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Rohan Mukherjee

Assistant Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics

Rohan Mukherjee is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE).

Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale-NUS College, a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the MIT Security Studies Program, and a non-resident Visiting Fellow at the United Nations University in Tokyo.

His research focuses on the grand strategies of rising powers and their impact on international security and order, with an empirical specialization in the Asia-Pacific region. His latest book, Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions, argues that whether rising powers cooperate with, challenge, or try to reform an international order depends on the extent to which its core institutions facilitate symbolic equality with the great-power club.

EDITED BOOKS/JOURNAL ISSUES:

“Indian Security Strategy in Thought and Practice,” India Review, 17:1 (March 2018) – with Devesh Kapur. Poised for Partnership: Deepening India-Japan Relations in the Asian Century (Oxford University Press, 2016) – with Anthony Yazaki.

Education
PhD Politics, Princeton University · MPA International Development, Princeton University · BA Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, University of Oxford
Topics
International Relations · Grand Strategies of Rising Powers & Their Impact On International Security And Order

Books1

  • Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions (Cambridge Studies in International Relations, Cambridge University Press, August 2022).Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions (Cambridge Studies in International Relations, Cambridge University Press, August 2022).2022

Talks & video18

  • How Does India, As A Rising Power, See Its Place In The Current International Order? | Rohan MukherjeeVimeo
  • What Is India's Indo-Pacific Strategy For Achieving Its Security Objectives? | Rohan MukherjeeVimeo
  • What Are India's Strategic Security Objectives? | Rohan MukherjeeVimeo
  • Can Soft Power Aid India's Foreign Policy Objectives? | Rohan MukherjeeVimeo
  • Talk: “Rising Powers and International Order,” Carnegie India, New Delhi, Sep 20222022
  • Panel: “The Legacy and Impact of Shinzo Abe,” Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi, Jul 20222022
  • Keynote: “Unpacking Identity, Security and Technology in South Asia,” King’s India Institute Graduate Conference, Jun 20222022
  • Talk: “Is a Japan-India Alliance Possible?” 21st Century Japan Politics & Society Initiative, Indiana University, Feb 20222022
  • Workshop: “The Cyber-Nuclear Nexus,” co-organized with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the University of Leicester, Nov 20212021
  • Workshop: “Towards a Postwestern International Relations,” ISA workshop, Mar 20212021
  • Talk: “US-India Relations,” Australian National University, ANU India Update, Jan 20212021
  • Convention: Annual meetings of the International Studies Association: 2013, 2014, 2016-20192019
  • Talk: “The Indo-Pacific & the Quad: Exercises in Futility?” United Nations University, Tokyo, Oct 20192019
  • Conference: Southeast Asian Young Leaders Program, IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, Singapore, May 20192019
  • Workshop: “Regions in a Multipolar World,” The Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Sep 2018 Convention: Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, 20172017
  • Panel: “Is the Indo-Pacific the right framework for engaging with the Asian century?” Annual AsiaPacific Deputy Head of Mission Conference, British High Commission, Singapore, Dec 20172017
  • Panel: “Post-War U.S.-Japan Reconciliation: The Strategic Benefits of Healing,” symposium at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C., Nov 20172017
  • Talk: “India, the UN and Humanitarian Intervention,” Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Copenhagen, Dec 20132013

