A recent study by the Asian Development Bank notes that by 2050, Asia's per capita income would rise six-fold to reach Europe's levels today, one of many indications of Asia's “re-emergence”. By then, Asia's share of global GDP would have doubled and it would have regained the dominant economic position it once held some 300 years ago before the industrial revolution.What is less well-known is that during the previous eras of globalization, Asia was also regionally integrated and globally connected. During the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, Asia was divided and fragmented.This unique book argues that, led by the economic dynamism and “re-encountering” between China and India, we are witnessing the “Renaissance of Asia”. As in the bygone eras, Asia is integrating within itself and the global economy is intensifying, now driven by market-oriented production networks and economic policies. Asia is starting to be “re-centered” as trade and investment relations between South Asia and East Asia surge. Asia's rise is a restoration of the past, not a revolution. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the economic development of Asia.

This book presents a radical rethinking of Border Studies. Framing the discipline beyond conventional topics of spatiality and territoriality, it presents a distinctly South Asian perspective – a post-colonial and post-partition region where most borders were drawn with political motives, ignoring the socio-cultural realities of the region and economic necessities of the people. The authors argue that while securing borders is an essential function of the state, in this interconnected world, crossing borders and border cooperation is also necessary. The book examines contemporaneous and topical themes like disputes of identity and nationhood, the impact of social media on Border Studies, trans-border cooperation, water-sharing between countries, and resolution of border problems in the age of liberalisation and globalisation. It also suggests ways of enhancing cross-border economic cooperation and connectivity, and reviews security issues from a new perspective. Well supplemented with case studies, the book will serve as an indispensable text for scholars and researchers of Border Studies, military and strategic studies, international relations, geopolitics, and South Asian studies. It will also be of great interest to think tanks and government agencies, especially those dealing with foreign relations.

Jumpstarting South Asia focuses on the slowing pace of economic growth and makes the case for a two-pronged strategy to jumpstart South Asian economies. South Asian countries should complete the economic reform process that they had begun in the 1980s and the early 1990s and implement the more microeconomic reforms, namely, the sectoral, and governance and institutional reforms to enhance competition and improve the operation of markets. They should also implement the second round of ‘Look East’ policies or LEP2 to link themselves to production networks in East Asia, their fastest-growing market, and develop production networks in manufacturing and services within their region. This book argues that the proposed strategy will lead to a win-win situation for all countries in South Asia and East Asia, and also reinvigorate economic integration within South Asia. The book identifies the remaining policy agenda for each South Asian country.

This book explores the interconnection between geopolitical context and the ways this context frames our knowledge about Asia, highlighting previously neglected cause–effect relations. It also examines how various knowledge institutions promote and shape Asian Studies. The authors seek to explain why Asian Studies and its subfields developed in the way they did, and what the implications of these transformations might be on intellectual and political understandings of Asia. The book not only builds on the current debates on the decolonization and de-imperialization of knowledge about Asia; it also proposes a more multifaceted view rather than just examining the impact of the West on the framing of Asian Studies.

An East Asian Renaissance, by a World Bank team led by Chief Economist for East Asia & Pacific, Dr Homi Kharas and Economic Adviser, Dr Indermit Gill is the first comprehensive analysis of the new forces and challenges at play in the region since the Bank's seminal report of 1993, The East Asian Miracle. The report argues that regional flows of goods, finance and technology are helping even smaller East Asian countries reap the benefits of economies of scale and that this regional integration must be encouraged. But it also points out that these measures have to be supported by actions at the domestic level to ease the stresses and strains that rapid economic growth leaves in its wake. East Asia must now turn to the urgent domestic challenges of inequality, social cohesion, corruption and environmental degradation arising from its economic success.

This volume analyses New Delhi’s reaction to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the rise of politics of connectivity and infrastructure building which has heightened Sino-Indian rivalry in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). It can be evidenced that the BRI has transformed the Sino-Indian dynamics from a ‘managed rivalry’ to an intense geo-political competition. It is contended that competition is inevitable when two powers rise in the same neighbourhood. The Indian government has opposed the BRI since its inception noting that the ‘BRI violates India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’ because one of the flagship BRI projects - the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - runs through (Pakistan-controlled) Kashmir which India claims to be its own territory. It has consistently maintained that China’s ‘connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognized international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality, and must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity’ of other states. Beyond those stated reservations, New Delhi is concerned about the BRI infrastructure and connectivity projects in the smaller South Asian countries and the Indian Ocean littoral states. India has traditionally viewed South Asia and the IOR as its backyard over which it has historically maintained a position of influence. It is apprehensive that the BRI projects will enhance Beijing’s stature and undermine India’s influence in the region. In eleven chapters including Introduction and Conclusion, this book explores the dimensions of the rivalry and analyses the causes, dynamics and implications of an accelerated Sino-Indian competition.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), officially unveiled in 2013, is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign and economic policy initiative to achieve improved connectivity, regional cooperation, and economic development on a trans-continental scale. This book reviews the evolving BRI vision and offers a benefit-risk assessment of the BRI’s economic and geopolitical implications from the perspective of Asian stakeholder countries, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Among the value added of the book is first an online perception survey of opinion leaders from Asian participating countries on various aspects of the initiative. To our best knowledge, the survey is the first of its kind. Second, the book presents the simulation results of a computable general equilibrium model of the world economy to estimate the potential macroeconomic impacts of the BRI as a whole and those of its constituent overland and maritime economic corridors. Third, the book makes ten key evidence-based policy recommendations on how to enhance the prospect of a successful and mutually beneficial BRI 2.0 to both China and stakeholder countries.

By combing the analysis of the three dimensions of integration, this book enables readers to gain a broad understanding of the theory and practice of integration processes in Asia.