Ruchi Anand

From July 13-August 3, Prof. Ruchi Anand will participate in the Junior Statesmen of America summer program at Princeton University, teaching a course on International Relations. Dr. Anand has taught in the JSA Summer Programs since 2001 at Princeton as well as Georgetown and Stanford. The JSA programs, which have been in existence for 80 years, are aimed at outstanding highschool students who have a passion for government and politics and demonstrate a capability to undertake a program "providing an advanced college curriculum, dynamic skills based leadership activities, and interactive sessions with prominent politicians, journalists, academicians and other opinion leaders." (excerpt from the www.jsa.org website).

Most notable alumni of JSA include Leon Panetta (Former United States Secretary of Defense, Director of the CIA, White House Chief of Staff, US Congressman, and Member of the California State Senate, Mike McCurry (Press Secretary under President Clinton, Edwin Meese (Attorney General under President Reagan), businessman and inventor Charles Schwab, and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

When asked why she teaches int he JSA program as part of her summer break after a hectic teaching year, Prof. Anand said, “Teaching at this program is a very intense, demanding, rich and rewarding experience. The students are such political junkees and so enthusiastic that I get to recharge my teaching energy for the rest of the year."

In July Professor Ruchi Anand taught a summer course at Princeton University, as part of the Junior State of America programs. Dr. Anand has taught with JSA Summer Programs since 2001 at their Georgetown, Stanford and Princeton campuses.

This specialized summer program, which has been in existence for 80 years, is designed for all-rounder high-school students who are interested in politics, international relations and economics and who demonstrate their capability to undertake a program tailored along the lines of an undergraduate seminar. As a part of this program, each student attends a college-level course in Government (4 hours a day) and participate in intensive congressional debates.

Most notable alumni of JSA include Leon Panetta (Former United States Secretary of Defense, Director of the CIA, White House Chief of Staff, US Congressman, and Member of the California State Senate, Mike McCurry (Press Secretary under President Clinton, Edwin Meese (Attorney General under President Reagan), businessman and inventor Charles Schwab, and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

In this picture, Dr. Anand is giving the graduation speech to an audience of over 360 people at the Berlind Theater Auditorium, in which her main messages were those of the organization namely “democracy is not a spectator sport” and “be the people”. When asked why she teaches int he JSA program as part of her summer break after a hectic teaching year, she said, “Teaching at this program is a very intense, demanding, rich and rewarding experience. The students are such political junkees and so enthusiastic that I get to recharge my teaching energy for the rest of the year."

Professor Ruchi Anand participated in the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), which brought together an estimated 6,000 scholars and professional practitioners from all continents in San Francisco, April 3-6, 2013. This year's convention was held on the theme "The Politics of International Diffusion: Regional and Global Dimensions". Professor Anand's paper was part of a panel on "Feminism, Gender, and Place", and focused on the following topic: "Thin is in? The Causes and Consequences of the Diffusion of a Westernized Body Image in India."

In her abstract, Professor Anand writes: "This paper seeks to problematize the impact of the global diffusion of the Western image of ‘thin’ body types and body images amongst women in India. In India, where thinness used to be a sign of malnutrition, poverty and disease, while well-rounded and curvy women portrayed health, wealth and prosperity, a transformation has taken place – in thought, perception and practice – that has had a series of positive and negative impacts on women’s rights and roles in patriarchal India. Thinness has begun to indicate beauty, good health, self-discipline and sexual attractiveness and this culture has spread over time through Asia, Africa and Latin America. Who are the agents and what are the causal mechanisms carrying out (or blocking) this diffusion? What are the outcomes of this diffusion? Is it desirable or not? Why? In a culture where gender disparities and sex discrimination continue at all levels of society, embracing this vision has further pushed the Indian women being talked about to being “objects” rather than ‘”subjects” of their own bodies. Colonized by their sex and gender at multiple levels, women’s body images are indicators of a deeper political, anthropological and social issue than just transforming one’s body type."

More information on the ISA 2013 Annual Convention

On a related topic, Ruchi Anand was interviewed for a feature-length documentary entitled "The Illusionists" to be released in 2014. This documentary focuses on the commodification of the body and the marketing of unattainable beauty around the world. Professor Anand's interview covers the way that these issues play out in post-globalization India.

