Regional Economic Trends and South Asian Security

The end of the Cold War has induced fresh thinking on approaches to security. The focus is on non-conventional aspects, particularly economic strength, interest and interdependence of nations. As distinct from the notion of security mainly focused on military power, the idea is to consider a more expanded agenda. Regional Economic Trends and South Asian Security examines the scope and policy implications of such rethinking in South Asia. For the persistent conflicts and dissension within and between the states of this region, South Asia is widely viewed as one of the most vulnerable regions of today’s world. It is also a region where imperatives for economic uplift, nationally and regionally, is among the highest by global standard. At their respective national level, the countries of the region have been recently experimenting extensive economic transition. Responding to the global trend and imperatives within, the process of regional cooperation under the aegis of SAARC is gaining momentum. SAARC has recently entered into areas likes preferential trade, poverty alleviation and development financing. On the other hand, political dissension, bilateral disputes and historical mistrust continue to act as a drag on the prospect of regionalism. Against this backdrop, the Regional Centre for Strategic Centre mobilized a group of reputed and young experts for a seminar held in Maldives in November 1995. This book contains the papers presented at the seminar. Central to the locus of the book are political and economic trends in the region at a time of sweeping transformations in global politics, economics and security, and the linkage of ‘regional economic trends’ with South Asian security.