Amitav Acharya (born 1962) is an
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n-born
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
scholar and author, who is Distinguished Professor of International Relations at
American University,
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, where he holds the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance at the
School of International Service, and serves as the chair of the ASEAN Studies Initiative.
Acharya has expertise in and has made contributions to a wide range of topics in
International Relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...
, including
constructivism
Constructivism may refer to:
Art and architecture
* Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes
* Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
,
ASEAN
ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...
and Asian
regionalism, and Global International Relations. He became the first non-Western President of the
International Studies Association
The International Studies Association (ISA) is a US-based professional association for scholars and practitioners in the field of international studies. Founded in 1959, ISA has been headquartered at the University of Connecticut in Storrs sin ...
when he was elected to the post for 2014–15.
Career
Acharya was born in
Jagatsinghpur
Jagatsinghpur is a city and a municipality in Jagatsinghpur district in the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of Jagatsinghpur district. It got the recognition as a new district on 1 April 1993 formerly it was a sub-division of ...
, Orissa (now
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
),
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. After completing a BA in political science at
Ravenshaw University
Ravenshaw University, formerly known as Ravenshaw college, is a co-educational state university situated in Cuttack, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Ravenshaw College in 1868, the institution became a university in 2006. The un ...
and an MA in political science at
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...
in India, he obtained his doctorate from
Murdoch University in
Australia in 1987. After brief teaching and research stints in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
at the Institute for Southeast Studies (now
ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
The ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute is a research institution and statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Singapore. It was established by an Act of Parliament in 1968.
Previously known as the Institute of Southeast Asi ...
) and the
National University of Singapore, he joined the faculty of
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
,
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
in 1993. He was a Fellow at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
's newly established Asia Center in 2000–2001, while concurrently being a Fellow of the Center for Business and Government at Harvard's
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
. From 2001 and 2007, he served as deputy director and Head of Research at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (which in 2007 became the
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) is an autonomous graduate school in Singapore, and policy-oriented think tank within the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Founded in 1996 as the Institute of Defence and Strategic S ...
), at
Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. In 2007, he was appointed Chair of Global Governance and Director of the Centre for Governance and International Affairs at the
University of Bristol
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
.
[ In 2009, he moved to his present position at American University.
Acharya has held various visiting positions throughout his career, including as the ]ASEM
Asem (also spelled Aasem, Assem, Asim ar, عاصم ') is a male given name of Arabic origin, which means "savior, protector, guardian, defender." Asem is also a female given name of Kazakh origin, which means "beauty, beautiful, refined, gracefu ...
Chair in Regional Integration at the University of Malaya
The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...
, the Direk Jayanama Visiting Professor of Political Science at Thammasat University
Thammasat University ( Abrv: TU th, มธ.; th, มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์, , ) is a public research university in Thailand with campuses in Tha Phra Chan area of Phra Nakhon District near the Grand Pala ...
, Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School) is an autonomous postgraduate school of the National University of Singapore (NUS), named after the late former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew.
History
The Lee Kuan Yew School of ...
, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Economics at Chulalongkorn University
Chulalongkorn University (CU, th, จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย, ), nicknamed Chula ( th, จุฬาฯ), is a public and autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally fo ...
. He has also held visiting positions at Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...
, Stanford University, Sydney University, United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies, Vietnam National University, Central European University
Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social science ...
, and Ritsumeikan University
is a private university in Kyoto, Japan, that traces its origin to 1869. With the Kinugasa Campus (KIC) in Kyoto, and Kyoto Prefecture, the university also has a satellite called Biwako-Kusatsu Campus (BKC) and Osaka-Ibaraki Campus (OIC).
Tod ...
. He was elected to a Christensen Fellowship at St Catherine's College, University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
in 2012. In 2012–13, he was appointed to the Nelson Mandela Visiting Professorship in International Relations at Rhodes University
Rhodes University is a public research university located in Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the province's oldest ...
, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. In 2016, he was appointed to be the Inaugural Boeing Company Chair in International Relations in the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education.
The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...
.
