busy night market in taiwan next to the event's title and speakers

09/08/2021: Democracy’s Digital Future: Lessons from Taiwan

August 30, 2021September 9, 2021Archives & Recordings1 Comment

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

8:30 PM – 10:00 PM EDT

WebEx Event

Taiwan is a leader in considering how technology can promote democratic principles, a question that democracies around the world are currently grappling with. The pandemic has only intensified the digitization of Taiwan’s democracy. How is Taiwan experimenting with innovative digital oversight mechanisms? What does its civic tech communities and digital ecosystem look like? And importantly, what does Taiwan’s performance tell us about possible pathways to a digitized democratic future for others?

Moderator:

Deepa Ollapally (Associate Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at The George Washington University)

Speakers and Presentation Titles:

Puma Shen (Assistant Professor at National Taipei University, Taiwan): How to Categorize and Respond to Disinformation Campaigns
Mei-Chun Lee (Postdoc Researcher, Research Institute for the Humanities and Social Science, National Taiwan University & Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan): How Civic Tech Fights COVID-19 and Infodemic: Taiwan’s Case
Melissa Newcomb (Senior Program Manager for the Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China Illiberal Influence programs at the National Democratic Institute): Taiwan and Democracy in a Digital Age

The webinar begins at 8:30pm EDT on Wednesday, September 8th. Registered guests will receive an email with instructions for joining the webinar prior to the event. Registration closes at 8:30pm EDT on September 7th, 24 hours before the event begins. Media inquiries must be sent to gwmedia@gwu.edu in advance. If you need specific accommodations, please contact gsigur@gwu.edu with at least 3 business days’ notice.

This event is free, open to the public, and will be recorded. Questions can be sent in advance to gsigur@gwu.edu with subject “Democracy’s Digital Future.”

Speakers

Puma Shen holding a mic speaking at an event

Puma Shen is the chairperson of Doublethink Lab and the vice president of Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR). He was a lawyer who focuses heavily on the Right to Privacy and track privacy violations locally. Dr. Shen’s article on China’s disinformation chain has been circulated widely among academics and the Taiwanese society in early 2019, greatly contributing to public awareness of Chinese IO. He specializes in state crime, information warfare, white-collar crime, and the sociology of law.

Mei-chun Lee posing for photo on a couch with her dog

Mei-Chun Lee is an anthropologist with research interests in civic tech, digital activism, and data politics. She is a participant of g0v (Taiwan’s biggest civic tech community) and the co-author of of Taiwan Open Government Report 2014-2016. She holds a PhD from the University of California Davis and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge.

portrait of Melissa Newcomb in professional attire

Melissa Newcomb is the Senior Program Manager for the Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China Illiberal Influence programs at the National Democratic Institute. Previously, she managed the Taiwan portfolio at the National Bureau of Asian Research. Melissa was a founding staff member of the Global Taiwan Institute which launched in 2016. At GTI she created the Civil Society and Democracy series, which invited activists and experts from Taiwan to Washington D.C. to speak about their work. Prior to her work at GTI, Melissa was an intern for the Office of Taiwan Coordination at the U.S. Department of State. Her current research is focused on Taiwan’s digital democracy reforms as a fellow for the U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group with the Institute of East Asian Studies at UC Berkeley. Her recently published article in The Diplomat, “Can Taiwan Provide the Alternative to Digital Authoritarianism?” is based on her preliminary research. She holds a B.A. in English Literature and Asian Studies from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and a M.A. in International Affairs with a focus on East Asia and Conflict Resolution from American University.

Moderator

Deepa Ollapally, pictured in professional attire

Deepa Ollapally is the Associate Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, Director of the Rising Powers Initiative, and Research Professor of International Affairs. She is currently working on a funded book, Big Power Competition for Influence in the Indian Ocean Region, which assesses the shifting patterns of geopolitical influence by major powers in the region and drivers of these changes. Ollapally’s recent publications include co-edited volumes Worldviews of Aspiring Powers (Oxford University, 2012) and Energy Security in Asia and Eurasia (Routledge, 2017). She has received major grants from the Smith Richardson Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Ford Foundation for projects related to India and Asia. She is a frequent commentator in the media, including appearances on CNN, BBC, CBS, and Reuters TV. She holds a PhD from Columbia University.

event banner with photo of evacuees in Afghanistan; text: Afghanistan: What Comes Next?

