Does South Asia Exist? Prospects for Regional Integration (Paperback)

Does South Asia exist? Globally, regional integration and prominent regional institution --such as the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations --have been on the rise. In South Asia, by contrast, such progress has been slow, despite the recent dynamic growth of India's economy.

This broad-based volume examines the prospects for regionalism in South Asia, assessing issues that drive greater regional integration and obstacles that prevent it. How does South Asia's experience of regionalism compare with other parts of the world? What different perspectives do South Asia's sometimes contentious neighbors bring to the regional process? How do those attitudes help or hinder solutions to peculiarly South Asian challenges? The book devotes particular attention to India, the largest power in the region, and analyzes the extent to which it drives or blocks greater regionalism. As the book's distinguished contributors reveal, the provocative question at the heart of this timely book defies easy answers.

Copublished with the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.