Security in South Asia: a regional perspective Implications for International Relations Theory. An International Conference organized by Cluster of Excellence, Asia and Europe in a Global Context, University of Heidelberg, South Asia Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Heidelberg And Centre for Contemporary India Research and Studies, Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw 25 th & 26 th June Heidelberg India s arrival on the international stage is today universally acknowledged by major economies of the world, recognized in the global media and discussed widely amongst academics. However, apart from the numerous internal challenges that India faces, it is the region of South Asia which is set to be the biggest test of India s resilience and future potential. India has disputes over borders and resources with each of its neighbours. South Asia is also home to violent insurgencies, military coups as well as the theatre of an ongoing international battle against terror. As the largest in size and economy and combined with a record of democratic rule and order, India holds a particular responsibility for, as well as, a vital interest in promoting regional peace and prosperity. 1
This two-day conference seeks to (1) examine the notion of a South Asian region and (2) to ask whether a regional perspective contributes to the analysis of India s emergence, the intractability of the India-Pakistan conflict, the limits to and, opportunities for regional integration as well as Sino-Indian and US-Indian relations. Friday, 25 th June South Asia Institute, Room Z10 Morning: Arrival 16.30 16.45 Welcome and introduction: Professor Subrata Mitra, head of Department of Political Science, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University Dr. Jakub Zajaczkowski, chairperson of the Centre for Contemporary India Research and Studies, Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw 16.45-17.00: Keynote speakers Professor Bogusław Zaleski, Centre for Contemporary India Research and Studies, IIR, University of Warsaw (former Deputy Foreign Minister of Republic of Poland) India - emerging power: implications for South Asia. Professor Subrata Mitra Reflections on India as a South Asian power. 17.00-18.00 discussion 20.00 Dinner 2
Saturday, 26 th June Karl Jaspers Centre, Voßstraße 2, Room 112 09.15 Welcome: Dr. Jivanta Schoettli 09.30 12.00 Panel I. South Asia in the contemporary world Chair: Professor T.V. Paul (Presentations 9.30 10.30) Dr. Justyna Nakonieczna (University of Warsaw, Institute of Intrenational Relations, the Head of Graduate Master Programme in International Relations, CCIRS) South Asia in International Relations: Social dimension Aneta Haliżak (University of Warsaw, Institute of Intrenational Relations, Centre for Contemporary India Reserach and Studies) South Asia in International Relations: Cultural dimension Dr. Jakub Zajączkowski (University of Warsaw) New India Foreign and Security Policy 10.30-12.00 discussion ------ 12.00 13.00 lunch break ------ 13.00 14.30 Panel II: India as a regional power Chair: Professor Boguslaw Zaleski (Presentations 13.00-13.45) 3
Professor T.V.Paul (Director of the McGill University Université de Montreal Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS) State Capacity and South Asia s Insecurity Predicament Commodore (RTD) C. Udhay Bhaskar Director of National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi) India in Regional and Global Geo-politics. 13.45-14.30 discussion ------- 14.30 15.00 Tea and coffee break ---------- 15.00 17.00 Panel III: Extra-regional influences and implications Chair: Professor Udhay Bhaskar (presentations 15.00-16.00) Professor Han Hua, (School of International Studies, Peking University) Evolution of Sino-Indian relations and implications for South Asia security Dr. Harsh Pant (Kings College, University of London) India and the USA Dr. Jivanta Schoettli & Dr. Siegfried O. Wolf (Department of Political Science, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg) India, Pakistan and Afghanistan 16.00-17.30 Plenary Chairs: Professor Bogusław Zaleski / Professor Subrata Mitra 4
List of Participants Professor Bogusław Zaleski, Centre for Contemporary India Research and Studies, IIR, University of Warsaw (former Deputy Foreign Minister of Republic of Poland) Professor Subrata Mitra, head of Department of Political Science, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University Professor T.V.Paul (Director of the McGill University Université de Montreal Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS) Commodore (RTD) C. Udhay Bhaskar (Director of National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi) Professor Han Hua, (School of International Studies, Peking University) Dr. Harsh Pant (Kings College, University of London) Dr. Jakub Zajaczkowski, chairperson of the Centre for Contemporary India Research and Studies, Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw Dr. Justyna Nakonieczna (University of Warsaw, Institute of Intrenational Relations, the Head of Graduate Master Programme in International Relations, CCIRS) Dr. Siegfried O. Wolf (Department of Political Science, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg) Aneta Haliżak (University of Warsaw, Institute of Intrenational Relations, Centre for Contemporary India Reserach and Studies) Dr. Jivanta Schoettli (Department of Political Science, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg) 5
