1st Edition

Regional Security in South Asia and the Gulf

Edited By Umer Karim, Saloni Kapur Copyright 2023

    As we move towards a world without superpowers, the dynamics within and between regions are of growing significance. Against this backdrop, this book explores the links between South Asia and the Gulf, which have existed for centuries but are undergoing important shifts in the transition to multipolarity. With a special focus on India, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and Oman, this volume brings together scholars from across these regions to investigate what the decentring world order means for the relationship between South Asia and the Gulf. It employs Regional Security Complex Theory to examine the changing global patterns of power and their impact on the inter-regional patterns of amity and enmity between states in South Asia and the Gulf. It employs both constructivist and realist approaches, seeking to understand how power and social processes influence the political and security linkages between these regions.

    Introduction

    Umer Karim and Saloni Kapur

    1. India, the Persian Gulf, and the Emergence of a Supercomplex
    2. Saloni Kapur

    3. Pakistan and the Gulf
    4. Zahid Shahab Ahmed and Khurram Abbas

    5. The Estranged Partners: Iran’s Complicated Relations with India and Pakistan
    6. Mohammad Soltaninejad

    7. Complex Interdependence and Security Architecture: Charting Bangladesh-Gulf Ties and Political Engagements
    8. Lailufar Yasmin

    9. Sri Lanka and the Gulf States
    10. Shakthi De Silva and Robin Vochelet

    11. Oman’s Relations with Pakistan and India
    12. Mehmet Rakipoğlu and Gökhan Ereli

    13. Pakistan and Saudi Ties: An Overview of Political, Strategic, Economic and Defence Linkages
    14. Umer Karim

    15. India and the United Arab Emirates: Upgrading the Strategic Partnership

    Rhea Abraham

    Biography

    Umer Karim is a doctoral researcher in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham. His academic research focuses on Saudi foreign policy and broader geopolitics of the Middle East. Karim also works on Pakistan's foreign policy outlook and its engagement with the Middle East. He is an Associate Fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies and a Fellow of the SEPAD Project at Lancaster University's Richardson Institute.

    Saloni Kapur is Assistant Professor of International Studies in the Department of Social Sciences at FLAME University. Her research interests include critical security studies, decoloniality, and South and West Asia. Saloni holds a PhD in International Relations from Lancaster University. She is the author of Pakistan after Trump: Great Power Responsibility in a Multi-Polar World (2021) and the co-editor of Securitisation in the Non-West (Routledge, 2019).