Selected publications48

  1. 2022“Leveraging Uncertainty: India’s Response to U.S.-China Competition,” in Ashley J. Tellis, Michael Wills, and Alison Szalwinski (eds.), Strategic Asia 2021-22: Navigating a Tumultuous World (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Asian Research, 2022).
  2. 2022“Nonalignment’s long shadow: India and the Ukraine Crisis,” 9DashLine, Mar 15, 2022.
  3. 2022“India can tackle the new world order,” Hindustan Times, Mar 29, 2022.
  4. 2022Master’s level: International Relations: Core Theories and Debates, LSE, 2022 (3 sections)
  5. 2022Advanced seminar: India as a Rising Power, Yale-NUS College, 2017-19, 2022 (3 sections)
  6. 2022Intermediate seminar: Technology & International Security, Yale-NUS College, 2022 (1 section)
  7. 2022Senior thesis adviser, Yale-NUS College (15 students, 2016-2022)
  8. 2021“Keeping China Out, the United States In, and Pakistan Down: India’s Strategy for the Indian Ocean Region,” Asia Policy, 16:3 (2021), 29-33.
  9. 2021“India and Japan’s Grand Bargain in the Context of China’s Rise,” in S. Kalyanaraman and Jo Inge Bekkevold (eds.), India’s Great Power Politics: Managing China’s Rise (New Delhi: Routledge, 2021).
  10. 2021“Decentering ASEAN in the Quad’s Indo-Pacific Strategy,” 9DashLine, Apr 8, 2021.
  11. 2021“South Asia deftly navigates China-India tensions,” East Asia Forum, Mar 9, 2021.
  12. 2021“India’s place in Quad hinges on its ability to counter China, not Covid,” Times of India, Jun 19, 2021.
  13. 2021PhD committee member, South Asian Studies Programme, NUS (1 student, 2021-present)
  14. 2020“Chaos as Opportunity: The United States and World Order in India’s Grand Strategy,” Contemporary Politics, 26:4 (Jun 2020), 420-38.
  15. 2020“Unsafe Distancing: India and China Face Off Once Again,” China-India Brief, May 27, 2020.
  16. 2020“Rethinking U.S. Alliances and Partnerships as Insurance Contracts,” AsiaGlobal Online, University of Hong Kong, Feb 19, 2020.
  17. 2020PhD committee member, Rajaratnam School (RSIS), NTU (1 student, 2020-present)
  18. 2019“Hedging in South Asia: Balancing Economic and Security Interests amid Sino-Indian Competition,” International Relations of the Asia Pacific, 19:3 (Sep 2019), 493-522 (with Darren J. Lim).
  19. 2019“India-Pakistan Relations,” in Takashi Inoguchi (ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Asian Foreign Policy (London: SAGE Publications, 2019).
  20. 2019“Nuclear Ambiguity and International Status: India in the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament, 1962-69,” in Manu Bhagavan (ed.), India and the Cold War (University of North Carolina Press, 2019).
  21. 2019“Climbing the Escalation Ladder: India and the Balakot Crisis,” Policy Roundtable, Texas National Security Review (Oct 2019).
  22. 2019“Two Cheers for the Liberal World Order: The International Order and Rising Powers in a Trumpian World,” H-Diplo/ISSF Policy Series: America and the World, Feb 22, 2019.
  23. 2019Lecturer, Social Science for a Globalized World, Yale University Summer Institute, 2019
  24. 2018“Japan’s Strategic Outreach to India and the Prospects of a Japan-India Alliance,” International Affairs, 94:4 (Jul 2018), 835-59.
  25. 2018“Pragmatism in Indian Strategic Thought: Evidence from the Nuclear Weapons Debate of the 1960s,” India Review, 17:1 (Mar 2018), 12-32 (with Rahul Sagar).
  26. 2018“Power and Indian Foreign Policy,” in Harsh V. Pant (ed.), New Directions in Indian Foreign Policy: Theory and Praxis (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
  27. 2018“East by Southeast: Three challenges for India's 'Act East' policy,” Business Standard, Jan 23, 2018.
  28. 2017“What Money Can’t Buy: The Security Externalities of China’s Economic Statecraft in Post-War Sri Lanka,” Asian Security, 15:2 (Dec 2017), 73-92 (with Darren J. Lim).
  29. 2017“India is our brother, China is our friend”: Navigating great power rivalry in Southern Asia,” War on the Rocks, Sep 22, 2017 (with Darren J. Lim).
  30. 2017“The Indo Pacific, a security diamond, a 10-year Quad?” Channel NewsAsia, Nov 10, 2017.
  31. 2017“BRICS declaration: What China's stance on terrorism reflects,” Business Standard, Sep 11, 2017.
  32. 2017“Sikkim stand-off: What explains China's coercive diplomacy,” Business Standard, Jul 10, 2017.
  33. 2017Introductory seminar: International Relations, Yale-NUS College, 2017-21 (6 sections)
  34. 2017Guided Reading and Research Modules, Yale-NUS College: Identity and Nuclear Politics, 2022; The International Political Economy of Pakistan’s Fiscal Debt, 2021; Social Media and Civic Life in Contemporary India, 2021; International Law and Cyber Attacks in International Relations, 2019; China’s Economic Statecraft in Southeast Asia, 2018; Models of LGBT Activism in a Globalized Singapore, 2017
  35. 2016Common Curriculum: Modern Social Thought, Yale-NUS College, 2016-20 (8 sections)
  36. 2015“India’s International Development Program,” in Srinath Raghavan, David M. Malone and C. Raja Mohan (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press, 2015): 173-87.
  37. 2015“Indian Multilateralism and the Global Human Rights Order,” in Doutje Lettinga and Lars van Troost (eds.), India, Foreign Policy and Human Rights (Amsterdam: Amnesty International, 2015): 47-54.
  38. 2014“The False Promise of India’s Soft Power,” Geopolitics, History, & International Relations, 6:1 (2014), 46-62.
  39. 2014“The International Politics of Status,” India in Transition, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, Nov 2014.
  40. 2014Assistant Instructor, Grand Strategy, Princeton University, 2014 (4 sections)
  41. 2013“Dilemmas of Sovereignty and Order: India and the UN Security Council,” in WPS Sidhu, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Bruce Jones (eds.), Shaping the Emerging World: India and the Multilateral Order (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Press, 2013): 157-76 – with David M. Malone.
  42. 2013Assistant Instructor, Human Rights, Princeton University, 2013 (2 sections)
  43. 2011“From High Ground to High Table: The Evolution of Indian Multilateralism,” Global Governance, 17:3, (Jul 2011), 311-29 (with David M. Malone).
  44. 2011“Indian Foreign Policy and Contemporary Security Challenges,” International Affairs, 87:1 (2011), 87-104 (with David M. Malone).
  45. 2010“India and China: Conflict and Cooperation,” Survival, 52:1 (Feb/Mar 2010), 137-58 (with David M. Malone).
  46. 2010“Polity, Security, and Foreign Policy in Contemporary India,” in T.V. Paul (ed.), South Asia’s Weak States: Understanding the Regional Insecurity Predicament (Stanford University Press, 2010): 147-169 – with David M. Malone.
  47. 2009“India-US Relations: The Shock of the New,” International Journal, LXIV:4 (Autumn 2009), 1057-74 (with David M. Malone).
  48. “Strengthening Foreign Relations for Great Power Capabilities,” in Bibek Debroy, C. Raja Mohan, and Ashley Tellis (eds.), Grasping Greatness: Making India a Leading Power (New Delhi: Penguin India, forthcoming).

