This volume explores the nature of conflict and cooperation in South Asia in the post-Cold War and post-1998 periods within the framework of international relations theory. Drawing on the perspectives of scholars employing IR theory and broader social science theorizing, it looks at some of the issues that hinder conflict resolution and cooperation-building in the region, from security to political economy and regional architecture, in the context of foreign policy and domestic politics. It highlights the conflict between India and Pakistan and how it has undermined any form of regional securi ... More

This volume explores the nature of conflict and cooperation in South Asia in the post-Cold War and post-1998 periods within the framework of international relations theory. Drawing on the perspectives of scholars employing IR theory and broader social science theorizing, it looks at some of the issues that hinder conflict resolution and cooperation-building in the region, from security to political economy and regional architecture, in the context of foreign policy and domestic politics. It highlights the conflict between India and Pakistan and how it has undermined any form of regional security treaty or institution, particularly the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It argues that regional integration requires sovereignty tradeoffs, whereby some components of sovereignty in some spheres must be ceded to supranational authorities. It also discusses the concepts of ‘regional power’ and ‘regional security’ in relation to ‘regional leadership’ and considers a variant of neoliberal institutionalism at the regional level — the cobweb or ‘bottom-up’ Nordic model of cooperation — as a feasible model for SAARC. Moreover, it examines domestic politics and its implications for relations between states by highlighting civil-military relations in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka's foreign policy reversal towards India from the 1990s and the politics of the economic relations between the two countries; the domestic politics of Bangladesh's policy towards India; the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement of 1998 and its implications for the political economy of regional trade liberalisation between India and its smaller neighbours; and obstacles to India-Bangladesh cooperation from an IR theory perspective.