SAARC At Cross Roads

About the Book
The birth of South Asian Association for regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985 marked a new beginning for the seven South Asian countries – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka  and Maldives. For the first time, these countries made and institutionalized effort to forge multilateral cooperation among them. But, even after twenty years of existence of the SAARC, the leaders of the South Asian countries are usually much more comfortable in dealing with the countries outside the region than they are with themselves, and the past for them remains the present. Therefore, the first twenty years’ experience of this regional organization can hardly put SAARC in the sane category of the European Union(EU) or even in that of Association of South Asian Nations(ASEAN). While the latest phase of globalization must have forced the leaders of the SAARC countries to rethink their relationship vis-a-vis one another and to work for a free trade in South Asia, but the turbulent years are yet to be left behind. But why could not SAARC succeed when many other regional organization are reaching new high and who were at fault? This book is humble attempt to find probable answers to these serious questions that have been bothering the people of South Asia for quite some times.

About the Author
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury is attached with the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi. Dr. Basu Ray Chaudhury received the Kodikara Award from the Regional Center for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo in 1998-99 and worked on the Energy Crisis and Sub-regional Cooperation in South Asia (subsequently published as Policy Studies 13 by the RCSS in 2000). She has presented papers in many national and international conferences. She is a regular contributor to the reputed journal in India and abroad. She specialized on regional cooperation, energy politics, partition refugees and violence against women in South Asia.