08/26/2021: Afghanistan: What Comes Next?

August 23, 2021August 27, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Thursday, August 26, 2021

4:00 PM – 5:45 PM EDT

Zoom Event

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent Taliban takeover will have a global impact. It seems likely to reshape regional politics, lead to questions about American credibility, and create a humanitarian crisis. What will Afghanistan look like with no American presence? How will the Taliban govern? How will other countries in the region deal with the collapse of the Afghan government?

This panel invites several distinguished scholars and policymakers to discuss how developments in Afghanistan will influence central Asia, the United States, and the world in future months.

Moderator:

Alyssa Ayres (Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University)

Speakers and Presentation Titles:

Benjamin Hopkins (Professor of History and International Affairs): What’s next from the South/Central Asian Perspective?
Marlene Laruelle (Director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies): What’s next from the Russian Perspective?
Ambassador Ronald Neumann (President of The American Academy of Diplomacy and former ambassador to Afghanistan): What’s next for US policy?
Nilofar Sakhi (Director of Policy and Diplomacy at McColm & Company): What’s next from a humanitarian perspective?

This webinar is sponsored by the George Washington University Sigur Center for Asian Studies, the Institute for Middle East Studies, and the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies.

This event is open to the public. Questions can be sent in advance to gsigur@gwu.edu with subject “Afghanistan: What Comes Next?”

Moderator

Alyssa Ayres, Dean of the Elliott School

Alyssa Ayres is Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Ayres is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. From 2013 to 2021, she was senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she remains an adjunct senior fellow. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific. Her book about India’s rise on the world stage, Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World, was published in 2018. Ayres is also interested in the emergence of subnational engagement in foreign policy, particularly the growth of international city networks, and her current book project (working title, Bright Lights, Biggest Cities: The Urban Challenge to India’s Future, under contract with Oxford University Press) examines India’s urban transformation and its international implications. From 2010 to 2013, Ayres served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia. She received an AB from Harvard College and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. @AyresAlyssa

Speakers

Benjamin D. Hopkins is Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies. Hopkins is a historian of modern South Asia, specializing in the history of Afghanistan and British imperialism on the Indian subcontinent. He has authored, co-authored, and co-edited numerous books on the region. Hopkins has received fellowships from the Council on Foreign Relations, the National University of Singapore, the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, and the Wilson Center in DC. Writing for the public, he has been featured in The New York Times, The National Interest, and the BBC. Hopkins holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and BSc from the London School of Economics. @GWUSigurCenter)

Marlene Laruelle is the Director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at The George Washington University. She is also the Director of the Illiberalism Studies Program and the Central Asia Program. She is a Research Professor of International Affairs at GWU. She works on the rise of populist and illiberal movements in post-Soviet Eurasia, Europe and the US. Trained in political philosophy, she explores how nationalism and conservative values are becoming mainstream in different cultural contexts. She focuses on Russia’s ideological landscape and its outreach abroad. She has been also working on Central Asia’s nationhood and regional environment, as well as on Russia’s Arctic policy. She has been the Principal Investigator of several grants from the US State Department, the Defense Department, the National Science Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Henry Luce Foundation, etc. @IERES_GWU

Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann served three times as Ambassador; to Algeria, Bahrain and finally to Afghanistan from July 2005 to April 2007. Before Afghanistan, Mr. Neumann, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, served in Baghdad from February 2004 with the Coalition Provisional Authority and then as Embassy Baghdad’s liaison with the Multinational Command, where he was deeply involved in coordinating the political part of military actions. Ambassador Neumann is the author of a memoir, Three Embassies, Four Wars: a personal memoir (2017) and The Other War: Winning and Losing in Afghanistan (Potomac Press, 2009), a book on his time in Afghanistan. He has returned to Afghanistan repeatedly and is the author of a number of monographs, articles, and editorials. Ambassador Neumann is on the Advisory Board of a non-profit girls’ school in Afghanistan, the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA) and the Advisory Board of Spirit of America. He is on the board of the Middle East Policy Council and the Advisory Council of the World Affairs Councils of America. He earned a B.A. in history and an M.A. in political science from the University of California at Riverside and is a graduate of the National War College.

Nilofar Sakhi is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and the director of policy and diplomacy at McColm & Company. She is also a professorial lecturer at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She was formerly a visiting fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and Columbia University and was a fellow at Asia Society and the International Center for Tolerance Education. Sakhi is a scholar and policy practitioner who has written extensively on various aspects of transitional security, human security, and peacemaking and peacebuilding processes and recently released the book Human Security and Agency: Reframing Productive Power in Afghanistan. She has been involved in assisting peace and counter-insurgency policy formulation and has been involved in the Afghan peace processes since 2010; she remains a regular commentator in media and writer on analyzing the challenges and prospects of peace processes. Sakhi holds a PhD in international conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University, a master’s degree in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University, and a master’s degree in conflict transformation and peacebuilding from Eastern Mennonite University.

Graphic for Session 7 with headshots and affiliations of all the speakers

6/25/2021: NIICE Global Conclave: Future of Indo-Pacific Strategy

June 22, 2021July 1, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

June 25th, 2021

8:15 AM – 10:15 AM EDT

On Zoom

Cover of NIICE Global Conclabe Conference Booklet

Stream Session 7: Future of Indo-Pacific Strategy on Day 1 of the NIICE Global Conclave conference.

Chair: Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan (Retd), Director General, National Maritime Foundation and Former Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command, Indian Navy.

– Dr. Satu Limaye, Vice President and Director, East-West Center in Washington, Continuities and Change in US Indo-Pacific Relations.

– Dr. Deepa M. Ollapally, Research Professor and Associate Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies,
George Washington University.

– Abhijit Singh, Head, Maritime Policy Initiative, Observer Research Foundation.

– Dr. Aparna Pande, Director, Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia, Hudson Institute.

– Prof. Jeffrey S. Payne, Manager of Academic Affairs, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies.

banner with pictures of protests in asia; text: Democracy in Action: Past and Present Movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Myanmar

06/28/2021: Democracy in Action: Past and Present Movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Myanmar

June 8, 2021September 9, 2021Archives & Recordings, Taiwan RoundtablesLeave a Comment

Monday, June 28, 2021

8:00 PM – 9:30 PM EDT

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM CST (UTC + 8)

WebEx Events

Recording

Please join us for a panel to discuss past and present movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Myanmar.

About this event

As democratic forces continue to face serious setbacks in Hong Kong and Myanmar, we look at these two protest movements and the new mechanisms of protest and mobilization against a previously successful movement in Taiwan. What lessons can be drawn from Taiwan’s transformation to an uninterrupted and unfettered democracy?

Leading experts on Hong Kong, Myanmar and Taiwan will discuss comparative demographics of the popular movements, grassroots strategies, traditional and new social media, and political mobilization.

The webinar begins at 8pm EDT on Monday / 8am in Taipei on Tuesday. Check your local time by selecting the event date and your time zone. Registered guests will receive an email with instructions for joining Webex prior to the event. Registration closes at 8pm EDT on June 27th, 24 hours before the event begins. Media inquiries must be sent to gwmedia@gwu.edu in advance. If you need specific accommodations, please contact gsigur@gwu.edu with at least 3 business days’ notice.

