Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation
T2 - problems and prospects
AU - Mukherjee, Kunal
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - Regionalism has been an important force in international relations since 1945. Most regional organizations that came into existence after the end of the Second World War dealt primarily with defence and security issues. With the passage of time, however, regional trading blocs have considerably gained in importance. The aim of this article is to look at the only regional organization in South Asia, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The article argues that regionalism in contemporary South Asia has been problematic right from the start because South Asia has been plagued with ongoing conflicts both at the interstate level and at the domestic level. The main interstate conflict in South Asia has been the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan, the two dominant forces in the region. Internal problems within India include the Maoist insurgency and secessionist movements in the Indian northeast. Pakistan has also struggled with major internal problems such as Islamist terrorism. Since these countries have been giving their time and attention to their internal problems, developing a unified approach to deal with regional problems and also a collective sense of identity has proven to be very problematic. These internal problems within the national boundaries of each of these South Asian countries and the interstate conflicts in the region especially between India and Pakistan have most certainly undermined regionalism in the past in South Asia, and continue to do so. Finally, the article takes a security studies approach whilst making an assessment of the SAARC.
AB - Regionalism has been an important force in international relations since 1945. Most regional organizations that came into existence after the end of the Second World War dealt primarily with defence and security issues. With the passage of time, however, regional trading blocs have considerably gained in importance. The aim of this article is to look at the only regional organization in South Asia, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The article argues that regionalism in contemporary South Asia has been problematic right from the start because South Asia has been plagued with ongoing conflicts both at the interstate level and at the domestic level. The main interstate conflict in South Asia has been the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan, the two dominant forces in the region. Internal problems within India include the Maoist insurgency and secessionist movements in the Indian northeast. Pakistan has also struggled with major internal problems such as Islamist terrorism. Since these countries have been giving their time and attention to their internal problems, developing a unified approach to deal with regional problems and also a collective sense of identity has proven to be very problematic. These internal problems within the national boundaries of each of these South Asian countries and the interstate conflicts in the region especially between India and Pakistan have most certainly undermined regionalism in the past in South Asia, and continue to do so. Finally, the article takes a security studies approach whilst making an assessment of the SAARC.
KW - South Asia
KW - regionalism
KW - SAARC
KW - conflict
KW - India
KW - Pakistan
U2 - 10.1177/1464993414521524
DO - 10.1177/1464993414521524
M3 - Journal article
VL - 14
SP - 373
EP - 381
JO - Progress in Development Studies
JF - Progress in Development Studies
SN - 1477-027X
IS - 4
ER -