Browsing by Author "Singh, Bawa"

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Access to medicines through global health diplomacy
(Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, 2023-06-10T00:00:00) Chattu, Vijay Kumar; Singh, Bawa; Pattanshetty, Sanjay; Reddy, Srikanth
The World Health Organisation (WHO) emphasizes that equitable access to safe and affordable medicines is vital to attaining the highest possible standard of health by all. Ensuring equitable access to medicines (ATM) is also a key narrative of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as SDG 3.8 specifies �access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all� as a central component of universal health coverage (UHC). The SDG 3.b emphasizes the need to develop medicines to address persistent treatment gaps. However, around 2 billion people globally have no access to essential medicines, particularly in lower- and middle-income countries. The states� recognition of health as a human right obligates them to ensure access to timely, acceptable, affordable health care. While ATM is inherent in minimizing the treatment gaps, global health diplomacy (GHD) contributes to addressing these gaps and fulfilling the state�s embracement of health as a human right. � 2023 The Author(s).
Advancing african medicines agency through global health diplomacy for an equitable pan-african universal health coverage: A scoping review
(MDPI, 2021-11-09T00:00:00) Chattu, Vijay Kumar; Dave, Vishal B.; Reddy, K. Srikanth; Singh, Bawa; Sahiledengle, Biniyam; Heyi, Demisu Zenbaba; Nattey, Cornelius; Atlaw, Daniel; Jackson, Kioko; El-Khatib, Ziad; Eltom, Akram Ali
The African continent is home to 15% of the world�s population and suffers from a disease burden of more than 25% globally. In this COVID-19 era, the high burden and mortality are further worsened due to inequities, inequalities such as inadequate health systems, scarce financial and human resources, as well as unavailability of inexpensive medicines of good quality, safety, and efficacy. The Universal Health Coverage ensures that people have access to high-quality essential health services, secure, reliable, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines, as well as financial security. This paper aimed at addressing the critical need for a continental African Medicines Agency (AMA) in addressing the inequities and the role of global health diplomacy in building consensus to support the ratification of the Treaty of AMA. A literature review was done in Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE/PubMed, and Google Scholar search engine to identify the critical literature in the context of study objectives. All the articles published after 2015 till 2021 in the context of AMA were included. African Health Strategy 2016�2030 highlighted the importance of an African regulatory mechanism for medicines and medical products. Through global health diplomacy (GHD), the African Union and its partners can negotiate and cooperate in providing infrastructural, administrative, and regulatory support for establishing the AMA. The paper emphasizes the South�South cooperation and highlights the contributions of India and China in the supply of medicines and vaccines to Africa. A strong AMA created through GHD can be a vital instrument in utilizing Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) flexibilities extension and an ideal partner for European and other regional regulatory authorities seeking to stem the tide of counterfeit, sub-standard, or fake products. � 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Analyzing GAVI the Vaccine Alliance as a Global Health Partnership Model: A Constructivist Analysis of the Global Health Crisis
(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2022-09-06T00:00:00) Singh, Sandeep; Bawa, Jagmeet; Singh, Bawa; Singh, Balinder; Bika, Shankar Lal
The ongoing debate on the conceptual underpinnings of constructivism and global health partnerships (GHPs) in global health studies has a dimension that deserves closer attention. This paper attempts to draw attention to a few aspects of the debate using Finnemore�s constructivist analysis. According to this study, global actors need to rethink their paradoxical notions of pandemic crisis survival in light of the growing demand for mobilizing diverse global health agents and the necessity of constructing complex GHPs to address challenges of international significance. A global response based on solidarity and multilateralism is the only way to effectively combat this pandemic. Against this backdrop, the article analyses this development through an ideational ontological case study of the GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. This article contributes to the debate by explaining how the GAVI Alliance fostered global collaboration and can serve as a template for future GHPs. � 2022 Association of Asia Scholars.
