Professor T.V. Paul has been teaching in McGill University's Departmnet of Political Science for over 30 years. An expert on international relations, war and conflict and international security, Professor Paul was recently named a 2024 Distinguished Scholar by the International Studies Association-Canada. Earlier in 2023, Professor Paul was honoured with the establishment of the T.V. Paul Best Book Award by the Global International Studies Sections (GIRS) of the International Studies Association.
We spoke to Professor Paul about his recent honour and his ongoing research in international studies.
Q: You’ve been named a Distinguished Scholar by the International Studies Association-Canada. Tell us about the work you’ve done with the ISA over your career and what this honour means to you.
T.V. Paul: This honor means a lot to me. It is awarded every alternate year by the International Studies Association (ISA) - Canada region to a scholar who contributed much to scholarship, training, mentoring, and global outreach from all Canadian universities. I believe I am the first to receive this recognition from McGill.
I was president of ISA during 2016-17 and I have done considerable work to promote the participation of global south scholars in this lead world organization with a membership of some 7,000. I was also the third Canada-based scholar and second of global south origin to be elected to this role in the association’s 60 plus year history. In addition, I helped the creation of regional sections such as the South Asia in World Affairs under ISA which now helps scholars who work on the region to meet and organize panels and engage in networking activities.
Q: As the founding director of several research groups and centers for peace and security studies, how do you think a new generation of scholars are engaging with a conflict-afflicted world?
T.V. Paul: The conflict patterns in the international arena are once again evolving into major themes with the increasing real-world challenges in three dimensions: inter-state; intra-state and human security. Scholars are working on all these themes, but the world order is being pulled in different directions by great powers and rising powers after three decades of American primacy following the end of the Cold War. The Ukraine War has the potential to morph into further divisions and conflicts in Europe. War avoidance among great powers as well as de-escalation of major conflicts in the regions are primary goals of some of my scholarly efforts. If the major powers are in war, they tend to drag others into it.
There are also some positive developments in today’s world order as regional actors are not jumping into alliance formation to create a bipolar order between the US and China. However, long-standing conflicts in the Middle East, South Asia and the Korean peninsula are not seeing any progress toward resolution. They flare up periodically as we are witnessing in the Israeli-Palestinian and Iran-Israeli cases today. Much work is needed to understand the conditions that keep these conflicts enduring, but more importantly, how to promote conflict resolution and permanent accommodation of conflicting parties.
Q: Your upcoming book, “The Unfinished Question: India’s Search for Major Power Status from Nehru to Modi” will be published later this month by Oxford University Press. What inspired you to write this book, and what can it tell us about India’s importance and influence in the global world order?
T.V. Paul: India’s rise since its economic liberalization in the 1990s has inspired many policy and media analyses. However, theoretically-grounded, yet easy-to-read scholarly works are rare on this subject. Understanding what motivates countries like India to seek greater international status and what the domestic and international consequences of such a phenomenon are, as well as whether a peaceful accommodation of a rising power contrary to historical patterns of wars is feasible are some motivating goals in pursuing this book project.
I also look at the domestic and international constraints in India gaining its recognition, especially given the democratic backsliding in the country in recent years as well as low levels human development and the persistent deep inequalities, despite improved aggregate economic growth.
Q: What is the most rewarding part of teaching at McGill?
T.V. Paul: McGill offers an intellectually stimulating environment thanks to the very talented faculty and students it attracts from different parts of the world. The relatively free environment on campus has allowed me to publish, travel and engage scholars worldwide and build up scholarly networks for the advancement of knowledge in the international relations field. I have also been able to train a significant number of masters and doctoral students who have been generally successful in their professional fields.