Separatism in South Asia: The politics of ethnic conflict and regional security

Ethnicity has come to be recognized as an important, and in some cases a dominant factor in the search for regional peace and security. This dissertation examines the linkages in South Asia among ethnic conflict, the state and regional security. Our analysis of the Sikhs in the Indian province of Punjab, the Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sindhis in Pakistan indicates that while ethnic conflict generally arise from domestic sources, it can evolve into a significant foreign policy issue. This is so because secessionist movements that arise from issues of ethnic nationalism offer considerable opportunity for foreign intervention, and rarely occur without drawing some elements of national security into the domestic arena. Because of religious, national and historical patterns of conflict which spread across all South Asian boundaries, domestic problems cannot be separated from inter-state relations. While domestic initiatives offer the best hope for managing these conflicts, we cannot ignore the continuing impact of external factors on the course of the three conflicts. At the same time, ethnic tensions affect, in varying degrees, relations between states in South Asia. Therefore, any scheme for developing a regional security regime must take into consideration the growing ethnic conflicts in South Asia.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio