Kautilya and Non-Western IR Theory

Deepshikha Shahi is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi, India. She previously studied at the Centre for Global Cooperation Research/Käte Hamburger-Kolleg, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. She is the author of Advaita as a Global International Relations Theory.

• 1. Prelude.- 2. Kautilya’s Arthaśāstra: A Philosophical Reconstruction.- 3. Kautilya Meets Buddha: Arthaśāstra between the Realpolitik and Moralpolitik of Aśoka’s Mauryan Empire.- 4. Kautilya Reincarnated: Steering Arthaśāstra toward an Eclectic Theory of International Relations.- 5. Postlude.

“In her attempt to analyse Kautilya’s Arthasastra, Shahi has demonstrated great academic objectivity and distinction and has made a valuable contribution to reordering the mental bookshelf of international scholarship on IR.” (Punsara Amarasinghe, International Affairs, Vol. 96 (4), 2020)