ABOUT THE BOOK
fjrigjwwe9r0pp_Books:Description
Rising India in the Changing Asia-Pacific: Strategies and
Challenges, is an attempt to understand and examine changing geopolitical
realities of the Asia-Pacific in the twenty-first century and emerging contours
of India’s responses to the new-emerging challenges as an emerging great power.
This edited volume throws light on two decades of India’s Look East Policy, its
efforts towards connectivity, regional cooperation and its overall foreign
policy thrusts towards its extended neighbourhood in the East. The volume also
puts in perspective India’s approaches to multilateralism and its role in the
whole gamut of ASEAN-driven regional architectures – ASEAN, ASEAN Regional
forum, East Asia Summit, ASEAN Plus Defence Ministerial Meeting (ADMM+),
BIMSTEC, Mekong Ganga Cooperation etc.
The study suggests that India has focused its attention
on strategic engagement with Asia-Pacific by expanding its commitments and
participation in the multilateral cooperative framework to counter both
traditional and non-traditional threats facing the region. While China-threat
seems to have been giving fresh lease of life to India’s balancing roles at
regular intervals, challenges life maritime security, sea-piracy, terrorism,
climate change, food security, natural disasters, and financial security
continue to bring India and the Asia-Pacific together. The region exhibits a
new buoyancy towards greater economic integration, physical and cultural
connectivity and sustained engagement at the levels of governments, private
business and people-to-people. Although challenges, such as bureaucratic
loopholes, pressure groups and the lack of political will, inhibit the full
scale relationship, civic drivers of engagement are giving new momentum to the
strategic engagement between in rising India and a very powerful Asia-Pacific
in what has come to be known as ‘Asian Century’.
ABOUT Author
fjrigjwwe9r0pp_Books:aboutAuthor
Ganganath Jha is a Professor in Southeast Asian and
Southwest Pacific Studies, School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi. He
is a renowned expert of Southeast Asian affairs. He has written numerous
articles in several journals and edited volumes. He has six books to his
credits, namely (i) Foreign Policy of Thailand (Radiant, 1978), (ii) Southeast
Asia and India: A Political Perspective (National Book Organisation, 1987),
(iii) Ethnic Politics of Southeast Asia (NBO, 1998), (iv) Indonesia: Society
and Politics (Shipra Publications, 2003), (v) Society and Politics in Southeast
Asia (Anamika, 2008) and (vi) India and Southeast Asia: Introspection for
Future Partnership (Anamika, 2010).
Vibhanshu Shekhar is Research Fellow, Indian Council of
World Affairs, New Delhi. Before joining the ICWA, Dr. Shekhar worked with the School
of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University for more than two years
and published his book The Politics of Islam, Nation-building and Development:
Ethnic Violence and Terrorism in Indonesia (Anamika Publication, 2011)
Vibhanshu Shekhar headed Southeast Asia Research Program at the New Delhi-based
Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies for a year (2007-2008). He has
published in nationally and international academic journals, newsmagazines,
newspapers, and academic websites. He has done his Post-doctoral research from
Australian National University, Canberra and Ph.D. from School of International
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.