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In this paper, I will examine the influence of nationalism and colonial racial theories on modern Islamic thought in Muslim South Asia and the Middle East. I argue that modern Islamic thought —a new way of conceiving Islam that began in the late nineteenth century—has some basic features that reveal the influence of Western colonial discourse, racial theories, and nationalism. I will provide many examples that show how contemporary Islamic thought has internalized the colonial discourse on religion, nation, and state. In particular, I will discuss the influence of nationalism on Islamism and how Islamists believe that a "true" Islamic life requires the creation of an Islamic state. But modern states are essentially limited, and national interests determine their relations with the outside world. An Islamic state cannot be an exception to the latter rule. Therefore, Islamic principles cannot determine an Islamic state's domestic and foreign policies; ultimately, it would have to function like a nation-state. Through a brief discussion of the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and Turkey, I will also show how the discourse of these states is nationalist in practice and that the national interest of these states determines their foreign and domestic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia has re-emerged as an important global actor after the advent of the post-Soviet era. Kremlin's repositioning in the global affairs under President Vladimir Putin has led to a geopolitical and geostrategic transformation of its foreign policy. It follows multilateralism with active outreach in different parts of the world. In contemporary Russian foreign policy, there are tangible determinants that call for multipolar world order including realignment of foreign relations and consolidation of great power status. This paper, therefore, examines Russian foreign policy in the post-Crimean annexation era, where Moscow launched various campaigns through active engagements with the world's larger economies and strategically important countries, such as China, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The paper also highlights Russia's evolving bilateral relations with these countries, especially in economic, political, and military spheres. Following the current global geopolitical realities, it also attempts to mark clear adjustments in Moscow's foreign policy with respect to its power, responsibility, and ambitions for international peace and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After becoming the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi made many efforts to consolidate his dominance in South Asia and expand India's influence in the Indian Ocean. The "neighborhood first policy" was highlighted in India's foreign policy. Based on historical and logical research methods and studies in international relations, the paper aims to examine the implementation of "neighborhood first policy" through bilateral relations between India and its neighboring countries. These relationships have been facing challenges from the more profound influence and interference of China as well as frequent terrorist incidents due to border disputes, which threatened regional security. Although this policy connected India with its neighboring South Asian countries, there were still challenges. It can be seen that the "neighborhood first policy" was Prime Minister Modi's effort to nurture bilateral relationships, enhance regional connectivity, and strengthen and elevate India's position in the region. The progress of the "Neighborhood First" policy is expected to continue more successfully in the next phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Asia is becoming one of the most fiercely competitive battlegrounds between India and China. Located at the center of South Asia and with its large geographical area, population, and economic size, superior military strength compared to other countries in the region, India has always been the most influential power in the region. But in the past decade, China's intensified partnership with small countries in South Asia has threatened India's number one position in the region. It is the challenges posed by China in South Asia, inter alia, that have forced India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make various important foreign policy adjustments. To interpret India–China competition in South Asia in aspects of diplomacy, economy, security and defense, the paper uses international relations theories including constructivism, neo-realism (particularly offensive realism) and the balance of threat theory. Although the paper analyzes India–China competition in all three areas of diplomacy, economy and military security, the authors are of the view that, the most fundamental motivation of China and India in this competition is to achieve power and security and not economic objectives. While China's strategic calculation leans towards its ambitions to gain greater power in the geopolitical order, India's strategic calculation leans towards ensuring its security. By using qualitative methods and utilizing secondary data including books, treatises, articles and policy briefs ... , this paper analyzes the strategic calculations of India and China in South Asia. The paper argues that China's intention is to emulate and then overtake India in the very region of India's traditional influence, while India's strategy is to maintain and strengthen its number one position in the region. Though China's influence in the region seems to have overwhelmed over India, India with all its internal forces is also hindering China's penetrating steps into South Asian region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades, China has rapidly increased its influence throughout the South Asian region, using both its hard and soft power tactics. China has succeeded in eclipsing India's influence