In 2016, Acharya was awarded the prestigious Odisha Living Legend Award
Odisha Living Legend Award is a civilian award conferred on people of Odisha who have done outstanding and inspiring work. It was first conferred in 2011 by Odisha Diary Foundation. These awards are given in different categories like Social Servi ...
from th
Odisha Diary Foundation
in his native state of Odisha and delivered the Living Legend Oration at Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...
. He has received two Distinguished Scholar awards from the International Studies Association: one from the Global South Caucus in 2016, and another from the International Organization section in 2018.
In 2020, he received American University's highest honor: Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award. In 2022 Acharya won the International Studies Association Inaugural 2023 Distinguished Scholar Award.
Research
Acharya's major research interests include the diffusion of ideas and norms in world politics, and constructivist International Relations (IR) theory more generally; comparative regionalism, with a focus on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); and contributions to IR theory and practice from the Global South, or Global IR. Acharya's research combines and cuts across these different topics, often touching upon multiple themes in a single work.
Norm localization and norm subsidiarity
Acharya's principal contributions that advance constructivist IR theory are the concepts of norm localization and norm subsidiarity. Constructivism has traditionally accorded more importance to the role of ideas and norms in international politics compared to realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
and liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
. However, Acharya points out that most constructivists conceive of ideas as spreading outward from the West (or the Global North) to the "Rest" (or the Global South). Acharya challenges this story of unidirectional norm diffusion by showing how "local" beliefs and practices also matter. Using case studies from ASEAN, Acharya highlights how Southeast Asian leaders did not just accept transnational norms as is. Rather, where such transnational norms were in line with prior local beliefs, or "cognitive priors", they were successfully "localized". This is exemplified in how the ASEAN states localized the "common security" norm of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, pro ...
into "cooperative security" as manifested in the ASEAN Regional Forum. While the cooperative security norm recognized the need for inclusive regional security cooperation, it rejected the legalistic and domestic politics aspects of the common security norm, in line with the basic tenets of the ASEAN Way.
While norm localization emphasizes the agency of local actors in adapting prevailing transnational norms, norm subsidiarity is concerned with the creation of new norms by local actors. Norm subsidiarity posits that local actors create new norms and rules with a view toward protecting the norm's autonomy from violation and abuse at the international level. In contrast to localization, which is inward-looking, subsidiarity is outward-looking. Acharya again uses a case from Southeast Asia to illustrate the concept. In resistance to the US-led collective defence organization of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, the Philipp ...
signed in 1954, the leaders of South and Southeast Asia met at the Bandung Conference in 1955 and established their support for the norm of collective defence but rejected the use of such an arrangement for the defence of a single country. In so doing, the leaders at Bandung not only rejected the central position of the United States in regional security arrangements, but also created a new norm of collective defence that accorded importance to all treaty members.
A number of IR scholars have built on, engaged with, and challenged Acharya's work on norms, including Antje Wiener, Lisbeth Zimmerman, and Kathryn Sikkink Kathryn Sikkink (born 1955) is an author, human rights academic, and scholar of international relations working primarily through the theoretical strain of constructivism. She is currently at professor at Harvard Kennedy School.
Academic career
Ka ...
. Through her concept of "norm protagonism", Sikkink goes beyond Acharya by divorcing the formation and diffusion of norms in the Global South from the North. She illustrates how Latin American countries were protagonists of human rights norms and, among other things, adopted the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, also known as the Bogota Declaration, was the world's first international human rights instrument of a general nature, predating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by less than a y ...
in April 1948, eight months before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...
was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
in December 1948.
Comparative regionalism
Acharya places a high importance on the study of regions in world politics. His work has attempted to bridge the gap between scholarship in IR and area studies
Area studies (also known as regional studies) are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/ federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what ...
by encouraging conversation between "regionally oriented disciplinarists" and "discipline-oriented regionalists". For Acharya, rather than imagining a "world of regions", where it is primarily superpowers that shape how and when regions are important, it is more useful to think of "regional worlds", where the roles of external powers are balanced by the countries that constitute the region and construct it from within.