This event is on the record, open to the public, and will be recorded. Questions can be sent in advance to gsigur@gwu.edu with subject “Democracy in Action”

Speakers

Panelists

Michael Hsiao, Chairman of Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation:

“Taiwan’s Democratic Legacy and Role of Dangwai Journal in Popular Mobilization”

Kharis Templeman, Program Manager, Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific, Stanford University:

“Changing Dynamics of the Democracy Movement in Hong Kong”

Christina Fink, Professor of Practice of International Affairs, GWU:

“Understanding Myanmar’s Spring Revolution”

Discussant

Syaru Shirley Lin, Compton Visiting Professor in World Politics, University of Virginia Miller Center of Public Affairs

Moderator

Deepa Ollapally, Research Professor of International Affairs & Associate Director of Sigur Center, GWU

Speaker Bios

Dr. Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao posing with a portrait of a Taiwanese figure outside a library in Taiwan

Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao is the Adjunct Research Fellow of Institute of Sociology, in Academia Sinica and Chair Professor of Hakka Studies, National Central University. He is also the chairman of Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (TAEF), Executive Committee of Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), National Cheng-Chi University and Consortium of Southeast Asia Studies in Asia (SEASIA). He currently serves as Senior Advisor to the President of Taiwan since 2016. Most recently, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies to be published by Brill in 2022. His recent publications are: New Social and Political Trends in Hong Kong and Taiwan (co-editor, 2020); The Networks of the Hakka Ethnic Associations in Southeast Asia (co-editor, 2020); Taiwan Studies Revisited (co-editor, 2019); and Middle Class, Civil Society and Democracy in Asia (editor, 2019).

Kharis Templeman is Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, where he manages the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific, and a lecturer at Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies. His areas of expertise include democratic transitions and consolidations, comparative parties and elections, and the politics of Taiwan. He is the editor (with Larry Diamond and Yun-han Chu) of Taiwan’s Democracy Challenged: The Chen Shui-bian Years (2016) and Dynamics of Democracy in Taiwan: The Ma Ying-jeou Years (2020). His other peer-reviewed research has been published in Comparative Political Studies, Ethnopolitics, The Taiwan Journal of Democracy, International Journal of Taiwan Studies, and The APSA Annals of Comparative Democratization, along with several book chapters. He has also written articles for the Brookings Institution, Atlantic Council, Taiwan Insight, and The Diplomat. Dr. Templeman is a member of the U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, a 2019 National Asia Research Program (NARP) Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NRB), and a country coordinator for the Varieties of Democracy project, and from 2016-18 he led the American Political Science Association’s Conference Group on Taiwan Studies (CGOTS). He holds a B.A. (2003) from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. (2012) in political science from the University of Michigan.

Twitter: @kharisborloff

portrait of Christina Fink with blue background

Christina Fink is a professor of International Affairs at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She is a cultural anthropologist who has combined teaching, research, and development work throughout her career, much of which has focused on Myanmar and Thailand. She received her B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Social/Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. She is the author of Living Silence in Burma: Surviving Under Military Rule (2009) as well as more recent journal articles and book chapters on political reform, state-society relations, and land rights in Myanmar.

Discussant

Syaru Shirley Lin is Compton Visiting Professor in World Politics at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Global Political Economy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Chair of the Asia-Pacific Hub of the Commission on Reform for Resilience, which is reviewing the response to the COVID pandemic. Her book, Taiwan’s China Dilemma, was published in English in 2016 and in Chinese in 2019. She is now researching five East Asian economies caught in the high-income trap. Her analysis and commentary frequently appear in English and Chinese media. Previously a partner at Goldman Sachs, she specialized in the privatization of state-owned enterprises in Asia and spearheaded the firm’s investments in technology start-ups including Alibaba and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation. She currently serves on the boards of Goldman Sachs Asia Bank, Langham Hospitality Investments and the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. She is also a member of the Hong Kong Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation. A graduate of Harvard College, she earned her masters and doctorate from the University of Hong Kong after retiring from Goldman Sachs.

