Democratic political transitions in the South Asian countries have generated immense hope and aspirations among the masses of the region for a promising future that would deal with issues of poverty, better access to health care facilities, education and provide employment opportunities to its youth. Aspirations embedded in movements for restoration of democracy in some countries and greater democratization and transparency in others have provided opportunity for the countries of South Asia to think of a cooperative future that can help the countries of the region to achieve these goals. SAARC as a process has tried to strengthen the spirit of regional cooperation by providing a political platform to the leaders of these countries to come together and address some of these issues.
South Asian countries face various challenges that have undermined efforts of cooperation. Mutual distrust has not let the countries undertake cooperative efforts to deal with issues like poverty, terrorism, fundamentalism, unemployment and environment that affect all the countries. There are many endeavors underway driven mainly by initiatives of the civil society. There is a growing feeling that the states need to make earnest efforts to build on some of these civil society initiatives and take concrete actions. There are several issues: visa relaxation, facilitating people to people contacts and cultural exchanges in areas like culture, art and cinema. The countries of South Asia are reluctant to facilitate movement of people across borders. People are yearning for good relations among the countries of the region so as to take advantage of growing economic opportunities and facilities like cheaper medical care. Since all the countries now have democratically elected governments in place the people of South Asia are in a position to nudge the governments towards greater cooperation.
Bilateral disagreements will take their own time to be resolved. Past engagements have shown that conflict does not bring about any solution. Rather it exacerbates suspicion and deepens antagonism thereby impeding regional cooperation. It is imperative therefore to develop a vision for the region’s future. The questions that we need to answer are: how do we see the future of our countries, our future as South Asians? And how do we see the interstate relations in that future? Are we moving towards a future that is marked by mutual antagonism and uncertainty or a cooperative future marked by prosperity, peace and stability?
This international seminar aims to bring together scholars of the region to explore some of these ideas and initiate a debate on how we look at our respective countries and the region from the prism of conflict or cooperation in 2020. The goal is to exchange ideas and reflect on a collective future in which regional cooperation can resolve common problems and achieve common goals. The objective of the seminar is to chart out a path for mutual cooperation and let differences not hinder cooperation. The conference will reflect on some of these questions:
- Can the countries of the region look forward to better political relations in 2020?
- How will democratization impact civil society movements and enable greater people to people contact?
- What will be the framework of cooperation to deal with non-state actors?
- Will there be greater trade and investment from within the region?
- What will be the role of external powers in the region?
- How do countries of South Asia look at the future given the development in communication network, transnational security threats, environment challenges and problems of development in 2020?
- Will the region be able to cope with issues food, water and energy security?
- Will the countries and the region be able to deal with climate change?
