Professor T.V. Paul

About T.V. Paul

T.V. Paul is  James McGill Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He served as the President of International Studies Association (ISA) for 2016-17. ISA is the most reputed organization for the discipline worldwide with over 7,000 members. He has held visiting professorships at Harvard University, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Diplomatic Academy, Vienna, University of California, Berkeley, and East-West Center, Honolulu. In 2018, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a much-coveted elite group of Canadian scholars of high distinction in different fields.

Paul is a prolific author as evident in some 18 books and over 65 scholarly articles/book chapters he has published in the fields of International Relations, International Security, and South Asia. The books include: Restraining Great Powers: Soft Balancing from Empires to the Global Era (Yale, 2018); The Warrior State: Pakistan in the Contemporary World (Oxford, 2013); Globalization and the National Security State (co-authored, Oxford, 2010); The Tradition of Non-use of Nuclear Weapons (Stanford, 2009); India in the World Order: Searching for Major Power Status (co-authored  Cambridge, 2002); Power versus Prudence: Why Nations Forgo Nuclear Weapons (McGill-Queen’s, 2000); and Asymmetric Conflicts: War Initiation by Weaker Powers (Cambridge, 1994).  Paul is the editor or co-editor of 11 volumes including: The China-India Rivalry in the Globalization Era (Georgetown, 2018); The Accommodation of Rising Powers: Past, Present and Future (Cambridge, 2016); Status in World Politics (Cambridge, 2014); Complex Deterrence: Strategy in the Global Age (Chicago, 2009); The India-Pakistan Conflict: An Enduring Rivalry (Cambridge, 2005).

As President of ISA, Paul was a key organizer of the 2017 Baltimore conference on the theme: Understanding Change in World Politics which saw some 6000 panels and presentations.  He also initiated a taskforce which contributed substantial recommendations to improve participation of Global South scholars in International Relations scholarship. At McGill, he has been the team leader of the International Security in the Globalization Era (www.ISGE.com). He is also the series editor  of the well-respected book series of Georgetown University Press, South Asia in World Affairs. He is also on the editorial boards of several journals and a reviewer for major presses and journals worldwide.

Paul has travelled extensively and has given some 400 invited lectures and 12 keynote addresses in different parts of the world. In December 2009, Paul’s Book, The Tradition of Non-use of Nuclear Weapons was selected for inclusion in the Peace Prize Laureate Exhibition honoring President Barack Obama by the Nobel Peace Center, Oslo. Another book, Power versus Prudence was selected as an ‘Outstanding Academic Title for 2001’ by the Choice Magazine and as a “Book for Understanding’ by the American Association of University Presses. In March 2005 Maclean Magazine’s Guide to Canadian Universities rated Paul as one of the “most popular professors” at McGill University and in May 2005 Paul became the recipient of High Distinction in Research Award by McGill’s Faculty of Arts.

Paul has given several media interviews on: Al-Jazeera; Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC); BBC News; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC- both radio and TV); CTV News; the Hindu, Indian Express, DNA, Hindustan Times, Malayala Manorama; Asianet, Manorama Television, Mathrubhumi Television; Singapore 938 Live Radio; The Gulf Today; India Abroad; India West; New Indian Express; India Today; Deutsche Welle; UC Berkeley Television (interviewed twice for the popular Conversations with History); Austin Indymedia;  NPR (Austin Texas); Park City Television, Utah; McGill News; McGill Reporter; Radio Canada International; Montreal Gazette, Telesur English, Quito.

Paul is available to speak on a variety of topics on international security, peaceful change, rising powers including China and India, Balance of power, South Asia, War & Conflict, Nuclear Proliferation, Nuclear weapons,  Regional Security, as well as Indo-Pacific.