Twitter: @syaru

Moderator

Deepa M. Ollapally is Research Professor of International Affairs and the Associate Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University. She directs the Rising Powers Initiative, which tracks foreign policy debates in major powers of Asia and Eurasia. She is a specialist on Indian foreign policy, India-China relations, Indo-Pacific regional and maritime security, and comparative foreign policy outlooks of rising powers and the rise of nationalism in foreign policy. Ollapally is the author of five books including Worldviews of Aspiring Powers (Oxford, 2012) and The Politics of Extremism in South Asia (Cambridge 2008). Her current research focuses on maritime and regional security in the Indo-Pacific. She is currently writing a book on Big Power Competition for Influence in the Indo-Pacific. She has won grants from Carnegie Corporation, MacArthur Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Asia Foundation for work related to India and Asia. She has held senior positions in the policy world including US Institute of Peace, Washington DC and National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India. She is a frequent commentator in the media, including appearances on CNN, BBC, CBS, PBS and Reuters TV.

Twitter: @DeepaOllapally

05/07/2021: India’s Second Wave COVID Crisis: Views from the Ground

May 4, 2021May 19, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Friday, May 7, 2021

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT

Zoom Meetings

Recording

Join the Sigur Center for Asian Studies as we host a student panel to discuss concerns over the worsening public health crisis in India. Amidst growing concern over the second wave of the pandemic in South Asia, a group of GW alumni will analyze the public health, security, and political considerations of the resurging COVID-19 outbreaks in India in conversation with Professors Deepa Ollapally and Kavita Daiya.

The event will be moderated by Professors Deepa Ollapally of the Elliott School of International Affairs and Kavita Daiya of the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. The student panel will feature the following young scholars of international affairs:

Tanvi Banerjee graduated from the Elliott School of International Affairs in 2019 with a double concentration in Asia and International Development. She is based in India’s national capital region, where she works as an associate at a prominent international non-profit organization. In her current roles, Tanvi supports and manages projects on promoting children’s education in different parts of the world including in Asia and Africa.

Rahul Bhatia graduated from the Elliott School of International Affairs with a master’s degree in Security Policy Studies in 2019. He is currently the Security Studies Program Coordinator and a Research Assistant at Carnegie India. Rahul leads Carnegie India’s project on the study of Sino-Indian border tensions and also coordinates events, seminars and dialogues. His research focuses on Indian security policy and the Indo-Pacific region. He is based in New Delhi.

Vaibhav Jain is a 2019 graduate of George Washington University with degrees in Economics and International Affairs. He is currently based out of his hometown—New Delhi—where he is a supply chain manager with a leading steel company. He is also the co-founder of a stealth startup that is working on digitizing India’s small and medium businesses. He is the Director of Policy Initiatives at Young India, a DC-based progressive diaspora organization that is focused on making India’s democracy work for her last citizen.

Akshaya Sadras is from Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh and she graduated in 2018 from the Elliott School of International Affairs with a concentration in Economic Development and double majoring in Economics. She worked at the Indian Mission to the UN in the Humanitarian and Social Council. She is currently working at her family law firm specializing in criminal, civil and family law while pursuing her law degree.

banner with sigur, elliott, RPI, and Christ University logos; text: Shared Worldviews and US-India Relations in the Indo-Pacific and Beyond

04/29/2021: Shared Worldviews and US-India Relations in the Indo-Pacific and Beyond

April 14, 2021June 23, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Thursday, April 29, 2021

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM IST (UTC+05:30) | 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM EDT

WebEx Events

Recording

US-India interests and worldviews are presently converging in unprecedented ways in the Indo-Pacific. How are relations between these two democracies evolving for a post-pandemic era in this vital region? What does the first 100 days of the Biden administration tell us?

CONFERENCE AGENDA

6:30-6:35 PM IST | 9:00-9:05 AM EDT – Conference Moderator Welcome

Deepa Ollapally, Director, Rising Powers Initiative and Research Professor of International Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

6:35-6:55 PM IST | 9:05-9:25 AM EDT – Keynote Remarks and Commentary

Joseph C.C., Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor, Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University).

