India: From regional power to global superpower + opening keynote by Dilip Menon

India has gone from being a regional player in a tense relationship with Pakistan to becoming an ambitious superpower that plays an increasingly important role internationally. Today, India is part of the Quad alongside the USA, Australia and Japan. It has a major presence in the Middle East, it challenges China in Southeast Asia, its pharmaceutical products dominate Africa, its warships patrol the Indian Ocean, it has established research stations in the Arctic and Antarctica. India has even put a rocket on the moon. But this is not just about geopolitics; India expects to be seen and respected. The size of its population and the size of its economy, combined with a newfound sense of self and ambition, will impact the world, including Europe and Norway.

In this panel debate, we ask: What does this self-esteem consist of? And, what does India want to do with its ambitions and new power?

Dilip Menon, Professor of History and International Relations, and Director of the Center for Indian Studies in Africa at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, will give the keynote address. He has written several books, including Elementary Aspects of the Political: Histories from the Global South and Changing Theory: Concepts from the Global South. The topic of the post on Melahuset is "India and the Global South: postcolonial engagements?"

Menon's keynote is followed by a panel debate with:

• Sunniva Engh, Associate Professor at the University of Oslo, is currently researching India's foreign and security policy and Asian great power relations.
• Acquino Vimal, India's ambassador to Oslo, who has previously worked in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Islamabad.
• Henrik Chetan Aspengren is a researcher and senior analyst of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs and currently leading the "Project for Nordic-India Relations" (PNIR) of their Asia Programme.

Doors open at 17:30 and the panel discussion starts at 18:00

Open to all. Free Entry.

The event is supported by UiO:Democracy and Fritt Ord