SAARC: Regionalism and Regional Security in South Asia

Abstract

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been initiated under the concept of regionalism in 1985, the peripheral smaller South Asian states gathered on one platform to ensure economic integration and cooperation. The forum remained underutilized due to the inherited structural security issues and interstate disputes among the South Asian member-states. SAARC couldn’t prove its importance and deliver constructive development in the region due to the sustained security environment. The paper is highlighting the regional security issues and political cleavages that affected the bases of SAARC and didn’t allow regionalism to function in South Asia, and it also explains the prevailed insecurities of the region with the help of Regional Security Complex Theory. The study examines that regionalism can prove fruitful if the security environment of the region is addressed and the inter-state conflicts are defused.  Thus, the regional security of South Asia is the main impediment behind SAARC’s productive economic success and integration.