Brian Heath, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister-Counselor for Management Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India.

Alyssa Ayres, Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University; Adjunct Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations

Commentary on “India and the United States in a More Multipolar World”

6:55-7:40 PM IST | 9:25-10:10 AM EDT – Panel Remarks and Moderated Conversation

Daniel Twining, President, International Republican Institute (IRI)

“Taking US-India Relations Forward: Why Values Matter”

Joshua White, Associate Professor of Practice of South Asia Studies and Fellow, Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS, Washington, D.C. and Nonresident Fellow in the Foreign Policy program at The Brookings Institution

“Security and Strategy in the Indo-Pacific: Deepening the Partnership”

Richard M. Rossow, Senior Adviser and Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies at Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), Washington, D.C. CSIS

“Post Pandemic Economics: New Prospects for Cooperation”

Discussants

Madhumati Deshpande, Department Coordinator (Head of Department) and Assistant Professor, Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore.

N. Manoharan, Associate Professor of International Studies, Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore

7:40-8:00 PM IST | 10:10-10:30 AM EDT – Audience Q&A

This conference is being held in partnership with The George Washington University, US Department of State and CHRIST (Deemed to be University).

Keynote Remarks

Alyssa Ayres was appointed Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University effective February 1, 2021. Ayres is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors.

From 2013 to 2021, she was senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she remains an adjunct senior fellow. From 2010 to 2013 Ayres served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia. During her tenure at the State Department in the Barack Obama administration, she covered all issues across a dynamic region of 1.3 billion people at the time (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and provided policy direction for four U.S. embassies and four consulates.

Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific. Her book about India’s rise on the world stage, Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World, was published by Oxford University Press in January 2018 and was selected by the Financial Times for its “Summer 2018: Politics” list. An updated paperback edition was released in 2019. She served as the project director for the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force on U.S.-India relations, and, from 2014 to 2016, as the project director for an initiative on the new geopolitics of China, India, and Pakistan supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

Ayres received an AB from Harvard College and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. @AyresAlyssa

Brian Heath is the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister-Counselor for Management Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, Heath most recently served in Washington, D.C. as acting director of Policy, Planning, and Resources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Heath has served in numerous leadership roles, including consul general at the U.S. Consulate General in Karachi, Pakistan; minister-counselor for Management Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York; director of the U.S. Regional Embassy Office in Al Hillah, Iraq; and consular officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai, India. During assignments in Washington, he worked as a senior advisor in the Under Secretary of State for Management’s Office of Management Policy; and served as a special assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Administration. He is the recipient of multiple Department of State Superior and Meritorious honor awards.

Heath graduated from Fordham University with a bachelor’s degree in political economics, earned a law degree from Rutgers University and received his master’s degree in national security studies from the National War College. @USAndIndia

Dr. Fr. Joseph C. C. is Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor, Department of International Studies and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University). He is also Director of Student Affairs, at the University.

A noted expert on maritime history, Fr. Jose is a member of both the Indian History Congress and South Indian History Congress. He has authored or co-authored four books and numerous peer-reviewed articles on wide-ranging issues and presented papers at both national and international conferences. He recently edited a book, Revisiting a Treasure Trove: Perspectives on the Collection at St Kuriakose Elias Chavara Archives and Research Centre. One of his latest publications is “Organization Culture and Work Values of Global Firms: Merging Eastern and Western Perspectives.”

His areas of interest are Maritime Studies, Organizational Culture and Work Values.

Apart from history, Dr. Fr. Jose is well versed in theology and philosophy. He is a passionate teacher and an able administrator.

He holds a PhD in History from Pondicherry University, India. @ChristBangalore

Conference Moderator

She is a specialist on Indian foreign policy, India-China relations, Indo-Pacific regional and maritime security, and comparative foreign policy outlooks of rising powers and the rise of nationalism in foreign policy. Ollapally is the author of five books including Worldviews of Aspiring Powers (Oxford, 2012). Her current research focuses on maritime and regional security in the Indo-Pacific. She is currently writing a book on Big Power Competition for Influence in the Indo-Pacific. She has won grants from Carnegie Corporation, MacArthur Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Asia Foundation for work related to India and Asia.

