Carnegie Endowment

•

Saluran • 6 Acara

Pemerintahan

Pemerintahan

Dua Kali Sebulan
Berita

Berita

Setiap Dua Minggu
Berita

Berita

Setiap Minggu
Politik

Politik

Dua Kali Sebulan
Pemerintahan

Pemerintahan

Setiap Bulan
Politik

Politik

Dua Kali Sebulan

17/12/2025

Grand Tamasha’s Best Books of 2025

Grand Tamasha is Carnegie’s weekly podcast on Indian politics and policy co-produced with the Hindustan Times, a leading Indian media house. For six years (and counting), host Milan Vaishnav has interviewed authors, journalists, policymakers, and practitioners working on contemporary India to give listeners across the globe a glimpse into life in the world’s most populous country. Each December, Milan looks back at the conversations we’ve hosted during the course of the year and selects a handful of books that stayed with him long after our recording wrapped. This year’s selections span biography, history, and political economy—but they share a common thread: Each offers a bold reinterpretation of India at a moment of profound political and social churn. In keeping with this tradition, here—in no particular order—are Grand Tamasha’s top books of 2025. A Sixth of Humanity: Independent India’s Development Odyssey By Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian. Published by HarperCollins India.Believer’s Dilemma: Vajpayee and the Hindu Right’s Path to Power, 1977–2018 By Abhishek Choudhary. Published by Pan Macmillan India.Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia By Sam Dalrymple. Published by HarperCollins India.Taken together, these books showcase the breadth of scholarship animating debates on India and South Asia today. They remind us that the region’s past remains contested, its present deeply complex, and its future still uncertain. I hope you find these conversations as stimulating and inspiring as I did. One final note here: As you consider your year-end charitable giving, we hope you will choose to support Grand Tamasha. This season, you might have noticed that we’ve expanded into video, allowing listeners to watch full-length conversations on YouTube. Listener contributions sustain the costs of production, research, and distribution—especially as we expand our video offerings. The podcast receives no external funding beyond what our audience generously provides, and contributions from U.S.-based supporters are fully tax-deductible. We would be grateful for whatever support you can offer. Please visit https://donate.carnegieendowment.org/for more information on how you can give. On behalf of the entire team, we hope you have a wonderful holidays. Thanks for listening to the show—and see you in the new year. Episode notes: 1. “The Forgotten Partitions That Remade South Asia (with Sam Dalrymple),” Grand Tamasha, October 29, 2025. 2. “A Sixth of Humanity and the Dreams of a Nation (with Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian),” Grand Tamasha, October 22, 2025. 3. “Vajpayee and the Making of the Modern BJP (with Abhishek Choudhary),” Grand Tamasha, September 3, 2025. 4. Milan Vaishnav, “Grand Tamasha’s Best Books of 2024,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, December 17, 2024. 5. Milan Vaishnav, “Grand Tamasha’s Best Books of 2023,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, December 19, 2023. 6. Milan Vaishnav, “Grand Tamasha’s Best Books of the Year,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, December 20, 2022.

17/12/2025

•

15 mnt
27/11/2024

The Truth About the "Foreign Hand" in India

Over the past twelve months, tales of spies and spycraft have complicated India’s relationships with key Western partners. In recent months, both Canada and the United States have alleged that India’s foreign intelligence agency was involved in a complex plot to identify and target Khalistani separatists who were citizens of those countries. In India, these allegations have, in turn, revealed deep skepticism about the actions of western spy agencies and the negative role they’ve played in India and across the Global South. A new book, Spying in South Asia: Britain, the United States, and India’s Secret Cold War, offers the first comprehensive history of US and UK intelligence operations in the Indian subcontinent. The author of this book is Paul McGarr, a lecturer in Intelligence Studies at King’s College London. To talk more about his new book—and the West’s 50-year battle to win the hearts and minds of Indians—Paul joins Milan on the show this week. The two discuss India’s tradition of spycraft, the long shadow of the British Raj, and secret collaboration between the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and its Indian counterparts. Plus, the two discuss why the covert efforts of British and American intelligence agencies in 20th century India largely proved to be misguided and self-defeating. Episode notes: 1. VIDEO: “Indira Gandhi Overdid the ‘Foreign Hand’ but Some of Her Fears About the CIA were real ,” The Wire, November 21, 2024. 2. “Inside the Secret World of South Asia's Spies (with Adrian Levy),” Grand Tamasha, October 27, 2021.

27/11/2024

•

54 mnt
12/11/2025

Understanding South Asia’s “Ordinary Rebels”

How do non-state armed groups act when the state seeks not to crush them—but to tolerate their activities? This is the central question of a new book by the political scientist Kolby Hanson titled, Ordinary Rebels: Rank-and-File Militants between War and Peace. Kolby is an assistant professor of government at Wesleyan University, and his new book looks at how state toleration fundamentally transforms armed groups by shaping who takes up arms—and which leaders they follow. The book draws on a range of innovative surveys and in-depth interviews tracing four armed movements over time in Northeast India and Sri Lanka. The book looks not so much at what armed groups do when they fight—but what they do when they don’t. To talk more about his new book, Kolby joins Milan on the show this week. They discuss what it means to be a “likely” recruit of an armed group, the complex political economy of India’s northeast, and the way in which state toleration operates on a spectrum. Plus, the two discuss the prospects for long-term peacebuilding in South Asia and how Kolby’s new book sheds light on the troubling January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Episode notes: 1. Paul Staniland, Ordering Violence: Explaining Armed Group-State Relations from Conflict to Cooperation (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2021). 2. “The Past, Present, and Future of India’s Near East (with Avinash Paliwal),” Grand Tamasha, November 20, 2024. 3. “Paul Staniland on the Surprising Decline in Political Violence in South Asia,” Grand Tamasha, October 7, 2020. 4. “Binalakshmi Nepram on the Realities of India’s Oft-Forgotten Northeast,” Grand Tamasha, June 3, 2020.

12/11/2025

•

57 mnt
05/03/2025

How India Engages the World

Vishwa Shastra: India and the World is the new book by the scholar and foreign affairs analyst Dhruva Jaishankar. The book provides a comprehensive overview of India’s interactions with the world—from ancient times to the present day. The book also serves as a comprehensive resource for those seeking to understand how India might define the emerging world order. In so doing, it rebuts the conventional wisdom that India lacks a strategic culture. Dhruva is Executive Director of the Observer Research Foundation America, which he helped establish in 2020. He has previously worked at Brookings India, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Dhruva joins Milan on the podcast this week to talk more about his book and the evolution of Indian foreign policy. The two discuss why India’s approach to the world is so poorly understood, misperceptions of India’s strategic culture, and the pre-independence drivers of Indian foreign policy. Plus, Dhruva and Milan assess the state of India-Pakistan relations, challenges to India’s ability to connect with Southeast Asia, and whether and how Trump 2.0 alters India’s strategic picture. Episode notes: 1. Dhruva Jaishankar, “Foundation for layered India-America relations,” Hindustan Times, February 17, 2025. 2. Gunjan Singh, “Vishwa Shastra: A comprehensive guide to India's evolving foreign policy,” Business Standard, January 9, 2025. 3. Dhruva Jaishankar and Tanvi Madan, “The Quad Needs a Harder Edge,” Foreign Affairs, May 19, 2022.

