Constantino Xavier

Constantino Xavier is a nonresident fellow in the Brookings Foreign Policy program and a senior fellow in foreign policy and security studies at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) in New Delhi. At CSEP, he leads the Sambandh Initiative on regional connectivity.

His research expertise is on India’s role as a regional power and the intersecting dimensions of security, connectivity, and democracy across South Asia and the Indian Ocean. He also works on India’s relations with the European Union and other democratic powers in the Indo-Pacific, and has published widely in academic books and journals on India’s foreign and security policies with a focus on state capacity, regional institutions, economic and infrastructure diplomacy, and soft power. He is writing a book on India’s democratic realism and involvement in the neighborhood since the 1950s, based on declassified records and interviews with decisionmakers in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.

Xavier most recently co-edited the CSEP reports on “Connectivity and Cooperation in the Bay of Bengal Region” (with Amitendu Palit), “China in South Asia: Themes, Partners and Tools” (with Jabin Jacob), and “Tracks to Transition: India’s Global Climate Strategy” (with Karthik Nachiappan). At CSEP, he is also leading research projects on India’s infrastructure and connectivity partnerships, climate diplomacy, development cooperation frameworks, and critical minerals security, with a special emphasis on South and Southeast Asia.

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 Institute, the Naval War College, and the National Defence College. He has held fellowships at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and at the Observer Research Foundation, in New Delhi, and previously worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 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.

Xavier holds a doctorate in South Asian studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, a Master’s of Philosophy and master’s in international politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a bachelor’s with undergraduate studies at Nova University Lisbon and Sciences Po Paris.