International Relations Panel
Sameer Lalwani (Speaker) (Zoom)
Could India Have Taiwan’s Back in a Crisis
Abstract: With the dramatic expansion of US-India defense and operational cooperation since 2020, a question arises in Washington as to what material contributions India could make to the US military’s “pacing challenge” –that is, the coalitional deterrence and defense of Taiwan? This paper assess that India has the potential to make significant military contributions to a coalition defense of Taiwan without leaving its backyard or projecting power east of the Malacca Strait. India’s military contributions to the defense of Taiwan could largely fall into three campaigns (none of which are mutually exclusive): 1) horizontal escalation on the continental border; 2) covering down in the Indian Ocean; and 3) enabling coalition force projection via logistics, overflight, and access. This paper details these three campaigns, the capabilities that underpin it, and the reasons why growing US-India defense relations and India’s growing stakes in cross-Strait stability unlock the possibility for major changes in Indian foreign and defense policy.
Biography: Dr. Sameer Lalwani is a senior expert on South Asia at the U.S. Institute of Peace and a non-resident senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He has previously served as South Asia Program Director at the Stimson Center, an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, and a Stanton nuclear security postdoctoral fellow at the RAND Corporation. Dr. Lalwani’s research interests include nuclear deterrence, interstate rivalry, alliances, crisis behavior, counterinsurgency and Indo-Pacific security. He is a term member with the Council on Foreign Relations, and a contributing editor to War on the Rocks. He earned his doctorate in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was an affiliate of the MIT Security Studies Program.
Zachary Constantino (Speaker)
Prospects for Accelerating Defense Cooperation with India
Abstract: Defense ties between the United States and India are now a cornerstone of the strategic partnership. Washington is New Delhi’s partner of choice regarding military exercises, acquisition of advanced technology, and deepening defense industrial integration. In addition, the U.S. and India are committed to renewing a ten-year framework for defense cooperation, providing opportunities to both strengthen India’s role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region and complicate China’s calculus in Asia. At the same time, maximizing the benefits of India’s defense modernization drive necessitates structural reforms within New Delhi’s procurement bureaucracies and armed forces and shifts in spending priorities. India will almost certainly need to scale up research and innovation and enhance the private sector’s role. Deploying more cutting-edge platforms will probably drive demands for establishing a robust intelligence architecture to sustain operations at the strategic and operational levels, renewing attention on intelligence reform while spurring greater information-sharing with Indo-Pacific partners.
Biography: Zachary Constantino is a Practitioner Fellow at the University of British Columbia’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA), where he lectures on Indo-Pacific security, the geopolitics of South Asia, and how to develop persuasive communication strategies. Before joining SPPGA, he served for twenty years in the United States Government, working at the intersection of international security, diplomacy, and intelligence. Zachary’s work in the Indo-Pacific region specifically focused on technology collaboration, defense modernization, and maritime security. He is also an adjunct lecturer at George Washington University, where he teaches courses on intelligence and national security. The views he expresses are his own.
Aditi Malhotra (Speaker)
India’s Role Evolution in a Changing World Order: Opportunities and Challenges
Abstract: In the past two decades, the global order established after the Second World War has been undergoing substantial changes, with recent developments pointing to a clearer and more tangible shift towards a more multipolar world. Once shaped predominantly by the United States, the world order is now being increasingly influenced by changing dynamics, especially with the second Trump administration. Within this context, India plays a pivotal role, perceiving the ongoing transition as both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity lies in carving out a more prominent space for itself within the international community, while the challenge arises from an inward-focused, transactional U.S. approach, which provides greater room for China’s growing dominance. India’s evolving self-perception as a key pole in the multipolar world, particularly as a prominent actor in Indo-Pacific region is crucial to this transition. The paper will explore India’s evolving security role evolution over the past three decades, examining both internal and external factors influencing this shift, along with the challenges it faces globally and domestically. The interplay of opportunity and challenge is analyzed using the role conception framework, grounded in the constructivist school of thought in International Relations.
Biography: Dr. Aditi Malhotra is a Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and the Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP). She is the author of two books: Understanding Security Role Evolution of US, China and India: Setting the Stage (Routledge, 2022) and India in the Indo-Pacific (Barbara Budrich, 2022). Dr. Malhotra previously served as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Army Journal (CAJ) and was the co-editor of the Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (Graz, Austria). She has held visiting fellowships at the Henry L. Stimson Center (Washington, D.C.) and the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (Oslo). Additionally, Dr. Malhotra has served as a Senior Research Fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Studies and as an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) in India, where she also served as the deputy editor of Scholar Warrior, a biannual journal. Malhotra holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Muenster, Germany, and a master’s in International Studies from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. Her research focuses on security issues in the Indo-Pacific region and nuclear deterrence, and she regularly participates in Track II dialogues on nuclear deterrence and escalation dynamics.
Thomas Dolan (Moderator)
Biography: Associate Professor & ICCAE Director, Research Areas: International Relations, Security Studies, Political Psychology, Insurgency, Terrorism, Intelligence. My main research interests are focused on decision-making about war and conflict, intelligence, and insurgency. My work on decision-making has focused on the role of emotion in leaders’ wartime decisions about strategy, the use of WMDs, and war termination. My work on insurgency and intelligence is currently informed, to a large degree, by archival materials related to participants in the World War II-era French resistance. I also have interests in public opinion research and just war theory. I have published articles in International Organization, Political Psychology, International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Foreign Policy Analysis, and other journals.