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 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 in the latter capacity, he 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 S$2.6 million fund (excluding a matching grant from the Singapore Government) raised by the Fund Raising Committee chaired by Mr S. Chandra Das, Member of Parliament for Cheng San Group Representative Constituency from 1980 to 1996. Income generated from the invested endowment funds is used to invite internationally renowned scholars to teach and to research at the School. The S. Rajaratnam Professorship thus enables RSIS to increase its international linkages as well as benefit from the knowledge, experience and wisdom of eminent scholars appointed to the chair.
The Endowed Professorships at RSIS are detailed HERE.
The scholars who held this Chair previously are listed below, and their talks are accessible at the link given.
- Professor Stephen Rosen, Kaneb Professor of National Security and Military Affairs at Harvard University, and Senior Counselor at the Long Term Strategy Group, from 12 to 23 January 2015
- Professor Eliot Cohen, Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies at Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, from 1 to 15 August 2010
- Professor Peter Katzenstein, the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies, at the Department of Government, Cornell University, from 1 to 15 January 2010
- Professor Bruce Hoffman, Professor, Georgetown University, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, from 27 July to 12 August 2009
- Professor Neil MacFarlane, Lester B. Pearson Professor of International Relations and Head of Department, Department of Politics and International Relations, and Fellow, St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford, from 27 July to 16 August 2008
- Professor Richard K. Betts, Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University, from 1 to 22 August 2007
- Professor Rosemary Foot, Professor of International Relations and the John Swire Senior Research Fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, from 2 August to 15 November 2006
- Professor C. Raja Mohan, Professor of South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, in August 2005
- 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 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
- Professor Wang Jisi, Director of the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on 21 to 25 February and on 2 to 8 March 2002
- Professor Jack L. Snyder, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science and the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University, from July to August 2001
- Professor Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in January 2000
Last updated on 14/05/2021
