Srinath Raghavan

Srinath Raghavan is an Indian historian of contemporary history. He is a professor of history and international relations at the Ashoka University[1] and a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is also a visiting Senior Research Fellow at the India Institute of the King's College London[2] and previously, was a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, specialising in contemporary and historical aspects of India’s foreign and security policies.[3]

Srinath Raghavan
Born1977 (age 43–44)
NationalityIndian
OccupationSenior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research
AwardsInfosys Prize
Academic background
EducationUniversity of Madras
King's College London
Doctoral advisorLawrence Freedman
Academic work
DisciplineMilitary history and Security studies
Notable worksWar and Peace in Modern India
1971: A Global History
India's War: The Making of Modern South Asia
The Most Dangerous Place

Raghavan has authored and edited multiple books, which have been subject to critical acclaim. about India's strategic history, and has been a regular commentator on foreign and strategic affairs. He is a recipient of the K. Subrahmanyam Award for Strategic Studies (2011) and the Infosys Prize for Social Sciences (2015).[1][4]

Life

Srinath Raghavan was born in 1977. He studied in Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of Madras in 1997.[5]

Raghavan joined the Indian Army in 1997 as a commissioned officer in the infantry. He worked for six years in the Rajputana Rifles, serving in Sikkim, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir. He termed his "short service" in the Army as an "extended break", during which he figured out his future direction.[6]

He entered the academia in 2003, studying at King's College London on an Inlaks scholarship. He worked with Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College, receiving an MA and PhD in War Studies.[2] His Ph.D. dissertation was the basis of his first book, War and Peace in Modern India.[5]

Afterwards, Raghavan worked as a lecturer in Defence studies at King's College, teaching there for three years. He currently works at the Carnegie India, a policy think tank in New Delhi.[3][6]

Raghavan is a prolific writer, having published three works on the strategic history of India between 2010–2016. He is working on three further books.[6] In 2015, Raghavan was chosen by India's Ministry of Defence to head a team of historians working on the official history of the Kargil War. The project was to last two years.[7] He has served as a member of the National Security Advisory Board formed by the Indian Prime Minister.[2]

Books

War and Peace in Modern India: A Strategic History of the Nehru Years

His first book, it covered the strategic history of Jawaharlal Nehru's premiership and was published as part of The Indian Century Series edited by scholars Ramachandra Guha and Sunil Khilnani. The editors stated in the book's preface that Raghavan has set a "benchmark" for the historical study of the strategic and foreign policy issues of India. He has covered the strategic crises faced by India in the first fifteen years of its independent existence, using a range of sources and analytical depth.[8]

Scholar Kristina Roepstorff, in a book review, agreed that the book successfully illuminates the rationale behind the strategic choices made by Nehru in facing the major dilemmas during his tenure. It offers a "brilliant account" of the events that shaped Nehru's strategic thinking and his approach to crisis management. She assessed the book's original findings are highly relevant to the ongoing crises in the subcontinent. However, while the book contained excellent historical account, she found it to be short on "theoretical reflection". She also noted that the book covered a selection of case studies, mainly dealing with India's princely states and crises with neighbours but omitted the international dimensions further out, such as the crises dealing with Goa or Congo. She felt that further justification of the selection of cases was necessary to avert selection bias in drawing general conclusions.[9]

Shashank Joshi called the book a "commanding diplomatic history" of the Nehru years.[10] Odd Arne Westad called it "international history at its very best".[11] Scholar Jivanta Schottli called it "polished historical study",[12] and Rudra Chaudhuri said it should be considered "the single most important text on Indian strategic history".[13] Priya Chacko noted that it is meticulously researched and draws on previously untapped archival sources, such as the private papers of British officials, allowing Raghavan to circumvent the usual limitations of diplomatic history.[14]

Historian Perry Anderson finds that Srinath Raghavan is a firm apologist for India and describes his book as a hymn to Nehru's strategism.[15]

1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh

The book has been subject to positive reception, among critics.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

India's War: The Making of Modern South Asia, 1939-1945

The book has been subject to positive reception, among critics.[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]

The Most Dangerous Place: A History of the United States in South Asia

The book has been subject to positive reception, among critics.[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]

