Anirudh Kanisetti is Associate Fellow at the Takshashila Institution, and is a BITS Pilani graduate. His work covers a variety of areas, from geopolitics and history to networked societies and technology governance. Anirudh’s writings have been published in Mint, The Print, the Deccan Herald, the New Indian Express, and Pragati. He is the host of Echoes of India: A History Podcast and Yuddha: The Indian Military History Podcast, a recurring host on Takshashila’s All Things Policy podcast, and is the editor of an upcoming volume on the post-COVID world order.

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All Things Policy: China’s New Coastguard Law

All Things Policy: A New Era for Indian Internet

Takshashila Blue Paper: A Rare Earths Strategy for India

All Things Policy: How Did Rome Defeat the Armies of Alexander’s Successors?

All Things Policy: The Strange World of Serina

All Things Policy: How Russia Uses the Geopolitics of Natural Gas

All Things Policy: Should Google and Facebook Pay for News?

All Things Policy: The Mirage of a United Asia

All Things Policy: Struggle and Revolution in Telugu Literature

All Things Policy: When The Stonks Are Down

1. The Parliamentary Committee Report commended the Indian government’s handling of the Doklam crisis, but India’s China policy is in urgent need of revisiting. https://theprint.in/opinion/parliamentary-committee-report-on-doklam-cant-see-chinas-game-is-just-beginning/128487/
2. The world is changing. India must consider all possible outcomes, and evaluate its options accordingly. https://www.thinkpragati.com/think/5312/indias-place-in-the-new-world-order/
3. What should a government provide to its citizens? Less government or more? What should it prioritise? What should the role of the private sector be? These have been matters of much controversy in policy circles for decades. The Indian people, however, seem to have much clearer-cut views on the subject. https://www.thinkpragati.com/opinion/4948/what-does-india-ask-of-its-government/
4. The Arthashastra’s conception of the state, with self-imposed limits, was a startling one for its times. https://www.thinkpragati.com/opinion/2738/kautilyas-radical-idea/
5. After the Cambridge Analytica revelations, an examination of how our data, taken without our consent, can be used for informational warfare that harms our democracy. https://www.thinkpragati.com/opinion/3873/on-sale-your-vote/  
6. Preventing sexual violence requires dismantling gender constructs that sustain and normalize gender-based violence https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/gw2tZHUEs92XKzo6Y2ejQK/India-has-a-major-sexual-assault-problem.html
7. Social media was once peripheral to politics and is now integral to it, making it increasingly governed by the mathematics of chaos and networks: https://www.thinkpragati.com/bookshelf/3825/how-social-media-affects-politics/ 
8. The recent protests in Iran did not topple the government. How effective are demonstrations driven by social media? http://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2018/jan/23/to-kill-a-social-media-revolution-1761799.html
9. In Part One of an exploration of radically networked societies, I examine the constituents of human nature. https://www.thinkpragati.com/opinion/2451/ascent-descent-humankind/
10. In Part Two of an exploration of radically networked societies, I examine how the evolution of human behaviour landed us in this Age of Outrage. https://www.thinkpragati.com/opinion/2636/cave-echo-chamber/
11. In Part Three of an exploration of radically networked societies, I discuss its effects on the contemporary nation-state. https://www.thinkpragati.com/opinion/2824/social-media-changed-politics/
12. The Padmaavat controversy has precluded a critical dialogue on the legacy the 13th century Sultan left behind, especially in the South https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/A8rM7OG5zPTu7PXV1fSFcO/The-impact-of-Alauddin-Khilji.html 
13. As the spread of Islam in much of South India shows, trade can often bring communities together. https://www.thinkpragati.com/think/4601/how-trade-leads-to-tolerance/
14. Tonio Andrade’s The Gunpowder Age is a lucid, refreshing take on the relative military decline of China and the rise of the West. https://www.thinkpragati.com/bookshelf/3413/china-lost-gunpowder-wars/
15. If you’re seeking to write a political thriller and are searching for inspiration, you need look no further than the career of Turkey’s current President. From footballer to moderate democrat to neo-Ottoman and world-famous misogynist, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has come a long way. https://www.thinkpragati.com/world/4927/a-tale-of-two-turks/  
16. “The Paradox of Vulnerability” presents an interesting explanation of why smaller nation-states seem to respond better to global crises. https://www.thinkpragati.com/bookshelf/3153/strength-in-frailty/
17. Kanakalatha Mukund’s The World of the Tamil Merchant is a lucid introduction to one of ancient India’s most wealthy and powerful trading regions. https://www.thinkpragati.com/bookshelf/2759/temples-spice-everything-nice/
18. Upinder Singh’s Political Violence in Ancient India revolutionises the way India understands its past. https://www.thinkpragati.com/bookshelf/2669/violent-origins-land-ahimsa/
19. James Scott’s lucid Against The Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States  provides a fascinating refutation of mainstream narratives of civilization. https://www.thinkpragati.com/bookshelf/1774/the-domestication-of-humankind/
20. Kaveh Yazdani’s India, Modernity, and the Great Divergence is a fascinating exploration of why India fell behind the Western world in the 18th and 19th centuries. https://www.thinkpragati.com/bookshelf/2207/india-fall-behind/

“Doklam 2.0: Implications and Options” at the Bangalore International Centre, with co-panelists Nirupama Menon Rao and Lt Gen (Retd) Prakash Menon on May 28th, 2018. http://www.bicentre.org/events/doklam2.html

Anirudh is the TA for the Arthashastra course of the Takshashila Graduate Certificate in Strategic Studies, and also helps conduct the crisis simulation game, Exercise Amrut.

Ancient Indian Thinking: The Circle of Kings 

A Presidential Pardon for Turkey: West Asia Fortnightly Update, 03-01-2019

How Many Governments Does it Take to Fix a Light Bulb?