and emerged as an important player in the region. China is making inroads in South Asia by making huge investments and constructing roads, highways, railways, sea ports, bridges, power grids, dams, and public buildings. China is pursuing a foreign policy that aims to advance its strategic and economic interests while trying to imbalance India's predominant position and contain India within the boundaries of South Asia. This is to prevent the rise of a peer competitor that can challenge or hinder the rise of China as a sole Asian power. This paper argues that the geostrategic situation of South Asian countries is such that they pose threats to India's security by aligning with the extra-regional powers. Hence, China's expanding strategic and security ties with South Asian countries have wider implications for India's security due to the complex and sensitive nature of its relationship with China. The theoretical approach of Power Transition Theory has been utilized to analyze the Sino-India power rivalry and China's growing threat to India's security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since donning the mantle of authority, President Putin has taken actions which have uninhibitedly been geared at reasserting Russia's hegemony around the world. Putin's Look East policy stems from his schematic geopolitics, a plan which was formally announced in 2010. Through the prism of Putin's Look East policy, the paper contextually analyses Russia–South Asia relations, with reference to India and Pakistan. By cross-examining Russia's official foreign policy documents, the paper establishes why South Asia is paramount to Russia's economic and geostrategic reassertion. Every new policy has its challenges, and the same holds true for the Look East policy vis-à-vis South Asia. Premised on the unfolding geopolitics in the region, the paper surmises that striking a balance between New Delhi and Islamabad will be problematic for Moscow, just as it has always been for Washington. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International efforts aimed at developing a specific region's or country's media sector commonly involve both onsite actors (usually from the Global South) and external actors (usually from the Global North). Dependency theory suggests that onsite actors are (stuck) in a relationship with development agencies and donors in which "Western" notions of journalistic ethics, communication and democracy are imposed on them -- and not necessarily to their advantage. Bureaucratic imperatives and institutional dynamics especially within funding agencies have been identified as strong determinants of media development practice. Yet, recent empirical insights point to local actors' ability to assert their own strategies in the face of donor power which can be interpreted as agency. Therefore, this paper suggests making use of structuration theory to get a clearer picture of how onsite actors enact international media development practice. Structuration theory acts on the assumption that social practice is produced and reproduced as part of a dynamic interplay between agency and structure. Applied to media development practice, it allows for the analysis of the intentions and motivations of the agents involved, the conscious or subconscious rules they act upon and also the allocative and authoritative resources at their disposal. Against this background, this contribution presents the methodological design and preliminary results of a qualitative interview study on how onsite actors in the target countries of international media development perceive and negotiate their scope of action. Online interviews were conducted with participants from various world regions such as Middle East, South Asia as well as South-East Asia. The results suggest that the cultivation of long-term relationships and a diversification of international partners allow onsite actors to strengthen their agency within international media development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan and China have always enjoyed multidimensional and cordial relations on the basis of mutual trust and understanding. These relations have taken a further boost in the post 9/11 era. Though they made policy adjustments in the light of global transformations, yet their relations continued to be in harmony with each other. The year 2015 marked the big boost in these relations through the culmination of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreement worth $ 46 billion. CPEC brought forth many opportunities for both the countries to promote their interests respectively, is viewed negatively by US and India, as a step to contain US role and Indian ambitious designs in South Asia. Many other countries who were previously against the CPEC, are now taking interest and wanted to be a part of it. US has developed Asia pivot to contain China's rise and to reinforce its position in the Asia pacific region and also supports India's reservations over it. While India views it from the prism of its security concerns in the light of its rivalry with both China and Pakistan. As an emerging global power, China has the potential and willingness to support and promote Pakistan more than any other power of the world. This paper looks into the interests of Pakistan and China associated with each other, CPEC and the US and India's responses over their strategic partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geopolitical environmentof South Asia has significantlychanged in last two decades. This change essentially poses various challenges and brings opportunities for Pakistan in the region. The prime focus of this paper is to give an insight into challenges faced by Pakistan in a historical narrationand to critically evaluate the implications of emerging geopolitical environment for Pakistan's foreign policy. Therefore, this study, by adopting realist perspective, develops "stress and strain" frameworkto analyses the impacts