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.

Table of Contents:
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

About the Author :
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.