British India in the World Wars: A Historical Analysis of Military Perspective of Punjab
(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Singh, Bhupinder; Singh, Bawa
Military history is seen as an under-researched area, though military had been remained important to every country for security and other vested interests from time immemorial. Countries and kingdoms had always been maintained military for protection and security as well as for satisfying their imperialistic designs. It is well known that military played a key role in the making of the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent in which Punjab had played a strategic and pivotal role. Empire to restructure and reArmy and on the other hand, valour and loyalty along with the martial character and good physique shown by the Punjabi people brought new trends in the recruitment of the British Indian Army. Since the recorded history, Punjab had been known for Sword of Arms for India. Later on, it had become the guardians of the British Empire. In this background, the British Raj ended the Bengalisation and started the Punjabization of the British Indian Army. Consequently, Punjab made spectacular progress in network of military cantonment allied with other supporting infrastructure (railways, canals, railway workshops, hospitals, schools), apart from converting it as one of the most important and fertile army recruitment grounds. On the other side, British had started to recruit the Punjabis in the British Indian Army. On the other side, Punjabis had played very pivotal role in sustaining, maintaining and expanding the British Empire in India as well as on the other distant of the world. More importantly, Punjabi Army played very significant role in the World War I & II. monumental and because of this, Punjabi soldiers have been felicitated every year over there. With the opening of World War I, Punjab had supplied approximately 50 percent of the British Indian Army. On the other side, Punjab had contributed substantially in the World War II. In this work, the neglected stories of Punjabi army has been discussed widely. In spite of this, the comparison between Punjab versus other provinces of India has been done for more clearing the picture of . However, the study has some limitations due to the time and space constraints. It, particularly, focuses on the role of Punjab in the British Indian Army. Thus, the proposed research has explored the role of colonial Punjab in the World Wars. Additionally, it also examine the socio-economic impact of the British rule in general and World Wars in particular on the respective region. Hence, the work has brought out the silence stories of Punjabi soldiers on the pages of history.
British Indian Army: Role of Punjab in the World War-I.
(University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018) Singh, Bawa
Changimng dynamics of strategic relationships between china and Nepal: Theorizing india’s concerns
(G.B. Books Publishers and Distributors, 2015) Singh, Bawa
Changing Contours of Balance of Power in AsiaPacific: India’s Paradoxes and Pragmatism
(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Thoker, Parvaiz Ahmad; Singh, Bawa
Since the end of the Cold War, one of the world’s largest regions-the AsiaPacific has undergone significant changes in the pattern of the power balancing equations. The breakup of Soviet Union has left indelible and drastic impacts on the overall strategic scenario of the Asia-Pacific region. The two major powers-China and Russia are coming closer, and on the other hand, the US along with its significant allies sought to maintain its hegemony in the region. However, the US presence is facing stern challenges from the rising China. Therefore, the region has been experiencing the formation of alliances and counter-alliances with the US and China as leading players. Thus a situation of new power equations has been arising in the region whereby different groupings try to contain each other through varied moves and counter moves. During the Cold War, India had been more associated with the Former Soviet Union (FSU). However, in the post-Cold War era, the NAMa lynchpin of Indian foreign policy has been left in the lurch and, thus, a paradigmatic shift was witnessed in India’s overall foreign policy approach in general and AsiaPacific region in particular. No doubt, India possesses multifaceted geostrategic iv interests in the Asia-Pacific region. However, India’s policy goals vis-à-vis AsiaPacific has been facing grave challenges given the recent power shifts in the region. Hence, through this study, a sincere effort has been made to analyse the emerging power balancing equations in Asia-Pacific with the US and China as the main actors. Moreover, this work discusses in detail about how the post-Cold War re-emergence of Russia affects the changing Asia-Pacific regional order. Further, at the end, the study has also attempted to analyse India’s Asia-Pacific policy along with the diverse challenges and potentials vis-à-vis new emerging power dynamics in the region.
