ISSN 2348-1218 (print) International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations ISSN 2348-1226 (online) Vol. 9, Issue 1, pp: (41-52), Month: January - March 2021, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
Regionalism, Regionalization and Inter-State Conflict: The Case of Pak-Indo Dispute and the SAARC Organization Bilal Ahmad Master Student of Political Science, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Abstract: The creation of SAARC in 1985 by the initiative of a relatively small country (Bangladesh) is a composition of several diffusion mechanisms such as domestic pressure, norm socialization and persuasion, competition, lesson drawing, normative emulation, and mimicry. Even though a broad agreement is located that the SAARC is an unsuccessful association in comparison to EU, NAFTA, and ASEAN, the influence of SAARC as an institution by shaping the identity is significant and efficient. Furthermore, extra-regional projects such as TAPI assists SAARC for minimizing Pak-Indo conflict in South Asia. The fundamental premises of this paper is to analyze how the SAARC shape and impacts the Pak-Indo conflict. The paper will neither investigate the Pak-Indo strife profoundly nor will discuss how the productivity of SAARC is undermined by Pak-Indo conflict. Keywords: ASEAN, SAARC, TAPI, Regionalism.
1. INTRODUCTION The South Asia geography despite sharing the collective history of British colonialism, the aftermath of their independence and the formation of the nationstate, the quest for the rivalry, autonomy, and sovereignty hinders the cooperation and integration in the region. The region is a plural society in term of the languages, cultures, religions, regions, and ethnic. Furthermore, paraphrasing the work of Rajkumar Singh the South Asian people speak at least of twenty major languages, if other essential dialects are included the number rises to two hundred. This diversity of languages has an enormous contribution to the world literature.1 Therefore, this diversity of identity complicates the collaboration, despite there is a successful example of cooperation among diverse identity, the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN). The South Asia Association of Regional Cooperation (hence-after SAARC) is the only regional cooperation in South Asia. Majority of the scholars argue that the organization is obsolete due to the rivalry of two dominant power in the region, India, and Pakistan and refer it as a talk-shop. However, taking into consideration reversely, the SAARC organization has a blind but massive impact on not only on the conflict of Pak-Indo but also on other regional disputes. For instance, the since the creation of SAARC, the organization has sought to increase cooperation in non-political areas such as trade, social and cultural, education, and sport by providing a platform of negotiation and communication. Furthermore, other extra-regional projects such as Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (TAPI) assists SAARC in cooperation and collaboration. In this respect, this article is mainly focusing on how the SAARC organization and TAPI project have a positive influence on resolving the Pak-Indo strife and lessens this bilateral conflict. The author is interested in the regionalism studies and the importance of regionalism on inter-state disputes. Furthermore, South Asia, a region where bold rivalry hinders regional cooperation is widely studied by scholars, the impact of regional collaboration on the same conflict lacks studies. 1
Rajkumar Singh, “Indian Political Science Association RELEVANCE OF SAARC IN SOUTH ASIAN CONTEXT RELEVANCE OF SAARC IN SOUTH ASIAN CONTEXT,” Source: The Indian Journal of Political Science Indian Political Science Association The Indian Journal of Political Science 70, no. 1 (2009): 239–48.
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