05/03/2025

•

52 mnt
09/04/2025

A New Era of Electioneering in India

Over the last decade, election campaigns in India have undergone a dramatic shift. Political parties increasingly rely on political consulting firms, tech-savvy volunteers, pollsters, data-driven insights, and online battles to mobilize voters. But what exactly is driving these changes in the landscape of electioneering? The Backstage of Democracy: India's Election Campaigns and the People Who Manage Them is a new book by the scholar Amogh Dhar Sharma which tries to locate answers to this question. The book takes readers behind the scenes, where they are introduced to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT cell workers, campaign consultants, data strategists and backroom politicians. Amogh is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford. His research explores the interface between politics and technology, political communication, and histories of science and technology. Amogh joins Milan on the show this week to discuss the professionalization of politics in India, how the middle class relates to politics, and the BJP’s unexpected embrace of digital technology. Plus, the two discuss enigmatic backroom strategist Prashant Kishor and the rise of political consultants. Episode notes: 1. Amogh Dhar Sharma, “The Cautious Rise of Political Consulting in India,” The Wire, September 6, 2024. 2. Roshan Kishore, “Terms of Trade: How to look at the rise of electoral consultants in India,” Hindustan Times, February 21, 2025. 3. Nilesh Christopher and Varsha Bansal, “How a Secret BJP War Room Mobilized Female Voters to Win the Indian Elections,” WIRED, July 30, 2024.

09/04/2025

•

54 mnt
29/01/2025

Sri Lanka's Peaceful Revolution

2024 was widely hailed as the year of elections with 73 countries holding elections in and more than 1.5 billion voters exercising their franchise. On Grand Tamasha, we’ve discussed the 2024 Indian general election as well as the recent U.S. presidential election at some length. But there was another important election in South Asia which has important ramifications both for India and the wider Indo-Pacific. In September 2024, for the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, a third-party candidate was elected president. According to Neil DeVotta, our guest on the show this week, the election was nothing short of a peaceful revolution that represents a dramatic political realignment in the island nation. Neil DeVotta is a professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University, where he works on South Asian security and politics, ethnicity and nationalism, conflict resolution, and democratic transitions. And he’s also the author of a recent essay in the January 2025 issue of the Journal of Democracy, called “Sri Lanka’s Peaceful Revolution.” To kick off the thirteenth season of the podcast, Milan sits down with Neil to discuss the tumultuous political history of Sri Lanka, its charismatic new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and the state of the Sri Lankan economy. Plus, the two discuss how Dissanayake will delicately balance relations with both India and China. Episode notes: 1. Neil DeVotta, “Sri Lanka's Peaceful Revolution,” Journal of Democracy 36.1 (January 2025): 79-92. 2. Neil DeVotta, “Colombo's Controversial New President,” East Asia Forum, 24 July 2022. 3. Neil DeVotta, “A Win for Democracy in Sri Lanka,” Journal of Democracy 27.1 (January 2016): 152–66. 4. “South Asia's Economic Turmoil (with Ben Parkin),” Grand Tamasha, September 21, 2022. 5. “Inside Sri Lanka's Economic Meltdown (with Ahilan Kadirgamar),” Grand Tamasha, May 18, 2022.

29/01/2025

•

53 mnt
03/09/2025

Vajpayee and the Making of the Modern BJP

Believer’s Dilemma: Vajpayee and the Hindu Right’s Path to Power, 1977-2018 is the much anticipated second volume of author Abhishek Choudhary’s biography of former BJP prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The book traces his life from his stint as external affairs minister in the short-lived Janata government to his death in 2018 following a period of prolonged illness. The first volume of this biography, Vajpayee; The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924-1977, was widely acclaimed, winning the 2023 Tata Literature First Book Award in 2023. Abhishek Choudhary studied economics in Delhi and Chennai, followed by stints in development and journalism. To discuss part two of this exceptional work, which Ram Guha calls the “finest biography of an Indian prime minister that I have ever read,” Abhishek joins Milan on the podcast this week. They discuss Vajpayee’s entry into the Sangh Parivar, his turbulent stint as foreign minister, and his core ideological beliefs. Plus, the two discuss Vajpayee’s unique partnership with L.K. Advani and his dealings with Narendra Modi in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots. Episode notes: 1. “Vinay Sitapati on the Political History of the BJP Before Modi,” Grand Tamasha, December 16, 2020. 2. “Hindutva Politics in the Diaspora (with Edward Anderson),” Grand Tamasha, June 25, 2025. 3. “Savarkar, In His Own Words (with Janaki Bakhle),” Grand Tamasha, March 27, 2024.

