Contemporary South Asia

Written and reviewed by Subhra Gupta, Humanities faculty at UniDrill (M.A. Sociology, University of Delhi · 7 years teaching Humanities). Based on NCERT Political Science Class XII (Contemporary World Politics), Chapter 3.

Why do neighbours who share so much disagree so often?

Seven countries share a mountain wall in the north and an ocean on the other three sides. They share languages, food, festivals and a colonial past, and yet in seventy-odd years they have fought wars, built walls, signed treaties and, at times, helped each other in a crisis. This chapter asks two questions that CUET keeps returning to: why did each country end up with a different kind of politics, and what holds the region together or pulls it apart?

What is South Asia?

South Asia means Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan and Myanmar are sometimes added, and Afghanistan joined SAARC in 2007. China is a major player in the region, but it is not part of South Asia.

The region has a natural boundary: the Himalayas in the north and the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal to the south, west and east. This geographical insulation is one reason the region developed a strong, distinctive culture, and also why its politics is so tightly interlinked. India sits at the centre and borders most of the others, which is why India's relations with each neighbour matter so much in this chapter.

One region, many political paths

The central story is an uneven democratic trajectory. Not every country moved the same way, and the table below is the fastest way to hold all of them in your head.

Does democracy need prosperity? A survey called State of Democracy in South Asia (SDSA) interviewed over 19,000 people across the five large countries of the region. It found strong popular support for democracy among rich and poor, rural and urban, and across religious groups. The finding challenges an older belief that democracy can only work once a country is wealthy.

Two views. For the exam: the SDSA survey shows that support for democracy is widespread and does not depend on income, so democracy can take root in poorer societies. Another reading: some scholars have long argued that economic growth and education make democracy easier to sustain. The survey does not say democracy is easy to keep, only that ordinary people in the region want it.

Pakistan: the most uneven path

Pakistan's story is a series of turns between military and elected rule. Learn it as a timeline.

Why did democracy struggle in Pakistan? The textbook gives four linked causes. First, the army, the clergy and the landowning class were socially dominant. Second, the long conflict with India strengthened groups that favoured the military. Third, there was little genuine international support for democracy. Fourth, the US and other Western countries backed military rulers at times, citing fears of "global Islamic terrorism" and concern over Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Each cause weakened elected institutions, and weak institutions made the next military takeover easier.

Bangladesh: from East Pakistan to a multi-party democracy

Bangladesh was part of Pakistan from 1947 to 1971. Its people resisted the dominance of West Pakistan over politics, language and resources. The chain of events is a classic cause and effect question.

Bangladesh's constitution declared faith in secularism, democracy and socialism.

Nepal: from kingdom to republic

Nepal's change came in stages, and CUET asks for each stage separately, so keep them apart.

Pause and predict: A question says "Nepal became a democratic republic after the 2006 movement." Is that correct?

Check your answer: No. The 2006 movement only forced the king to restore the House of Representatives. The monarchy ended and the republic began in 2008.

Sri Lanka: democracy alongside a long conflict

Sri Lanka has kept democracy since independence in 1948. Its politics, however, was shaped by a dispute between the Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority. The textbook presents the sequence like this: politics was dominated by Sinhala-majority groups, and Tamil groups pressed for protection of their identity and interests. Tamil nationalism hardened, and from 1983 the militant LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) fought for a separate state called Tamil Eelam. At one stage it controlled the north-east. The conflict ended when the LTTE was vanquished in 2009.

Despite the war, Sri Lanka has done well on several indicators. It was the first South Asian country to liberalise its economy, and the human development table in the chapter shows it ahead of the other large countries (HDI rank 76, while Pakistan ranks 150).

Bhutan and the Maldives

Bhutan was a monarchy that became a multi-party democracy in 2008, with the change led by the royal family itself. The Maldives was a Sultanate until 1968, became a presidential republic, and in June 2005 its parliament voted unanimously to introduce a multi-party system.

India and Pakistan: the longest rivalry

Most of the region's conflicts begin with or involve India and Pakistan. Think of them as five separate issues rather than one big quarrel.

Each side has accused the other of interfering. India has charged Pakistan with backing low-intensity militancy in Kashmir and, earlier, in Punjab, and has said that Pakistan's intelligence agency (the ISI) used Bangladesh and Nepal as bases. Pakistan has made reciprocal accusations, saying India stirs up trouble in Sindh and Balochistan. These are the positions each government has taken, and you only need to know that both exist.

Water as a success story. The Indus Waters Treaty (1960), signed with World Bank mediation, has survived every military conflict between the two countries, which makes it the standard example of cooperation continuing through hostility.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: Sir Creek is an unresolved India and Pakistan maritime boundary dispute. In reality: the creek lies at the edge of the Rann of Kutch, between Gujarat and Pakistan's Sindh province, and the argument is over where the boundary line runs through it. The line matters because it fixes the limits of each country's sea area and so who can use its resources.

India and the other neighbours

The textbook's point is that India has a different relationship with each neighbour. Compare them side by side.

Two points of friction deserve a note. With Nepal, the textbook mentions Indian concern over the Maoist movement, which was seen against India's own internal security concerns, and over Nepal's warmth towards China. With Sri Lanka, the IPKF operation did not achieve its objective, and India later followed a policy of staying out of Sri Lanka's internal issues. The 1998 trade agreement and post-tsunami reconstruction helped restore warm relations.

Pause and predict: Which neighbour is the Indian air force and navy rescue of November 1988 linked to, and what was the trigger?

Check your answer: The Maldives. Tamil mercenaries from Sri Lanka attacked, and India acted at the Maldives' request, which is why this is a model of invited help rather than interference.

Regional cooperation: SAARC and SAFTA

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was formed when its Charter was signed at the first summit in Dhaka in December 1985. Persistent political differences, especially between India and Pakistan, have limited what it has achieved.

The South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) was signed in 2004 at the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad and came into effect on 1 January 2006. Its aim is to lower trade tariffs among members.

Two views. For the exam: SAFTA is meant to lower tariffs, and India argues that it will bring economic gains and better political cooperation. Another reading: smaller neighbours fear that open markets would let India, the largest economy, dominate their markets. Both positions are part of the textbook's account.

Outside powers: China and the US

China and India have improved relations in recent years, and economic ties have multiplied since 1991. China's strategic partnership with Pakistan remains an irritant for India. The United States has deepened its engagement since the Cold War ended, and at times has acted as a moderator in India and Pakistan relations. The large South Asian diaspora in the US and the region's markets add to American interest.

The textbook's closing argument is a balanced one. Whether South Asia becomes a conflict-prone zone or a regional bloc depends mainly on its own people and governments, and not on outside powers.

Exam traps

60-second revision

Where this chapter connects

• Before this chapter: Challenges of Nation Building explains the Partition from which Pakistan emerged and the wars that followed.
• Foreign policy link: India's External Relations covers the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars, the Tashkent and Simla agreements and the nuclear tests from India's side.
• Bigger picture: The End of Bipolarity explains the post Cold War setting in which SAARC and SAFTA operate.