Michael Vinay Bhatia
Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies
Box 1970, 111 Thayer St.
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Education
10/01- University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College), Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford, UK
D.Phil Candidate in International Relations, 2002-
§ Dissertation Title: The Mujahideen: A Study of Combatant Motives in Afghanistan, 1978-2004
§ Examines ‘vocabularies of motive,’ through interviews with 345 combatants throughout Afghanistan (Paktia, Kandahar, Ghor, Hazarajat, Jalalabad, Kunduz).
M.Sc. in International Relations Research, 2001-2002
09/95-05/99 Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
B.A. in International Relations (Magna cum Laude and Honors), Fall 1995- Spring 1999
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, Fall 1998
Honors and Grants
2003 British Committee for Central and Inner Asia Field Research Grant
2001 George C. Marshall Scholar
2000 Herbert J. Scoville Peace and Disarmament Fellow
1999 Albert Arnold Bennett Award for Outstanding Performance in International Relations, Brown University
1999 Anthony Riccio Prize in International Relations, Brown University
1996-1998 Richard Smoke Summer Internship Grant, Brown University
Teaching and Research
07/06-08/07 Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI
Visiting Fellow
§ Member, Marshall, Rhodes, Gates and Craig Fellowship Committee.
§ Designed and taught seminar on ‘The American Military: Global Supremacy, Democracy and Citizenship.’
§ Contributed to Global Media Project, Project on Military Cultural Awareness Training, the Choices Education Project, and the Global Security Project.
§ Special lectures on ‘Conflict, Combatants and Illicit Activity in Afghanistan,’ ‘Complex Humanitarian Emergencies,’ and ‘Poppy Production and Counter-narcotics in Afghanistan.’
01-04/06 Department of Political Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON
Sessional Lecturer
§ Taught third-year lecture course (three hour) on ‘The Causes of War’ to 60 undergraduates.
10/00-06/01 Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), Washington, D.C.
Fall 2000 Herbert J. Scoville Peace and Disarmament Fellow
Consultancies and Professional Activities
04/05- Small Arms Survey, Geneva and Afghanistan
Consultant on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) and Small Arms in Afghanistan
11/04-04/05 Conflict, Security, and Development Group, King’s College, London and Afghanistan
Consultant, UK DfID Review of Provincial Reconstruction Teams
10/04 OSCE Electoral Support Team, Afghanistan
Electoral Expert and USA Delegation Member for Afghanistan’s first Presidential Elections
04/04-08/04 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), Afghanistan
Researcher on Security Sector
07/02-04/04 Oxford Analytica, Oxford, UK
Shift Editor and Afghanistan Consultant
10/02 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Kosovo
International Polling Station Supervisor and Team Leader
08/01 Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Afghanistan/Pakistan
Researcher, Humanitarian Policy Group on Political Economy, Livelihoods and Aid in Taliban Afghanistan
04/01 Western Sahara Foundation/Defense Forum Foundation
Member, Congressional Delegation to the Polisario-controlled Western Sahara and Refugee Camps
06-09/00 International Rescue Committee, Kosovo
Shelter, Grants and Finance Volunteer
08/99-01/00 Brown University/Paximus Australia, East Timor
Served as accredited UN Observer, reported on violations and witnessed post-consultation violence.
06/09/98 United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva, Switzerland
Intern, Western Sahara Operation, Desk II, CASWANAME
§ Drafted position papers on implementation of and alternatives to current peace settlement plan.
11/97 Saharawan Aid Trust
Member, Humanitarian Aid Convoy to the Sahrawi Refugee Camps near Tindouf, Algeria
06/96-09/99 Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI
Research Assistant on Peace Operations and Humanitarian Intervention.
04/96-06/97 Brown Journal of World Affairs, Providence, RI
Associate/Assistant Editor
Advice Solicited By: UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UN reform), UK Post-Conflict Reconstruction Unit (Afghanistan), BBC (UN peace operations), Canada International Development Agency (Afghanistan), Foreign Affairs Canada (Afghanistan), Ministry of Justice-Canada (Afghanistan), International Committee of the Red Cross (war and international humanitarian law). Fordham University Law Clinic (Guantanamo combatants).
List of Publications
Books
§ War and Intervention: Issues for Contemporary Peace Operations (Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, 2003).
Co-Authored Books
§ Michael Bhatia and Mark Sedra, Afghanistan, Arms and Conflict, (London, UK: Routledge, forthcoming)
Edited Books
§ Terrorism and the Politics of Naming, (London, UK: Routledge, February 2007)
Edited Journal Issues
§ “The Politics of Naming: Rebels, Terrorists, Criminals, Bandits and Subversives,” Special Issue of Third World Quarterly (Spring 2005).
Co-Authored Reports
§ Dylan Hendrickson, Michael Bhatia, Mark Knight and Annabel Taylor, “A Review of DfID Involvement in Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan,” submitted to DfID-London (May 2005).
§ Michael Bhatia, Kevin Lanigan and Philip Wilkinson, “Minimal Investments, Minimal Results: The Failure of Security Policy in Afghanistan,” AREU Briefing Paper (June 2004).