Abstracts India emerging power: implications for South Asia : In the last decade under different political dispensation India has steered its foreign policies in the management of its relations with the word s major power in an effective manner. India is unique today in that it enjoys strategic partnership with the two leading powers, namely the USA and Russia. The same in the case with its relationships with the EU countries, China and Japan. It is a measure of India s forward movement away from much hallowed but politically irrelevant Nehruvian policies of non-alignment that the major powers today feel comfortable and are encouradged to establish strategic partnership with India. The same cannot be said of India s foreign policies closer home in South Asia. Not that Indian diplomacy lacked vision or competence in formulating or crafting effective policies for the region, but that combination of external intrusive powers pressure on India and domestic political pressures of Indian politics have stymied India s foreign policies toward the countries of South Asia. State Capacity and South Asia s Insecurity Predicament : South Asia, which consists of eight states of different sizes and capabilities, is characterized by high levels of insecurity at interstate, intra-state, and human dimensions. Although most of them emerged as independent nations in the 1940s, the states in the region have not yet been able to settle their conflicts internal and external. The region has also not developed adequate institutional mechanisms and normative frameworks for solving its myriad of security challenges collectively. What explains this chronic insecurity of South Asia? I argue that South Asia s multifaceted insecurity can be explained largely due to two critical variables: the presence of weak states and weak cooperative interstate norms. State capacity acts both as an independent and an intervening variable in causing regional insecurity, while weak cooperative norms are largely intervening variables. What can be done to bring about greater regional security and cooperation? India and the USA : The US-India civilian nuclear energy cooperation has re-defined the nature of this bilateral relationship. India s ties with the US have been steadily strengthening since the end of the Cold War, with their interests converging on a range of issues. But the nuclear non-proliferation regime denying civilian nuclear technology to India, with its larger restrictive implications across the entire high technology spectrum, was a fundamental irritant in this relationship. The nuclear deal removed that irritant and transformed Indo-US partnership. The United States under President Obama remains committed to continuing President Bush's policy of aiding the rise of Indian power has 6
acknowledged that India is a responsible power that will increasingly become central to global governance. The Obama administration gave notice that it intended to contest those who were skeptical about the administration's intentions towards India. However, neither the US nor India are used to partnerships among equals and India remains too proud, too argumentative and too big a nation to reconcile as a junior partner to any state, including the US. How the two democracies adjust to this reality will shape the future of their relationship. South Asia in International Relations: Cultural dimension A notion of cultural security is inextricably connected with the issue of protection of cultural property. For the last few decades, both a growing awareness of necessity for preventing destruction, thefts or smuggling of cultural objects and calls for redress for cultural losses caused by conflicts and colonialism have been noticeable in an international discourse. It resulted in significant developments of international and domestic laws aimed at protecting cultural property and it also influenced museums practice. The evolution of contemporary approach towards handling cultural property, in particular affects countries with significant heritage resources and colonial past. It makes a challenge for states like India to adopt strategies for protection of cultural property within a nexus of internal and external relations. Thus, it is worth considering the peculiarity and effectiveness of protection of Indian cultural heritage and to give thought to legal grounds for the return of art treasures from the UK to India. To depict the complexity of the issue, the discussion will be illustrated with cases of successful retrieval