Experts › Swarna Rajagopalan
Swarna Rajagopalan works as a writer, political analyst, consultant and social entrepreneur in Chennai, India. She is the founding trustee of The Prajnya Trust, which is building a centre for policy research, advocacy and networking in the areas of peace, justice and security. Her consultancy, Chaitanya, undertakes educational programming, research conferences, commissioned research, research direction and reviews as well as project evaluations and reviews. She is also active as a scholar on traditional and non‐traditional security topics. She writes for both print and electronic media.
Dr. Rajagopalan received her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1998), an M.A. in International Relations from Syracuse University (1985) and a B.A. in Political Science from Elphinstone College, University of Bombay (1984). Her Ph.D. dissertation was published as State and Nation in South Asia (Lynne Rienner 2001/ Viva 2006). She is the author of several articles and book chapters and recently, a monograph for the East‐West Center, Washington DC, on peace accords in Northeast India. She has edited Security and South Asia: Ideas, Institutions and Initiatives (Routledge India 2006) and co‐edited Women, Security, South Asia: A Clearing in the Thicket, with Farah Faizal (Sage 2005) and Re‐Distribution of Authority: A Cross‐Regional Perspective with Jeanie J. Bukowski (Praeger 2000).
Swarna Rajagopalan has been present at the start of several path-breaking initiatives in South Asia. She volunteered at the Bombay (Mumbai) rallies protesting a rape judgment in 1980 that are considered a landmark in the history of the Indian women’s movement. In May 1993, she attended the first Security, Technology and Arms Control Workshop in Bhurban, Pakistan. Also in May 1993, Swarna was a rapporteur at the inaugural session of the Regional Centre for Security Studies (RCSS). She assisted at and participated in the first Winter Workshop on Ethnicity, Migration and Environment held by the RCSS in 1997. She remains a part of these and other regional networks. Swarna has also served as an election observer in the 2000 Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka.
Swarna Rajagopalan’s consultancy portfolio is diverse, both in terms of clients and the nature of the projects she has undertaken. She has undertaken assignments for Indian nonprofits like Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace, the MacArthur Foundation, agencies like the World Bank and USAID, and Michigan State University. Chaitanya, her consultancy firm, maintained a weekly digest of security news from the southern part of the South Asian subcontinent, first on its website and then at subcontinentsouth.blogspot.com. The website also hosted several online learning guides on security and governance related topics. She was the creator of most of these resources. Dr. Rajagopalan blogs at justswarna.blogspot.com and keepingcount.wordpress.com. She has written articles related to security for National Review, The New Indian Express and InfochangeIndia.org.