CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CONFLICTS IN SOUTH ASIA : A COMPENDIUM

This compendium surveys the principal conflict theatres shaping South Asia in the early 1990s and explains how history, state capacity and external alignments combined to produce recurring crises. It synthesizes patterns observable across inter-state tensions and intra-state insurgencies, paying close attention to the feedback loops between identity politics, resource competition and institutional weakness. The essay reviews border disputes, water and riparian frictions, contested sovereignty, and the security externalities of refugee movements. It also examines how nuclear opacity, arms racing and alliance expectations altered crisis incentives. Methodologically, the article draws on crisis chronologies, ceasefire provisions, confidence-building measures and elite statements to distill common mechanisms of escalation and restraint. The review argues that although grievances are specific, the architecture of de-escalation—communications channels, third-party facilitation, and economic interdependence—tends to be generalizable, and it concludes with a taxonomy of measures that reduce misperception and stabilize rivalry.

The body is organized into six sections. The first outlines a typology of conflict in South Asia, distinguishing territorial, regime-threatening and resource conflicts and explaining why each displays different bargaining dynamics. The second section reconstructs crisis timelines, highlighting how mobilization, signaling and domestic veto players shape windows for settlement. A third section analyzes institutions, from hotlines and border flag meetings to water commissions and cross-LOC trade arrangements, and evaluates why some mechanisms have durability while others atrophy. The fourth section explores the role of great-power involvement—how coercive diplomacy, sanctions and inducements interact with local politics—and traces the mixed record of mediation. The fifth section presents policy design principles: clarity of red lines, graduated response options, verifiable CBMs, and robust backchannels insulated from media overexposure. The final section proposes an applied de-escalation toolkit for policymakers, mapping specific steps to phases of a crisis cycle, and offering metrics to track whether measures are actually dampening risks or simply postponing them.