• List of Articles South Asia

      • Open Access Article

        1 - Challenges of Regional Integration in South Asia from the Perspective of Intergovernmentalism
        Hadi Narouei
        The integration process in the South Asian region started with the inspiration of the European Union at the end of the 20th century. In order to make this happen and encourage integration, organizations like SAARC and BIMSTEC were founded, although these initiatives wer More
        The integration process in the South Asian region started with the inspiration of the European Union at the end of the 20th century. In order to make this happen and encourage integration, organizations like SAARC and BIMSTEC were founded, although these initiatives were not successful in practice. From 2014 onwards, due to the revival of India's First Neighborhood Policy, a positive perspective for regional integration emerged once more in the South Asian region. Despite various steps being taken and the inclusion of India as an emerging global economy in the region, true regional integration in South Asia hasn't materialized thus far. This article aims to analyze the challenges faced in achieving regional integration in South Asia. By focusing on the theory of Intergovernmentalism, the hypothesis explores how not only the differences and conflicting interests between India and Pakistan but also the differences and conflicting interests between India and the smaller countries of South Asia have hindered the convergence of the region. The study adopts a Hypothetico-deductive method and the data gathering procedure is based on library findings. The research findings indicate that security policies and individual interests of countries, including India, take precedence over economic cooperation and regional integration. Manuscript profile
      • Open Access Article

        2 - Rice Yield Distribution and Risk Assessment in South Asian Countries: A Statistical Investigation
        Mahadeb Prasad Poudel Shwu-En Chen Raju Ghimire
        In the last decades, rice yields in South Asian countries grew tremendously in one hand and a noticeable yield fluctuation on the other. The objective of this study was to examine the rice yield distributions, estimate yield risks at country level, and compare risks bet More
        In the last decades, rice yields in South Asian countries grew tremendously in one hand and a noticeable yield fluctuation on the other. The objective of this study was to examine the rice yield distributions, estimate yield risks at country level, and compare risks between five countries namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. Anderson Darling (AD) test was applied to test the goodness-of-fit for four distributions by using country level de-trended rice yields from 1961 to 2010. Results showed the Normal distribution was fitted well in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, whereas the Wei bull distribution in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. The average yield risks at 85% of the expected yield were found 5.29, 4.27, 3.86, 1.55, and.15% in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, respectively. Wilcoxon signed rank test results of mean absolute percentage differences showed yield risk in Bangladesh was significantly lower than the rest four counties and that in Afghanistan was significantly higher than Nepal and Bangladesh at 0.1 level. The outcome of this study could give policy implications for designing and implementing the risk reducing programs in the countries with higher yield risk. Manuscript profile