The Routledge Handbook of South Asia

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.

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