Acharya's most prolific work has been on ASEAN. In ''Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia'', Acharya traces the evolution of ASEAN and the ASEAN Way of conflict management, which is based on the ASEAN norms of non-interference and avoidance of confrontations in word and deed. Building upon the work on the concept of a security community image:UStankParis-edit1.jpg, 200px, Despite a long record of armed conflicts between Germany and France, the European security community has made war between these two less likely.
A security community is a region in which a large-scale use of viol ...
—a region where the outbreak of war has become almost unthinkable—by Karl Deutsch and Emanuel Adler and Michael Barnett, Acharya finds that ASEAN exhibits the characteristics of a nascent pluralistic security community.
Acharya has also been critical of the Eurocentrism
Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism)
is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western worl ...
prevalent in comparative regionalism, whereby the European Union (EU) is considered as the best way to regionalize—a model for regional integration
Regional Integration is a process in which neighboring countries enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement could range from economic to political to enviro ...
—and regionalism projects in other parts of the world are judged against the EU. Rather than compare with the EU, Acharya calls for studies in comparative regionalism to focus more on the specific regional contexts of regionalism projects and to develop more general criteria for comparison that are not based solely on the European experience.
Global IR and a multiplex world order
In line with his focus on the role and contributions of the Global South to IR theory and practice, Acharya has advanced what he terms "Global IR". One aspect of Global IR is to uncover sources of IR theory from the non-Western world to counterbalance the dominating influence of European history—from the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
to the nineteenth-century balance of power under the Concert of Europe
The Concert of Europe was a general consensus among the Great Powers of 19th-century Europe to maintain the European balance of power, political boundaries, and spheres of influence. Never a perfect unity and subject to disputes and jockeying ...
—on contemporary IR theory. Along with Barry Buzan, Acharya has published two books on Global International Relations theory that explore scholarly thinking as well as teaching traditions on international relations and foreign policy throughout the Global South.
One reason Acharya and Buzan transitioned from "non-Western" to "Global" IR theory is that Global IR, while challenging traditional IR's neglect and marginalization of the Global South, does not reject the mainstream theories, thus differentiating Acharya from postcolonial
Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...
IR scholars. Global IR revolves around six main dimensions:
*It is based on pluralistic universalism that recognizes diversity and abjures universal imposition
*It is grounded in world history
*It supplements and subsumes, rather than supplants, traditional IR
*It includes the study of regions as a core part of IR
*It eschews exceptionalism
*It recognizes both ideational and material forms of agency
Acharya's concept of the "multiplex world order" captures his understanding of the ongoing changes and future directions in the landscape of international relations. While not arguing that the United States is in decline per se, Acharya contends that the "American world order", whereby the United States played a hegemonic role in shaping the international system—or the "liberal world order"—to its own benefit through its dominant role in international institutions and its interventionalist foreign policy, is coming to an end. In this respect, Acharya disagrees with John Ikenberry
Gilford John Ikenberry (October 5, 1954) is a theorist of international relations and United States foreign policy, and the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. He is known for his work on li ...
, who highlights America's important role in designing, spearheading, and maintaining postwar "constitutional orders". In contrast to Ikenberry, Acharya finds evidence of an emerging "multiplex" world order, where there is an array of plots (ideas), directors (power), and action (leadership) under one roof (the international system) to choose from.
Professional activities
Acharya was elected President of the International Studies Association
The International Studies Association (ISA) is a US-based professional association for scholars and practitioners in the field of international studies. Founded in 1959, ISA has been headquartered at the University of Connecticut in Storrs sin ...
(ISA) for 2014–15.[ He was the first Indian, Asian, and non-Western scholar to be elected as ISA President. He was a vice-president of the ISA in 2008–09.
He is one of the founders of the Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), and served as its inaugural co-president in 2003–04.
He is the joint chief editor of the Studies in Asian Security series for Stanford University Press.
Acharya's work has been influential in shaping policy on Asian regionalism and human security. His 2001 book, ''Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia'', was the primary basis of the initial Indonesian concept paper which ultimately resulted in the establishment of the ASEAN Political-Security Community. His work on human security led to him being invited to address the UN General Assembly on the subject of human security on 14 April 2011.
He has been interviewed as an international affairs expert by ]CNN International
CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inte ...
, BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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