Abstract

This paper analyses India’s strategy and its impact on the South Asian polity. The focus of the analysis is primarily on India’s strategic centrality in South Asian geopolitics, as the region’s largest country. Global power balances are changing, and India wants to be seen as a serious regional player. It is not easy to find much evidence of regional diplomacy amid all that is happening. The following symposium explores the policy challenges of the July 1998 tests as India attempts to manage its own regional great-power aspirations within South Asia’s security environment, and the potential for adverse side effects. Except for a few links within SAARC, they are all major ones in and around India that can be carried forward as part of an exclusive relationship with SAARC and beyond. The final consensus is that the cards India plays now will determine the future course of South Asian geopolitics. The research underscores the need for continued academic attention to policies that foster greater regional co-operation and stability.