Confidence Building Measures and Security Cooperation in South Asia Challenges in the New Century

This book examines how South Asian states can lower the temperature of rivalry and create pathways to practical cooperation through well-designed confidence-building measures (CBMs). It traces the intellectual and diplomatic lineage of CBMs from Cold War arms control to regional adaptations that address the subcontinent’s specific risks: crises along contested borders, maritime incidents, airspace violations, terrorism spillovers and information disorder. Contributors assess existing instruments—hotlines, notification regimes, people-to-people exchanges, media conduct guidelines—and identify why many underperform: ambiguous mandates, weak verification, domestic political costs and the absence of credible dispute resolution. The volume anchors CBMs in a broader security cooperation agenda that includes disaster response, epidemiological surveillance, counter-trafficking and energy/power trade—areas where mutual gains are concrete and reputational risks manageable. It emphasizes transparency, reciprocity and incrementalism, arguing that small, verifiable steps compound into habits of cooperation. Case studies demonstrate that when professional communities—military, coast guards, regulators, scientists—work together on specific problems, political space for larger breakthroughs expands.