Shanthie Mariet D’Souza

Dr. Shanthie Mariet D’Souza is a scholar, teacher, guide, consultant and researcher with specialization in International Relations, with more than two decades long experience of working in think tanks, universities, governmental and non-governmental sectors in Asia, North America, Australia and Europe. She is  a founder of Mantraya Institute for Strategic Studies (MISS); a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA; a visiting faculty and member of research & advisory committee at the Naval War College, Goa; an Affiliate at the Middle East Institute, Washington D.C.; a research fellow at WeltTrends-Institut für internationale Politik, Potsdam, Germany; an international advisor at the Nordic Counter Terrorism Network, Helsinki, Finland; an editorial board member of Small Wars & Insurgencies (Routledge: UK); an adviser for Independent Conflict Research and Analysis, London; an Expert at Duco and senior analyst at Wikistrat.

Dr. D’Souza has been a Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair at the School of Public Policy University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA (2024); a founding professor at the Kautilya School of Public Policy, Hyderabad (2021-2022); a board director at Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo (2018-22); a visiting research fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin (2022); a member, Board of Studies, School of International & Area Studies, Goa University (2021-24); a Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute, Washington D.C. (2020-25); a visiting research associate at the School of Business & Governance, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia (2017); a research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore (2010-14); an associate fellow, Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi (2006-10); a Fulbright fellow and visiting research associate at the South Asia Studies, The Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C. (2005-06). She has conducted field research in Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Africa, Australia, Canada, the United States, Jammu and Kashmir, and India’s North East.

As adviser, Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2015-16); an international election observer for the audit and recount of Afghanistan’s Presidential Runoff elections,( 2014); a senior transition consultant, United Nations Mine Action Service (2013), Kabul and external reviewer for the country programme of Action Aid International, Afghanistan (2011), she has worked with governmental and non-governmental sectors for more than a decade and conducted field based studies in various provinces of Afghanistan. 

Dr. D’Souza’s research interests and expertise include: Countering terrorism, insurgencies and violent extremism; politics of aid, development, gender and security in Afghanistan; women, peace and conflict studies; state and peace building in fragile states; security sector reform; international interventions, aid delivery and post-conflict stabilization; prospects for long term stabilization of Afghanistan; non-traditional security threats and crisis response in Asia; climate change, geopolitics of energy, global public health and public policy; India’s foreign, maritime and security policy; great power competition, emerging powers and the Indo-Pacific.

Among her most recent published work are edited books titled Countering Insurgencies and Violent Extremism in South and South East Asia (Cass Military Studies, Routledge: UK), Afghanistan in Transition: Beyond 2014?, co-edited books, Perspectives on South Asian Security and Saving Afghanistan. She has guest edited a special issue on “Countering insurgencies and violent extremism in South Asia” in Small Wars & Insurgencies (UK: Routledge), February 2017. She has contributed chapters to edited books, journal articles in international peer-reviewed journals, encyclopedias, yearbooks and regional surveys and opinion pieces in the media, including The Wall Street Journal, The Straits Times, The Business Times, Hindustan Times, Asian Age, The Hindu, Indian Express, Business Standard and others. She has been invited to speak at various international and national forums on key security, political and geopolitical trends in Asia.

Further details available at https://miss.org.in/team/

She can be reached at [email protected], [email protected]