China in the Indian Ocean: Navigating India’s Challenges and Reciprocation
(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Lone, Mansoor Ahmad; Singh, Bawa
The Indian Ocean has remained a strategic maritime space since ages, serving as an important link among various regions of the globe regarding trade, social contacts, and cultural exchanges. The region was mostly peaceful during the pre-Vasco da Gama era, but the advent of Europeans set the stage for tough competition characterized by loot, plunder, and even wars. This foul environment kept on thriving and had prevailed till the end of the Second World War. Thereafter, the region appeared in a new refashioned scene where the USA emerged as a sole superpower of the world immediately after the collapse of its rival and competitor-USSR in 1991. The next dramatic turn arrived by the end of 20th century when the two Asian giants China and India, appeared on the global scene with swift growing economies, advancement in scientific knowledge and skilled workforce. With the onset of the 21st century, the IOR witnessed the growing attention of these big powers especially China and the USA along with the regional power India, with increasing competition because of the growing geopolitical and geo-economic significance of the region. Since the economy of these countries became heavily dependent on the energy imports mainly arriving from the Middle East and Africa and carried away through the Sea Lanes of Communications spanning the Indian Ocean from west to east, the security and safe arrival of these imports through the Indian Ocean has been treated as a chief necessity if the economy is to survive, sustain and grow. Further, the regions vast reserves of natural resource wealth both living and non-living further attracted the attention of these countries towards the region. This resulted in the ever-increasing involvement of these powers in the region. China iv having geographical constraints to easily access the Indian Ocean, started to wean India’s neighbours to make its foothold strong in the region while the USA directly joined hands with India to contain China’s expansion in the region. China expedited the process of securing greater cooperation with the littoral nations of the region, secured a goodwill place by employing different tools of maritime strategy like big investments for developing the infrastructure of these countries, increase in trade, political and diplomatic engagements, and military exchanges. China has been developing and operating many ports in the Indian Ocean countries like in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Maldives, Seychelles, Djibouti, Tanzania, Kenya. It is this increasing involvement of China where India finds herself at odds in some security perspectives. The study is an attempt to analyze the dynamics of Chinese involvement in the IOR, the possible concerns for India and India’s preparedness in response to such moves of China.
China's startegic forays in south asia : Contextualising india's concerns
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Lone, Mansoor Ahmad; Singh, Bawa
China's terrific rise and all-round development in almost all fields have provided her an identity in the International system as one of the great power. China's focus has now changed and the older views are giving way to wider engagement in adjoining areas. China shares borders with many south Asian countries like India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan. Therefore, within the Chinese foreign policy, South Asia is becoming an important element. South Asia's increasing strategic importance has resulted in the increasing Chinese involvement in the region. The compelling factors for China to have an increased engagement in South Asia involve; to sustain the fast growing economy by securing the resources in these countries; Containment of India's rise to become a global power so that it may not affect China's rise; to maintain territorial integrity. In order to achieve these objectives, China is cultivating relations with the countries in South Asia by giving much needed economic assistance, infrastructure building, arms and ammunition transfers and in some countries nuclear weapon technology transfers as well especially to Pakistan. The countries with which China is increasingly involved rival to India in one way or the other. Therefore, it is obvious that such engagement will automatically harm India's interests in many ways in these countries. China in order to secure the energy needs has started to pursue a strategy called 'String of Pearls' vi through which China is building port facilities in the littoral states of Indian Ocean through which most of the crude oil is imported by China. These states include Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. By the way, such a strategy has lead to the encirclement of India, which may be a potential danger in future. India fears that China, who has a long pending unresolved border dispute with her, could use such port facilities for military purpose in future. Thus has created concerns for India. India needs to search better policy options to cautiously counter such a strategy of China, in order to retain greater consistency in her economy, and to maintain territorial integrity.
China’s Strategic Forays in the Maldives: India’s Reciprocations
(World Focus, 2019) Singh, Bawa
Conflict and social determinants of health: would global health diplomacy resolve the Afghanistan healthcare conundrum?
