 |
|
RCSS BOOKS |
|
Edited conference proceedings and specific
commissioned research projects are published time to time by the
Centre. |
|
Defence ,Technology and Cooperative Security in South Asia:
Report of the Tenth Summer Workshop |
 The first Summer Workshop was held in 1993 in Burban, Pakistan, followed by successive ones in Nathiagali, Pakistan (1994), Neemrana, India (1995), and Neemrana, India (1996). In the months leading up to the fifth workshop, the key organizers and decision makers discussed at length about how best to increase the level of involvement by people from South Asia, without losing sight of the essentially international flavour of the programme. It was decided to transfer the programme to the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS). Accordingly, the fifth Summer Workshop was held in Kandy Sri Lanka, from 12-20 September 1997. Since then, the workshop has been held almost every year, with the venue alternating between countries in South Asia, and sometimes China. The tenth Summer Workshop is the second of its kind to be held in China. Like the earlier one in 1998, this workshop was organized in collaboration with the Centre for American Studies, Fudan University, in Shanghai.
This is the first time that the proceedings of the workshop have been published by RCSS. As the meetings always brings together a constellation of experts on various security issues, it was felt that ideas which emerges from such a gathering should be collated and shared with those interested in security matters in the region. However, with the exception of the Keynote Address, the summary that is presented here does not attribute any specific views to individuals who participated in the meeting. This is in keeping with the Chatham House Rules that has served as the basis of deliberation for the workshops in order to encourage frank and open discussion among faculty members and participants.
Click to view Contents:
|
|
Terrorism in South Asia: Impact on Development and Democratic Process
Sridhar K Khatri and Gert W Kueck
eds. (Shipra Publications, Delhi,
India, May 2003). |
 Following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. on 11 September, 2001, South Asia emerged as the epicentre of the war against terrorism, with the involvement of the American and coalition forces against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The development brought into focus not only the spectre posed by the threat of global terrorism, but also the dangers which terrorism poses within and among the countries of the region.
In South Asia, there is a consensus that terrorism has a negative impact on economic development, but the assessment differs significantly depending on the experience of individual countries. There is, therefore, a need to develop a common methodology to calculate the costs of conflicts which should be able to demonstrate, among other things, that conflicts are responsible for the economic ills of countries. Such an exercise would be incomplete without a better understanding of the economy of terrorism, including the sources and methods of its financing and its economic networking. Similarly, there is also a consensus in the region that terrorism undermines and weakens the democratic structure of countries, but it is not yet fully clear how that is done. Most papers in the present volume have attempted to address both the causes and consequences of terrorism, and strongly underscore the need for case-by-case study of individual terrorist groups to see how they have impacted on the state structure.
Click to view Contents:
|
Environment, Development and Human Security: Perspectives from South
Asia
Adil Najam ed. (University Press of America,
May 2003). |
 The
purpose of this collected volume of
essays is to build on, and contribute
to, the larger conceptual literature
on environment and security. In
particular, the book seeks to fill one
of the glaring gaps within this stream
of scholarship, which relates to a
paucity of case studies for South Asia
as a region and for its component
territories. Written entirely by the
leading scholars from South Asia, the
book examines a region that is the
setting for some of the most important
environmental security challenges of
our times.
The book is one of the outputs of
RCSS's larger project on
‘Non-Traditional Security Issues in
South Asia.’ Funded by the Ford
Foundation, the project sought to
advance the scholarly discussion on
non-traditional security concerns in
South Asia towards a decidedly
policy-relevant focus, to build
institutional capacity and expertise
within the region, and to facilitate
improved networking between
individuals and institutions focusing
on these issues.
Environment, Development and
Human Security makes conscious
attempt to neither seek, nor impose, a
particular view of what is meant by
the ‘environment and security nexus’.
Indeed, different authors have come up
with very different (and sometimes
opposing) viewpoints of what this term
means. The book seeks to embrace and
elicit this kind of diversity so that
the issues may be covered from
different conceptual directions. A
diversity of viewpoints is, in fact,
the most prominent feature of this
volume. It represents not only the
authors’ different ideas on the
subject, but also their varied
interdisciplinary backgrounds.
The authors all hail from South Asia;
they bring with them a richness and an
authenticity of experience. The
writing team for this volume included
three authors each from India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh, and two each
from Nepal and Sri Lanka. Importantly,
the writing team included scholars
with expertise in varied disciplines
including political science,
environmental engineering, resource
economics, geography, wildlife
ecology, system dynamics, hydrology,
urban planning, and anthropology, to
name a few. This disciplinary and
experiential diversity has allowed us
to view the environment and security
problematique through multiple lenses,
all from a shared South Asian
perspective.
