THE SAARC PARADOX: UNITY AMID RIVALRY

Abstract

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a major effort to institutionalize the cooperation among the South Asian countries in the face of the existing geopolitical rivalry, political asymmetry and national interest. SAARC was founded in 1985 to foster collective self-reliance, economic development, social progress and understanding among the member countries. But its institutional development has been hindered by bilateral conflicts especially between India and Pakistan, unequal power dynamics, divergent security concerns and the unanimous voting rule. The paper discusses the paradox of regional unity in the midst of political rivalry by examining the historical grounds, institutional structure, geopolitical limitations, and possible options for revitalizing SAARC. The paper, based on regionalism theory, neorealism and neoliberal institutionalism, posits that the problems of SAARC are not only due to regional diversity but also due to interplay of strategic distrust, sovereignty issues and lack of effective institutionalization of cooperation. It also says that SAARC is still relevant as South Asian nations are facing challenges in the areas of trade, public health, climate change, energy security and disaster management which are interconnected. It is concluded that flexible cooperation, confidence building measures, building regional institutions and issue based cooperation can help maintain the role of SAARC in the regionalism of the South Asian region.