(Routledge, 2023-06-21T00:00:00) Singh, Bawa; Singh, Sandeep; Kaur, Jaspal; Singh, Kulwinder; Popalzay, Abdul Wasi
Public health, conflict/war, Social Determinants of Health (SDHs) and Global Health Diplomacy (GHD) are believed to be strongly interwoven. Afghanistan that is known as the �Graveyard of the Empire� has been passing through a very critical phase given the prolonged civil war during the last couple of decades, wherein the ongoing current situation further pushed the country towards the collapse of the political and economic systems. Thereby, Afghanistan�s healthcare system has been entrapped into the civil war conundrum causing the SDHs to be seriously affected. Conflict in any form, i.e. local, regional, or international, has left black swan impacts on not only the SDHs but also led to health crises given the inaccessibility, unaffordability, and more of lack of the infrastructure, and exodus of trained medical staff and healthcare inequity. In this situation, it is anticipated that GHD could play a significant role in providing equitable healthcare to people at stake. Against this backdrop, the focus of this paper is; how the SDHs have been impacted by the civil conflict and how the public healthcare has been turned into a conundrum; would the GHD resolve the healthcare crisis in the prevailing scenario?. � 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
COVID-19 and Global Distributive Justice: �Health Diplomacy� of India and South Africa for the TRIPS waiver
(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2022-01-19T00:00:00) Singh, Bawa; Chattu, Vijay Kumar; Kaur, Jaspal; Mol, Rajni; Gauttam, Priya; Singh, Balinder
The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic had left heart-wrenching impacts on all facets of life in general and the availability, accessibility, and affordability of medicines and vaccines in particular. Rather, the world has been divided into two groups regarding access to medicine and vaccines as haves and have-nots. The rich countries had pre-ordered the vaccines of COVID-19 along with the holding of the same. The pandemic situation was further worsened, given the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in practice and restrictions on sharing technology of vaccines, medicines, and life-saving equipment. In this context, India and South Africa have proposed the joint proposal and garnered support for waiving off TRIPS to ensure equity, accessibility, and affordability of vaccines and the same as public goods. In this review, we emphasize that global justice is one of the important elements of normative international theories, which focus on all the moral obligations from the world�s rich to the world�s poor. The paper also questions and argues that if the rich countries fail to go by the principles of global justice, can the Indian and South African (SA) patent diplomacy play a catalyst role in global justice? The review concludes with an emphasis on global solidarity, and the acceptance of joint India�South Africa�s �patent diplomacy� for TRIPS waiver would result in mass production and fair distribution, making the COVID-19 medicines and technologies available to everyone regardless of their poor�rich status. � The Author(s) 2022.
Covid-19 pandemic and reimagination of multilateralism through global health diplomacy
(MDPI, 2021-10-21T00:00:00) Gupta, Nippun; Singh, Bawa; Kaur, Jaspal; Singh, Sandeep; Chattu, Vijay Kumar
The ongoing pandemic COVID-19 has made it very clear that no one is safe until everyone is safe. But how can everyone be safe when the pandemic has broken every nerve of the economy and put an extra burden on the already crippled healthcare systems in low-income countries? Thus, the pandemic has changed the orientation of domestic as well as global politics, with many geopolitical shifts. The exponential growing infected cases and more than four million deaths has demanded a global response in terms of multilateralism. However, declining multilateralism and the need for its reforms was a much-delayed response. Given this context, this paper aimed to link the decline of multilateralism in the face of the pandemic by highlighting various instances of its failure and success; and highlighting the need for its revival. The article critically examines and evaluates the responses of multilateralism and global health diplomacy (GHD) during the pandemic. The ongoing black swan kind of event (an unexpected event) has obligated global leadership to think in terms of the revival of multilateralism through GHD. Historically, multilateralism through GHD has been shown to play an important role in managing and combating pandemics. The article further discusses various theoretical aspects such as sovereignty and hegemonic stability theory as reasons for the failing of multilateralism. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of foresight in reviving multilateralism in the pursuit of a more sustainable future. � 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
COVID-19 Vaccine, TRIPS, and Global Health Diplomacy: India's Role at the WTO Platform
(Hindawi Limited, 2021-08-27T00:00:00) Chattu, Vijay Kumar; Singh, Bawa; Kaur, Jaspal; Jakovljevic, Mihajlo
In light of the devastation caused by COVID-19, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and vaccine research and development (R&D) have been occupying a prominent position in the field of global health diplomacy (GHD). Most countries, international organizations, and charitable organizations have been engaged in the R&D of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure timely affordability and accessibility to all countries. Concomitantly, the World Trade Organization (WTO) provides some provisions and enforcements regarding copyrights, patents, trademarks, geographical indications, and industrial designs. Given these safeguards, it is considered that intellectual property rights (IPRs) have become major barriers to the affordability and accessibility of vaccines/medicines/technology, particularly to the developing/least developed countries. Realizing the gravity of the pandemic impact, as well as its huge population and size, India has elevated this issue in its global health diplomacy by submitting a joint proposal with South Africa to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for a temporary waiver of IPRs to ensure timely affordability and accessibility of COVID-19 medical products to all countries. However, the issue of the temporary waive off had become a geopolitical issue. Countries that used to claim per se as strong advocates of human rights, egalitarianism, and healthy democracy have opposed this proposal. In this contrasting milieu, this paper is aimed at examining how the TRIPS has become a barrier for developing countries' development and distribution of vaccines/technology; secondly, how India strategizes its role in the WTO in pursuant of its global health diplomacy? We conclude that the IPRs regime should not become a barrier to the accessibility/affordability of essential drugs and vaccines. To ensure access, India needs to get more engaged in GHD with all the involved global stakeholders to get strong support for their joint proposal. The developed countries that rejected/resisted the proposal can rethink their full support. � 2021 Vijay Kumar Chattu et al.
