Why Regional Cooperation is Facing a Challenge in South Asia

Abstract

Despite lofty intentions for regional cooperation and connectivity, regional organizations such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have been unable to turn their vision into reality due to regional diversity, anarchic world structure, and instability in the South Asian region due to foreign meddling. South Asia has long struggled with regional connectivity: infrastructure is weak, political relations are difficult, and regional trade accounts for barely 5% of overall trade. Because of this low degree of trade, the World Bank has classified South Asia as one of the least interconnected areas in the world. This paper will look at how South Asia's idea of regional connection gained traction and why regional connectivity remains a difficulty in the area. By assessing the realist paradigm of state behavior and the emerging consequence of mistrust among the member states of South Asia, which generates a lack of political will to integrate, this paper will also inspect foreign intervention in the region, which impedes regional connectivity and growth, and seek to regionalize South Asia in the manner of ASEAN.