Ollapally has held senior positions in the policy world including US Institute of Peace; and National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. @DeepaOllapally

Panelists

Richard Rossow is a Senior Adviser and holds the Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In this role he helps frame and shape policies to promote greater business and economic engagement between the two countries. He joined CSIS in 2014, having spent the last 16 years working in a variety of capacities to strengthen the partnership between the United States and India.

Prior to CSIS, he served as director for South Asia at McLarty Associates, leading the firm’s work for clients in India and the neighboring region. From 2008 to 2012, Rossow was with New York Life Insurance company, most recently as head of International Governmental Affairs, where he developed strategic plans for the company’s public policy and global mergers and acquisitions work.

Earlier, Rossow served as deputy director of the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), the world’s leading advocacy group on behalf of strengthening economic ties between the United States and India. While at USIBC, he managed the Council’s policy groups in the energy, information technology, insurance, media and entertainment, and telecommunications sectors. Rossow received his B.A. from Grand Valley State University in Michigan. @RichardRossow

Daniel Twining is President of the International Republican Institute, based in Washington, DC. He heads IRI’s team of over 700 global experts to link people and governments, motivate people to engage in the political process, and guide politicians and government officials to be responsive to citizens.

Previously, he served as counselor to the President and director of the Asia Program at The German Marshall Fund of the United States. As counselor, he served on the executive management team that governs GMF’s annual operations; as director of the Asia Program, he led a team working on the rise of Asia and its implications for the West. Prior to GMF, Twining served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, as foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senator John McCain, and as a staff member of the U.S. Trade Representative. He has taught at Georgetown University and served as a military instructor associated with the Naval Postgraduate School. He has been a columnist for Foreign Policy and Nikkei and has lived in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe.

Twining holds a BA with highest distinction from the University of Virginia and MPhil & DPhil degrees from Oxford University, where he was the Fulbright/Oxford Scholar from 2004-07. @DCTwining

Joshua T. White is Associate Professor of the Practice of South Asia Studies and Fellow, Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asia Studies at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Washington, D.C. and a Nonresident Fellow in the Foreign Policy program at The Brookings Institute. His research focuses on political and security issues in the Indian subcontinent, and explores the growing ties between South and East Asia.

He previously served at the White House as senior advisor and director for South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. He played an instrumental role in advancing the U.S.-India relationship, with a focus on deepened defense and security cooperation and expanded opportunities for trade and investment. Earlier, he served as senior advisor for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon where he supported Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in advancing the U.S.-India Defense Technology and Trade Initiative, and advised on a broad set of defense issues related to the department’s rebalance to the Asia-Pacific.

White has held short-term visiting research fellowships at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, and the Institute for Defense and Strategic Analyses in Delhi. He graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College with a double major in history and mathematics, and received his PhD with distinction from Johns Hopkins SAIS. @JoshuaTWhite

Discussants

Madhumati Deshpande is the Department Coordinator (Head of Department) and Assistant Professor in the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore. Her areas of research interest include international relations and foreign policy analysis, Indian foreign policy, US foreign policy and political theory.

Deshpande has previously been a graduate assistant and election observer in the Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia and observed elections in East Timor and Guyana. She also held the position of editor for Springer Reference works. She has published several articles in various peer reviewed journals and three book chapters.

She completed her Masters in Political Science from Karnataka University, Dharwad and holds a PhD from The School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. @ChristBangalore

N. Manoharan is an Associate Professor of International Studies, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru. Until recently he served at the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Prime Minister’s Office, and Ministry of Defence, New Delhi. He was South Asia Visiting Fellow at the East-West Center Washington and is a recipient of Mahbub-ul Haq international award for research.

