South Asia 2060

Project Coordinators: Prof. Adil Najam (The Pardee Center) and Moeed Yusuf (United States Institute of Peace and The Pardee Center)

South Asia 2060 is a project of the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. It aims to facilitate a dialogue amongst experts from across South Asia and the world, and from various disciplines, on the likely longer-range trajectories of South Asia’s future as a region. The project will support dialogue amongst leading thinkers within and beyond the region and collect the ideas generated by these thinkers on the future of the region in a collection of essays to be published as an anthology.

For the purpose of this project we see South Asia as the member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The project seeks to specifically focus on South Asia as a region, and on how the futures of individual South Asian countries are likely to impact the collective region, examine current regional trends, possible future trajectories over the next half century, and the key factors that will determine whether these trajectories are positive or negative for the region.

The project will facilitate writing and discussions on South Asia’s regional futures by eminent scholars, practitioners and policy-makers from within as well as from outside the region. To reach a wider cross-section of experts from a variety of disciplines, the project will also work with existing forums focusing on South Asia. A collection of essays written as part of this project – each written in an authoritative manner and focusing on a particular aspect of South Asia’s regional futures – will be published in 2012 by Anthem Press, London.

Topics and authors in the final book include:

1. Why South Asia? Why the Future? – Adil Najam and Moeed Yusuf

2. Prisoners or Masters of Destiny? — Ramesh Thakur

3. Scenarios of South Asian Futures — Stephen P. Cohen and Jacob Friedman

4. Federalism on the Road: Region and Regionalism – Kanak Dixit

5. Diversity in South Asia – John Thomson

6. Future’s Past — Manan Ahmed

7. The Future of Democracy – Jalal Alamgir

8. Conflict and Reconciliation: Three Scenarios ­­– Amitabh Mattoo

9. Religion and State Formation — Najeeb Jung

10. Will South Asia still be Terrorism’s Center of Gravity? – William Milam

11. Speculations on Nuclear South Asia – Pervez Hoodbhoy and Zia Mian

12. Nuclear Risk: Over-stated or Under-rated? – Hilary Synnott

13. The Shadow of the India-Pakistan Stalemate — Maleeha Lodhi

14. Regional Integration — Lhaba Tshering

15. The Future of Integration — Nihal Rodrigo

16. The Giant Neighbor: Why is China Important? – Manu Bhaskaran

17. South Asian Economy in 2060 – Ishrat Husain

18. Economic Futures: Challenges Ahead – A. K. Enamul Haque

19. South Asia in the Asian Economy: Struggling to Overcome History – Amitendu Palit

20. Globalization and South Asia – Sanjoy Chakravorty

21. Trade Relations: Some Predictions and Lessons – Pradeep S. Mehta  and  Niru Yadav

22. Urbanization, Environment and Well-Being – Madhav G. Badami and Murtaza Haider

23. Urban Futures, Urban Challenges – Syed Abu Hasnath

24. Water Security: Risks and Responses – John Briscoe

25. Agriculture and Food Security – M. E. Tusneem

26. Meeting Electric Power Demand in South Asia – Rajan Gupta and Harihar Shankar

27. e-South Asia: A Social Science Fiction — Rohan Samarajiva

28. Population Dynamics, Economic Prospects, and Regional Coherence — David E. Bloom and Larry Rosenberg

29. Towards Cooperation for Poverty Reduction? – Safiya Aftab

30. Health Challenges — Gerald T. Keusch and Pramilla Senanayake

31. Regional Disease Dynamics — Chalinda Weerasinghe

32. Education: Time Bomb or Silver Bullet? – Jamshed Bharucha

33. Scholarship in and on South Asia — Ali Riaz

34. Rights and Justice: A Prospective View – Balakrishnan Rajagopal

35. Patriarchy, Power, and Paradox: Dreaming Gender Equality and Development – Shahla Haeri and Brenda Gael McSweeney

36. Women in South Asia — Anita M. Weiss

37. Media: New Trends, Old Problems ­– Beena Sarwar

38. Sports: Passion and Industry — Saad Shafqat

Related Pardee Center Events

The 12th Annual Sustainable Development Conference of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad, Pakistan
December 21, 2009. Panel on South Asia 2060
Participants: Amb. Nihal Rodrigo, former Sri Lankan Ambassador and former Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Dipak Gyawali, Pragya of the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Prof. A.K. Enamul Haque of the United International University in Bangladesh, Dr. Ishrat Hussain, former Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and Director of the Institute of Business Administration, and Prof. Amitabh Mattoo of the Jawaharlal Nehru Univeristy, New Delhi, India.

Read more here.

2010 EPIIC International Symposium Tufts University Institute for Global Leadership, Boston
February 21, 2010. Panel on South Asia 2060
Participants: Prof. Sugata Bose, The Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs and Director of the South Asia Center at Harvard University,Dr. Stephen Cohen, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, Prof. Jamshed Barucha, Provost and Senior Vice President of Tufts University, and Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy, Chair of the Physics Department at Quaid-e-Azam University, Pakistan Moeed Yusuf, Pardee Center Research Fellow

Seminar on “Visions of a Region’s Future: South Asia 2060″ with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs and Institute of South Asian Studies, Singapore
August 12, 2010, 5.30-7.40pm
Venue: Possibility Room, Level 5 Central Public Library, Victoria Street, Singapore
Participants: Amb. Gopinath Pillai, Chairman of the Management Board, Institute of South Asian Studies, Prof. Frank Korom, Professor of Religion and Anthropology, Boston University, Manu Bhaskaran, Partner and Member of the Board, Centennial Group, and Dr Amitendu Palit, Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies

Read more here.