South Asia and the Middle East: Foreign Relations and Politics

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This unit examines the foreign policy directions of Middle Eastern and South Asian states in the contemporary international system. Students explore the context in which these states conduct their foreign relations: historical links between these states, the impact of colonisation and postcolonisation in shaping their identities, and the relationship between them and the changing dynamics of international politics are considered. The unit focuses on questions of state and human security, and explores how major and small states in these regions have responded to international pressures in the post-Cold War world. It explores the nature and limits of growing interdependence between South Asia and the Middle East in political, social, cultural and economic spheres with reference to select case studies.