Asanga Abeyagoonasekera discusses Conundrum of an Island: Sri Lanka's Geopolitical Challenges

About Conundrum of an Island: Sri Lanka's Geopolitical Challenges:

This book is a compilation of essays on several themes intended to provoke thought on and promote understanding about everyday political and social life on an island facing constant geopolitical and domestic political challenges. The themes of this book are: 4/21 Terror Attack and National Security; China, Belt and Road Initiative and Sri Lankan Foreign Policy; Geopolitics; Sustaining Democracy and Facing a Pandemic; and Domestic Political Stability, Leadership and Economic Crime.

Most essays have captured the domestic viewpoint from which to begin drawing a wider picture of the global geopolitical tapestry. The chapters enframe a variety of domestic political incidents, conflicts of various actors, and the conundrum of an island in the Indian Ocean, stuck in the triangular maritime power dynamics among the United States, China, and India. They also examine the influences from foreign nations towards Sri Lanka's foreign policy and the dynamics of security challenges in the larger geosphere and marine sphere of South Asia and the Indian Ocean respectively. The chapters offer the reader an Olympian viewpoint of the challenges Sri Lanka faces, attempting to find connections and patterns towards greater external geopolitical influence and how it impacts domestic politics.

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Asanga is an International Security and Geopolitics Analyst and Strategic Advisor from Sri Lanka. Presently he serves as a Senior Fellow at the Millennium Project in Washington DC. In 2021 Asanga served as a Senior Researcher for Social Impact (USA), conducting a Political Economic Analysis (PEA) in Sri Lanka for USAID. Asanga has led two Government think tanks providing strategic advocacy. With almost two decades of experience in the Government sector in advisory positions to working at Foreign Policy and Defence think tanks, he was the founding Director-General of the National Security Think Tank under the Ministry of Defence (INSSSL) until January 2020. Before this, he served as the Executive Director at the Foreign Policy think tank (Kadirgamar Institute LKIIRSS). His recent book is on Sri Lanka’s Geopolitical challenges ‘Conundrum of an Island’ (Published by World Scientific, Singapore). Author of ‘Sri Lanka at Crossroads’ (2019) and ‘Towards A Better World Order’ (2015). He is a keen commentator on Geopolitics, Intranational Relations and South Asian Security matters and has written extensively and published in international journals and think tanks.

He served as a Visiting Professor for Geopolitics and Global Leadership (NKU, USA), Visiting Lecturer for International Security (Colombo University, Sri Lanka), and International Political Economy (the University of London in Colombo RIC).

Asanga is an Alumnus of the US State Department IVLP, National Defense University (NESA, NDU) in Washington DC, APCSS(Hawaii) and YGL World Economic Forum (Geneva).***

Accessibility note: This event is up two flights of stairs and Lost City Books does not have an elevator. This event will be simultaneously live streamed on our YouTube page!