Click to
view
Contents:
|
South Asia and the War on Terrorism:
Analysing the Implications of 11 September
Dipankar Banerjee, and Gert W Kueck eds, (India Research Press, 2002). |
 The terrorist attack on the US on 9/11. has affected and will continue to affect and will profoundly the world, no matter how one looks at it. There are differing views on its global impact as well as its consequences and only time will tell which opinions prevail. But, its impact on South Asia has been and will continue to be very high for a long peiord of time. Both as a possible locale of its origin as week as the scene of the immediate was on terror, the countries in South Asia have experienced deeply the impact of these developments.
South Asia felt the impact of these developments not merely as the focus of the military response, there were other and more immediate consequences as well. Tourism to South Asia dropped dramatically, international investments fell, trade and commerce suffered a setback with apparel exports to the US in particular reducing sharply. Other consequences directly or indirectly linked to 9/11 were, the intensification of the war on terror in Jammu and Kashmir, resurgence of internal violence in Nepal and the beginning of a fragile peace in Sri Lanka. In lesser or greater degree all felt its impact for better or worse.
|
SAARC
in the 21st Century, Towards a Cooperative
Future,
Dipankar Banerjee, ed, (India Research
Press, 2002). |
|
 From its mid-teen years, SAARC
is now poised to arrive at maturity
in the new millennia. How should
it shape itself as the future? First,
is the need for a shared vision.
What should be done to develop a
common vision that is shared by
all its constituents? How should
we best harmonize this in keeping
with its charter where should it
look for its ideological moorings
and inspiration?
The book goes on to address issues
related to developing economic co-operation,
social sector cooperation and strengthen
in SAARC’s institutional structure.
How should its noble objectives
be raised in practice? How should
its noble objectives be realized
in practice? How can positive interaction
in the region be speeded up to make
these goals possible in a time frame
that meet the aspirations of the
people? This book provides many
of the answers, but more important
raises the questions that need to
be asked. The eminent scholars and
practitioners gathered at the conference,
supported by the Ford Foundation,
have provided a very important frame
of reference to address these issues.
|
Shaping
the Future- A South Asian Civil
Society Dialogue
Dipankar Banerjee (ed),
(RCSS, July 2002) |
This is a collection of prospective
views from young participants at
a conference on “Shaping the
Future: A South Asian Dialogue,.”
The volume is a collection of material
on what they envision for South
Asia 2020. Elimination conflict
in South Asia, implementing good
governance and developing economic
cooperation are few of the themes
on which a blue print for the future
is drawn on.
|
Small
Arms and Human Insecurity
Dipankar Banerjee and Robert
Muggah (eds),
(RCSS, July 2002) |
Most analysis
of the issue of small arms and their
impact on people’s security
has been premised on “objective”
criteria - of readily available
statistics on weapons, as well as
descriptive epidemiological surveillance
of deaths and injury (Krug et al
1998; UN, 1998). What has not been
attempted, until now, is a comprehensive
representation of the issue of small
arms and their effects as interpreted
“subjectively”. There
are few studies that endeavour to
comprehensively assess the experience
of people living in conflict zones
and how the presence of small arms
is conceived in relation to their
personal security. To overcome this
research gap, the Small Arms Survey
(SAS) in Switzerland and the Regional
Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS)
in Sri Lanka established a joint
project with the primary objective
of gauging real and perceived “human
insecurity” among civilians
affected by social violence in South
Asia. The project drew on qualitative
methodologies - specifically participatory
rural appraisal (PRA) and rapid
rural appraisal (RRA) - to measure
“risk” and “vulnerability”
in four communities in South Asia
affected by small arms-related violence.
The project is, in essence, a pilot
to test out methods of apprehending
insecurity relating to small arms.
This synthesis report collates a
number of the key findings from
each of the reports - drawing, to
the extent possible, on the authors'
own words, interpretations and visual
aids.
|
Memories
of a Genocidal Partition: The
Haunting Tale of Victims, Witnesses
and Perpetrators
Imtiaz Ahmed (ed),
(RCSS, July 2002) |
This is the third volume in the series
of Fellowship in South Asian Alternatives
(FISAA) published by RCSS. The volume
comprises of a collection of traumatic
memories of partition of India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh. An attempt is made
to not only avoid limiting the memories
within the borders of a single national
state but also to collect the memories
of those who had crossed the new border
and also those who had stayed back.
A multi dimensional depiction of violence
termed as ‘riots’ and
how it has affected individuals and
generations to come has been dealt
with effectively. Three experts from
different professional backgrounds
have put together accounts of inexplicable
pain suffered by victims, and a genocidal
history that South Asia has gone through
and has the potential of repeating
its gory past.
|
South Asian
Security : Futures -
A dialogue of Directors
Regional Strategic Studies Institutes
Dipankar Banerjee (ed.) 2002 |
 Home
to twenty three per cent of the
world’s population, South Asia is
a diverse, culturally rich region
with high potential in human
resourses. Its ancient
civilization with an uninterrupted
history has spread its positive
influence for several millennia
far from its shores. The post –
colonial transition has not been
particularly easy for the region
as elsewhere. South Asia emerged
into independence hurriedly and in
aftermath of the seismic changes
of the second world war. The
violence accompanying its
political re-emergence cast a
heavy pall over its future and
lasted fifty years.
