Profile

Dr. Amitav Acharya is the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance and Distinguished Professor at the School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC. He will be in residence at TSE for the 2021-22 academic year as a Visiting TSE Chair Professor. Previously he was a Professor at York University, Toronto, and the Chair in Global Governance at the University of Bristol, U.K. He held the inaugural Nelson Mandela Visiting Professorship in International Relations at Rhodes University, South Africa in 2012- 13 and the inaugural Boeing Company Chair in International Relations at the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsing Hua University in 2016-18. In addition, he was a Fellow of Harvard’s Asia Center and John F. Kennedy School of Government, and was elected to the Christensen Fellowship at Oxford.

His books include Constructing Global Order (Cambridge 2018); The End of American World Order (2nd edn, Polity 2018); Why Govern? Rethinking Demand and Progress in Global Governance (editor, Cambridge 2016); The Making of Southeast Asia (Cornell 2013); Whose Ideas Matter? (Cornell 2009); and Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia (3rd edn, Routledge 2014). His essays have appeared in leading international affairs journals such as International Organization, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Asian Studies, Foreign Affairs, Journal of Peace Research, International Affairs, and World Politics. He has written op-eds for Financial Times, Washington Post (Monkey Cage), Times of India, Australian Financial Review, and other newspapers around the world, and appeared on news media such as CNN International, BBC TV and BBC World Service Radio.

Acharya is the first non-Western scholar to be elected (for 2014-15) as the President of the International Studies Association (ISA), the largest and most influential global network in international studies. He is a two-time winner of ISA’s Distinguished Scholar Awards one for his “exceptional and sustained contribution to global South international studies”, as well as his contribution to “inclusion” in international studies, and another for his contribution to the study of international organization that recognizes “scholars of exceptional merit…whose influence, intellectual works and mentorship will likely continue to impact the field for years to come”.

Research Interests

Dr. Acharya’s academic interests cover Southeast Asia, multilateralism and global governance, human security, and international relations theory. His current affairs commentaries cover such topics as Asian regionalism, Asian security, the war on terror, and the rise of China and India.

Awards and Honors

Selected Publication

Books

• Constructing Global Order: Agency and Change in World Politics.Cambridge, 2018.
• The End of American World Order. Polity, 2014, 2018; Oxford, 2015; Chinese Translation, Shanghai People’s Press, 2017.
• Why Govern: Rethinking Demand and Progress in Global Governance. Cambridge, 2016. Edited.
• Rethinking Power, Institutions and Ideas in World Politics: Whose IR. Routledge 2014.
• The Making of Southeast Asia: International Relations of a Region. 2013.
• Non-Western International Relations Theory:  Perspectives On and Beyond Asia. Routledge, 2010. Co-edited.  
• Whose Ideas Matter: Agency and Power in Asian Regionalism. Cornell, 2009.   
• Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia. Routledge, 2001, 2009, 2014.  
• Crafting Cooperation: Regional International Institutions in Comparative Politics.Cambridge, 2007. Co-edited. 
• Reassessing Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific. MIT, 2007. Co-edited.
• The Quest for Identity: International Relations of Southeast Asia. Oxford, 2000.

Teaching

• Civilizations and World Order

Semester: Fall 2024 | 11310TSE 600100 | 2 credits 
Module: MAPE Core & MGPE Core
Abstract
The 21st century is witnessing the end of the “great divergence” between the West and the Rest, which began with the rapid ascent of Western Europe from the 17th century AD onwards and the corresponding decline of the once mighty and wealthy civilizations, such as those of China, India, and Islam. As the global power and idea shifts reshape dynamics of world politics civilizational identities are asserting themselves, creating fears of what Samuel Huntington called a “clash of civilizations”. At the same time, the relative decline of the West, the crisis in the US-led liberal hegemonic order and the increasingly global role of rising powers such as China and India in world affairs are creating new possibilities of both conflict and mutual learning and cooperation between the West and the Rest. Against this backdrop, it has become ever more important to revisit the concepts of “civilization” and “world order”.

• The Transformation of Global Order in the 21st Century

Semester: Spring 2025 | 11320TSE 600000 | 2 credits 
Module: MAPE Core & MGPE Core
Abstract
This course is designed to stimulate critical thinking on the key organizing principles and institutions of world politics in the 21st century. It deals with both the historical evolution of world order, as well as contemporary issues and challenges in international relations and global governance, including those related to conflicts and security, globalization, global governance and the role of culture and communications and the relationship among contemporary civilizations. The world order that emerged since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and especially after World War II, which was dominated first by Europe and then by the United States, is now undergoing profound changes. What are these changes and what kind of new world order might emerge?