Democratic transformation in south asia: Emerging trends
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Gulam, Mudasir; Singh, Bawa
The South Asian region has experienced authoritarian and autocratic rule since its inception. India is the only country in South Asia to become a successful democratic country after independence. Sri Lanka has also adopted the similar model with presidential type of government. While the other countries of the region like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan have experienced ups and downs in their political systems. Pakistan after attaining its independence witnessed a rapid erosion of hopes to move the new nation to a democracy. The general elections held on 11 May, 2013 in Pakistan brought the first transition between civilian governments in a country which clearly shows the transformation of democracy in the country. Bangladesh came into existence in 1971 and since then many pro- democracy movements were observed in the country. These movements led to the multi- party democracy since 1991 till late 2006. It is evident that after 2009 the country has moved towards marginal political stability in its political affairs. Nepal, a kingdom, had monarchy which kept on flip-flopping between absolute and constitutional monarchy and vice-versa for many years. Democratic regimes proved to be short lived and unstable. The Nepalese movement in 2007 created a history in the country and moved ahead towards the consolidation of the democracy and General Election 2008 was the first step towards democratic transition. This way the Constitutional Republic was adopted in Nepal with the v collapse of monarchy rule. Bhutan has transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a multi-party democracy. The growth of Bhutanese democracy has been marked since 1950s. The first democratic elections in Bhutan began in 2007, and all levels of government had been democratically elected by 2011. All this explains the transformation from an absolute monarchy to democracy in the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is now clear that the South Asian region has experienced a democratic resurgence in the recent past. All the South Asian countries now have a democratic system but this transition to democracy is still fragile and susceptible.
The double whammy of pandemic and war: A systematic review of india�s education diplomacy to address educational inequities in afghanistan
(MDPI, 2021-10-18T00:00:00) Singh, Bawa; Kaur, Jaspal; Sen, Rajinder Kumar; Singh, Balinder; Chattu, Vijay Kumar
Higher education is considered an important tool for the overall development of any country, and it holds true in the context of Afghanistan as well. At the same time, a good eco-environment in terms of political will, leaders� farsighted vision, a fair budget, good infrastructure, and a good teaching community are some of the basic requirements for higher education to move in the direction of new and higher horizons. However, due to the ongoing war during the last couple of decades, the country�s education system has become out of reach for a substantial part of the population due to poverty, lack of infrastructure, refugees and internally displaced, digital division, etc., critically affecting the education equity. This systematic review examines India�s education diplomacy in addressing the inequities in Afghanistan�s education system and making them more equitable. Education was further dilapidated with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Afghanistan is caught between a war and a pandemic and suffers from a double whammy in losses. Subsequently, given their chilling effects, higher education becomes devoid of multiples equities, including education. However, because of their historical and geo-civilizational ties, India has focused on development diplomacy in general and education diplomacy (E.D) in particular to improve educational infrastructures. � 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Eurasia in India‘s Energy Diplomacy: Exploring the Emerging Equations in the 21st Century
(Central University of Punjab, 2019) Singh, Sandeep; Singh, Bawa
Energy is considered as a geopolitical commodity of political leverage/vulnerability. Also, it has been considered as a major part of diplomacy of every individual country, promoting economic prosperity or political stability. In context of Eurasia, which is known for its great amount of energy resources in the world, has become fundamentally one of the most important and geopolitical determinant of external power‘s engagements. The study argues that recent geo-economic-political developments in post-2013, and ups-downs (Russian-Ukraine Gas Wars in 2006 and 2009, diversifications of Eurasian energy supplies especially gas, and threatening relations between Europe and Russia etc.) in the Eurasian region have been posing geo-economic and geopolitical challenges to many states within the region. The Energy producers in the Eurasian region particularly Russia and CARs have started moving from the west to the East for energy supply. In addition, Asian demand for energy resources have been diversified particularly India and China are becoming big energy consumers. These changes have brought some of the serious and complex issues before India‘s domestic and foreign policies. It is also seen as a window of opportunities and possibilities of complementarities on the other hand. India as a major energy importer and it's manufacturing-oriented programmes are likely to fasten its energy