Regions, Regionalism and Regional Integration

We have entered into the second decade of the 21st century, where the world is taking a new turn. The Post-Cold War euphoria with globalisation has now almost faded with a country like the USA under the Presidentship of Mr. Donald Trump is calling for economic protectionism. There is a realisation that globalisation has failed to deliver on its promises, the foremost amongst them was of prosperous and egalitarian world order. Remember, Francis Fukuyama, termed the collapse of the Soviet Union as the end of history. Interestingly, after Mr. Donald Trump won the US Presidential election in 2016 on the agenda of ‘America First’, the neo-liberal magazine The Economist in its editorial said, “history is back with a vengeance”.  Mr. Trump is opposed to globalisation, and he started imposing high tariffs on import, thereby, giving an advantage to domestic industries.   Mr. Trump is critical of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the present economic outlook of the US...

India- Pakistan relations have hardly witnessed a long period of truce and friendship after the partition of 1947. There are layers of complications between the two sides; the most important is Kashmir and terrorism. So much is the pessimism that even established scholars evades prediction on Indo-Pak relations. Nevertheless, there had been attempts to mend this relationship. The Shimla agreement of 1972 and bus diplomacy (1999) of late Indian Prime Minister   Atal Behari Vajpayee could be counted as a few positive ones.   There are remarkable outcomes of both these initiatives in the form of the Samjhuta Express and Sada-e-Sarhad – the train and bus services between the two sides. Interestingly, there are particular geostrategic contexts of these above mentioned forward movements in the India Pakistan relations. The Shimla agreement was signed after 1971 India-Pakistan war. Likewise, the bus diplomacy was also a way to respond to the interna...

The day when the largest democracy of the world India, will arrive at a judgment on the next government, another unique and important democracy of the world will start voting to elect not national but regional representatives.   The European Parliament (EP) election begins on 23rd May with voting in the United Kingdom (UK) and ends on 26th May 2019. This time it is a   four-phase election for the European Union (EU) member states, with the majority of Europe voting on 26th May. The EP has 751 representatives, directly elected by the citizens of the EU in every five years. The previous election was in 2014, and a lot has changed in the last five years.   The most unusual event in the history of the EU is the exit of a member state. The UK decided on giving up the membership in 2016 (Brexit), presently is in the process of completing the formalities.   The date of departure of the UK   from the EU is 31st October 2019.   Likewise,   ...

In the last few months, we have witnessed theatrical politics in the UK that opted for Brexit in 2016.  In 2016, the UK through a referendum decided to exit the EU.  It was a very polarised debate with 48.1 per cent who voted in the referendum voted to remain in the EU, and a mere 3 per cent (51.89%) more have voted for the exit. In a democracy it is about the majority; thus, the retreat was accepted by the UK.  Brexit was accepted, but it failed to move from there.  Even in the referendum, the nation remained divided. Out of four constituents of the UK, only England and Wales opted for exit whereas Scotland and Northern Ireland voted in favour of remain.  Name Leave (%)   Remain   (%) England 53.4 46.6 Northern Ireland 44.2 55.8 Scotland 38 62 Wales 52.5 47.5 Source: BBC URL  https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/eu_referendum/resu...

It is difficult to believe that one of the oldest democracies in the world is entirely unsure of what path to select. Is this confusion a part of British thinking on the European Union (EU)?  History offers us some insight into how the UK remained an unwilling member of the EU.  Interestingly, it was the Winston Churchill who had delivered a speech at the University of Zurich in 1946 pronounced that Europe can survive only if it stands united. In his words, " Under and within that world concept we must recreate the European family in a regional structure called, it may be, the United States of Europe, and the first practical step will be to form a Council of Europe" (See Link  https://rm.coe.int/16806981f3 ).  Churchill in many respects could be accepted as one of the early Euro-enthusiasts. One cannot discount that fact that in 1948 several integration enthusiasts met at Hague and this meeting was presided by Churchill.  Hague meeting of 1948 started the pat...

Call for Papers Second South Asian Border Studies Conference on Beyond Boundaries and Borders: South Asian Quest for Peace, Development and Regional Connectivity Date: 1-2nd March 2019 Venue : Department of Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai Background: South Asia is one of the fastest growing regions that exhibit a potential to emerge as a leading economic centre of the world. Nevertheless, South Asia is riddled with inter and intraregional conflicts embedded in ethnicity, religion, border disputes, and resource politics. These conflicts act as an impediment to peace, development and regional cooperation. In the post-1990's economic restructuring (liberalisation and privatisation) paved the way for economic growth in the region. Not only India but other South Asian countries Like Nepal and Bangladesh recently earned a reputation of moving swiftly on the path of economic growth. It is a region, nascent in development and growth trajectory and all th...