International Talkies

On 23rd February 2021, NIAS conducted a seminar on ‘Contemporary Middle-East’ in collaboration with the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Kristu Jayanti (Department of History), Pondicherry University (Centre for Maritime Studies), Goa University (Department of Political Science), and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (Department of Geopolitics and International Relations). The speaker for this seminar was Retired Ambassador Sanjay Singh. Amb Sanjay Singh held charge in the Ministry as Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary (Gulf) from March 2005 to March 2009. He was India’s Ambassador to Iran from March 2009 to March 2011. He took over as Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs in March 2011 and retired at the end of April 2013. Dr Rahul Tripathi, HOD, Department of Political Science, Goa University gave the welcome address and introduced the speaker. The Ambassador, in his lecture, spoke on the fol...

Lyceum, the Postgraduate Student Association of the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History will be conducting the 'Battle of Brains': an umbrella event comprising of four highly enriching events within itself. 'Battle of Brains' is an event organized to inculcate critical and analytical skills within the students of MAIS. The event will be conducted on 27th February and the inauguration will be held at 8:50 am, and the Valedictory will be from 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm. Event 1: 'CONSPIRACY' - This event deals with various conspiracy theories and will be held from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. Event 2: 'JUST A MINUTE' (JAM) - This is an individual event and the rules for this event are: a) No Repetition, b) No Hesitation, c) No Deviation, d) In case the Jammer does not speak after one minute, they will have to face penalties. JAM will be held from 10:30 to 11:45 am. Event 3: 'EVENT X' - As the name suggests, this is a mystery even...

The Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) recently conducted a seminar on Walter Rodney and African Politics for the students of 4 MAIS. The lecture was delivered by Dr Leo Zeilig, a researcher, activist and writer who has extensively written on African Politics and History. Dr Zielig is also an editor of the Review of African Political Economy, a journal focused on African Studies. Dr Fr Jose CC, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) delivered the welcome address. Dr Venkatanarayanan gave a generous introduction to the speaker as well as the event. Dr Zeilig, in his lecture, gives an outline of Walter Rodney’s life, his politics and his principal contributions. Dr Zeilig opines that Walter Rodney is one of the greatest radical thinker and activist of his generation and goes on to speak about his life. Walter Rodney was born on 23rd Marc 1942 in Georgetown, Guyana during the time of British Colonialism. His ...

Lyceum the Postgraduate Student’s Association of the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History successfully conducted a Panel Discussion on the topic ‘Politics of Populism and Pandemic’. The six panellists comprised of students from the first and second years of Masters in International Studies, the discussion was moderated by Judith Blessy from 2MAIS. Wonchibeni Patton from 2MAIS talked about the implications of Vaccine Nationalism in a globalized world, wherein she addressed the idea of ‘my nation first’; a phenomenon visible in the vaccination procurement drive undertaken by the ‘first world nations’. However, in her opinion this policy is questionable and futile; until developing countries are unable to bring the transmission process under control, the world would not be free of the pandemic. Other dimensions such as Russia and China’s soft power with regards to vaccine diplomacy, changing attitudes towards migration due to paucity of vaccines were also bro...

On 2 February, NIAS (National Institute of Advanced Studies) organised a lecture on “India-China Border instability: Understanding Beijing’s endgame” by Lt Gen (Retd) Prakash Menon as part of its lecture series on Global Politics. The event was organised in collaboration with the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Kristu Jayanti College (Department of History), Pondicherry University (Centre for Maritime Studies), Goa University (Department of Political Science) & Manipal Academy of Higher Education (Department of Geopolitics and International Relations). The speaker was introduced and welcomed by Dr Manoharan N, Associate Professor, Department of International Studies and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) and Dr Suba Chandran was the moderator for the session. Lt Gen (Retd) Prakash Menon addressed the question of China’s endgame concerning the border conflict with India by pointing out the need to understan...

Lyceum, the Post Graduate Students’ Association of M.A (International Studies) [MAIS] under the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History organized the second debate competition of the Talk De Bait series on Thursday, 18 February 2021 from 3 pm to 4 pm. Judith Blessy, the moderator for the event introduced the topics for the three rounds of the debate. Her moderation throughout the debate was excellent. The participants for the first round involved students from the second and fourth semester of MAIS, namely Jeshil Samuel J (2MAIS), Tanishka Kumar (4MAIS), Aswathy K (4MAIS), Sandeep Ghoshal (2MAIS), Vaidehi Shaw (2MAIS), Raj Narayanan (2MAIS), Simron Tandi (2MAIS) and Nishit Jogi (4MAIS). The topic for the first round was – “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA): Who is responsible to repair the relationship, the USA or Iran?”. The participants who argued in favour of USA were Jeshil Samuel J, Aswathy K, Vaidehi Shaw and Simron Tandi. Their line of argume...

The “Continental Catch Webinar Series” organized by the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) was conducted on 29th of January 2021. The webinar was on “Ethnic Pluralism in Europe in 21st Century”. Professor Konstantinos Karatzas, Founder and Director of Global Institute for Research, Education and Scholarship (GIRES) was the speaker for the webinar. Fr Jose CC, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Christ University; Dr Madhumati Deshpande, HOD of the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, along with the faculty members and the students of the department were present. Dr Madhumati Deshpande, Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, welcomed and introduced the speaker. Prof Karatzas spoke at length on pluralism and multiculturalism in Europe and how the European Union could be the melting point of the same. His speech highlighted many crucial concepts related to pluralism like notions...