi-based geostrategist, columnist and author on international affairs.[1][2] He is a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and a fellow of the Robert Bosch Academy, Berlin. He was a member of India's National Security Advisory Board and an author of its draft nuclear doctrine.[3] He is a regular columnist for Project Syndicate,[4] and writes for numerous other international publications, including The Hill and Nikkei Asia. He is the author of nine books on geostrategic affairs, of which Asian Juggernaut was a best-seller and Water: Asia's New Battleground received the $20,000 Bernard Schwartz Award.[5]

Education and career

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Chellaney was born in New Delhi. After passing the Senior Cambridge examination from Mount St Mary's School (New Delhi), he did a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Hindu College, University of Delhi and a Master of Arts from the Delhi School of Economics. He holds a PhD in international studies from the Jawaharlal Nehru University.[6]

He is a Professor of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research; a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow with the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin; and a nonresident affiliate with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization at King's College London.[7] In the mid-2000s, he was a member of the Indian government's Policy Advisory Group, which was chaired by the External Affairs Minister of India.[8][9] Before that, he was an adviser to India’s National Security Council, serving as convener of the External Security Group of the National Security Advisory Board.[10]

The institutions where he has held appointments include Harvard University, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, and the Australian National University.[11][12] Graham Tobin from the University of South Florida has described Chellaney’s geopolitical analyses as astute and critical.[13]

Ideas

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Chellaney was described in The New York Times in 1999 as "one of the independent experts who helped draft India's proposed nuclear doctrine".[14][3] The country's draft nuclear doctrine was publicly released in August 1999.[15]

Chellaney coined the term debt-trap diplomacy to describe how the Chinese government leverages the debt burden of smaller countries for geopolitical ends.[16][17] He saw 'debt trap diplomacy' in China's handling of Sri Lanka's debt distress by taking over its Hambantota port on a long-term lease.[18] The thesis caught on and began to be used widely, becoming "something approaching conventional wisdom", especially in Washington DC.[19] Other scholars have disputed the assessment, arguing that Chinese finance was not the source of Sri Lanka’s financial distress.[20][21][22]

Publications

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Chellaney is the author of nine books.[6][23] Two of his most recent books relate to the geopolitics of water resources. Another book, an international best-seller, focuses on how a fast-rising Asia has become the defining fulcrum of global geopolitical change.[7]

His peer-reviewed papers have been published in a number of journals, including International Security (journal), Survival (journal), Nature (journal), Orbis (journal), Asian Survey, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Disarmament, The Washington Quarterly, Security Studies (journal) and Politique étrangère.

He is also a prolific newspaper essayist. Besides being a columnist for Project Syndicate, he publishes regularly in The Globe and Mail, The Japan Times, Nikkei Asia, South China Morning Post, Hindustan Times and The Times of India. He has also been a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The New York Times, and other newspapers and magazines.[7]

Selected books

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  • Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan, HarperCollins USA, 2010. ISBN 9780061987625
  • Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis, Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.[24]
  • Water: Asia's New Battleground, Georgetown University Press, 2019.[25]

Reception

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Chellaney received the $20,000 Bernard Schwartz Award from the New York-based Asia Society for his work, Water: Asia's New Battleground, published by Georgetown University Press. The award recognises outstanding contributions regarding contemporary Asian affairs and US-Asia relations.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Stanley A. Weiss (20 February 2009), "Whom Do Sanctions Hurt", The New York Times, ProQuest 2220509275
  2. ^ "Water: Asia's New Battleground". Georgetown University Press. 2013.
  3. ^ a b Zia Mian; M. V. Ramana (16 December 1999). "Where nuclear weapons come before basic needs". Nature.
  4. ^ "Columnist Brahma Chellaney". Project Syndicate.
  5. ^ a b "Brahma Chellaney wins Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award". The Hindu Business Line. 25 October 2012.
  6. ^ a b "Brahma Chellaney". Center for Policy Research. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  7. ^ a b c "The S.T. Lee Distinguished Annual Lecture by Professor Brahma Chellaney". S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. 30 October 2018.
  8. ^ "Brahma Chellaney (Guest Speaker)". Wilson Center. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  9. ^ "25th Anniversary Debate". United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. 5 February 2006. Archived from the original on 5 February 2006. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Brahma Chellaney: India's hydro-diplomacy with Pakistan, Bangladesh and China". Global Water Forum. 30 August 2019.
  11. ^ "Brahma Chellaney". Robert Bosch Academy. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  12. ^ "25th Anniversary Debate". United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. 5 February 2006. Archived from the original on 5 February 2006.
  13. ^ Tobin, Graham (January 2014). "Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis by Brahma Chellaney". Journal of Latin American Geography. 13 (3). Johns Hopkins University Press: 257-259. doi:10.1353/lag.2014.0051. S2CID 145367818.
  14. ^ Brahma Chellaney (1 September 1999). "India, Too, Has a Right to Credible Nuclear Deterrence". The New York Times.
  15. ^ "Draft Report of National Security Advisory Board on Indian Nuclear Doctrine". Federation of American Scientists. 17 August 1999.
  16. ^ Heather Zeiger (13 November 2020), "China and Africa: Debt-Trap Diplomacy?", Mind Matters
  17. ^ Brahma Chellaney (23 January 2017). "China's Debt-Trap Diplomacy". Project Syndicate.
  18. ^ Chellaney, Brahma (21 December 2017), "China's creditor imperialism", The Strategist
  19. ^ Sebastian Srangio (1 September 2020). "Inside China's Belt and Road Tangle". The Diplomat.
  20. ^ Jones, Lee; Hameiri, Shahar (19 August 2020). "Debunking the myth of 'debt trap'". Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank. 4. Sri Lanka and the BRI.
  21. ^ Carrai, Maria Adele (5 June 2021). "Questioning the Debt-Trap Diplomacy Rhetoric surrounding Hambantota Port". Georgetown Journal of International Affairs.
  22. ^ Rithmire, Meg; Brautigam, Deborah (6 February 2021). "The Chinese 'Debt Trap' Is a Myth". The Atlantic.
  23. ^ "Brahma Chellaney". Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  24. ^ G. John Ikenberry (21 October 2013). "Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis". Foreign Affairs.
  25. ^ Andrew J. Nathan (1 November 2011). "Water: Asia's New Battleground". Foreign Affairs.
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