On 29 June 2026, UNU will host “International Order Under Challenge”, a conversation with Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament of India and former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations; and Prof. C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice-Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University. The event will begin at 18:30 in the 2F Reception Hall at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo.
As the rules-based international order faces mounting pressure, questions about the future of multilateralism, and who will shape it, have intensified. India, the world’s largest democracy, is central to that conversation. Dr. Tharoor coined the term “multi-alignment” to describe how India’s soft power is projected through interconnected networks where collaboration plays a critical role. This orientation has allowed India to navigate global challenges with agility and adaptability and may position the country as a stabilizing force in an international order increasingly defined by fragmentation, rivalry and eroding institutional trust.
In this conversation, Dr. Shashi Tharoor and Prof. C. Raj Kumar will join UNU Chief of Staff Michael Baldock to discuss India’s role in the new international order and how their leadership can help address global challenges. Drawing on their combined experience across diplomacy, law, governance and academia, the speakers will reflect on how India’s tradition of strategic autonomy and multi-alignment positions India as a distinctive and invigorating voice in multilateral affairs. The conversation will also examine the future of global governance and human rights, and the role of knowledge institutions, in shaping international norms.
This event is part of the UNU Conversation Series, which aims to foster audience participation. You are encouraged to engage with the speakers during the conversation and at the reception that will follow, where all event attendees are invited to enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks while exchanging ideas and making new contacts.
Please note that this event will be in English. Advance registration (by 28 June at 15:00) is required. Please click on the REGISTER button above to access the online registration page. Please be prepared to present identification at check-in.
Please note that food and photography are prohibited during events at UNU Headquarters, unless prior permission is granted by UNU.
About the speakers
Dr. Shashi Tharoor, an author, politician and former international diplomat, straddles several worlds of experience. At present, as a fourth-term Member of Parliament of India, he represents the parliamentary constituency of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, in the Lok Sabha. A proud member of the Indian National Congress, he has served as a Minister of State for External Affairs and Minister of State for Human Resource Development in the Government of India during the second term of the United Progressive Alliance. Currently the chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, he has previously chaired the Parliamentary Standing Committees on External Affairs (2014-19), Information Technology (2019-21) and Chemicals & Fertilizers (2021-24).
Before joining Indian politics, Dr. Tharoor worked for nearly three decades at the United Nations, serving as a peacekeeper, refugee worker and administrator at the highest levels, including as Under-Secretary-General during Mr. Kofi Annan’s tenure as Secretary-General. In 2006, the Dr. Manmohan Singh-led Government of India nominated him for the Secretary-Generalship of the United Nations; in the contest that followed, Dr. Tharoor emerged a strong second to South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon.
Dr. Tharoor is also an award-winning, internationally-bestselling author of over twenty-five books, of both fiction and non-fiction. He has won a score of prestigious literary honours, including the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, the Crossword Lifetime Achievement Award and the Sahitya Akademi Award — India’s second-highest literary prize — in the category of “English Non-Fiction” for An Era of Darkness, his magisterial indictment of the British Raj.
Prof. C. Raj Kumar, a Rhodes Scholar, is the Founding Vice Chancellor (VC) of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) in India. He was appointed as the VC at the age of 34 in 2009 when the university was established. Professor Kumar is an accomplished legal scholar and works in the fields of human rights and development, comparative constitutional law, terrorism and national security, corruption and governance, law and disaster management, legal education and higher education. He has nine books and over two hundred publications to his credit and has published widely in peer reviewed journals, law reviews and other internationally reputed publishing houses based in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, the UK and the US.
Professor Kumar has academic qualifications from the University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of Hong Kong, University of Delhi and Loyola College. He served as a faculty member at the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong, where he taught for many years. Professor Kumar was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford, UK, where he obtained his Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) degree; a Landon Gammon Fellowship at the Harvard Law School, USA, where he obtained his Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree and a James Souverine Gallo Memorial Scholarship at Harvard University. He received the Doctor of Legal Science (S.J.D.) from the University of Hong Kong. He also obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from the University of Delhi, India; and a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) degree from the Loyola College, University of Madras, India.