Positions & affiliations8

  • London School of Economics
  • Yale-NUS College
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • United Nations University
  • Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi
  • National Knowledge Commission, Government of India
  • Princeton University
  • University of Oxford

Credentials & fellowships22

  • Reviewer for: Cambridge University Press
  • Oxford University Press'
  • Palgrave Macmillan
  • Routledge
  • Asian Perspective
  • Asian Security
  • China Quarterly
  • Chinese Journal of Int Politics
  • Contemporary Politics
  • Contemporary South Asia
  • Diplomacy & Statecraft
  • Diplomatica
  • India Review
  • Indian Politics & Policy
  • Int. J. of Transitional Justice
  • International Politics
  • International Relations
  • International Security
  • Journal of Defence Studies
  • Journal of Glob. Sec. Studies
  • Modern Asian Studies
  • Third World Quarterly

Honours & awards9

  • Principal Investigator, Singapore Ministry of Education Tier 1 Grant, 2018-21
  • Book workshop grant, Yale-NUS College, 2018-19
  • Principal Investigator, Research Grant, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Tokyo, 2014-16
  • Dissertation Grant, Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, Princeton University, 2014
  • Pre-Dissertation Grant, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 2011-12
  • Research Fellowship, Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance, Princeton University, 2010-12
  • Professional Development Award, International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, 2009-10
  • Fellowship, full tuition & stipend, School of Public & Int Affairs, Princeton University, 2006-07, 2008-09
  • HSBC Scholarship, full tuition, University of Oxford (first recipient from India), 2001-04