1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of South Asia Region, Security and Connectivity
This handbook presents an authoritative overview of South Asia through the lens of geopolitics, political dynamics, economics, human security, and sustainable development. It brings together key insights from various disciplines to provide an in-depth understanding of the genesis, course, and future potential of South Asia as a region.
The handbook:
- Explores the post-colonial political landscape of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan and analyses the challenges to political stability and governance in South Asia
- Studies the opportunities and challenges produced by globalization and recommends solutions towards greater connectivity and trade in South Asia
- Delves into the issues of climate change, water and land resource dependency, and energy security and singles out policy challenges as well as positive actions to promote sustainable development and implement the blue economy
- Discusses the political dynamics of regional cooperation between countries and the role of China in South Asian regional affairs
An invaluable addition to the study of South Asia, this volume will be an indispensable resource for scholars, teachers and researchers of political science, international relations, South Asia studies, South Asian politics, history, defence and strategic studies, political economy, developmental studies, public policy and sustainability studies.
List of Tables viii
List of Contributors ix
Introduction 1
Adluri Subramanyam Raju and R. Srinivasan
PART 1
South Asia as a Region 15
1 Post-Colonial Identities, Ethnic Conflicts, and Security Dilemma in South Asia 17
Rajpal Budania
2 South Asian Identity: Examining the State-Society Interface 31
Udayan Das and Ambar Kumar Ghosh
PART 2
Political, Social and Security Systems in South Asia 47
3 Politics of Democracy in South Asia: People’s Aspiration and the Structure of the State 49
Smruti S. Pattanaik
4 Transition of Monarchy in South Asia: The Case of Nepal 65
Raksha Pandey
5 Transitions in Governance: Polity, Policy, and Regionalism in South Asia 78
R. Srinivasan
6 Civil Society in South Asia: Plurality, Convergence and Paradoxes 96
Amit Dholakia
7 Religion and Politics in South Asia: Select Case Studies 110
Partha Pratim Basu
8 Lilliputians’ Dilemma: Survival Strategies of Small States in South Asia 131
N. Manoharan
9 Untangling the South Asia–China Nuclear Problematique 147
Ravi Komarraju
PART 3
Commerce and Connectivity in South Asia 159
10 Impact of Globalization on South Asia 161
I. P. Khosla
11 Prospects of Growth Dynamism in South Asia: Trade and Investment as Drivers of Regional Development 176
Saroj Kumar Mohanty
12 A Novel Approach for Integration in South Asia: Through Trade Promotion and Economic Corridors 198
Srimal Fernando
13 Connectivity Across South Asia: Possibilities and Intrinsic Challenges 213
Pankaj K. Jha
14 Developments in Sustainable Blue Economy in South Asia 227
V. N. Attri
PART 4
Human Security in South Asia 243
15 Climate Change and River Waters in South Asia: Scarcity, Security and the Avoidance of Zero-Sum Approaches in the Anthropocene Epoch 245
Ananya Sharma and Varun Sahni
16 Governing Water Resources in India: Role of Water Law, Policy, and Institutions 263
Vandana Asthana
17 Environment and Sustainable Development in South Asia 276
Nitya Nanda and Susmita Mitra
18 Energy Security and Cooperation in South Asia 293
Adluri Subramanyam Raju
PART 5
South Asia in a Multipolar World 309
19 A Sub-Regional Resuscitation in South Asia: Enlivening the BIMSTEC 311
Sohini Nayak
20 Comparing the SAARC and the ASEAN 326
Uttara Sahasrabuddhe
21 The European Union’s Relations with South Asia 339
Ummu Salma Bava
22 China in South Asia: The Xi Jinping Era 354
Reena Marwah
23 United States–South Asia Relations: Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Biden Administration 365
M. J. Vinod
24 The Multipolar World and South Asia 380
Anindya Jyoti Majumdar
Index 391
Biography
Adluri Subramanyam Raju, Ph.D., Dean, International Relations; Professor and Head, UMISARC and Centre for South Asian Studies; Coordinator, UGC Centre for Maritime Studies, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India.
R. Srinivasan, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies, and Director, Praghna Centre for Research, India.
