Dr Constantino Xavier is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), New Delhi, where he directs the program in Foreign Policy and Security Studies. He is also a non-resident fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, in Washington DC, and visiting professor at Ashoka University’s Department of International Relations.

His research expertise is on India’s role as a regional power in South Asia, the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean regions, especially relations with Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. His studies under the CSEP Sambandh Initiative on Regional Connectivity have had wide impact with governments, industry and other stakeholders invested in enhancing India’s geoeconomic integration with neighbouring countries and regions, from the Gulf to Southeast Asia.

His broader work explores how India navigates the geopolitics of a changing regional and global order by balancing national security interests and growing economic interdependence. He also focuses on India’s relations with the European Union and other Indo-Pacific powers across the Global South. At CSEP he is currently leading research projects on India’s connectivity partnerships, climate cooperation, critical minerals security and China’s role in South Asia.

He has published widely in academic books and journals on India’s foreign and security policies with a focus on state capacity, regional institutions, economic diplomacy, conflict resolution, democracy assistance, and soft power. He regularly teaches, lectures and supervises research on foreign policy and strategic affairs at international universities and also at India’s diplomatic, administrative and military training institutions, including the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service and the National Defence College.

He has held fellowships at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and at the Observer Research Foundation, and previously worked for Carnegie India and the Brookings Institution. He received research grants from the United States Fulbright program and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, of which he is a Distinguished Alumni awardee.

Dr Xavier holds a Ph.D. in South Asian studies from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, an M.Phil. and M.A. in International Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a B.A. with undergraduate studies at Nova University Lisbon and Sciences Po Paris.