of regional geopoliticson foreign policy of Pakistan. Thishistorical analysisreveals that the interest of great powers in the region changes with passage of timeand thus changes their allianceswith regional states. This shifting of alliances modifies the way of interaction among regional states. The study concludes with suggestions that the articulation of national interest and foreign policy of Pakistanneeds to be reviewed continuouslyin order to overcome the emerging challenges and to find the best possible way of engagement at regional and international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International relations are determined by systemic and structural factors at the global, regional and state/domestic levels. Inter-state relations require common interests, shared goals, inter-related threat perception and eminent security challenges. Indo-Iranian relations have been on a progressive trajectory since the beginning of current century; their relations are focussed on political, economic, security and strategic spheres. As an emerging major power, India intends to enhance its influence across regions. This paper attempts to examine how Indo-Iranian relations have shaped up over the years. How convergence of interests by these two far-off neighbors have developed to join and cooperate in economic, political and social domains. For Pakistan, any development on its eastern and western borders holds important bearing on its national security; therefore, what new challenges are posed by Indo-Iranian relations in the changing regional environment of South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of a significant global challenge the international organizations are faced within the 21st century - climate change. Climate change has detrimental effects on international security and stability. In the past decades, humanity has faced emerging natural occurrences such as the increase in the World Ocean level, higher frequency of monsoon rainfalls, impaired conditions of the ecosystems in the rain forests. The massive population increase in Africa and South Asia also points to the fact that natural resources are not infinite, and their spare use becomes a priority of worldwide importance. Managing climate change is a global problem, the solution of which mandates the unified efforts of the entire international community. And this is where climate diplomacy comes at play. The efforts of climate diplomacy need to be focused on two primary directions. The first priority is limiting global warming under 2°C compared to the pre-industrial levels and taking actions to reduce the harmful emissions of greenhouse gases. The second priority is about taking adequate measures to handle climate change consequences, amongst which the so-called climate migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the economic integration of the East and South Asian economies in the global economy. East Asian economies are shown to be achieving much more of their potential trade than South Asian economies, both in terms of intra-regional trade and in trade with the rest of the world. Examination of the China- Japan, India- Pakistan and Taiwan-mainland China bilateral relationships shows that integration of these economies into the global economy has allowed economic relations to dominate and constrain difficult bilateral political relations in East Asia while in South Asia adverse political relations have hampered development of bilateral economic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically inquires into the foreign policy of Pakistan during the period (1947-51). British divided India into two sovereign states in August, 1947. Mainly, Indian National Congress spearheaded the independence movement in the Indian subcontinent on the basis of Indian [Hindu] nationalism. The Indian Muslims contested the Congress claim of One Nation Theory. The Muslims presented their own brand of counter Muslim nationalism called the TwoNations Theory. The basic assumption of Two Nations Theory was that India politically, unlike European nation states, was a heterogeneous society. There were two major nations in the subcontinent--Hindus and Muslims. Resultantly, both Hindus and Muslims had a birthright to selfdetermination and separate states. For about fifty years, the Congress seriously contested, both theoretically as well as politically, the genuineness of the validity of Two Nations Theory. The Congress never accepted the theory. It called the Muslim demand of a separate state "a vivisection" of India and would never agree to it. Fortunately, the British did not accept the Congress argument. The Congress did her best to prevent the creation of Pakistan, however, thanks to British fairness, the Indian subcontinent was divided. Then out of utter frustration and revenge, the Congress resorted to 'Policy of Strangulation' to undo Pakistan. The researcher has come up with a non-traditional concept that Pakistan in the early phase suffered from an economic existential threat rather than military. Understandably, the foreign policymakers of Pakistan overplayed the presumed military threat to its existence. However, for the better and realist foreign policy, Pakistan survived the immediate existential economic threat in the early phase. Pakistan confronted the deadly economic context during her infant years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Transformational and transactional leadership have become a fascinating issue for research since the work of Burns (1978) and Bass (1990). