SHANTHIE MARIET D'SOUZA
SHANTHIE MARIET D'SOUZA
Founder, Mantraya Institute for Strategic Studies (MISS), India
Dr. Shanthie Mariet D’Souza is Founder and president of Mantraya Institute for Strategic Studies (MISS); visiting faculty at the Naval War College, Goa; non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, Washington D.C.; Research Fellow at WeltTrends-Institut für Internationale Politik, Potsdam; International Advisor at the Nordic Counter Terrorism Network, Helsinki; Member, Board of Studies, School of International & Area Studies, Goa University; Editorial board member of Small Wars & Insurgencies (Routledge: UK); and Adviser for Independent Conflict Research and Analysis, London. In a career spanning over two decades, she has conducted extensive field research in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Africa, and Australia. Dr D’Souza has been a Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair, School of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA (2024); Founding Professor, Kautilya School of Public Policy, Hyderabad (2021-2022); Visiting Fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin, Germany (2022); Board Director at Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo (2018-2022) ; Visiting Research Associate at the School of Business & Governance, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia (2017); Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore (2010-14); Associate Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi (2006-10); Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Research associate at South Asia Studies, The Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C.( 2005-06). As Team leader for Local Planning and Budgeting–IDLG-UNDP-LOGO project, Kabul, Afghanistan ( 2020); Adviser, Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2015-16); International Election Observer for the audit and recount of Afghanistan’s Presidential Runoff elections,( 2014); 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. She has been a recipient of the Fulbright Junior Research Fellowship (2005-06) and the President’s Award for Excellence in Research (2009) from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Dr D’Souza’s research interests and expertise include: Terrorism and strategies in combatting terrorism; Insurgencies and P/ Countering violent extremism; Irregular warfare, Hybrid threats & Emerging security challenges; Armed conflicts, non-state actors and illicit networks; Organized crime, grey economy and human trafficking; Security Sector Reform; International interventions, Aid delivery and Post conflict stabilization; Politics of aid, development, gender and security in Afghanistan; Women, peace and conflict resolution; Subnational governance and downward accountability; Public Policy Analysis; Climate change, water and energy security; Geopolitical trends and analysis in Asia; Great Power Politics, Global governance and Emerging Powers; India’s foreign, maritime and security policy. 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, encyclopedias, yearbooks and regional surveys and op-eds in the media. She has published in international peer reviewed journals including Small Wars & Insurgencies (UK: Routledge), Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs (Sage), The Journal of South Asian Development (Sage), South Asian Survey( Sage), Contemporary South Asia (London: Routledge), Strategic Analysis (Routledge), Journal of Defence Studies, Combating Terrorism Exchange (Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, USA), Small Wars Journal, (Small Wars Foundation, Bethesda, USA), Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, (Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University: Washington DC), The Journal of International Security Affairs, No. 20, (Washington DC), Welt Trends: Journal for International Politics and Comparative Studies (Germany: University of Potsdam), and others. Her work on Afghanistan and India have been published in The Europa Regional Surveys of the World, Europa World, (Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxford: Routledge) and Encyclopedia Britannica. Dr D’Souza has been interviewed by various media outlets and her writings on Afghanistan and South Asia have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Strait Times (Singapore), The National Interest, The Hindu (India), Indian Express, Business Standard (India), The Business Times (Singapore), among others.