More information on the documentary "The Illusionists"

Having taught the 'International Relations' section at JSA Stanford in July 2011, Professor Anand, who replaced Prof. Paul Viotti, has now taught at three of the most prestigious university campuses in the world, Georgetown, Stanford and Princeton. The Junior Statesmen Summer School provides an advanced college curriculum, dynamic skills based leadership activities, and interactive sessions with prominent politicians, journalists, academicians and other opinion leaders. Dr. Anand says, "JSA is addictive and after 10 years of teaching there, I always want to go back and enjoy the energy of these amazing young students who live, breathe and do politics everyday...Thankfully, my other academic addiction, AGS, pulls me back to Paris where I will soon be celebrating my 10th anniversary as well."

Photos of Ruchi Anand and her JSA Class at Stanford University

In July Prof. Anand will participate in the Junior Statesmen of America summer program at Princeton University, teaching a course on International Relations. The Junior Statesmen programs are aimed at outstanding highschool students who have a passion for government and politics. These programs have existed for 75 years and are taught at Georgetown, Stanford, and Princeton.

This is the first year that Dr. Anand will teach a course on International Relations in this program. Previously, she taught United States Foreign Policy at the Georgetown (2001) and Princeton campuses (2003-09).

An excerpt from the www.jsa.org website:

"The Junior Statesmen Summer School offers a challenging, dynamic academic experience for students who have a passion for politics and government. For 75 years, non-partisan Junior Statesmen programs have provided an unparalleled training ground for the students who will be the civic leaders of their generation. Junior Statesmen Summer Programs prepare students to tackle the challenges facing their communities, our nation and the world.
With programs at three of the most prestigious universities in the world, Georgetown, Stanford and Princeton, the Junior Statesmen Summer School provides an advanced college curriculum, dynamic skills based leadership activities, and interactive sessions with prominent politicians, journalists, academicians and other opinion leaders."

Dr. Ruchi Anand participated in a round table panel on the theme: "Obama: One Year Later" with Harry Sullivan, Consul General of the US in Lyon, France, and journalist Jon Davies from the European TV network Euronews.

The round table was organized by Rotary International and CEFAM in Lyon on January 20, 2010 and anchored by Euronews's Stefan Grobe.

The various areas debated were Obama's impact on economy, America's Image Worldwide, political issues including Guantanamo, health care, and race relations.

The panel brought in an interesting blend of an academic perspective, a diplomatic perspective and a media perspective.

Dr. Ruchi Anand authored a chapter in the book published by Palgrave Mac Millan's: The World Views of the US Presidential Election: 2008 (November 2009), edited by Matthias Maass, a former professor at the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy.

This book gives an investigation and analysis of the perception of the 2008 US Presidential election by various countries across the globe, and shows how these countries often saw it as a global event where their own national politics were at stake.

Dr. Anand wrote the chapter on France, entitled "Oh La La: Obamania à la Française".

See book presentation on Palgrave Mac Millan's website

On the occasion of the Copenhagen summit, the international TV network France 24 invited Dr. Ruchi Anand on December 28 to participate in a debate about how the meat industry affects the environment through its impact on climate change.

According to the U.N. report "Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options"(2006) the meat producing industry is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emission worldwide.

Dr. Anand brought her expertise on environmental issues and policies to discuss this problem.

View France 24's "Face Off" show "Eat less meat to save the planet?"

Dr. Ruchi Anand just published her second book entitled Self Defense in International Relations (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2009). It is an interdisciplinary study that provides an analysis of power, security, and polarity in the international context, looks at the impact of the recent rise of non-state actors on the primacy of state sovereignty, and addresses issues of self-defense with regards to international law and international politics.

"The right to individual and collective self-defense in international law and politics has always been a controversial issue. Using the example of how the US employs self-defense against Iraq, this book uncovers new dimensions, which lead to innovative and practical strategies and analysis. It takes into account legal norms, politics and scholarly debates on self-defense in the post cold-war world and shows how power, security, polarity and the primacy of sovereign states play out in an international context. Three overarching themes constitute the backdrop, namely international anarchy, unipolarity and the decentralized nature of international law." (Source: Palgrave-MacMillan's website)

View more information or order book here.

Dr. Ruchi Anand's second book, entitled Self Defense in International Relations, will be published in October by Palgrave MacMillan Publishers.

It is a"an interdisciplinary study of how power, security, polarity and the primacy of sovereign states play out in an international context that has witnessed the rise of non-state actors. It provides an updated analysis of the complex relationship of anarchy, power and politics by addressing issues of self-defense in a unipolar order." (Description from Palgrave Mac Millan's online catalog)
Ruchi Anand's first book, International Environmental Justice: A North-South Dimension was published by Ashgate in 2004.