demands, and Eurasia can provide an incredible opportunity to meet its energy requirements in this connection. Therefore, an attempt has been made to provide a transcontinental study of Eurasian energy as a thrust area for the present research positioning Eurasian region in Indian energy diplomacy, and determining the contours of energy diplomacy. Although, there are many researches about India‘s policy towards the Eurasian region, and few of them focussed on energy trade, and trade in other goods including political relations. But, how energy is a significant factor in India‘s diplomacy towards the Eurasian region in the present geopolitical realities has not been thoroughly investigated. In this backdrop, the present research has been approached by setting three onjectives. Fisrtly, it investigates India‘s position in the changing global energy scenario. To achieve the objective, the study exmines India‘s domestic energy policy and finds that India‘s future of domestic energy production remains clouded given the underinvestment, outdated infrastructure and under-explored basins of the country. It iv leads India to import energy. Secondly, the study has uncovered India‘s diplomatic engagements with the Eurasian region by the way of mapping its quest for energy. It concludes that India‘s energy diplomacy has a wider scope in the Eurasian region to enhance regional integration provided that the same should properly be undertaken by the stakeholder. The third objective investigates India geopolitical space in the Eurasian region. It concludes that the growing role of energy complex zone and transit countries have challenged great powers hierarchy in the region and shaped the new energy geopolitical order. The study explores that how India would create its geopolitical space in the new energeopolitical order. Thus, the research is seen as a contribution to uncover India‘s growing diplomatic space in Eurasian geopolitics from different perspectives by offering different analytical and theoretical insights from the previous studies.
FACTORING THE SMART POWER IN THE INDIA-EUROPEAN UNION ENGAGEMENTS: A SCOPING REVIEW
(Institute for Research and European Studies, 2023-03-09T00:00:00) Gupta, Nippun; Singh, Bawa; Khan, Aslam; Kaur, Jaspal
Power is a critical factor in several types of diplomacy. India-EU relations are a classic case of how changing geopolitics prompted diplomatic acumen. This scoping review assesses the changing relations of both partners as a manifestation of Smart Power. The dynamic relations from normative-based to pragmatic and inclusive interests based are evaluated. Their value-based relations are put under international relations theories. Their changing factors of cooperation are used to justify their smart diplomacy, where contemporary relations are less likely to be affected by multilateral interests. To solidify claims of smart power in their relations, the recent TRIPS waiver schism illuminated health diplomacy between the two regions. This health diplomacy discourse promotes smart power diplomacy between India and the EU, where new avenues of cooperation emerge despite pandemic disagreements. The article explores how hybrid power is better than soft and hard power in silos by systematically searching and selecting the existing knowledge in the contemporary context. � 2023 The author/s.
Geopolitics of counter terrorism in Afghanistan : SCO’s strategy is in question
(2016) Singh, Bawa
Since its political independent existence 1747, Afghanistan had been useful for the great empires for sustaining the balance of power. The geopolitical rivalry between British India and Tsarist Russia from the last century (1880-1901) to date had complicated the security situation in Afghanistan. It was not the issue of sovereignty rather it was security concerns of British India and Russia that determined Afghanistan as a state
Geostrategic Significance of South Asia:
(IUP Publications, 2014) Singh, Bawa; Mir, Mohamad Arif
After the nuclear tests conducted by both India and Pakistan in May 1998 in South Asia, the experts, particularly the former US president Bill Clinton, described the region volatile and a dangerous place in the world. This description of South Asia is to be viewed in the context of the uneasy relations between India and Pakistan since their independence. There are, of course, many other places in the world which are highly risky for the people who live there; the contemporary anarchy in Nigeria, Ukraine and the Middle East countries has provided disturbing evidence of the brutality of mankind. But these conflicts have either been confined to the said regions or have only limited regional significance. The disputes among South Asian countries have remained an area of unresolved and dangerous conflict involving external powers, arms proliferation and ethnic and religious hatred that go back to the evolution of India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka-the countries that form South Asia. Due to its strategic location and natural wealth, the region has acquired a very important position from a geostrategic point of view. External powers such as China and the US, to increase their economic stakes, seek to engage South Asian countries with respect to security and energy issues in West and Central Asia, the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. Against this backdrop, the paper has attempted to study and analyze the geostrategic importance of South Asia and the role of China and the US as two major powers that have interests in the region.