His areas of interest include internal security, terrorism, Sri Lanka, Maldives, human rights, ethnic conflicts, multiculturalism, security sector reforms and conflict resolution.

His main books include: Developing Democracies, Counter-terror Laws and Security: Lessons from India and Sri Lanka; ‘Security Deficit’: A Comprehensive Internal Security Strategy for India; India’s War on Terror; SAARC: Towards Greater Connectivity; Ethnic Violence and Human Rights in Sri Lanka.

Manoharan’s forthcoming book is on Federal Aspects of Foreign Policy: The Role of Tamil Nadu Fishermen Issue in India-Sri Lanka Relations. He writes regularly for leading newspapers, websites and reputed peer-reviewed international journals.

Manoharan has a PhD from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. @ChristBangalore

event tile with American and Japanese flags in the background; text: The Biden Administration's Approach to Asia and Views on Taiwan: The First 100 Days

05/10/2021: The Biden Administration’s Approach to Asia and Views on Taiwan

April 14, 2021May 12, 2021Archives & Recordings, Taiwan RoundtablesLeave a Comment

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Monday, May 10, 2021

12:30 MM – 02:00 PM EDT

WebEx Events

Recording

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The Biden administration is well on its way to making a mark in Asia with a more wide-ranging and active foreign policy agenda and engagement than most observers expected. What have we learned in the first 100 days about how the Biden team views Taiwan strategically and economically? What are the prospects of cooperation bilaterally and multilaterally?

Panelists

U.S. Defense Strategy and Taiwan – Derek Grossman, RAND Corp, Santa Monica, CA
Economic Relations and Priorities for U.S.-Taiwan Cooperation – Barbara Weisel, Rock Creek Global Advisors
A 100 Days Assessment: Where is the Biden Team Headed in East Asia and Taiwan? – Robert Sutter, George Washington University

Moderator

Deepa Ollapally, Associate Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies & Research Professor of International Affairs

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04/28/2021: Challenges of the Past, Present, and Future: Addressing Asian and Asian American Inclusivity in Academia, Policy, and the Media

April 14, 2021May 19, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

12:15 PM – 02:00 PM EDT

Zoom Events

Recording

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In advance of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the GW East Asia National Resource Center, the GW Institute for Korean Studies, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and the Asian Studies Program invite you to join a panel discussion that will examine critical issues in Asian and Asian American inclusiveness, representation, and equity in the fields of academia, policy research, journalism, and community activism.

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04/22/2021: China’s Environmental Realities and Policy Responses

April 12, 2021May 14, 2021Archives & Recordings, Sigur Center Lecture SeriesLeave a Comment

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Thursday, April 22, 2021

12:00 PM – 01:15 PM EDT

WebEx Events

Recording

For years, US popular media outlets have portrayed the environment in China as an unmitigated disaster: floods caused by clear cutting forests, soil contaminated by heavy metals, a shrinking water table, and urban air pollution so dangerous that it poses severe health risks. Much less attention has been given to massive efforts undertaken by the government of PRC President Xi Jinping in the last decade to attack these problems. Join us on Earth Day, April 22, for the third edition of our 2021 Sigur Center Lecture Series on environmental realities in contemporary China with Jennifer Turner of the Wilson Center and Dr. Judy Shapiro of American University. Following a discussion moderated by GW Professor Robert Shepherd, the panelists will then turn to an audience Q&A session.

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04/15/2021: Taiwan and COVID-19: History, Response, and Outlook

March 30, 2021May 14, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Thursday, April 15, 2021

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT

WebEx Events

Taiwan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely analyzed, especially due to its swift actions to curb the spread of the virus despite close proximity to and deepening tensions with China. In examining this topic, it is often helpful to look back at Taiwan’s history, including it’s response to the 2003 SARS epidemic, relations with China, and positioning in wider international organizations and affairs. Join OAS and the Sigur Center for this timely discussion as we seek to unpack Taiwan’s response to COVID-19 from a variety of perspectives and discuss potential outlooks for the island’s continued pandemic response.