Envisioning a New South Asia
Contents: Foreword. Introduction. I. South Asia: connecting to a globalized world: 1. South Asia: connecting to a globalized world/I.P. Khosla. 2. Space and regional cooperation: the SAARC story/Shibashis Chatterjee and Sulagna Maitra. 3. New horizons in South Asia: a focus on Indo-Pak relations/Gopalji Malviya. 4. The peace process: challenges and prospects/Noman Sattar. 5. Conflict resolution in South Asia in an age of globalization/Rajpal Budania. II. Human security: 6. Human security in South Asia: the varied dimensions/T. Nirmala Devi. 7. Peace, neighbourly diplomacy and poverty reduction for building a new South Asia/Som P. Pudasaini. 8. Human security in South Asia: some observations/Adluri Subramanyam Raju. 9. Human security: an Indian perspective/Nalini Kant Jha. III. Non-traditional security and other core issues: 10. From traditional to non-traditional security/M.J. Vinod. 11. Regional integration in South Asia: from discord to free trade/J. Laxmi Narasimha Rao. 12. Towards building a South Asian Union/Syed Ali Mujtaba. 13. Ethnicity and the operation of social processes in the South Asian societies/V. Sreemannarayana Murthy. IV. SAARC--China, ASEAN and BIMSTEC: 14. China\'s interactions with South Asia: new beginnings/Srikanth Kondapalli. 15. Prospects of India\'s partnership with ASEAN and BIMSTEC for the development of landlocked Northeast India/A. Lakshmana Chetty. 16. Strengthen BIMSTEC to revitalize SAARC/Y. Yagama Reddy. Index.
"South Asia is one of the very few regions in the world with geographical contiguity as well as linguistic and cultural homogeneity. The region, inhabited by more than one-fifth of global population, is afflicted by a number of social, political and economic problems compounded by political mistrust and suspicion. The South Asian states are plagued by inter-state conflicts over boundaries. In addition, there is a sharp increase in unemployment, poverty, epidemics, drug trafficking, and environmental degradation etc. in the region which have internal and external dimensions. All these issues pose a far more serious and immediate challenge to the region.
The South Asian region has potential to acquire a momentum of its own, leading to the total transformation of the region in the near future. The member states have to set aside their disputes, in order to improve their economic and trade relations. They have to realize that it is high time to shift their focus from the security of the borders to regional cooperation.
The contributors in the volume--diplomats, academia and media--not only focused on the problems being faced by the South Asian countries; but also suggested the amicable solutions to overcome these problems and the possible ways to reconstruct a new South Asia. Thus, the main focus is to probe into various mechanisms to be adopted to make the South Asian region free from conflicts and enhance economic cooperation amongst the states, thereby improving the welfare of the people. While analyzing the conflicts and misunderstandings between/among the countries in the region, the volume tries to underline the issues related to human development, traditional and non-traditional security and the role of external powers in the peace process of South Asia." (jacket)
