ISAS South Asia Scan

Since 2009, Indian governments have claimed a new role for the country as a security provider in their extended neighbourhood. Within South Asia, India has a long but ambivalent and controversial tradition as a security provider. Its claim was undermined by several factors. First, the bilateral problems between India and its neighbours often disrupted political and economic relations, and restricted closer security cooperation. Second, China and its presence in South Asia has always been a major security concern for India.
  
However, since the 2000s, a new consensus has slowly emerged between India and most of its South Asian neighbours on the fight against terrorism and cross-border militancy. This South Asia Scan explores the quantitative and qualitative expansion of India’s security cooperation in the subcontinent and the establishment of its own regional security architecture.