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S. Rajaratnam Professorship in Strategic Studies

The S. Rajaratnam Professorship in Strategic Studies at RSIS was inaugurated on 31 August 1998 to enable the School to invite distinguished scholars in strategic studies and related fields to participate in its activities. The Professorship was established in honour of Mr Sinnathamby Rajaratnam for his distinguished services to the nation.

Mr Rajaratnam, born in 1915, was elected as the Member of Parliament for Kampung Glam in 1959 and continued to represent the constituency until his retirement in 1988. He became the Minister for Culture in 1959, the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1965 and, while in the latter capacity, took on a second portfolio as the Minister for Labour from 1968 to 1971. He became Second Deputy Prime Minister (Foreign Affairs) in 1980, after which he was appointed Senior Minister until his retirement. He passed away in 2006.

The S. Rajaratnam Professorship in Strategic Studies is made possible by a $2.6 million fund (excluding a matching grant from the Singapore Government) raised by the Fund Raising Committee chaired by Mr S. Chandra Das, the former Member of Parliament for Cheng San Group Representation Constituency from 1980 to 1996.

The S. Rajaratnam Chair in Strategic Studies at RSIS will be held in perpetuity. Income generated from the invested endowment funds is used to invite internationally renowned scholars to teach and to research at the Schhol. The S. Rajaratnam Professorship thus enables IDSS to increase its international linkages as well as benefit from the knowledge, experience and wisdom of eminent scholars appointed to the Chair.


The last scholar appointed to the prestigious S. Rajaratnam Chair was Professor Rosemary Foot, Professor of International Relations, and the John Swire Senior Research Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford University, from 2 August to 15 November 2006.

The scholars who held this Chair previously are:

  • Professor Stephen M. Walt, Evron and Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in January 2000;
  • Professor Jack L. Snyder, Robert and Rénee Belfer Professor of International Relations at the Institute of War and Peace Studies, Department of Political Science, Columbia University, from July to August 2001;
  • Professor Wang Jisi, Director of the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on 21–25 February and on 2–8 March 2002;
  • Professor Alastair Iain Johnston, the Governor James Albert Noe and Linda Noe Laine Professor of China in World Affairs in the Government Department at Harvard University, from 24 February to 24 August 2003; and
  • Professor John J. Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor and Co-director of the Program on International Security Policy, at the University of Chicago, in August 2004.
  • Professor C. Raja Mohan, Professor of South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, in August 2005.

 

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