Sukh Deo Muni

Introduction

Professor S D Muni is Professor Emeritus at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and a member of the Executive Council of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. For nearly 40 years, he taught, conducted and supervised research in International Relations and South Asian Studies at JNU (1974-2006), National University of Singapore (NUS) [2008-2013], Banaras Hindu University (1985-86) and University of Rajasthan (1972-73).

Professor Muni served as India’s Special Envoy to the Southeast Asian countries on United Nations (UN) Security Council Reforms (2005) and represented India’s Minister of External Affairs at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Paris Peace Conference, held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He also served as India’s Ambassador to Lao People’s Democratic Republic (1997-99). Professor Muni was nominated to the first ever constituted National Security Advisory Board of India during 1990-91. He was the founding Executive Member of the Regional Centre of Strategic Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka. In 2005, he was bestowed with the ‘Sri Lanka Ratna’ award, Sri Lanka’s highest national honour for a foreign national. The Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka, Colombo, offered him an affiliation as Honorary Distinguished Fellow in 2016, and the Institute of South Asian Studies at NUS appointed him as an Honorary Fellow of the Institute for three years with effect from January 2021. His role in the mainstreaming of the Maoist Insurgency in Nepal has been highlighted by contemporary Nepali historians.

In October 2014, Professor Muni received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from Shri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, and was also honoured by Delhi University, Delhi, in March 2017 for his contributions to India-Nepal relations. He was invited to address the UN Special Committee on the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace at Sochi (Soviet Union) in 1985. He is the author and editor of nearly 30 books and monographs and more than 200 research papers. His latest book, India’s Eastward Engagement: from Antiquity to the Act East Policy, was released in January 2019. He was also the founder editor of two prestigious quarterly journals in India: The South Asia Journal (renamed South Asian Survey) and Indian Foreign Affairs Journal. He has also written numerous research articles, commentaries, book reviews published in journals and articles in magazines and newspapers, including Economic and Political Weekly, India Quarterly, Asian Affairs Focus and Pacific Affairs.

Areas of Interest and Expertise

• Political and Security Affairs of Southeast and South Asia
• India’s Foreign and Security Policies and Relations, especially in Asia and with the United States
• Regional and Global Security Issues, including Terrorism