Essay by Berta Prat

The role of India in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

Before all, SAARC is the intergovernmental organization that groups all the countries from the South Asian region, this is, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Created in 1985, SAARC aims to improve economic and regional integration. Like this, among its objectives there is the promotion of the south Asiatic people’s welfare, both in economic and social terms, the strengthening of collective self-reliance among members, as well as the cooperation with other organizations that have similar purposes (SAARC Charter, art. 1).

In a moment when many regional organization were being created, the South Asian region coordinated this interstate structure with the aim to emerge as a more powerful region in the international political dynamics, facing the traditional conception of being countries of the south, with all the ideological background that this entails, and get to have a say in world affairs.

Although eight countries integrate the organization of SAARC, this has often been perceived as a grouping between one dominant country, India, and the left relatively smaller countries of South Asia. Indeed, India has always played a dominant role within the region and thus also in the intergovernmental organization of SAARC. From this point of view, this essay argues the reasons why India has been allocated such a dominant position as well as the responsibilities that this country has thus on the plans of action and the future of the organization.

Firstly, as I have briefly mentioned, India is considered the most important country in the region of South Asia. This is not only because of its uprising economy, as India forms part of the BRICS economies, but also for its geography and demography. Indeed, expanding around 3 million km², India is considered the world’s seventh largest country in terms of area, overpassing countries like Argentina and Kazakhstan (UN Statistics Division, 2012). As for the population, India is the second most populated country in the world, with 1.3 billion citizens, which represents 17.7% of the world population (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2017). This high demographic rate enables India to position itself in the fifth world economy in terms of the nominal GDP (International Monetary Fund, 2018).

If we compare these individual features from India with the organization of SAARC as a whole, we observe how there is a great dependency on this country. Geographically, India equals 62% of the extension of SAARC, which is 5 million km². Furthermore, all countries that integrate SAARC, in exception of Afghanistan and Pakistan, share borders with the main country of India. As for the population, India alone represents 82% of SAARC’s population, which at its turn accounts with 1.7 billion of people, in other words, about one fourth of the world’s population. Finally, economically-speaking India holds over three-fourths of the total GDP of the SAARC region, and nearly 60 per cent of its total international trade (De Silva, 1999).

Data proves that India is the leading country of the organization. Furthermore, its preponderant position has direct effects not only in the region of South Asia but also worldwide. From a developing country of the south, India has and continues proving that it holds the capacity to become a key actor in the international society, and that its role is determined to be essential to analyse and understand the dynamics on a global level.

Returning to the idea that SAARC is often perceived as the juxtaposition of India and few smaller countries, we can now say that the assumption has enough evidence to be accepted. Furthermore, this isn’t only related to the statistical features of the countries but also to the operationalization and predisposition of the countries within the organization. In this sense, the second subject I wanted to bring up in this essay is the tension that has been created between India vis-à-vis the rest of the South Asian countries. Two confronting points of view have been adopted by the corresponding countries.

Since the creation of the organization in 1985, member countries have mistrusted each other. On the one hand, the smaller states perceived that the idea of SAARC was an Indian strategy to ensure a regional market for its products, thereby consolidating and further strengthening India’s economic dominance in the region (Aysha, 2013). On the other hand, India feared that the regional organization could provide an opportunity for the smaller neighbours to renationalise all bilateral issues and join with each other to form an opposition against India (Jamshed, 2013).

Thus, these mistrustful attitudes led to a scenario of tension, in which the organization of SAARC seems be unable to respond and fulfil thus its objectives. Active collaboration and mutual assistance is not achieved since actors fear that others will benefit from them. In this sense, I come to consider that this attitude exemplifies the notion of relative gains, framed in the structuralist realist approach. States do not only want to benefit, but also benefit relatively more than the others. An intergovernmental organization, framed in an idealist approach, would seem to be a win-win for the countries that integrate it, but the portion of winnings is however distinct among different actors, which in this case is a reason of misunderstanding.

Following this stance, there has been major obstacles-both inherent within the region and also emanating from the prevailing global dynamics. Many conflicts within the South Asian region have erupted, in which India has had a remarkable role in most of them. Indeed, India has always been a primary actor in the conflicts due to its status as a dominant power within the Southern region of Asia.

