South Asia’s Geopolitical & Strategic Engagement – serie

This edited volume attempts to reimagine South Asia through narratives proffered by Indian scholars. Averse to mono-causal explanations of the implications of South Asia’s protean issues and insoluble paradoxes upon India’s national security, it incentivises inter-disciplinary and inter-perspectival analyses. It is a single-volume treatment of geopolitics and counterhegemony in South Asia, aimed at exploring dynamic interactions for understanding the provenance of narratives, as the drivers of peace and conflict. Authored by specialists in the field, the volume is divided into three thematic sections. The first two deal with cl-assical geopolitical interpretations and diverse security perspectives from nuclearisation to human security. These highlight hegemonic constructions, cross-border movements of people, the ramifications of the rise of China, the region’s maritimity and cooperative endeavours. The last thematic section comprises counterhegemonic narratives, presenting studies of citizenship, gender, disability activism, as well as the issues of specific identities formation and histories of resistance articulated through popular culture, mad studies and discourse analysis. Beneficial for specialists in International Relations and Strategic Studies, policymakers, activists, scholars and postgraduate students, this comprehensive volume offers insights into the intricate dynamics of hegemony and counterhegemony in the turbulent theatre.

This book critically examines the complex processes of border-making in South Asia, with a focus on India’s Eastern and Northeastern borderlands. Rooted in the historical legacies of colonialism and their post-colonial implications, it explores how borders in this region embody rupture and hybridity, challenging simplistic notions of territoriality. Through diverse perspectives, the book delves into the nuanced interplay between state-making, political mobilization, and the lived experiences of borderland communities. The chapters investigate a range of borders—open, closed, land, and river—alongside the communities who navigate these spaces. By analyzing the social, legal, and political dimensions of these borderlands, the volume highlights the transcendence between legible and illegible, and legal and illegal, categories. It sheds light on the “cartographic anxieties” of states and the “demographic anxieties” of communities, emphasizing the tensions between imposed boundaries and lived realities.This interdisciplinary volume moves beyond viewing borderlands as mere physical divides, instead framing them as dynamic spaces shaped by histories, identities, and cross-border interactions. With contributions from scholars of varying expertise and positionalities, it offers a multifaceted understanding of border-making and its implications, challenging monolithic narratives and fostering a deeper appreciation of South Asia’s intricate borderland dynamics.

This book is about connectivity between South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, which are often thought in conventional wisdom as three separate regions. However, ancient artefacts found across the three regions show that their connection, especially the influence of Indian culture and religious practices, run deep. The modern world has witnessed the rise of India (the largest country in South Asia), China, South Korea and Japan (in East Asia), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (in Southeast Asia). Therefore, connecting the three regions has been part of political thinking of regional leaders in the so-called “Century of Asia”. The discussion and analysis in each chapter of the book through the lens of history, culture, religion, security, political and economic cooperation from the ancient to modern time offer a primilary answer to the question of why connectivity and links between the three regions are now more important than ever and need to be strengthened.

This book explores how Sri Lanka navigates its foreign policy, addresses security threats, and participates in regional organizations like SAARC and BIMSTEC to influence its geopolitical stance. Sri Lanka's strategic location in the Indian Ocean shapes its complex relationships with India, China, and the United States. Balancing these superpower influences while safeguarding its sovereignty and autonomy is a critical task for its policymakers.The purpose of this work is to look at Sri Lanka’s engagement with the Global superpowers and its geo-strategic and geo-political importance in the region. This sort of engagement shows how the bilateral tensions are also playing out in the extraterritorial region where Sri Lanka and the superpowers like USA, China, India and others are involved because of history, economics, and security reasons. Chapters in this proposed work look at the various facets of Sri Lanka’s engagements with the superpowers as well as with small nations. The book contains both thematic and bilateral issues. The readers will benefit from this comprehensive volume in following ways: (a) They will come to know Sri Lanka’s geo-strategic and geo-political importance in Asia; (b) They will get an idea of how India and China are trying to get involved and compete with one another with regard to Sri Lanka; (c) The readers will understand the role of the superpowers in relation to Sri Lanka; and (d) the readers will get aware of how the major super-powers are contesting against each other in Asia for their benefits.

This book  is  a  critical  articulation  of  Nepal’s connectivity  geopolitics,  offering  a  triangular  analysis  of  the country's  geopolitics,  connectivity  and  foreign  policy.  By elucidating the  interplay  between  these  elements,  it contributes  to  a  deeper  understanding  of  how  smaller  states strategically balance aspirations and trade-offs in navigating   the  contemporary  reality  of  connectivity geopolitics  amidst  competing  global  interests.  Furthermore,  it helps us  examine  how  insights  generated  from  a  country's history  of  strategic  culture  could  be  valuable  in  navigating  the contemporary reality of connectivity geopolitics and why one should not take foreign support for connectivity at face value.The narrative portrays the Cold War and post-Cold War dynamics between superpowers and regional powers like China and India in South Asia, elucidating how their relations shape the region's politics. This study also examines how smaller states such as Nepal establish their agency by navigating external pressures while asserting their strategic interests. By introducing connectivity as an analytical lens, the book transcends the conventional lens of security and small state as approaches to Nepal’s foreign policy. Central to the book's analysis is Nepal's foreign policy and its navigation of regional politics, striving to balance the interests of India and China during the Cold War era and also the contemporary era. Consequently, regional politics emerges as a prominent theme within the book.

This book focuses on the increasing contest and limited cooperation between India and China in Southeast Asia, which is beyond their shared border. This sort of engagement shows how their bilateral tensions are also playing out in the extraterritorial region where the two countries are involved because of history, economics, and security reasons. Chapters in this book look at the various facets of their engagements in the Southeast Asia. It contains both thematic and bilateral issues. Some of the chapters such as on infrastructure, defence etc takes stock of India-China engagements in Southeast Asia, while others mainly deal with how the two Asian powers interact with the individual countries of the region. The readers will benefit from this comprehensive volume in following ways: (a) They will come to know how and why Southeast Asia is an important region for India and China; (b) They will get an idea of how India and China are trying to engage with the Southeast Asia as a regionand at the bilateral level; (c) The readers will understand the role of the Diasporas in linking their respective country of origin with the States they live in ; and ( d) the readers will get aware of how the Asian powers are contesting against each other in the Southeast Asia region for their benefits