About the blog
Globalization, Risk, and Forecasting is a blog by Jalal Alamgir that discusses the significance of “the local,” especially local political risks, in an increasingly globalized world. In the process, I make the case that globally-distributed organizations should develop their internal capability for conducting political risk forecasts. The blog intends to blend my experience as a strategist, my academic research, and my personal anecdotes on bridging global-local divides.
About me
I am an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where I research and teach political science and international relations, and a Principal at Red Bridge Strategy, Inc., a consultancy I co-founded to help organizations globalize their operations with locally and politically-informed strategies. I really enjoy doing both. The university involves me with cutting-edge research and blue-sky thinking, and I get to meet many scholars and students–wonderful, eccentric, motivated–all helping us to understand the world better. At Red Bridge Strategy, I get to try out some of the ideas I develop in academia, applying them to real world problems and puzzles that need to be “solved” within a limited time, limited resources, and with a pragmatic approach.
Geographically, while my consulting work has taken me to North America, Central America, Europe, and Asia, most of my academic work has focused on South Asia. I was born in Karachi, grew up in Dhaka, and besides the United States, have lived and worked in Delhi and Colombo. I have never been to Nepal, Bhutan, or the Maldives; they’re high on my list.
My writings
I love to think and write, and do so often (at least the latter). My first book, India’s Open-Economy Policy: Globalism, Rivalry, Continuity (London and New York: Routledge, orig. Dec 2008, pbk Apr 2010, $39.95), was selected by Asia Policy for its 2008 Policymaker’s Library and nominated for the Coomaraswamy Prize. I am now working on two other book projects, both related to South Asia and globalization.
I write frequently on political and economic issues, especially those affecting South Asia. My analyses have been published, among others, in China Daily (Beijing), GlobalPost (Boston), Foreign Policy (Washington, DC), OpenDemocracy (London), The Nation (New York), The Huffington Post (New York), Current History (New York), The Daily Star (Dhaka), and Forum (Dhaka), as well as in many academic journals. I also provide media commentary and opinion, which have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and aired on WBAI Radio (New York), NEEN (Boston), Voice of America (Washington, DC), and Deutsche Welle Radio (Germany).
My (emerging and evolving) network
Follow me on Twitter (yes, I use my twitter channel regularly).
[…] result. This is the point made in an otherwise complimentary review by Boston University’s Jalal Alamgir of the Economist’s “shoe-thrower’s index“: There are two main weaknesses in […]