03/09/2025

•

1j 4m
11/06/2025

A Reappraisal of Indira Gandhi’s Life—and Legacy

Indira Gandhi’s ascent as prime minister of India in 1966 seems obvious with the benefit of hindsight, but it was entirely unforeseen at the time. Within years—if not months—she emerged as one of the most powerful political leaders of her era—serving as prime minister for fifteen years, leaving behind a complex and deeply controversial legacy. A new book by the historian Srinath Raghavan, Indira Gandhi and the Years that Transformed India, unpacks that legacy, uncovering fresh material that challenges much of the conventional wisdom we’ve accumulated over the years. Srinath is professor of international relations and history at Ashoka University and nonresident scholar at Carnegie India. He is the author of several celebrated books, including India’s War: The Making of Modern South Asia and Fierce Enigmas: A History of the United States in South Asia. He joins Milan on the show this week to discuss Gandhi’s unforeseen right to power, the daunting conditions which greeted her premiership, and her improvisatory leadership during the 1971 war. Plus, the two discuss Gandhi’s mixed economic legacy, the onset of the Emergency, and how our understanding of the “long 1970s” must be updated. Episode notes: 1. Soutik Biswas, “The forgotten story of India's brush with presidential rule,” BBC News, June 9, 2025. 2. TCA Srinivasa Raghavan, “Indira Gandhi and the Years that Transformed India,” Hindu Business Line, May 27, 2025.

11/06/2025

•

57 mnt
23/04/2025

India’s Precocious Welfare State

In India today, so many political debates are focused on welfare and welfarism. It seems that state after state is competing to offer the most electorally attractive benefits to its voters. The central government, for its part, has pioneered a new model of social welfare built around digital ID and direct cash transfers to needy households. Making India Work: The Development of Welfare in a Multi-Level Democracy is a new book by the scholar Louise Tillin. It examines the development of India’s welfare state over the last century from the early decades of the twentieth century to the present. In so doing, it recovers a history previously relegated to the margins of scholarship on the political economy of development. Louise is a Professor of Politics in the King’s India Institute at King’s College London. She is one of the world’s leading experts on Indian federalism, subnational comparative politics, and social policy. She is the author or editor of several previous books, including Remapping India: New States and their Political Origins. Louise joins Milan on the show this week to discuss India’s “precocious” welfare regime, the late colonial debates over social insurance in India, and the pros and cons of the Nehruvian development model. Plus, the two discuss inter-state variation in modes of social protection and the current debate over welfare in India circa 2025. Episode notes: 1. “Understanding the Delhi Education Experiment (with Yamini Aiyar),” Grand Tamasha, January 22, 2025. 2. Louise Tillin, “This is the moment for a new federal compact,” Indian Express, June 16, 2024. 3. Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, “Interview: How has Indian federalism evolved under the BJP?” Scroll.in, April 13, 2024. 4. Louise Tillin and Sandhya Venkateswaran, “Democracy and Health in India| Is Health an Electoral Priority?” (New Delhi: Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, 2023)

23/04/2025

•

53 mnt
07/01/2022

A Conversation with Kurt Campbell

Perhaps no question figures more centrally in the Biden administration’s foreign policy than what to do about China. Indeed, no other nation impacts America’s security, economy, and politics as vitally. How should the United States deal with a rising China. And what does China want from the United States? Is there an approach that can create a sustainable balance of interest? Or is the future going to be driven by a zero-sum game of competition and even conflict? Aaron David Miller sits down with Kurt Campbell for what promises to be an illuminating discussion of the future of U.S.-China relations.

07/01/2022

•

46 mnt

Carnegie scholars and their global network of experts give their takes on foreign policy issues around the world.

Situs Web

Carnegie Endowment

Acara Teratas

Grand Tamasha’s Best Books of 2025

The Truth About the "Foreign Hand" in India

Understanding South Asia’s “Ordinary Rebels”

How India Engages the World

A New Era of Electioneering in India

Sri Lanka's Peaceful Revolution

Vajpayee and the Making of the Modern BJP

A Reappraisal of Indira Gandhi’s Life—and Legacy

India’s Precocious Welfare State

A Conversation with Kurt Campbell

Mengenai

Carnegie Endowment

Acara Teratas

Episode Teratas

Mengenai