References
  1. "Srinath Raghavan (Faculty Profile)". Ashoka University. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  2. "Dr Srinath Raghavan". King's College London. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  3. "Srinath Raghavan". Centre for Policy Research. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  4. A conversation with historian Srinath Raghavan, Business Standard, 10 December 2015.
  5. Infosys Laureate 2015: Srinath Raghavan, Permanent Black, 16 November 2015.
  6. Military intelligence, Business Standard, 17 September 2016.
  7. The fear of history, The Indian Express, 27 July 2016.
  8. Khilnani, Sunil; Guha, Ramachandra (2010), "Series Editor's Preface", War and Peace in Modern India, Palgrave Macmillan, p. x, ISBN 978-1-137-00737-7
  9. Roepstorff, Kristina (2012), "Srinath Raghavan, War and Peace in Modern India (Book Review)" (PDF), Südasien-Chronik - South Asia Chronicle, 2, Südasien-Seminar der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, pp. 441–448, ISBN 978-3-86004-286-1
  10. Joshi, Shashank (1 May 2012). "A Paradigm Trap". The Caravan.
  11. Raghavan, Srinath (2010), War and Peace in Modern India, Palgrave Macmillan, Back cover, ISBN 978-1-137-00737-7
  12. Schottli, Jivanta (September 2011). "War and Peace in Modern India by Srinath Raghavan (Review)". Contemporary South Asia. 19 (3): 344–345. doi:10.1080/09584935.2011.594286. ISSN 0958-4935.
  13. Chaudhuri, Rudra (October 2014). "War and Peace in Modern India: A strategic history of the Nehru years by Srinath Raghavan (Review)". Cold War History. 14 (4): 705–706. doi:10.1080/14682745.2014.955690. ISSN 1468-2745.
  14. Chacko, Priya (July 2011). "Srinath Raghavan, (Ranikhet: Permanent Black), 2010, pp. 359". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 48 (2): 305–307. doi:10.1177/001946461104800211.
  15. Perry Anderson (2013). The Indian Ideology. Verso. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-78168-259-3. Footnote 46: Even such a staunch apologist for New Delhi as Srinath Raghavan, a former Indian Army officer, author of a book that is a prolonged hymn to Nehru's strategic sagacity
  16. Ganguly, Sumit (7 October 2016). "1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh by Srinath Raghavan (review)". Journal of Cold War Studies. 18 (3): 194–195. doi:10.1162/JCWS_r_00660. ISSN 1531-3298.
  17. Iqbal, Iftekhar (1 December 2014). "Srinath Raghavan. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh". The American Historical Review. 119 (5): 1661–1662. doi:10.1093/ahr/119.5.1661. ISSN 0002-8762.
  18. Carter, David (2 September 2014). "Srinath Raghavan. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh; Gary J. Bass. The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide". Asian Affairs. 45 (3): 519–521. doi:10.1080/03068374.2014.954220. ISSN 0306-8374.
  19. "Newberg on Raghavan, '1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh' | H-Asia | H-Net". networks.h-net.org. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  20. "1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh | By Srinath Raghavan | Pacific Affairs". pacificaffairs.ubc.ca. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  21. Mathur, Nameeta (22 September 2014). "1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh". Canadian Journal of History. 49 (2): 335. doi:10.3138/cjh.49.2.335. ISSN 0008-4107.
  22. Chandrasekaran, Gayatri (3 October 2013). "Book Review | Bangladesh 1971: An ambiguous war?". Livemint. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  23. Mohaiemen, Naeem (January 2016). "1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh. By Srinath Raghavan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013. Pp. 368. ISBN 10: 0674728645; ISBN 13: 978-0674728646. - The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide. By Gary J. Bass. New York: Knopf, 2013. Pp. 528. ISBN 10: 0307700208; ISBN 13: 978-0307700209". International Journal of Asian Studies. 13 (1): 105–108. doi:10.1017/S1479591415000303. ISSN 1479-5914.
  24. "David Gilmour - The Unexpected Country". Literary Review. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  25. Joshi, Manoj (9 December 2013). "Global politics and the birth of Bangladesh". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  26. Mishra, Pankaj (16 September 2013). "Unholy Alliances". ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  27. "SEHEPUNKTE - Rezension von: 1971 - Ausgabe 16 (2016), Nr. 7/8". www.sehepunkte.de. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  28. Rahman, Mizanur (1 January 2015). "Srinath Raghavan, 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh". Southeast Review of Asian Studies. 37: 100. ISSN 1083-074X.
  29. Kumar, Pavan (1 January 2018). "India's war: the making of modern south Asia 1939–1945". International Affairs. 94 (1): 218–219. doi:10.1093/ia/iix197. ISSN 0020-5850.
  30. Thakur, Atul K. (4 May 2017). "India's war: the making of modern south Asia (1939–1945)". Strategic Analysis. 41 (3): 303–305. doi:10.1080/09700161.2017.1295608. ISSN 0970-0161.
  31. "India's War by Srinath Ragh: More than a bastion of the British Empire". The Independent. 24 March 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  32. "'India's War', by Srinath Raghavan". www.ft.com. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  33. "Deshpande on Raghavan, 'India's War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia' | H-Asia | H-Net". networks.h-net.org. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  34. "John Keay - Bose & Arrows". Literary Review. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  35. "The making of modern India". The Spectator. 26 March 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  36. Gady, Franz-Stefan. "Making Modern South Asia: India's Role in World War II". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  37. "India's War for the Empire". Economic and Political Weekly. 51 (50): 7–8. 5 June 2015.
  38. "Review: Chronicling the Birth of India after the Second World War". The Wire. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  39. "A War For the Empire, a Battle Against the Raj". The Indian Express. 24 November 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  40. Ranjan, Amit (1 September 2016). "Srinath Raghavan. India's War: The Making of Modern South Asia, 1939–1945". Asian Affairs. 47 (3): 500–502. doi:10.1080/03068374.2016.1225924. ISSN 0306-8374.
  41. Towle, Philip (1 November 2016). "India's War: The Making of Modern South Asia 1939–1945". The Round Table. 105 (6): 750–752. doi:10.1080/00358533.2016.1246819. ISSN 0035-8533.
  42. Haidar, Suhasini (30 June 2018). "The Most Dangerous Place: A History of the United States in South Asia review: Tangled up in knots". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  43. "A new way to look at the US in South Asia". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  44. "Illuminating Past Patterns And Future Challenges". The Book Review. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  45. "The Anatomy of Power". Open The Magazine. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  46. "Subramaniam on Raghavan, 'Fierce Enigmas: A History of the United States in South Asia' | H-Asia | H-Net". networks.h-net.org. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  47. "Review: America's Deep History With South Asia". The Wire. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  48. Malhotra, Jyoti (10 June 2018). "Never mind the title, 'The Most Dangerous Place' is an absorbing read". ThePrint. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  49. "Terms of Engagement". The Indian Express. 16 June 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  50. "Not Found | IndiaToday". www.indiatoday.in. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
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