Regionalism and Security Challenges in South and Central Asia: Navigating Geopolitical Shifts is a seminal volume that captures the pulse of one of the world`s most critical regions at a time of unprecedented change. As the global order undergoes a profound transformation, South and Central Asia stand at the crossroads of competing power interests, new alignments, and emerging threats that will shape the future of regional and global security.

The book dissects both traditional challenges like terrorism, extremism, interstate rivalries and non-traditional threats, cyber warfare, climate stress, resource insecurity, and energy dependence that increasingly blur the line between domestic and international security.

Divided into three incisive sections, the volume:

• Unpacks geopolitical shifts and evolving doctrines in South Asia, revealing the recalibration of security strategies.

• It highlights Central Asia`s centrality as a geostrategic hub, a contested yet indispensable element in great-power competition.

• Analyses multilateral frameworks and regional institutions, highlighting their promise and limitations in fostering stability.

Rich case studies from India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan ground the analysis in real-world dynamics, offering nuanced perspectives on connectivity corridors, strategic partnerships, environmental vulnerabilities, and regional integration.

With its rare combination of scholarly depth and policy relevance, this volume is a critical resource for academics, decision-makers, defence analysts, and students of international relations and regionalism specialist, who seek to understand and navigate the shifting landscape of South and Central Asia, an arena where regionalism, security, and global geopolitics intersect with defining consequences.

Dr. Nivedita Das Kundu, MA, MPhil, PhD, DSc (Candidate) is a distinguished academic, foreign policy analyst, and author specializing in international relations, geopolitics, regionalism, strategic security studies, and diplomacy. She is Professor of International Relations at Uzbekistan State World Languages University, Tashkent, where she teaches and supervises students in International Relations and Diplomacy. She is a Research Faculty of York University, Toronto. She is associated with the York Centre for Asian Research.

She earned her PhD in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and the University of Helsinki, Finland, followed by post-doctoral studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C. Presently pursuing DSc on the topic of Regionalism and Geopolitics. An internationally recognized scholar, Dr. Kundu has taught and conducted research at institutions worldwide, including Canada, Germany, Finland, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, China, and Azerbaijan. She has also worked with leading think tanks such as ICWA, IDSA, USI,   and ICSSR, underscoring her expertise in foreign policy and strategic affairs.

Her research focuses on geopolitics, foreign policy, regionalism, and security (including energy security), with a particular emphasis on Eurasia and Central Asia, India, and multilateral organizations such as the SCO, BRICS, CSTO, and EurAsEC. She is proficient in English, Russian, Bengali, Hindi. She has further strengthened her expertise with qualifications in Women, Borders, and Migration Studies from the University of Hannover (Germany) and Eurasian Studies from Russian State University. Her achievements include the prestigious foreign ministry award, Pushkin Medal (2013) and fellowships from DAAD (Germany), RAS (Russia), CIMO (EU), ICSSR (India), and ADA (Azerbaijan).

Dr. Kundu is a member of the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition, actively addressing WMD concerns, and is a regular speaker at CSP-OPCW (UN) sessions in The Hague. She contributes as an expert with the Valdai Discussion Club and recently became Advisor to the expert working committee member of SCO-TEMP (part of Sanghai Cooperation Organisation). She is also an Associate and life member of the United Services Institution of India, Science for Peace at the University of Toronto, and the Valdai Discussion Club (Russia). Recently, she became “Women in Foreign Policy”, an expert nominated by USA government.