Nontraditional Security Challenges in South Asia

Nontraditional Security Challenges in South Asia

17 the national bureau of asian research FAROOQ SOBHAN is President of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has a distinguished diplomatic career, having served as the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh (1995–97), High Commissioner of India (1992–95), and Ambassador to China (1987–91). Ambassador Sobhan also served as Special Envoy of the Chief Advisor to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh (2007). He is a Member of the International Research Committee of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) in Colombo and a Member of the Board of Governors of the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS) in Kathmandu. He was also Co-Chairman of the Coalition for South Asian Cooperation (1994– 2001). He can be reached at . Nontraditional Security Challenges in South Asia Farooq Sobhan Originally published in: Dennis Pirages, Farooq Sobhan, Stacy D. VanDeveer, and Li Li, “Ecological and Nontraditional Security Challenges in South Asia,” National Bureau of Asian Research, NBR Special Report, no. 28, June 2011.© 2012 The National Bureau of Asian Research. This PDF is provided for the use of authorized recipients only. For specific terms of use, please contact . EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This essay provides an overview of the key nontraditional security (NTS) issues facing South Asia and examines ongoing and potential initiatives to mitigate future NTS challenges. MAIN FINDINGS • Excessive military spending in South Asia has been one of the reasons for restricting expenditure on human security and NTS issues. During 1998–2008, defense budgets increased by 41%. • In South Asia, food costs constitute the average household’s largest expenditure. If food prices continue to rise without a matching increase in incomes of people at the bottom of the economic ladder, it is estimated that approximately 100 million people could be pushed back into poverty. • Over the past 25 years, natural disasters and environmental degradation have killed nearly half a million people in South Asia and inflicted colossal damages estimated at $59 billion. • The lack of long-term energy planning by South Asian countries has caused human suffering and significantly hindered the entire region’s economic growth prospects. • While there is growing recognition that both traditional and nontraditional security challenges require regional integration and regional solutions, a number of studies in South Asia have found that the main obstacles to such cooperation in countering NTS threats remain mistrust and the absence of political will. POLICY IMPLICATIONS • South Asian governments have not yet fully realized that military measures and domestic policies alone cannot overcome NTS challenges; rather, many of these challenges must be faced collectively and through regional cooperation. • A framework for managing regional disasters needs to be designed. The framework shouldincludeacomprehensivestrategyandactionplan,coverinstitutionalmechanisms, provide tools for mitigation measures, and facilitate a legal framework and policy directions. • Specialattentionshouldbepaidtostrengtheningnetworkingamongresearchinstitutions in the region working on NTS issues and encouraging them to provide inputs, ideas, and strategies for joint action. It is equally important that this network of research institutions closely monitors and evaluates regional and subregional projects. 19 NONTRADITIONAL SECURITY CHALLENGES IN SOUTH ASIA u SOBHAN S ince the end of the Cold War, nontraditional security (NTS) issues have become an integral part of the international security discourse. NTS issues involve a complex relationship between traditional security issues and the economic strength of a state. This relationship is increasingly discussed in both domestic and international policy and research agendas of governments, NGOs, academia, and the media. States are now gradually looking beyond traditional security, which has largely been defined in geopolitical and geostrategic terms and confined to the relationships among nation-states and their military strategies. The last two decades have witnessed growth in a wide range of domestic and international NTS threats, such as environmental disasters, ecological degeneration, air and water pollution, contagious diseases, drugs and small arms trafficking, cross-border movement and internal displacement, financial shocks, cybercrime, terrorism and organized crime, and religious, ideological, and ethnic extremism. On top of these issues, ongoing internal conflicts significantly influence NTS concerns at the regional level in South Asia. Porous borders in the region pose a serious security threat by fuelling not only territorial, ethnic, and communal conflicts but also conflicts arising out of scarce natural resources, in particular, water. This inevitably brings greater distress to the people who have suffered the most from such conflicts. For example, internal conflict situations often generate military responses from states. Therefore, traditional security threats at times become aggravated by NTS threats. In the case of developing...