Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the genesis and evolution of SAARC, BIMST-EC, IOR-ARC and MGC by using the theoretical perspective of norm localization. It focuses especially on India and traces the impact of India's foreign policy on the discourse, development and institutional designs of regional multilateralism.

Paper long abstract:

While successful processes of regional multilateralism are taking place in all corners of the world, South Asia and its neighbouring regions have not been able to successfully cooperate in a regional framework. At present, there are four regional organizations or initiatives: the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral-Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC), the Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) and the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Initiative. The paper attempts to provide an answer to the question why all four organizations have not been able to succeed in their respective fields of inter-state cooperation and have failed to provide a functioning framework of cooperation. In short, the focus of the paper is the genesis and evolution of regional multilateralism from a normative standpoint by using the vantage point of India's foreign policy and the latter's "cognitive prior", i.e. Indian foreign policy ideas, norms and values, and the particular "Indian way" of responding to and implementing an external international norm. The global norm which serves as the analytical point of reference for the paper is regional multilateralism. The paper will examine the process of the localization of regional multilateralism and its implementation in the four specific regions. With this approach - at the interface of international relations, comparative politics, political ideas and political economy -, the idiosyncrasies of regional cooperation in the South Asian region can be portrayed in a new scientific manner.