The most evident example is the tense relationship between India and Pakistan (Jabeen et al, 2010). These countries had been confronted in many wars throughout history, such as the Kashmir wars (Baijpai, 1990). The situation still continues to be critical. Today, a major factor that confronts the two countries is terrorism. Actually, India has officially stated that it will not attend any SAARC forum in Pakistan until this country addresses its internal problem of terrorism. Like this, the 19^th SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Pakistan was called off as India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan decided to boycott it (Roy, S. & Ghimire, Y., 2016). Thus, this is a prove that the tense and critical scenario complicates the peace and prosperity that SAARC seeks to achieve in the South Asian region.

There are other situations that exemplify the tense relationship among members, such as the border fence that has been built between India and Bangladesh. Already confronted in prior territorial disputes such as the Bangladesh Liberation War (Baijpai, 1990), these two countries are today immersed in what could become a future crisis owing to climate change. It is said that with the rise of the sea levels because of climate change, 30 million people from Bangladesh could find themselves in the situation of being forced to emigrate. In front of this supposition, India has already built a fence along all the shared border to lock the entry of Bangladeshi migrants to the country, which evidences the mistrust among SAARC members (Jared, 2016).

Summing up, there is high evidence that India plays an essential role in the SAARC intergovernmental organization. Thus, the assumption that the organization is compounded by one dominant country and few smaller states seems to fit reality. As we have observed, among the members, India is the largest not only economically but also in physical size and military power. Moreover, India might also have played a key role in establishing the English as the official language of SAARC, owing to its history of British colonialism.

For these reasons, SAARC can be conceived as an example of an intergovernmental organization where a particular government is overwhelmingly above the others. Despite clear differences, this could be compared to United States’ position in the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or Indonesia’s role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Therefore, I come to consider that the country of India is highly responsible for the actions performed within SAARC. Indeed, it is the disequilibrium between the countries that has incited tensions. This situation has led to consider SAARC as an example of a failed organization, confronting the idealist tradition of thought that prevailed at the time of SAARC’s creation.

Despite the unsuccess, SAARC is a prove that this tendency over the proliferation of intergovernmental structures wasn’t restricted to the north, wealthy, developed countries, but also englobed the south, poorer, developing countries. Indeed, SAARC gives an alternative vision of the Other Side, coming up to redefine the concept of the south and the north, not in geographic terms but rather political and ideological. Today, there are new epicentres. In this sense, South Asia is rising as a potential region, specially focused in India. Indeed, the region of South Asia is often referred to as the Indian subcontinent, which proves the dominance of India and its rise in the international society to the extent that it plays an important role in promoting an alternative agenda in the world affairs.

References:

Aysha Siddika (2013). An overview of SAARC and ASEAN. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS). Volume 14, Issue 5, PP 71-74. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e5ef/46d017f0b3344220c48a12881313b31844a5.pdf

Bajpai, K. P. (1990). The Origins of Association in South Asia: SAARC 1979-1989.

SAARC (1985). Charter of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Retrieved from: http://saarc-sec.org/assets/responsive_filemanager/source/SAARC%20Charter/1_SAARC_CHARTER_Provisional_Rules_of_Procedure.pdf

            

           International Monetary Fund (April 2018). Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. World Economic Outlook Database. Retrieved from: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/01/weodata/index.aspx

Jared, P. (2016). The Age of Consequences. Retrieved from http://theageofconsequences.com/

            UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2017): World Population Prospects: the 2017 Revision. ESA.UN.org. Population Division. Retrieved from: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/DataQuery/

UN Statistics Division (2012). Demographic Yearbook. Table 3: Population by sex, rate of population increase, surface area and density. Retrieved from: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2012.htm

Jamshed, M. (2013). SAARC: Origin, Growth, Potential and Achievements. National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research in Islamabad. Retrieved from http://www.nihcr.edu.pk/Latest_English_Journal/SAARC_Jamshed_Iqbal.pdf

Roy, S. & Ghimire, Y. (2016). SAARC summit to be called off as Dhaka, Kabul and Thimphu too slam Islamabad. The Indian Express. Retrieved from: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/dhaka-kabul-thimphu-too-blame-islamabad-saarc-summit-to-be-called-off-3054953/

Jabeen M.; Mazha M.S. & Goraya N. (2010). SAARC and Indo-Pak Relationship.  Journal of Political Studies, Vol. 17, (Issue 2), Pages 127-145.