Functionalist Regional Cooperation: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation for Peace in the Region

Abstract

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is one of the prominent regional organizations in the world in many aspects such as the largest population and the biggest workforce. Since its inception in 1985, SAARC follows the principles of making decisions by consensus; and non-discussion on contentious bilateral issues. According to the SAARC Charter member states are ‘desirous of peace, stability, amity and progress in the region through strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter and Non-Alignment (Ahmed and Bhatnagar , 2008). Somehow, one of the greatest barriers for the SAARC has been recurring inter-state conflicts between member states, which have posed significant challenges (ibid).They are the dilemmas such as overlapping goals and conflicts among its members that make regional cooperation a challenge. The SAARC countries at present experience various security challenges. Peace and Security for the region is one goal that all members would want to achieve amidst insecurity, terrorism and environmental challenges in this century. However, what the 18th SAARC Summit evidently shows is the desire of SAARC to achieve deep cooperation through functional areas.