Akriti Vasudeva is a Research Analyst with the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center. Her research focuses on U.S.-India defense and strategic cooperation, geopolitics of South Asia and the Indo-Pacific, and Indian foreign policy. She is also Editor-at-large at South Asian Voices, an online magazine featuring strategic analysis and commentary on the security, politics, and economics of the subcontinent. Her analysis has appeared on NPR and BBC and in Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, and The National Interest, among others. Previously, she worked as a print journalist in India, reporting on environmental issues for Indian Express in Mumbai, and on education policy for Hindustan Times, New Delhi. She has also held research positions at the Embassy of India in Washington, D.C. and the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, among others. She holds an M.A. in Asian Studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs.
When did you realize you wanted an international career?
My identity and my surroundings have impacted my interests significantly. I’m from India and lived there most of my life. From a young age, I was fascinated with the history and politics of the region because my grandparents grew up in British-ruled, pre-Partition India. When I was growing up in Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, in the 1990s and 2000s, India’s economy had just begun to take off. New Delhi was starting to re-embrace its international role. As a journalist in Mumbai and Delhi for two years, I witnessed firsthand the beginning of this transformation and became interested in the policymaking process. Journalism was an enriching experience, but I found the scope of what I was writing too narrow and wanted to study India and its place in the world. That’s how I ended up at the Elliott School, trying to see the country and the region from an outsider’s perspective and examining the security and strategic challenges India may face as it tries to rise in its region and globally.
Describe your current position and what new skills have you developed since starting?
I am currently a Research Analyst in the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center, a Washington DC-based nonpartisan think-tank, where I track developments related to and conduct research on US-India-China strategic dynamics and geopolitics of South Asia and the Indo-Pacific. Besides writing reports, policy briefs, and op-eds on these issues, I lead my program’s virtual dialogue initiative, as part of which we hold discussions with analysts and think-tanks in India and Pakistan on U.S. policy in the region. Finally, I am also Editor-at-Large at South Asian Voices, an online magazine on the security, politics, and economics of South Asia.
Working at a think-tank requires various skills: from research and analysis to grant writing, from project management to public speaking. I may be stealing the next question’s thunder a bit but many classes at Elliott gave me a foundation in these skills. Prof. Molly Bauch’s class on formal briefing tactics was fantastic practice for clearly communicating to different audiences and I still sometimes go back to my notes from Prof. Glaser’s class on writing for IA professionals. However, I do want to break the myth that you must have previous experience in all of these areas to work at a think-tank—for instance, I picked up grant writing experience on the job and to a large extent, project management is something you only really learn by doing.
What part of your experience at the Elliott School best prepared you for your current position?
The Elliott School has perhaps the best East Asia faculty in DC and I benefited immensely from Professor David Shambaugh’s Chinese politics and foreign policy class and Prof. Robert Sutter’s class on U.S. foreign policy. The broader intellectual community at GW besides Elliott such as the media and business schools also contributed to my growth and I would advise students to expand their horizons and attend events and classes at these schools as well. In terms of resources for job search, I appreciated and learnt a lot from career panels organized by the Sigur Center and took advantage of the Elliott School Career Office’s resume critiquing and alumni connection workshops. However, I do hope the Elliott school invests more resources in the study of South Asia because this is a consequential region for U.S. interests but receives lesser attention as compared to East Asia. I am confident that the leadership of Dean Alyssa Ayres would help with this.
What advice do you have for prospective students who are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in international relations?
My overarching advice would be to remember that what you do as an individual matters–in a community, in a country, in the world. You can impact policy and bring positive change. More specifically, in addition to studying IR theories, focus on studying history. We often focus too much on the contemporary especially when formulating policy recommendations. But learning from past experience, examples, and mistakes is crucial.
To those who are pursuing area studies, I would say: 1. Live in the region and conduct research there. 2) Learn the language of the region. 3. Regularly read media from the region and engage with scholars on the ground. There are no shortcuts to understanding the society, culture, history, and policymaking approach of a country/region but doing these three things will help enormously.
How do you feel about pineapple on pizza?
I think pineapple on pizza is an abomination and the Italians would not approve. True story—once when I was at a traditional, family-run pizzeria in Italy, I asked for chicken as the meat topping on my pizza. They refused—said it was either ham or nothing!
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The #ElliottProud profile series is managed by the Elliott School Office of Graduate Admissions and highlights graduate program alumni to answer common questions posed by prospective, incoming, and current students. For more information on this series or to submit questions, e-mail the Office of Graduate Admissions at esiagrad@gwu.edu.
The views expressed by students profiled do not necessarily represent those of organizations they work for, are affiliated with, or the Elliott School of International Affairs.
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