Krishnan Srinivasan


Krishnan Srinivasan is a former Foreign Secretary of India and Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations. Alongside his diplomatic career, Srinivasan has published memoirs, scholarly works on international relations, and the Ambassador Marco series of crime novels. His observations on the status and values of the Commonwealth of Nations in The Rise, Decline and Future of the British Commonwealth provoked debate about the organisation's future direction.

Indian Foreign Service

Srinivasan was born in Madras. Following an education in England at Bedford School and Christ Church, Oxford he joined the Indian Foreign Service in May 1959. His early postings included Oslo and Beirut, and then as India's Chargé d'Affaires in Tripoli. He was Ambassador/High Commissioner to Zambia, Botswana, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, The Netherlands and Bangladesh, before being appointed Secretary and finally Foreign Secretary of India in 1994.
Srinivasan published the week-by-week diaries that he maintained as High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh during the period 1989-1992, as The Jamdani Revolution; Politics, Personalities and Civil Society in Bangladesh. It covers the period when civil society brought down General Ershad, in the first-ever overthrow of a military-backed regime in South Asia. The work is also notable for throwing a "candid light on the day-to-day activities of an Indian envoy, his actions with and without instructions from New Delhi, and the frustrations with headquarters that characterize the experience of every ambassador".
In 2012, Srinivasan published Diplomatic Channels, an "exceptionally frank memoir of his tenure as Foreign Secretary his impressions of the personalities he encountered, and the topics in foreign policy that arose in the early 1990s".

Commonwealth of Nations

In 1995, Srinivasan was appointed [Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General#Political Affairs|Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs] in London.
In 2002, after completing the maximum allowed two terms as Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General, Srinivasan began a number of academic fellowships, including at Wolfson College and the Centre for International Studies in Cambridge and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London. This period culminated in the publication of The Rise, Decline and Future of the British Commonwealth.
There was a strong reaction, in some quarters, to the book and associated journal articles, which helped to re-invigorate the contemporary debate over the Commonwealth's purpose and future direction.

The ''Ambassador Marco'' novels

The novels follow the career of Somali Ambassador Michael Marco, thus named because he was born in Italian Somaliland. He is first a lawyer, then appointed by the Somali dictator as ambassador to Southern Africa, where he is engaged in helping the liberation forces against apartheid South Africa. Dismissed by the Somali authorities, he joins the UN as OAU ambassador, and investigates the rumoured development of an atomic bomb by Libya. In Britain, he unravels the disappearance of several African ambassadors, and moving to India pursuing research as a retired diplomat, Marco solves the mystery of a missing Indian film crew in Sweden, prevents conflict between India and Pakistan and becomes the confidant to a young but physically handicapped female private detective.

Awards and honors

Works of commentary on Srinivasan's diplomatic experiences, personalities encountered and topics of foreign policy.
  • Tricks of the Trade: or, Diplomacy, Day by Day
  • The Jamdani Revolution; Politics, Personalities and Civil Society in Bangladesh
  • ''Diplomatic Channels''

    Non-fiction: Foreign Policy

Scholarly works dealing with Indian and global foreign policy issues and institutions.
  • The Rise, Decline and Future of the British Commonwealth
  • Towards the New Horizon: World Order in the 21st Century
  • Europe in Emerging Asia: Opportunities and Obstacles in Political and Economic Encounters
  • Old Europe, New Asia
  • Values in Foreign Policy, Investigating Ideals and Interests
  • ''Power, Legitimacy and World Order: Changing Contours of Preconditions and Perspectives''

    Fiction

Poetry and Short Stories

  • Selections in Two Keys
  • ''The Water's Edge & Other Stories''

    The ''Ambassador Marco'' crime novels

  • The Eccentric Effect
  • The Ugly Ambassador
  • Guesswork
  • The Invisible African
  • Ambassador Marco's Indian Instincts
  • The Ambassador and the Private Eye
  • Right Angle to Life
  • ''Kolkata Crimes''

    Newspapers and Journals

He has written over 500 columns and book reviews, on international affairs and other subjects, for Indian media platforms, including: Deccan Herald, The Hindu, News9, The Open, The Telegraph, The Statesman, and The Wire.