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness of the concept of transformational leadership using examples of political leadership from South Asia. It is argued that the construct of transformational leadership is practically non-existent. And, if the concept of transformational leadership exists, it cannot be specifically applied to the leaders who gain popularity and achieve their goals. It is also argued that positive and negative connotation with transformational and transactional leadership, respectively, is false. The popular leadership may be good for "one-point agenda," but not necessarily transform the system. Design/methodology/approach - Qualitative methods, historical analysis, and discourse analysis have been employed to understand the leaders' actions and behaviors. Findings - The discussion around the empirical examples show that the popular-successful leadership does not necessarily a transformational leadership even though the leadership achieves the goals. Originality/value - The popular or so-called transformational leadership may be good to achieve one-point agenda, but it may not bring the required change and fruitful results to all stakeholders if it is not backed by a transactional strategy. Future research may turn the attention in three directions: whether or not the achieved goals were transformational or transactional; evaluation of leaders' behavior from the perspective of consequential leadership; and the role of transactional leaders in the growth and strengthening of micro and macro organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India was the first country in South Asia to establish diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community (EEC). Once, the country was one of the top beneficiaries of the EEC development assistance. However, this article traces the evolution of development policy with India and how the relationship has evolved between the two partners over time. Particularly, the discussion focuses on the development cooperation between the European Union (EU) and India from 1957 to 2020. A major shift took place in 2004 when the EU and India became strategic partners, and India is the only country from South Asia that has established a strategic partnership with the EU. The study also explores the founding principles of the relationship between both partners. The qualitative research method is applied here in the empirical setting to explain the crux of diplomatic relations and development cooperation. Likewise, we found here, through the latest results, that EU–India relations were established and strengthened in the past decade. The EU also concluded some trade negotiations, but the complete free-trade agreements (FTAs) are still in the dialogue phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan faces many internal and external challenges and remains a major point of reference in contemporary international security analysis. This article examines selected issues relating to Pakistan's foreign policy contextualized within the transformations in the security dynamics of South Asia. The specificity of the security environment in South Asia, the least politically and economically integrated region of the world, engaged in the protracted Kashmir conflict, serves as the starting point for the multi-dimensional study of the key objectives of Pakistan's foreign strategy towards its neighbouring states, such as India, China and Afghanistan. Methodological approach for this research is based on offensive realism, which seems to present the appropriate explanatory tool for studying the South Asian securityrelated specificity. The naya (new) Pakistan narrative, promoted by the Prime Minister Imran Khan seems hardly a game-changing chapter in the history of the state. Analysis of Pakistan's current policies, persistent domination of the army over the state's bureaucracy, increasing dependency on external loans and bailouts provokes rather opposite conclusions. Pakistan's strategic goals vis-à-vis Afghanistan and India exploit its own resources and strongly affect the regional security system whilst the country has no adequate means to achieve them. Consequently, there is a vital need of a paradigm shift in Pakistan's regional security calculus from ideologically motivated, unfeasible claims to a more cooperative posture, supplemented by campaigns for de-radicalization. This research study was conducted during seven trips to Pakistan during the last decade; the results and conclusions of this study were discussed and debated with academics and other South Asia experts both in Asia and in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main focus of the article is on the Pakistan China security environment in the context of United States India strategic convergence and possible repercussions on the regional security particularly and global security as well. In this era momentous developments have taken place in the context of US-India strategic partnership. The United States is single super power in the world after the disintegration of the USSR. It is evident that the United States has short-term strategic targets as well as long term strategies in the regional and international politics. It seems that the United States is desirous to secure its protuberant and foremost status in the regional and international political scenario. United States have altered its policy towards South Asian order to achieve its core strategic intentions of having a dominant and leading status in the region in the backdrop of 9/11. The United States has restructured its security policy to accomplish its strategic objectives and has constructed its defense and military conglomerate with India. The United States and India have progressed to engaged egalitarianisms which is based on common strategic leverage in the region, political and economic gains. The designs and arrangements, United States and Indian developed cooperation is not of the same like in the cold war era between the stake holders but by using all the ways and diverse linkages, the United States is advancing its strategic policy objectives in the South Asia. This paper will explore the opportunities and challenges for Pakistan and China security environment in the context of these momentous developments in the region. The authors will also focus on the complicated security situation in South Asia to arrive at