Interstate Conflicts and Regionalism in South Asia: Prospects and Challenges

Regional cooperation offers several benefits, for instance greater economic integration, frequent and easier people-to-people contact, sustainable peace and development at the regional level. Regional cooperation in South Asia, initiated under the platform of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985, has however been faced with numerous challenges. One of the greatest barriers for the SAARC has been recurring inter-state conflicts between member states, which have posed significant challenges, as the mandate of the SAARC excludes discussion on bilateral issues. This paper is an attempt to bring to light the debilitating effect of inter-state conflicts in South Asia on regional cooperation. Analyses has focused primarily on the negative association of interstate conflict and regionalism in South Asia, however this paper also discusses how other regional cooperation mechanisms in Europe and South East Asia have coped with such challenges to promote a vibrant regional identity. The paper also offers some solutions in the form of recommendations, so to speedup the process of regionalism in South Asia.