A regional approach to American foreign policy : the South Asian experience.

South Asia is a geographically, historically, and culturally well-defined regional unit. Unfortunately, the two major states in the area, India and Pakistan, have shared acrimonious relations for thirty-five years. In three and one-half decades, these countries have fought three major wars and expended valuable resources fielding large armies. South Asia is among the poorest, areas of the world. This fact makes the ongoing Indo-Pakistani conflict more senseless. Today, their animosity has driven them to engage in efforts to develop nuclear weapons. India successfully exploded its first nuclear device nearly a decade ago. The Indian subcontinent has been a trouble spot for many years and will continue to be a potentially explosive area unless positive steps are taken to lessen tensions. Policies emanating from Washington, Beijing and Moscow have fueled the conflaguration in South Asia. Superpower policies in the region have been self-serving rather than in the best interest of the people of the region. This is particularly true of American and Soviet behavior in the subcontinent because of China's limited ability to project its influence. Over the years, the policies and alignments of each of the Superpowers with the states of the region have been constantly shifting. Most of these changes have resulted from changes in the relationships among the Superpowers themselves. Thus, the regional policies generated by Soviet, American, and Chinese leaders have been dictated by their geopolitical, strategic competition for power and influence among the lesser states. Geopolitical conflict has been superimposed on regional conflicts around the globe. South Asia's tragic legacy of strife has deep historical roots and the injection of international political stresses into the melée has prolonged and intensified the region's troubles. Of the Superpowers, the United States policy for South Asia displays the most numerous and pronounced changes. A regional policy approach to the area and its problems has not been taken. Washington has dealt with India and Pakistan separately and little effort has been made to resolve their outstanding differences. Since 1947, American policy in South Asia has lacked any real continuity. Much of this lack of cohesion can be attributed to the machinery of American foreign policy. Presidential leadership in foreign affairs has brought on a transformation of American-South Asian relations with each Presidential inauguration. Domestic political forces thus influence Washington's approach to the nations of the Indian subcontinent. Unwittingly, the United States has joined the other Superpowers in exacerbating the Indo-Pakistani conflict through its policies. Geopolitical thinking has limited the perspective of foreign policy elites and hindered our efforts to deal with the nations of the Third World. The President is preoccupied with geopolitical matters and also charged with foreign policy leadership. Little can be done to devolve the centralization of foreign policy making power. However, efforts can be made to crack the hegemony that geopolitical thinking exercises over American foreign policy. A positive, regional approach to the conduct of foreign affairs offers a much more rational framework in which to formulate policies for lessening tensions in many regions and to once again make the United States a guiding, progressive force in the world.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

1982

Author dc:creator

• Key, Jeffrey E., 1959-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Curry, James A. (James Allan), 1946-

• United States -- Foreign relations -- India.
• United States -- Foreign relations -- Pakistan.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/13532

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/13532