This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of South Asian foreign policy, examining the complex history and present state of South Asian foreign policy, the foreign policy of the countries of the region, as well as their relationships with their neighbors and key external players, such as China and the United States, in an effort to understand South Asia’s place in the world order. It illustrates the future trajectory of foreign policy in the region and analyses future of regional arrangements like SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and BIMSTEC.
The handbook is structured in five parts, each representing a focused area of enquiry:
- Foreign Policy
- Relations within South Asia
- Relations within Indo-Pacific
- Relations with China, Europe and the United States
- Security
A carefully selected collection of 26 chapters written by experts on South Asian foreign, economic, and security policy, this handbook provides an objective yet accessible overview of the history and current state of foreign policy of each country and the region. It is an authoritative reference work for academics and students as well as international think tanks, research institutes, and non-governmental organizations working on South Asian Politics, Asian Politics, Foreign Politics, International Affairs, World History, and International Relations.
Introduction
Aparna Pande, Raj Dhage, and Ojus Jain
Part I Foreign Policy
1. India’s Foreign Policy Realignments
Dhruva Jaishankar
2. Pakistan’s Foreign Policy: The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same
Waqas Waheed
3. Sleepwalking into a Great Power Rivalry: The Evolution of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy in the 21st century
Ranga Jayasuriya
4. Nepal’s Foreign Policy since 1950s
Prem Khanal
5. The History of British, Soviets and U.S. Invasions and the Afghan Response
Kanishka Nawabi
Part II Relations within South Asia
6. India’s South Asia Policy: Shifts and Continuities
Harsh V. Pant
7. The Changing Landscape of India-Pakistan-Afghanistan Relationship
Vinay Kaura
8. The Kashmir Matrix: Strategy/Policy Formulation in India and Pakistan
Priyanka Singh
9. India-Afghanistan Relations: Pragmatism towards Political Normalization
Prakhar Sharma
10. Nepal-Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives Relations
Apekshya Shah
11. Transformation of India and Bangladesh Relations and Challenges Ahead
Joyeeta Bhattacharjee
Part III Relations within Indo-Pacific
12. BIMSTEC-India’s Emerging Foreign Policy Fulcrum
Pinak Chakravarty
13. India’s Iran Policy: Civilisational Past, Complicated Present
Sumitha Narayanan Kutty
14. From Distant Relations to Close Partners: India’s Relations with Australia and New Zealand
Miguel Alejandro Hijar-Chiapa
15. Influence & Hedging: China’s Engagement in South Asia
Manoj Kewalramani & Shibani Mehta
16. Rapid Development of India-Japan Cooperation: Its Chance and Challenges
Satoru Nagao
Part IV Relations with China, Europe and U.S.
17. The Transformation of the Indo/China Rivalry in the 21st Century: the Rise of the
Maritime Domain
Christopher Colley
18. Indian Strategic Policy Towards China
Manjeet S. Pardesi
19. China-Pakistan Relations: Understanding Strategic Dimensions
Shalini Chawla
20. Caught between the U.S. and China: Balancing in Pakistan’s Foreign Policy
Filippo Boni
21. Bangladesh-China Relations in an Era of Globalization: Dynamics and Challenges
Delwar Hossain
22. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy, Past, Present and Future: Infrastructure Diplomacy and Contemporary Chinese Affairs
Asanga Abeyagoonasekera
23. Nepal’s Relationship with the European Union
Girdhari Dahal
24. Nepal-US Relations: The Indo-Pacific and Evolving Strategic Partnership in the 21st Century World
Rohit Karki
Part V Security
25. Terrorism and Indian Foreign Policy
Manoj Joshi
26. Almost Parity: Understanding the India-Pakistan Conventional Military Balance
Arzan Tarapore
Biography
Aparna Pande is Director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia at the Hudson Institute, USA. She is also the editor of the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Pakistan (2017) and the author of Explaining Pakistan’s Foreign Policy (Routledge 2011).
