Associate Professor Andrea Benvenuti

Current Research Projects

Nehru and Sukarno and the Struggle for the Leadership of Postcolonial Asia, 1949-1965

The book examines the role and influence of India and Indonesia in shaping the future of postcolonial Asia after WWII. In doing so, it focuses on Indian and Indonesian efforts to give a voice to the concerns and aspirations of newly independent Afro-Asian states and create a non-aligned “third force” capable of bridging the East-West divide. In this context, it considers the increasingly diverging visions of regional order advanced by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Indonesian President Sukarno, as the latter prioritised North-South confrontation over non-alignment and peaceful coexistence between Cold War blocs. It also examines their differing understandings of the role and purpose of Afro-Asian internationalism in post-1945 international politics, with Sukarno embracing a revolutionary form of Afro-Asianism, motivated by his antagonism to Western colonialism and neo-colonialism.

Western Military Power and the Shaping of Asia (1919-89)

This collaborative project sponsored by the National University of Singapore and involving a small international team of 7 international and military historians examines the role and impact/influence of Western military power and strategic foreign policy in the ordering and re-ordering of Asia from the Conference of Versailles in 1919 to the end of the Cold War in 1989. Its novel contribution lies in conceptualising the interplay between Western politico-military presence and activity in Asia, Western aspirations for the shaping of Asia, and the emergence of an Asian states system often unresponsive to Western interests and aims.