BOOK FUNDING PROPOSAL ASANGA ABEYAGOONASEKERA
November 1st, 2024
Dear Friends,
I am pleased to share that I have signed a book contract with Singapore's leading publisher, World Scientific, on November 1, 2024 for my 5th book. The upcoming book, titled Sri Lanka’s Political Shift and Geopolitical Challenges, examines the complex and evolving dynamics the island nation faces in today’s turbulent world.
Book Description
In 2024, Sri Lanka witnessed a historic political shift with the election of its first leader from a Marxist-leaning party, fundamentally altering the nation's governance landscape. This book delivers a nuanced analysis of the political, economic, and geopolitical challenges that have emerged since the 2022 economic crash, exploring these themes through a series of in-depth essays.
Key questions addressed in the book include:
What obstacles does Sri Lanka face as it grapples with post-crisis political and economic instability?
How do India-China tensions play out in Sri Lanka, and what are the broader implications for regional security?
What catalyzed the dramatic fall of the once-dominant Rajapaksa regime?
How are Western powers, including the United States, Japan, and the European Union, adjusting their strategies to protect their interests in Sri Lanka?
What is the current state of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Sri Lanka, and what lessons can be drawn from other BRI projects across South and Southeast Asia?
With meticulous research and keen analysis, the book sheds light on the complex interplay between Sri Lanka's domestic changes and global geopolitical forces. By offering new perspectives on these pressing issues, it serves as an essential resource for policymakers, academics, and anyone interested in South Asia’s rapidly changing geopolitical environment.
Timeline
The book manuscript will be completed in the first quarter of 2025, with publication scheduled for August 2025.
Funding Requirement
To deliver a book that is as comprehensive and impactful as possible, I seek support to fund on-site interviews, extensive field research, and the hiring of research assistants. This research will take place across key regions in South Asia and Southeast Asia and will be critical in grounding the book’s analysis in local realities. The estimated budget breakdown is as follows:
Field Research in South and Southeast Asia:
Including Travel and accommodation for 4 months
Cost: USD 6,000 (USD 1,500 per month)
Research Assistance:
Research assistant’s salary for data collection and full-time research work
Cost: USD 4,000 (USD 1,000 per month per assistant)
Total Estimated Cost: USD 10,000
Crowdfunding Link - Click here to visit GoFundme Site to donate.
Acknowledgement of Funders
All contributors will be gratefully acknowledged in the book’s acknowledgement section. Additionally, funders will be recognised during book launch events in prominent cities, including Washington, D.C., Paris, London, Beijing, New Delhi, and Singapore.
Your generous support would be immensely appreciated and would enable the successful completion of this critical book project in 2025.
Thank you for your kind consideration and support.
Warm Regards,
Asanga Abeyagoonasekera
Senior Fellow, Millennium Project,
Washington D.C.Executive Director, SAFN
Author Bio
Asanga Abeyagoonasekera is an international security and geopolitics analyst and strategic advisor from Sri Lanka. He is the present Executive Director of the South Asia Foresight Network (SAFN) under the Millennium Project in Washington DC, USA. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Millennium Project and Technical Advisor to the IMF. He has led two government think tanks in Sri Lanka, providing strategic advocacy. With almost two decades of experience in the government sector in advisory positions and working at foreign policy and defence think tanks, he was the Founding Director General of the National Security Think Tank, The Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka (INSS) under the Ministry of Defence from (2016-2020). He served as Executive Director at Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2011-2015). He was a visiting Professor at Northern Kentucky University (NKU), the University of London and the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka for Geopolitics and International Security. In 2023, he provided technical advice to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Governance Diagnostic Report on Sri Lanka, the first country in Asia to come under IMF diagnostic. He is a Senior Research Fellow at NIICE in Nepal and The German-Southeast Asian Centre of Excellence for Public Policy & Good Governance (CPG) in Thailand. He is an Alumni Fellow at the National Defence University (NESA, NDU) in Washington DC, a Fellow at APCSS (Hawaii) & alumnus of the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). He is an active member of the World Economic Forum in Geneva and the National Press Club in Washington, DC.Asanga’s 2023 book, Teardrop Diplomacy: China's Sri Lanka Foray, was published by Bloomsbury. Dr C. Raja Mohan reviewed Asanga’s book as “a masterful job in outlining China's engagement with Sri Lanka and the resultant impact on regional relations”. His other books include Conundrum of an Island (2021), reviewed by Prof. Walter Russel Mead, Sri Lanka at Crossroads (2019), and Towards a Better World Order (2015).
Washington DC | +1 262 232 9706 | asangaaa@mail.com
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