a logical solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of water has a central position in world politics. The flow of trans-boundary water makes it relevant for more than one state. Rapid increase in world population, industrialization, urbanization and scarcity of fresh water resources has put immense pressure on water resources, both surface and ground water. South Asia is the part of world inhabiting about one quarter of global population and presenting to the world most volatile conflicts. Interstate hydro politics is today one of the most important issues on states' agenda. The partition plan of India and Pakistan sowed the seed of this conflict. The other states of South Asia i-e, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal are also in a constant rift with India over water. This paper tries to explore the causes of this conflict, the intensity which water scarcity has assumed and its implications for regional relations. The research has suggested water governance as a solution to this issue on part of all states for internal management of water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'Neighbourhood First Policy' is the anchor point of India's general foreign policy since independence in 1947. Subsequently, the Neighbourhood First Policy has evolved, was debilitated, and has been reformed under the various prime ministers of India. Based on preferences and perceptions about the South Asian neighbourhood, the Neighbourhood First Policy has been implemented differently. This article aims to analyse the Neighbourhood First Policy of India under four different prime ministers (Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Inder Kumar Gujral, and Narendra Modi). The article investigates the pretexts behind each premier's way of handling the Neighbourhood First Policy followed by an empirical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's foreign policy shift in South Asia has been largely driven by its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which seeks to enhance connectivity and economic cooperation across Asia and beyond. South Asia, with its strategic location and growing economic potential, has emerged as a key area of focus for China under the B RI. In this context, China has pursued a multipronged approach, which includes infrastructure development, economic cooperation, and strategic partnerships with key countries in the region. One of the key components of China's foreign policy shift in South Asia has been its emphasis on infrastructure development. China has invested heavily in the construction of roads, railways, ports, and other infrastructure projects in the region, with the aim of improving connectivity and facilitating trade and commerce. These investments have been largely made through the BRI framework, which has provided China with a platform to promote its economic and strategic interests in the region. China has also sought to deepen economic cooperation with South Asian countries through the BRI. This has involved the signing of a number of bilateral and regional trade agreements, as well as the establishment of special economic zones and industrial parks. Through these initiatives, China has sought to increase its access to South Asian markets and promote the growth of its own economy. In addition to these economic initiatives, China has also sought to establish strategic partnerships with key countries in the region. This has involved strengthening its ties with countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, which have strategic significance due to their location and their potential to provide China with access to key markets and resources. These partnerships have also involved cooperation in areas such as defense and security, with China seeking to establish a greater presence in the Indian Ocean region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental security concerns have broadened the national security agenda and discourse of international relations. Yet environmental insecurity issues have endured impacts on livelihood, human security, social equity, human rights, internal security, political stability, economic growth and development of the state. Environmental challenges, such as climate change, water scarcity and energy security are shaping development and consumption patterns, which are possible causes of inter-state conflict in South Asia. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the nexus of climate change, energy and water security with conflict and development. Furthermore, we argue for the need for environmental diplomacy in Pakistan within the South Asian context. The argument is that integration of development with environmental factors and peacemaking has potential to achieve sustainable development in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purposefulness of the Indian foreign policy is already questionable due to its lack of clarity and direction, which afflicts the neighbouring countries through its affirmative and hegemonic regional policies. Smaller nations of the South Asia region feel threatened and bigger countries remain wary of India's dubious demeanour. Even with such designs, the Indian foreign policy goals remain unfulfilled. This is due to two important reasons. Firstly, the principles underlining the Indian foreign policy have been left ambiguous and idealistic ever since its inception. Secondly, the execution of the Indian foreign policy is most definitely not along the lines of its stated objectives. This disparate nature of policy execution has led to the perpetration of chaos in the region, which India has quite swiftly 'managed' through perception management. This is where the utilisation of Chaos Theory and perception management comes into play, which is analysed in this research paper. If India wishes to achieve its des red position in the region, as desired, then it is imperative that it revisits both the principles and implementation