National Security Conversations with Happymon Jacob

In this episode, Dr. Happymon Jacob interviews Amb. Rajiv Bhatia (Rtd. Indian Diplomat & Distinguished Fellow at the Gateway House) about India’s engagement with Africa and the nature of strategic challenge from increasing Chinese presence and strategic depth in the continent. He highlights China’s economic, political and strategic interests in Africa, given its natural res

For the 125th episode of NSC, Dr. Happymon Jacob hosts a live discussion with Amb. Shyam Saran (India’s Former Foreign Secretary & Author) about his latest book titled, ‘How China Sees India and the World’.

In this episode, Dr. Happymon Jacob speaks with Dr. Avinash Paliwal (Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Deputy Director of the SOAS South Asia Institute) to discuss the Indian state’s response to conflict-generated migrations since independence. Dr. Paliwal argues that the relationship between the home and the host state and the reputational benefits are the most impo

In this episode, Dr Happymon Jacob speaks with Dr George Cooke (Diplomatic Historian & Senior lecturer at the Department of International Relations, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka) to discuss the ongoing economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka. Dr Cooke discusses what exactly landed Srilanka into one of the worst crises it has faced in decades, along with the strategic sig

In this episode, Dr Happymon Jacob speaks with Amb. (Dr.) Mohan Kumar (Retd. Indian Diplomat and Professor of International Affairs at O.P. Jindal Global University) about the recently concluded free trade agreement between India and Australia. The discussion dwells on India’s foreign trade policy more generally. Amb. Kumar explains why India opted out of the RCEP negotiations an

In this episode, Dr Happymon Jacob speaks with Dr Jabin T. Jacob (Associate Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies) and discusses the significance of the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s unannounced visit to India. Dr Jabin Jacob argues that such visits should not occur without prior discussion of the outcomes, especially in light of outstanding

In this episode, Dr Happymon Jacob speaks with Dr Rahul Roy-Chaudhury (Senior Fellow for South Asia, The International Institute for Strategic Studies, London) about the growing significance of the Indian Ocean in the Indian strategic imagination. He explains the economic and energy dependence based on sea-lanes of communication that criss-cross the Indian Ocean. While he lauds Ind

In this episode, Dr. Happymon Jacob speaks with Dr. Toby Dalton (Co-Director and Senior Fellow of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment) and discusses the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States document released in February 2022. Dr. Dalton explains President Biden’s China policy and the changing nature of the US alliance structure in the Indo-Pacific. He discu

In this episode, Dr. Happymon Jacob speaks with Prof. Ian Hall (Professor of International Relations and the Deputy Director (Research) of the Griffith Asia Institute, Australia) about Australia’s approach and vision for the Indo-Pacific and the evolution of India-Australia relations. Prof. Hall discusses the differences in the Indo-Pacific imaginations of the US, Australia, Indi

In this episode, Dr. Happymon Jacob interviews Amb. P.S. Raghavan (Retired Indian Diplomat and India’s Former Ambassador to Russia) about the ongoing crisis over Ukraine. He argues that much of it is manufactured drama and the endgame for Russia is to correct what it perceives as security imbalance in its relations with the West and reach an accommodation with the US and its Euro