Professor / Ph.D
Short Biography
I hold the position of Professor in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. I joined as an Assistant Professor in December 2006, and since then I have contributed sincerely to the academic landscape of teaching and research. Currently, I am engaged in teaching four regular courses on Foreign Policy, Research Methods, and Research and Publication Ethics offered to MA and PhD students.
My educational foundation includes pursuing Master's and Doctoral degree at the School of International Studies along with valuable academic experiences at the University of Kentucky in the USA, where I engaged in specialized coursework focusing on research methods and international politics. As a Teaching Assistant, I had the privilege of teaching two courses on American Politics and Culture, and Politics in Third World Countries at the University of Kentucky during 2004-2005. Furthermore, I actively participated in the ICPSR Programme in Quantitative Method at the University of Michigan, USA in 2010. I also spent a few months in Moscow for my PhD data collection earlier.
- Multilateralism and Politics of the Global South
- Politics and society in Russia, Central Asia and Baltic States
- India's Foreign Policy
- International Politics
- Research Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative
Teaching Courses on Research Methodology & Foreign Policy in School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India
Taught "American Government" Course (Ps-101) to Undergraduates in University of Kentucky (Winter Semester, 2005), USA as a Teaching Assistant
Taught "Culture And Politics In Third World Countries" in University of Kentucky, Fall 2004 as a Teaching Assistant
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(Jan 2024- Jan 2026) Co-director in ICSSR Major Research Project titled Multilateralism in the Global South: Mapping India’s Engagements with the UN, the G-20 and BRICS Plus .
(March 2012-2016) Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES), Project on Transition versus Transformation: Comparing Paths to Democratic Change in the Former USSR Using Case Study Based Evidence from Civil Society, International Aid and Domestic Politics. Based in Tallinn. Funded By European Union.
(2015-17) ICSSR major Project on “BRICS: An Alternative Vision of Trans-regional Cooperation from the Global South”. Co-director in the project with 6 members. This was funded by Indian Council of Social Science Research, Delhi, India.
Books:
Locating BRICS in the Global Order: Perspectives from the South (Co-edited), Routledge, London, 2022.
Re-emerging Russia: Structures, Institutions and Processes, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. (Co-authored).
Articles in Journals
Russia–China Strategic Alignment: Are They Headed Towards a Military Alliance? China Report, May 2024, 60(2), 129-147.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00094455241287292India’s multilateral foreign policy strategy: phases of its evolution, The Round Table, Vol 111, No. 3, Taylor and Francis, 2022.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00358533.2022.2082769BRICS in Global Governance: A Gradual but Steady Expansion, Governance and Politics, Moscow, Russia, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2022. (https://www.gp-mgimo.ru/jour/article/view/8/8).
India and the BRICS: A Cautious and Limited Engagement, International Studies, Sage Publication, Vol. 54, Issue 1-4, 2017.
Russia’s Foreign Policy: An Overview of 25 Years of Transition, International Studies, Sage Publication, vol. 53, issue 3-4, 2016.
Putin’s Legacy and the State of Democracy in Russia, International Studies, Sage Publication, (Vol 45, Issue 2, 2008).
Select Chapters in Edited Books
Kumar, Rajan (2025), ‘Emerging Eurasian Geopolitics, India and the INSTC’ in Logistics and Diplomacy, The Connectivity Diplomacy in Eurasia: The South Corridor, EMS Paris, 2025. ISBN : 978-2-38630-280-0
Kumar, Rajan (2024) ‘India’s Foreign Policy Priorities in South Asia’ in South Asia: History, Politics, International Relations, Publisher Kluch-S, Moscow 2024 Proceedings of the International Online Conference, December 01, 2023.PP 29-34. ISBN 978-5-6051399-5-9. – doi 10.56700/Kluch.2024.76.84.001
Kumar, R. (2021). Soviet Legacy and Russia’s Foreign Policy. In: Anuradha M Chenoy, Archana Upadhyay (eds), Hundred Years of the Russian Revolution. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 978-981-33-4785-4
Kumar, R. (2022). The European Union as a Global Actor: An Indian Perspective. In: Freire, M.R., Lopes, P.D., Nascimento, D., Simão, L. (eds) EU Global Actorness in a World of Contested Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 978-3-030-92997-8
Media Contribution
I write columns for The Indian Express, The Financial Express, Prabhat Khabar and others. I appear regularly for TV debates on issues of international politics, Eurasia, and India’s foreign policy.
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