of its foreign policy to match the changing regional and global atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's re-emergence as a great power, and the ensuing competition with the United States over the norms, rules and values underpinning the international order, has signalled the return of great power rivalry in global politics. Asia is at the very heart of these dynamics, as testified by the competing Belt and Road Initiative and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategies, with significant implications for Asian states that are learning how to navigate the US-China rivalry. Situating the analysis in the literature on hedging, this article focuses on Pakistan's «hedging dilemma», centred around the country's bilateral relations with the US and China. Drawing on a range of archival material and interviews, the analysis shows that Pakistan's hedging options are limited, as a result of two intertwined trends, namely the implementation of the Beijing-backed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the «flagship project » of the BRI, combined with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Washington's recalibration towards competition with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feminism is a mission for far-reaching transformation of society. It focuses on gendersensitive foreign policy agenda, shifting away from traditional approaches. Therefore, it can be considered more than just gender equality where the goal of gender justice dominates the idea. In 2014, Sweden proclaimed a Feminist Foreign Policy (FPP), followed by Canada in 2017, France and Luxembourg in 2019, and Mexico in 2020 which opened a path for many other countries to follow the trail. Swedish FFP talks about 3 Rs, i-e; Rights, Representation and Resources. The political framework of Feminist Foreign Policy revolves around the welfare of that marginalized faction of the society which has been facing all kinds of oppression emanating from forces of patriarchy, colonization, hetero-normativity, capitalism, racism, imperialism and militarism. The study intends to answer the primary question why it is important for the world to adopt FFP and will it even work in South Asia, particularly Pakistan where gender is one of the consolidating principles of the society. With these ideas' backdrop, Swedish Feminist foreign policy gives us window of opportunity to think over the subject. However, the fact remains that this practice is different from one country to another, one region to another and one culture to another but the important is to be able to prove that it is beneficial for country's concern to include women at the level of society because it is smart economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the China's foreign policy towards South Asia with the phenomena of strategic stability. South Asia has emerged as progressively vibrant interest to China's foreign policy. Chinese administration has showed consent to continue its harmonized policies towards regional states like India and Pakistan. Following the realistic approach, it is quite possible that China may not prove helpful in resolving the chronic regional territorial disputes however; it will be cooperative in bringing peace and stability in this region along with economic boom. The outcome of discussion reflects that the imperatives of regional security added new dimensions such as China's peaceful rise under Xi Jinping and China's role of strategic balance between India and Pakistan. Due to diverse Chinese interests in this region, it is expected that Beijing will pay more attention towards South Asian affairs in future and will play a role of more responsible stakeholder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visas are an important means for countries to regulate the potential access of non-nationals to their territory. Past datasets and quantitative research on visas have focused on visa waivers, ignoring the fact that visas, where demanded, can vary greatly by cost. This paper presents a novel dataset based on a manual collection of visa costs for travel between a global set of country pairs in seven different categories (tourist, work, student, family reunification, business, transit, and other). Our analyses reveal a strong global visa cost divide that exposes the injustice in the right to travel for people located in different areas of the world. Whereas Europeans usually hardly have to work at all for travel permits, visa costs often amount to several weeks of mean income in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The result is a fundamentally paradoxical situation: The richer a country, the less its citizens pay for visas to go abroad (both in absolute terms and relative to their income). Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood regression analyses reveal that a variety of factors influence the costs of visas between countries: reciprocal treatment, processing costs, historical-cultural ties, geographic proximity and regional, religious, economic, and political discrimination. This confirms the important role of visa costs as a tool for states to control population movements and simultaneously position themselves in international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses how Concerts Norway has interacted with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and local musical actors in India to build infrastructure in the cultural field in India. Using ethnographic methods and document analysis, it finds that Concerts Norway successively shifted from rational, via entrepreneurial to relational brokerage, adapting the programme and development communication to shifting Ministry of Foreign Affairs policies and the Indian partner's needs. The article raises critical questions about arts development versus general views on development assistance, and highlights asymmetry between mainstream development models and the need to strengthen the art sector, towards its sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his second and last presidency, US President Barack Obama, conscious of his lasting legacy, has taken some bold and unprecedented foreign policy decisions. However, like President Richard Nixon, he also faces the daunting dilemma of rescuing the neo-liberal democratic ideals from the overwhelming influence of traditional geopolitical and security considerations, driving the US foreign policy for many decades. Since the end of World War II, the US pursuit of balance of power politics in Europe and East Asia helped stabilise these regions, but neglecting the same in South Asia and Middle East has made these regions unstable and prone to violent conflicts. Moreover, President Obama's neo-liberal goals of Nuclear Zero and the Nuclear Security Summit process, disproportionately focus on merely managing the technological and geo-strategic consequences, instead of addressing the geopolitical causes of conflicts, rooted in the territory, resources and identity of various value systems, exacerbated by globalisation. This paper evaluates the multiple policy dilemmas, which will characterise President Obama's lasting legacy, marked by the enduring conflict between neo-liberal ideals and neo-realist security imperatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I use IR theories to investigate Japanese foreign policy between 2012 and 2017. I make two arguments. First, I argue that the best theoretical combination to explain Japanese foreign policy under Abe is one of defensive realism and liberalism, with focus on the economic aspects of regional partnerships. Japan has followed a traditional realist approach in security policy, but he has adopted a more activist and broader economic vision in his approach. Second, this analysis reflects Japan's expansive search of strategic allies in Southeast Asia and beyond; behind the security rivalry and economic partnership with China is the emergence of a geographically wider security architecture coupled with robust economic networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia. In effect, the Abe government has increased ties with India through trade and investment, and reinvigorated the existing diplomatic effort with Southeast and South Asia in a comprehensive package of security and economic initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the processes that contribute towards the image of Pakistan as portrayed to the West. It does this by critically analysing the discursive practices through which knowledge, and a general idea of Pakistan, are created, for example in South Asian area studies journals and South Asian studies centres in Western universities. This article demonstrates that most scholarly research on Pakistan, as published in South Asian studies journals, is in fact heavily influenced by the research of American and European scholars. It argues that as the positionality of these Western scholars is further based on 'academic quality', this causes a continuous circle of knowledge production. In this circle, the Western academic produces 'quality' work in top area studies journals. Their work then receives wider circulation due to the scholar's positionality and status within elite, Western centres of knowledge production, whereas research in South Asian studies centres is predominantly India-centric. While true to their proposed research ambit, research conducted on India in South Asian studies centres is multidisciplinary in nature. In Pakistan's case, most of the research, however marginal, remains centred on the country's security and its international affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Indonesia the industry producing the most popular commercial TV programmes, known as sinetron, is largely dominated by Indonesians of Indian (Sindhi) origin. This article examines social relations within the sinetron production houses and argues that between the 1990s and the early 2010s the distribution of symbolic and material capital depended on ethnicity, as it was imagined and constituted by two rather different cultural frameworks and historical experiences. One is based on the occupational distinction, rooted in the South Asian caste system, while the other can be traced back to ethnic classifications in colonial Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Indian Ocean lies at the core of India’s maritime strategy. Despite the fact that post independence it did not receive the attention it deserved due to several structural and policy inadequacies, India is pursuing a twin strategy of bolstering maritime defense capacity and harnessing maritime resources. The former is aimed to equip India with the capability to undertake maritime operation in the Indian Ocean, while the latter is to devise a cooperative strategy to harness maritime resources and deal with common challenges that confront the South Asian littoral states. This article examines the evolution of India’s approach to the Indian Ocean in the context of China’s growing presence in the region. It analyzes India’s policies toward South Asian maritime neighbors, their responses to India’s strategies and examines what the future holds for India in the emerging geopolitical context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Interest in South Asia among Lithuanian scholars is rather low. For a long time the region has remained off the radar screen of Lithuanian foreign policy makers, who were largely focused on Lithuania's Euro-Atlantic integration and international consolidation issues. But the situation is changing and South Asia is emerging as an increasingly important political and economic partner for Lithuania. This article attempts to outline the general characteristics of the South Asia region, its geographical and geopolitical limits, and its current key issues, in the backdrop of which Lithuania's relations with the nations of the region are assessed. Arguably, at present Lithuania