India, in view of its geographical vastness, huge population and massive natural resources, is often seen as overbearing in the region. Its smaller neighbours have responded to the natural asymmetry more or less in similar ways in their bilateral engagements with India. At a more nuanced level, a perceived sense of insecurity
vis-à-vis India often gives way to aggressive posturing particularly by countries still grappling with complex issues pertaining formation of national identity and state consolidation. Unresolved border issues leading to protracted territorial disputes, including concerns over sharing of river waters and maritime resources, coupled with huge imbalances in trade, is often used for cultivating negative stereotypes and unfounded or inflated threat perceptions. Some of these issues have largely shaped the general perception and the prevalent social and political narratives about India in much of its immediate neighbourhood.
As the only country having borders with all other South Asian countries, most of whom do not share borders with one another — and the largest one at that in terms of size and population— India has often been the target of persistent criticism despite the fact that it has sought to build friendly or at least a working relationship with all its neighbours by taking non-reciprocal economic and political measures in recent years.
Perceptions play a very significant role in the South Asian politics. They have largely shaped and influenced state policies and politics among South Asian countries, especially in relation to India and vice versa, over the last many decades. State policies have at times been hostage to negative or adversarial perceptions, well-entrenched in the popular psyche. As one delves into the complexities involved in the shaping of perceptions among countries in South Asia, one realises that it is an extremely dynamic process that has evolved differently in different countries. Perceptions among states are not static and have often changed with the shifts in global as well as regional politics. There are myriad stakeholders— with their sectional interests and concerns— playing their role explicitly or implicitly in shaping and influencing mutual perceptions among countries in South Asia. Modern communications technology and expanded media networks have often reinforced old perceptions and inhibited the process of regional integration.
India, on its part, too faces a complex set of challenges due to the fact that negative perceptions about it are engendered by powerful vested interests in the neighbouring states. Most of its neighbours are also in a state of major social-political ferment and transition, and are up against a wide array of internal challenges. Due to their tense and fragile ties with India, most of them have not been able to participate in, and benefit from, the Indian economy, which is growing at a fast pace.
Regional initiatives and groupings, such as, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), have had varying success in building an abiding cooperative framework to address certain issues of common concern to the countries of the region. There can be no doubt that over the centuries, the region has acquired an inherently diverse and yet a distinct multi-layered geo-cultural identity. The impact of British colonialism in the evolution of the South Asian region has proved to be enduring and irreversible. The European concepts of political organisation, territoriality and nationality have left an indelible mark on state formation in the post-colonial period.
Historically, the emergence of new states in the region in the post-colonial period with exclusive notions of identity, citizenship and nationality within fixed well-defined borders, and geo-political and economic asymmetry among them, has imparted an altogether new dynamics to the region. In such a setting, perceptions about each other changed as old historical narratives were replaced by exclusive, imagined and sponsored histories, often categorised in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’. This has often resulted in general apathy and lingering tension among the states despite a shared sense of history and geography amongst the people of the region.
In view of the asymmetry in size and capabilities, India too faces a major policy dilemma when it comes to responding to any crisis in its immediate neighbourhood, lest it stokes ‘anti-India’ sentiments and further complicates the situation. Interestingly, India, at the same time, is not expected to remain a mute spectator either. The challenges of how India should respond or what should be the nature and level of its intervention, if needed, has often confounded India’s policy and decision makers.
Although there are certain realities and factors that are unalterable, such as, shared geography or the fundamentals of geo-economics— irrespective of how national interests are defined or on what terms states or their key institutions interact within the region— a regional approach to addressing regional issues remain elusive. India’s thrust on strengthening intra-regional trade through increased connectivity and unilateral concessions has at best yielded mixed results. South Asia largely remains mired in protracted conflicts and chronic socio-economic challenges, which require each country in the region to constantly evaluate their position and policy in relation to India and vice versa.
On the basis of the findings of the last six annual conferences that the Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses (IDSA) has been organising since 2007, it was felt that a detailed assessment of various perceptions about India that prevails in its immediate neighbourhood is critical for Indian policy makers to devise appropriate measures to enable and strengthen the process of regional cooperation and integration. Thus, the objective of this year’s South Asia Conference, seventh in series, is to isolate and identify political and economic perceptions about India in South Asia and vice versa.
The two-day conference would seek to examine and address the following set of queries and issues:
- What are the various perceptions about India in each of the neighbouring South Asian countries? How do other countries in the region look at India’s economic power? Is India perceived as a reluctant or an unreliable partner in the development of the region? Has India failed to relate and connect to its immediate neighbourhood?
- Which are the key institutions and forces shaping perceptions about India in the neighbouring countries? What has been the role of media in shaping or perpetuating the prevalent perceptions? How perceptions have defined or transformed the inter-state relations in South Asia?
- What are the Indian perceptions of its ‘neighbourhood’ and its approaches to the individual countries in South Asia? Has the region failed to connect to India, and to identify with its rising political and economic profile?
- How best India can manage or improve its perceptions among its South Asian neighbours? What role India should play to make regional cooperation a success? What should be India’s long-term approach in this regard?
