The Leading Position And Influence Of India In South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established in1985.Until November10,2011, SAARC has held17summits. At the beginning of the establishment,it included mere seven countries of South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,Pakistan and Sri Lanka. At present, SAARC includes eight member countries and nineobserver countries. Since the establishment of the SAARC, it has played an important role inthe development of economy, society, women and human rights of South Asia. SAARC is anassociation which is based on respect, fairness and mutual benefits. The development in SouthAsian countries is unbalance in the aspects of the geographic area, population, economy,military strength and others, but India, which is in the center of the whole, is the superpowerin territory, population, resource, military force, and the development level. And India is alsoin the leading position of SAARC, which has been playing a decisive role in the developmentand growth of SAARC.From this paper, it researches in India and South Asian Association for RegionalCooperation as the foundation. In addition to the relevant theories of international politics,this paper applies the literature research, historical analysis, case analysis and other researchmethods. In this paper, it analyses the causes of the leading position of India and studies thedual influence of India in SAARC. This paper includes the following four chapters:Chapter one, the leading position of India in SAARC. During the cold war, after the coldwar and in the new period, it analyses the leading position of India in SAARC. During thecold war, India do not concerned, so that SAARC started difficultly. After the cold war withIndia mitigate the attitude, SAARC developed slowed. Until the new period, India’s attitudebecame actively, SAARC is developing rapidly.Chapter two, the reason of India’s leading position. India is the superpower in SouthAsia. Its outstanding geopolitical advantages can be seen, as it is at the center of this districtand its largest territory area, population, and resource. India is also the South Asian economicpowers in result of earlier industrialization, and agricultural reform, the science andtechnology of high level. What is more, the export of India is in the lead. The idea of “Indiafederal” has made India more diplomatic. India owns complete conventional weapon and sufficient forces. India is a country with unclear weapons and deterrence the other members.In addition, the characteristic of Indian culture is distinct. Based on the India-culture, thisregion forms “Indosphere”.Chapter three, the Indian dual influences on SAARC. The positive influence of India ispromoting the integration process of South Asian, strengthening mutual trust among themember countries, effectively avoiding the expansion of internal disputes, and improving thealliance’s international status. At the same time, because the complementarity between Indiaand his neighbors is relatively weak and India always pursue the supremacy in South Asia,India also has negative influences on the healthy development of SAARC.Chapters four, the measures of the further development of SAARC. As for the effectsmentioned above, this paper puts forward four countermeasures: continuing to advance theintegration of each member country of SAARC; completely giving up the idea of dominatingSouth Asia for India and properly handling the relations with others South Asian countries;gradually relaxing the tension with Pakistan and solving the conflicts between India andPakistan as soon as possible; strengthing the cooperation between SAARC and other countriesand international organizations. SAARC will certainly be able to get a rapid and healthydevelopment by taking these measures and become one of the more potential regionalinternational organization.In general, this paper finds the main reasons of outstanding position of India in theSAARC by describing and analyzing the influences of India, as well as the countermeasuresto deepen the development of the SAARC for further discussion and exchanges.