At the start of a new millennium, it
is time to take stock and explore
the possibilities of a new
beginning. To attempt to chart a new
course through cooperation and
dialogue and make South Asia again
what it has been for large periods
of its long history, among the more
prosperous and enlightened regions
of the world.
The conference of the Directors of
Strategic Studies Institutions in
south Asia (CDSSI-SA) convened by
the Regional Centre for Strategic
Studies, Colombo, is an attempt to
chart a new course, through
addressing seriously and
constructively methods to develop
effective and meaningful regional
cooperation. This book records the
papers presented and the proceedings
of this conference.
|
Security in the New Millennium
Views from South Asia
Rajesh M. Basrur (Ed)
Published by India Research Press
New Delhi 2001 |
 There
is a growing realisation in the new millennium that the concept of
security can no longer be confined to the narrow landscape of the
military-strategic concerns of the state. The focus is
increasingly shifting to 'human security ', which centres on
ordinary people and their security needs. This conception
encompasses a broad and comprehensive realm that includes military
as well as economic, political, environmental and cultural
security. The state is considered as part of the problem as well
as the solution. It is at once the biggest violator of human
security and the primary instrument for the attainment of a secure
existence for its accountability to the public, which in turn
depends on the effective functioning of democracy.
In South Asia, the expanded people
centric conception of security is gradually finding a voice. In
this volume eminent scholars from the region break out of the
mould and draw attention to the diverse facets of security issues
relating to economic wellbeing, ethnic identity, religion, gender
and political legitimacy.
|
Security
and Governance in South Asia
P.R. Chari (Ed)
Published by : Manohar Publishers
& Distributors
New Delhi 2001 |
Security has an extended meaning
beyond its obvious military connotations is increasingly being
understood. There is better appreciation now of its non-military
and human dimensions. Hence the State needs to cater for its own
security and simultaneously, the security of its individuals which
has acquired equal, if not greater significance with the passing
years. Hence, the imperative necessity arises to provide for good
governance to achieve the ends of both State and individual
security. The theoretical problem addressed in this book is
discovering the nexus between security and governance in South
Asia.
Leading scholars of the region have
contributed their individual country perspectives on this
difficult question. They have scrutinized the conceptual questions
that arise by passing under review the systemic challenges to the
processes of governance in the region to discern the linkages
between insecurity and misgovernance.
|
Globalization and Non-Traditional Security in South Asia
Abdur Rob Khan (Ed)
Published by : Academic Press and
Publisher Limited
Dhaka 2001 |
 The
present volume is the outcome of a preliminary exercise linking
two very tangible phenomena of our contemporary existence :
Globalization and Non-Traditional Security, in the context of
South Asia. Globalization basically refers to a process, rather
than a state of things or outcome, that enables people, goods
information, norms, practices, and institutions to transcend
national jurisdictions through markets, technology, interests and
knowledge/information flow. Globalization affects countries and
societies differentially depending on stages and sub-state actors.
It shapes and also is shaped by the dialectics between
state/sub-state actors and the international system, on the one
hand, and those between the state and sub-state actors, on the
other. So, impact of and response to globalization is an empirical
question. This volume will find out how South Asia as a region
with seven countries habited by about one fifth of mankind on the
globe and at different stages of social, economic and cultural
development, been affected by globalization ?
|
Cross
Currents
Edited by – nayana bose
,Adnan Rehmat
Published by: RCSS
Colombo, 2001. |
|
This is a remarkable effort by young
leaders of tomorrow from both sides
of a conflict-ridden border. Theirs
is an effort at building bridges
of understanding over a chasm of
suspicion, anxiety and fear. A feeling
that develops simply because we
do not know the other and the worst
imaginings are then reinforced by
stereotypes deliberately nurtured
by vested interests and also for
purposes of political advantage.
Why do people make friends and nations
fight? Why are billions spent in
acquiring weapons when tens of millions
go hungry? When will we realise
that indeed too many people have
lived a life of deprivation when
it might have meant so much more
for each one of them? There are
of course no easy answers. And indeed
if there is one, as Bob Dylan had
immortalised in his memorable words,
“it is ‘blowin’ in the wind”.
Yet, an effort has to be made. The
initiative will have to come from a younger generation of South
Asians with the will and determination to push away the cobwebs of
suspicion and hatred, demolish the carefully nurtured demonic
images of each other and learn to march together towards a more
secure and prosperous world. This will neither be easy and nor is
there a sure prospect of success. But, perhaps bringing young
people together in a spirit of friendship will empower them to
find a way through the current morass. This publication is all
about interaction and learning to see a
|
|
|
