Locating the social capital

Worldwide, greater regional integration is on the upswing. The "intent to challenge global hegemony through constructing regional autonomy", in the words of the New Left intellectual Wang Hui, is undoubtedly part of this process. In our part of the world, much can be gained from regional integration. First, for each of our countries, the development agenda is more urgent than ever, and there are enormous potential benefits of integration. The expansion of SAARC to include Afghanistan is not a sign of Southasian consciousness spreading beyond its earlier confines. Rather, it is the power dynamics among states that have influenced decisions to include new members and observers. Afghanistan's membership certainly does not change SAARC's status as a grouping of very poor countries. Its largest economy may be one of the world's most dynamic, but it is also home to the largest number of poor people.

Further, there are well-known complementarities among our economies. SAARC has among its members, for instance, one of the most energy-hungry countries in the world, as well as multiple countries with huge untapped hydropower resources and reserves of natural gas. Worldwide, there is little doubt that many of our problems are transnational, which require transnational solutions. A more authoritative SAARC could provide such a framework. Indeed, the time has come to bring down the barriers that Southasian states have erected against region-wide cultural, intellectual and civic life. Pakistani journalist Najam Sethi points out that the "state-oriented and nationalistic" media in India and Pakistan have often exacerbated conflicts when there were signs of flexibility on the part of governments to resolve them. With initiatives such as a Southasian television channel, he argues, the media could become part of the solution to the region's conflicts, and not part of the problem.