of stolen sacred objects, as well as pending post-colonial claims recently addressed by the Indian government to the leading museums in the UK. South Asia in International Relations: Social dimension The aim of the paper is to study the position of South Asia in international relations from the social dimension. The stated hypothesis is that South Asia is not only a passive receiver of solutions and projects how to improve social conditions, but we can find the concepts and projects that were created locally in the region, and then even spread over the world. Therefore, South Asia has a chance to be recognized as the region actively and creatively involved in finding solutions for problems aimed to be solved in the Millennium Development Goals. New Indian Foreign and Security Policy : The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union altered the balance of power in international relations. For India, the end of the Cold War meant a new strategic situation. In these new circumstances, New Delhi, just as other states of the region, redefined its interests and began searching for suitable strategies and ways to implement them. India, however, did not intend to stop defending its interests in disputes with neighbours, did not give up on creating a security zone in South Asia, or 7
playing the role of a regional and future global power. But India would like to achieve by methods in Indian foreign policy. India, aware of the restraints as well as of the new internal and external circumstances, in 1989 started carrying out a new internal and foreign policy. The more recent features of the Indian vision include: regionalism, moving away from rhetoric and moralising in politics towards pragmatism, increasing appreciation of military force in international relations, and establishing closer relations with major powers, new policy toward South Asia (from Hard Power to Soft Power), new strategic thinking and putting stress on economic development. Key words of India foreign policy is: responsibility, economic development and stabilization. Two symbols of India s new approach to international relations are its nuclear policy (nuclear tests in 1998, adoption of nuclear strategy in 2003) and the development of strategic partnership with the United States. Non-alignment has been replaced by a so-called new non-alignment. It focuses on economic issues in relations with African and Asian states and organizing the states of the South in a dialogue with the North. It should be stated that the Indian vision at the dawn of the 21st century is of a nature that is both continuous and variable. However, despite the processes and phenomena taking place after 1989, the Indian vision of international order is a function of its long-term strategy. The aim of that strategy is to achieve global-power status in the 21st century. But what is important, India is status-quo Power. They prefer evolution, not revolution. About the speakers. Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar, currently Director, National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi retired from the Indian Navy in early 2007 after 37 years service. He is concurrently Contributing Editor, SouthAsia Monitor and a Reuters columnist. He was formerly associated with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) where he served as the Deputy Director (1996-2004) and later headed the Institute till late 2005. Subsequently he was appointed Member-Secretary of the GOI Task Force on 'Global Strategic Developments' - a report submitted to the PM of India. He has edited books on nuclear and international security related issues and has contributed over 60 research articles to journals in India and abroad. He is a guest lecturer at the Indian NDC and other military colleges. He is a Life member of the USI; and on the Governing Council of the NMF and the RIS as also on the Advisory Panel of the India Habitat Centre (IHC) in New Delhi. Aneta Halizak holds a Master`s degree in International Relations from the University of Warsaw (summa cum laude). She also completed MA in Museum and Gallery Management 8
at City University London (with merits), with the MA thesis concerning strategies of museums collections management adopted by British museums handling foreign restitution claims. She was an apprentice with the National Museum in Warsaw and she had a work placement with the Unit of Cultural Property Management in the British Library London. Currently she is a doctoral researcher at the Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw. PhD thesis explores legal, social and commercial aspects of international art market. She acts as a lecturer in the issues of protection of cultural property in international law at the Institute of International Relations and abroad. Her research interests concern the issues of the international art trade, art law, protection of cultural property in international law, the impact of restitution claims on the practice of museums and