Debi Karmakar is Research Associate at the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS), Bangladesh, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Governance, Security & Development. Her work brings together policy research, editorial engagement and international dialogue, with a focus on international security, political narratives, information integrity and democratic accountability.
A central strand of her research examines how powerful states and institutions use narratives of security, legitimacy, identity and vulnerability to justify geopolitical actions and shape whose agency receives recognition. Her research focuses on alliance politics, small-state agency, and collective security arrangements, particularly how smaller states navigate security challenges in an international system shaped by regional powers. Her academic and policy writing has explored gendered violence and state patriarchy in the Russia–Ukraine war, the institutional limitations of the United Nations in prolonged conflicts, Russia–NATO rivalry in the Arctic, and the growing involvement of Asian states in Arctic affairs. Her recent work for the Journal of Governance, Security & Development examines Russia–NATO competition and the strategic position of the Baltic states.
As part of her professional journey, She has contributed to research and policy initiatives addressing misinformation, fact-checking and democratic accountability in CGS. Her work includes facilitating fact-checking workshops and multiple dialogues with journalists across Bangladesh, examining the current misinformation landscape and its implications for journalism. She also contributed to a fact-checking manual for journalists, to strengthen verification practices and responsible news reporting.She contributed to a study of examining the political inclusion of minority communities of Bangladesh and accountability to them, the findings drawn from key informant interviews with representatives of Bede, Dalit, tea worker and Hindu communities, alongside lawyers and minority rights advocates.Her wider research includes analysis of election-related violence and news reporting.
From 2023 to 2025, she co-led the Bay of Bengal Conversation, CGS’s flagship international conference. As lead communication liaison and session coordinator, she worked on international correspondence, speaker engagement, programme coordination and session planning, supporting policy dialogues involving scholars, diplomats, policymakers, journalists and civil society representative.She also regularly writes for Indo-Pacific Insights, monthly newsletter of CGS . Her articles and opinion pieces have appeared in The Daily Star, New Age, The Daily Observer and Tabnak.
