Sri Lanka, a small state in the Indo-Pacific region, is often the source of much speculation among observers of geopolitics. Nilanthi Samaranayake will provide insight into this topic by discussing Sri Lanka’s identity as a small state, the wider geopolitical context of Washington’s increased attention to great power competition, and how Sri Lanka navigates the geopolitical, regional, and national levels of politics.

Speaker:
Nilanthi Samaranyake
Nilanthi Samaranayake is Director of the Strategy and Policy Analysis Program at CNA, a non-profit research organization in the Washington area. She studies US alliances and partnerships and small states in international affairs and has led several studies at CNA on Indian Ocean security, including the U.S.-India naval relationship. Prior to joining CNA in 2010, Samaranayake completed a fellowship at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), where she investigated Sri Lanka’s deepening economic, military, and diplomatic ties with China. Her findings were published in the journal, Asian Security. Samaranayake’s analysis has been published in Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, East Asia Forum, and Defense One, among other outlets. She has appeared in media such as Al Jazeera, New York Times, and Foreign Policy. Samaranayake’s major publications include China’s Engagement with Smaller South Asian Countries (U.S. Institute of Peace, 2019), and Raging Waters: China, India, Bangladesh and Brahmaputra River Politics (Marine Corps University Press, 2018). Samaranayake analyzed public opinion for a decade at Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. and holds an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.