galleries, ethics in museums. Justyna Nakonieczna is Head of Graduate M.A. Program in International Relations Graduate of University of Warsaw. The PhD dissertation The social responsibility of multinational enterprises (2006). Assistant professor at the Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw, Poland. Areas of expertise and research work: International political economy, social aspects of globalisation, antiglobalisation and alteglobalisation, social responsibility of transnational enterprises, transnational social movements, poverty issues, development issues, international migration issues, international organisations, regional economic cooperation, regionalism and inter-regionalism. Harsh V. Pant teaches at King s College London in the Department of Defence Studies. He is also an Associate with the King s Centre for Science and Security Studies and an Affiliate with the King s India Institute. His current research is focused on Asia-Pacific security and defence issues. His most recent books include Contemporary Debates in Indian Foreign and Security Policy (Palgrave Macmillan) and Indian Foreign Policy in a Unipolar World (Routledge). T.V. Paul is James McGill Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, where he has been teaching since 1991. Paul specializes and teaches courses in international relations, especially international security, international conflict & conflict resolution, regional security, and South Asia. Paul has published 11 books, over 35 journal articles and book chapters. His authored books are: Globalization and the National Security State (with Norrin Ripsman, Oxford University Press, 2010); The Tradition of Non-use of Nuclear Weapons (Stanford University Press, 2009); India in the World Order: Searching for Major Power Status (Cambridge University Press, 2002, with Baldev Nayar); Power versus Prudence: Why Nations Forgo Nuclear Weapons (McGill- Queen s University Press, 2000); and Asymmetric Conflicts: War Initiation by Weaker Powers (Cambridge University Press, 1994). Paul is the editor or co-editor of the volumes, South 9
Asia s Weak States: Understanding the Regional Insecurity Predicament (Stanford University Press, forthcoming, 2010); Complex Deterrence: Strategy In the Global Era (with Patrick M. Morgan and James J. Wirtz, University of Chicago Press, 2009); The India-Pakistan Conflict: An Enduring Rivalry (Cambridge University Press, 2005); Balance of Power: Theory and Practice in the 21st Century (with James Wirtz and Michel Fortman, Stanford University Press, 2004); The Nation-State in Question (with G. John Ikenberry and John A. Hall, Princeton University Press, 2003); International Order and the Future of World Politics (with John A. Hall, Cambridge University Press, 1999, 2000 (twice), 2001, 2002 & 2003); and The Absolute Weapon Revisited: Nuclear Arms and the Emerging International Order (with Richard Harknett and James Wirtz, University of Michigan Press, 1998 & 2000). Bogusław Zaleski is Associate Professor, Institute of International Relations at the University of Warsaw. He has been a Visiting Fellow at a number of eminent institutions such as Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India at the School of International Studies, Nuffield College, Oxford University and Nebraska University, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA Since 1995 he has held various positions in the government s public administration including Advisor to Minister; Director of the Foreign Department at the Prime Minister s Chancellery; Director General Chief of the Prime Minister s Office. From 1998-2002 and 2006-2008 he was Director of the Department of European Integration and Comparative Studies at the Energy Regulatory Authority and 2002-2005 Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Jakub Zajączkowski is assistant professor at University of Warsaw, Institute of International Relations; Chairman of the Centre for Contemporary India Research and Studies in the Institute, and also Erasmus coordinator. He focuses in his research on contemporary international relations, security in Asia-Pacific region, South Asia in IR, India s Foreign and Security Policy, India-EU relations, Developing countries in IR. In 2007 and 2008 he was awarded by the fellowship for Young Researchers of the Foundation for Polish Science and in 2008 and 2009 awarded by the Rector of University. Member of research Board of European University Center at Peking University and member of following research networks: Europe-China Academic Network; Asia-Europe Human Security Network. He has been visiting professor in over 14 universities (Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indiana University, Bloomington; Salzburg University; South Asia Institute, Heidelberg; Madrid Autonoma; Sciences Po, Paris; Swansea). He published 2 books (India in International Relations, Warsaw 2008; EU in International Relations, Warsaw 2006) and over 50 articles published in research journals. 10