has little to offer in addressing the fundamental problems of the region, but its role in individual niches can be quite useful. Lithuanian exports of lasers and laser-related technologies to India, along with the growing number of South Asian students in Lithuanian higher education institutions, are brought in as two small but illustrative examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the arena of international politics, South Asian region has been magnetizing greater interests and China is its close neighbor. There is no significant change in China's strategic interests since the end of Cold War but her economic capacities and requirements, from natural resources to transit routes have changed the level of influence and interest of her ties with South Asian region. China is continuously expanding economic activities and investing in trade and development in the region. The drive to reinforce economic development through building up transport and infrastructure connections with her neighboring states as Gwadar-Xinjiang route and Kunming-Chittagong route will have an increasing impact on regional stability and the states across the region. The ongoing and forthcoming projects of China, to use them in future, will surely have an impact on the economies in the region. China's South Asia policy is refracted through China's 'all-weather friend' in the region; Pakistan. The presence of Uighur extremists in China's Xinjiang province and absence of a comprehensive counter-terrorism policy provide other areas of attention to the Chinese government with ramifications for stability in the region. China's interests in South Asia include attainment of a matching role against India, containing the terrorist threats and expansion of her economic base in South Asia. China's strategic interests can be maintained through her complete approach to move towards the path of progress and managing better ties with South Asian neighbors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political, economic and cultural connections between Afghanistan and South Asia have been long‑lasting and strong throughout the centuries, not only because of the geographical closeness of the regions, but also due to the genetic relationship of their peoples. In the 21st century, due to rapid geopolitical changes and globalization the mutual relations of these two regions are becoming more and more important, not only on bilateral level, but also from the point of view of the regional and international interests. The aim of this article is to concisely show how the relations between Afghanistan and South Asia developed over the history, with special attention given to the current state of affair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India and China- the most populous countries in the world, have assumed a global dimension and impact. Both are emerging economic powerhouses, engines of global peace and security. The post cold war era is considered as a watershed in the annals of international relations. Aftermath of this change was in the shape of nationalism, ethnicity, civil wars, and decolonization. India and China are considered to be two-third of world population and evolving economic engines. With the increasing wave of anti-Americanism in the South East and South West Asia, regional powers: China and India are attracting and inspiring their neighbors for defense, economic investment and development. The power equation that is going to take place at regional and global level will not be devoid of challenges and opportunities. It is widely believed that China is going to be an emerging economic power. Since Chinese economy has passed various successful phases of modernizations and its changing foreign policy, rapprochement with her immediate neighbor (India), has marked a new chapter in India-China relations. This article highlights the concept of rapprochement, peace overtures made after Rajiv Gandhi period in trade and commerce and border issue with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The region of South Asia has attained an increasingly important position to China's socioeconomic, cultural and security interests. China is widely relying upon what has been recognized as a "string of pearls" strategy of making its bilateral relations friendly and cooperative with the neighboring countries of India, mutually serving its economic and security interests and to counter balance a "Strong India". As China's presence and involvement in South Asia increases, it becomes extremely important for the United States of America to increase its footprint in the region to maintain its position as the sole superpower and to show that the U.S. is genuinely concerned about South Asia. As China's political, economic and security interests expand beyond its borders one region of particular importance will be South Asia, the region through which a major segment of China's oil imports passes but also the region where its enduring friend Pakistan is situated and its longstanding rival India is also making its presence felt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to argue that identity is an important variable in determining the motivational disposition of the Indian state’s external security behavior. It offers a constructivist explanation to India’s increasing engagement with the Asia-Pacific region and argues that India’s deepening engagement with the region is a reflection of its desire to craft a new external identity for itself – the identity of an “Asia-Pacific player.” The desire for an “Asia-Pacific identity” is in part precipitated by Indian political elite’s perception of a crisis in India’s external identity immediately after the end of the Cold War, along with its intuitive desire for recognition within the international system. This ongoing identity shift offers to explain many visible changes in India’s post-Cold War foreign security behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]