Namrata Goswami

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Archive data: Person was Research Fellow at IDSA

Joined IDSA
April 2006
Expertise
International Relations Theory, Ethnic and Intra-State Conflicts, Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution
Education
MA (Politics and Administration), Pune University
Masters Diploma (Journalism and Communications), Symbiosis Institute of Journalism and Communication, Pune
PhD (International Organization), School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Current Project
International Security Audit: Great Power Cooperation or Competition
Armed Ethnic Conflicts in Northeast India and the Indian State’s Response
Background
Dr. Goswami completed her doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2005 on the topic “Just War Theory and Humanitarian Intervention: A Comparative Case Study of East Pakistan and Kosovo.” Dr. Goswami was a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Washington. D.C from October 2012 to June 2013; Visiting Fellow at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg (November–December 2010); the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), August 2006 to July 2010; and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Dialogue, La Trobe University, Melbourne from April to August 2009. She is a recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship, 2012-2013.
Select Publication
Indian National Security and Counter-Insurgency: The Use of Force Vs Non Violent Response, Routledge, London and New York, 2015
“The “Myth” behind China’s Territorial Claims: Fabrications in Northeast India”, Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict, June 30, 2015
“India’s Internal Security Situation: Present Realities and Future Pathways” IDSA Monograph Series, No 23, September 2013.
“Power Shifts in East Asia: Balance of Power Versus Liberal Institutionalism” Perceptions, Journal of International Affairs, XVIII/1, Spring 2013.
Editor, Imagining Asia in 2030: Trends, Scenarios and Alternatives, Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2011.
“China’s Territorial Claim on India’s Arunachal Pradesh: A Response to Changing Power Dynamics in Asia”, Strategic Analysis, 35/5, September 2011, pp. 781-792.
“Armed Ethnic Conflicts in Northeast India and the Indian State’s Response: Limits on the ‘use of force’ and the ‘notion’ of proportionality, Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics, University of Heidelberg, Working Paper No. 60, March 2011, pp. 1-27.
“India’s North East 2020: Four Alternative Scenarios”, IDSA Occasional Paper No.13, 2010.
“India’s Counter-Insurgency Experience: The ‘Trust’ and ‘Nurture Strategy”, Small Wars and Insurgencies, 20/1 (March 2009) Routledge, London, pp.66-86.
Research Fellow
E-mail: namygoswami[at]gmail[dot]com

Publication

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Averting Terror Attacks

On September 13, five serial bombs shattered the weekend peace across several popular market complexes in New Delhi, killing 30 innocent civilians and injuring nearly 90. An elusive outfit calling itself “Indian Mujahideen” (IM) claimed responsibility for the bombings via an email sent to national media houses 10 minutes after the first blast at Karol Bagh.

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A Way Out of Naga Factional Violence

Nagaland has been up in flames for quite sometime now. For the past eight months or so, heavy inter-factional killings between the National Socialist Council of Nagalim-Isak-Muivah [NSCN (IM)], the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang [NSCN (K)], and the newly formed National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Unification [NSCN (U)], have been vitiating the atmosphere there. On July 9, clashes between the NSCN (IM) and the NSCN (U) in Diphupar village led to the death of a few insurgents.

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Increasing Violence in the Assam Hills

The hill district of Assam, North Cachar Hills (N.C. Hills), has been recently in the news all too often but for the wrong reasons. Known for its pristine mountainous landscape and myriad ethnicities, culture and breathtaking bio-diversity, this hill district is now sadly dominating news bytes as a place plagued by a ‘vicious cycle of ethnically slanted indiscriminate violence’.

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Mizoram on the Verge of Another Mautam?

Mizoram’s bamboo groves have been bursting into flower since November 2007, causing famine-like conditions. It is not as if the locals have been caught unawares. Since the flowering occurs over a 48-49 year cycle, it was obvious to all in this tiny hill state of North East India that the Melocanna baccifera (local specie of bamboo) would burst into flower in 2007-2008, as it had in 1959 with all the attendant consequences.

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DHD (N) and UPDS Agree to Ceasefire

People living in the two hill districts of Assam – North Cachar Hills and Karbi Anglong –witnessed a dim ray of hope for peace on March 18, 2008, when the Dima Halam Daogah (Nunisa) faction [DHD (N)] and the United Peoples’ Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) signed a ceasefire. The ceasefire came about during a joint meeting at Diphu, capital of Karbi Anglong, which was facilitated by the district’s Deputy Commissioner Dr. M. Angamuthu. The two groups have pledged to co-operate with the district administrations of North Cachar hills and Karbi Anglong for establishing peace.

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Assam and Aftermath: Reality Check

The street violence that gripped Assam’s main city Guwahati on November 24 will not easily fade from public memory. Trouble brewed when a peaceful protest rally organized by the All Assam Adivasi Students’ Association (AAASA),demanding scheduled tribe status for the adivasi community, turned violent leading to chaos and disorder. Some of the younger adivasi protestors went on a rampage between heavily populated areas of Beltola Chariali and Beltola Survey destroying vehicles and shops on the way.

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The Unfolding Crisis in Myanmar

Myanmar has been in the eye of the storm in recent months. In August, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the Myanmarese military regime led by Than Shwe is known, arbitrarily increased the fuel prices from US $1.18 to $1.96 per gallon. This sudden decision caught the country's impoverished people by surprise, who subsequently began a massive non-violent protest. Similar mass protests had taken place in 1988 against the military regime's removal of bank notes from circulation resulting in loss of savings for the common people.

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The Assam-Nagaland Border Face Off

Come August, Assam and Nagaland breathed a sigh of relief with the heavens opening up to an extent, bringing with it much respite to the local people from recurring floods and landslide plagued roadways. But with the retreat of the heavy rains, a different if not less difficult situation has emerged. The political atmosphere in both states was charged up with tension in early August following a "war like situation" in the Assam-Nagaland border near Jorhat district in Assam and Mokokchung district in Nagaland, respectively.