Amitav Acharya

He is Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the American University (Washington DC), where he holds the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance in the School of International Service. His contributions in the field of Global South International Relations have influenced policies on Asian regionalism and human security, and his book, Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order (Routledge, 2001), was the main basis for the paper that resulted in the establishment of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Political Security Community. Acharya was the first non-Western president of the International Studies Association, as well as one of the founders of the Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA). He has also been a fellow of the Asia Center at Harvard University and chair of the ASEAN Studies Initiative. He is editor-in-chief of the Studies in Asian Security collection of Stanford University Press, and writes regularly for international newspapers and magazines such as The Financial Times, The New York Times, National Public Radio, The Huffington Post, The Australian Financial Review, Asia Times and The Times of India. Among other awards and recognitions, he has received the prestigious Odisha Living Legend Award (2016) and the Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award (2020), the highest honor of the American University.