Vichaar Manthan aims to explore the narratives that societies tell each other and to themselves. These stories embody, legitimise and contextualise the knowledge and experiences of a society. They order a collective memory. The most powerful stories shape our behaviour and in turn influence institutions to react to the world in equal stead.

At the Sustainable Narratives conference, we are exploring the most prevailing and long-lasting stories about how we govern a truly globalised technological world. What are the stories we tell ourselves about how nation-states regulate large, powerful international corporations; or ought to build greater real-time transparency, and therefore greater accountability; or to re-think the relationship between nationalism and fraternity amongst a citizenry? We want to put each prevailing narrative in the dock and cross-examine it in the light of sustainability.

How many of our narratives about governance are truly sustainable, and how might new outlooks alter behaviour of people and institutions?

Our panel of expert witnesses from around the world will come together and explore sustainable narratives on governance.

Meet Our Chair

Andy Bayley

Associate Lecturer at Loughborough University’s Centre for Information Management

He has over 30 years of experience in leading operations and logistics functions in the global Aerospace sector. He lectures on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes with special interest in change management, strategic change, and creative problem solving.

Meet Our Speakers

Ram Madhav

Founder and Director of India Foundation, a Policy Institute based in Delhi

He is the General Secretary of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India. He is the author of “Uneasy Neighbours: India and China After 50 Years of the War”. He is widely known as the strategist behind the rise of the BJP in India’s elections and advocating for a more active foriegn policy in South-east Asia.

Steve Tsang

Director of the SOAS China Institute, London

He is an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony’s College at Oxford, and an Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).