Ashok Sharma

Dr. Ashok Sharma is a Visiting Fellow at the UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA).

Dr. Sharma is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra. He was the Head of the “South Asia Strategic, State Fragile and Security Program”, and a Conjoint Head of “Indo-Pacific Strategic Issues and Major Powers Studies” at the National Asian Security Studies Centre at the University of Canberra (UC). Ashok is also the Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA), Auckland Branch.

Prior to joining the UNSW Canberra at ADFA in November 2016, Dr. Sharma was a Fellow of Australia-India Institute at the University of Melbourne, a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University Auckland, a Fellow at the New Zealand-India Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington, a Visiting Academic at the University of Waikato, and an Endeavour Post-Doctoral Fellow at Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS), The Australian National University in 2008.

Dr. Sharma holds a B.A in Pol. Sc. (Hons.) from Ramjas College, Delhi University, an M.A. in Pol. Sc., and an M.Phil. & a Ph.D. in American Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. After work at New Delhi based foreign and security policy think tanks namely Observer Research Foundation, Centre for Air Power Studies and Centre for Land Warfare and at Delhi University, he moved to Australasia in 2008.

Ashok’s broad research interest is in international relations and security studies with specialisation in great power politics with the focus on the U.S.-China-India strategic geometry in South Asia and the Indo-Pacific region Ethnic lobbying in the US foreign policy; Quadrilateral Alliance in the Indo-Pacific region; India’s domestic politics, foreign and defence policy; the US-India foreign, defence, and security relations; India’s relationship with Australia and New Zealand; global security with emphasis on terrorism, nuclear issues and the geopolitics of energy security.

Dr. Sharma, extensively published, is an astute observer of India-US relations, is one of the leading experts on India’s global positioning and India-US geopolitics. He is the author of the book titled Indian Lobbying and its Influence in US Decision Making: Post-Cold War (Sage Publications 2017) and his latest book is titled India's Pursuit of Energy Security: Domestic Measures, Foreign Policy and Geopolitics (Sage Publications 2019). He is currently working on two book projects tentatively titled The India-US Relations in the 21st Century and India's Web of Allies. 

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