§ Michael Bhatia and Jonathan Goodhand (with Haneef Atmar, Suleiman Mohammed and Adam Pain), “Profits and Poverty: Aid, Livelihoods and Conflict in Afghanistan,” HPG Background Paper (London: ODI, 2003).
§ Sarah Collinson (with Michael Bhatia, Martin Evans, Richard Fanthorpe, Jonathan Goodhand and Stephen Jackson), “Politically informed humanitarian programming: using a political economy approach,” ODI Network Paper 41 (London: ODI, December 2002).
§ Jarat Chopra and Michael Bhatia, “Western Sahara: The Frustrated Transition from War to Peace,” WRITENET Paper (1999).
Articles
§ “The Future of the Mujahideen: Legacy, Legitimacy and Demobilization,” International Peacekeeping (Winter 2007).
§ “Fighting Words: Naming Terrorists, Rebels, Bandits and Other Violent Actors,” Third World Quarterly, vol. 26, no.1 (March 2005)
§ “Post-Conflict Profit: The Political Economy of Intervention,” Global Governance, vol. 11, no. 2 (April-June 2005).
§ “Repatriation Under a Peace Process: Mandated Return in the Western Sahara,” The International Journal of Refugee Law vol. 15 (2003).
§ “The Peace Allergy: why the U.S. military had no plans for post-war Iraq,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, vol. 59, no.4 (July-August 2003).
§ “The Sins of Omission: The AJC’s Project Interchange and the Creation of American Opinion,” Middle East Policy, vol.9, no.2 (2002).
§ "The Western Sahara Under Polisario Control: Summary Report of a Field Mission to the Sahrawi Refugee Camps (near Tindouf, Algeria)," Review of African Political Economy, vol.28, no. 88 (June 2001).
Presentations
§ “Studying Afghan Combatant Motives,” Brown University, 14 November 2006
§ “9/11+5,” Brown University, 11 September 2006
§ “Enlightened Interventions: The Discourse of Practice in Empire, Military Occupation and Contemporary Transitional Administration,” presented at the British International Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Warwick, 20 December 2004
§ ‘Afghanistan’s Muddied Waters: Assessing the Security Sector,’ presented to government, international and foreign military representatives in Kabul, May 2004.
§ “From Bargaining Table to Municipality: The Levels of Governance in Peace Operations,” presented at the British International Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Birmingham, 17 December 2003.
§ “The American Response to Terrorism,” presented at the University of Belfast-Londontown, March 2002.
§ Panel Presentation on post-Taliban Afghanistan at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, November 2002.
§ “Statement Regarding the Issue of the Western Sahara Before the Fourth Committee for Special Political and Decolonization Issues of the United Nations General Assembly,” 7-9 October 1998.
Miscellaneous
§ “Beyond Conflict in Afghanistan,” The Globalist-Online, (June 2007).
§ “Afghanistan: Tribalism,” Oxford Analytica Client Report, (July 2006).
§ “Afghanistan — Karzai to move against warlords,” Oxford Analytica Daily Brief (10 November 2004)
§ “Afghanistan — Election run-up to test security progress,” Oxford Analytica Daily Brief (1 September 2004).
§ “Afghanistan — Reconstruction Tenders Tempt,” Oxford Analytica Daily Brief (25 July 2003).
§ “Intervention offers no solution for Kosovo,” GlobalBeat/Knight Ridder Press Syndicate, (19 September 2000).
§ “A Chance to Right A Wrong in East Timor,” GlobalBeat/Knight Ridder Press Syndicate, (27 September 1999).
§ Natalie Reid, Salim Fakirani and Michael Bhatia, “United Nations Efforts to Resolve the Western Sahara Conflict Appear Bleak,” Human Rights Tribune, vol.7, no. 2/3 (September 2000).
§ “Western Sahara: And after humanitarian success, political failure?” CROSSLINES GLOBAL REPORT, vol.6, no.1, iss.33 (Fall 1998).
Assisted
§ Drafted and researched case-study chapters, maps and tables for: Thomas G. Weiss, Military-Civilian Interactions: Intervening in Humanitarian Crises, (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999).
Recommendations Available From:
Professor S.Neil Macfarlane Dr. Jarat Chopra (on-leave)
Department of Politics and International Relations The Watson Institute
Manor Road, Oxford, OX1 3UQ Brown University, Box 1970
United Kingdom Providence, RI USA 02912-1970
neil.macfarlane@politics.ox.ac.uk Jarat_Chopra@brown.edu
Shahid Qadir Professor Thomas Biersteker
Department of Geography, The Watson Institute
Royal Halloway, Brown University, Box 1970
Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX UK Providence, RI 02912-1970
sqadir@globalnet.co.uk Thomas_Biersteker@brown.edu
Dr. Andrew Krepinevich
Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
1730 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Suite 912
Washington, DC 20036
(t): (202) 331-7990
krepinevich@csbaonline.org
From the Human Terrain System,
