South Asian strategic issues

Sri Lanka's place in the South Asian states system has undergone a fundamental change in recent years. This is partly a result of the aggravation and subsequent inter nationalisation of ethnic tension in the island and partly because its strategic impor tance to India has been considerably enhanced as a result of changing political configurations both in the international sys tem and in the region itself. This volume provides what may be regarded as specifi cally Sri Lankan perspectives on these changing configurations of politics.

One of the major features of this book is the analysis of the geo-strategic scenario in South Asia in relation to the new situation which has been created by the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement in July 1987. Various contributors examine the Agree ment in the context of the strategic paramet ers obtaining in the South Asian region and discuss the extent to which these parameters are themselves influenced by great power rivalries. A novel feature of this book is that the analysis has been undertaken exclu sively by Sri Lankan scholars and specialists and hence provides fresh insights into this situation.

Three contributors explore the specifically subcontinental and regional aspects of the strategic scenario; two of them deal with the extra-regional dimension; while one paper considers whether the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement has had the effect of placing Sri Lanka in the same position which Finland occupies in relation to the Soviet Union. The remaining essays discuss the and future prospects of the Agreement. present status Since the book deals with a subject of con siderable topicality, it will interest not only students, teachers and journalists specialis ing in international relations and the South Asian scenario, but general readers the world over.