Institutional Regionalism in South Asia: An Evaluation on the Efficiency of SAARC, SAPTA, SAFTA

After the World War II, regionalism and regional integration raised from Europe and extended to other regions in the next decades. Alongside the extension, several theories such as functionalism, neo-functionalism, interdependence, and neo-liberal institutionalism have tried to explain the phenomenon. South Asia was among the regions experienced the wave. So, countries located in the region launched to establish regional institutions. The article aims to study the role of the institution on facilitating regional cooperation at first and integration at second step. Main question is how have regional institutions contributed to regionalism in South Asia. Answering the question, it is necessary to distinct between South Asian great states, i.e. India and Pakistan, and weak states, i.e. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. So, the hypothesis here is that the role of SAARC, SAPTA, and SAFTA in South Asian regionalism is inefficient in the great states view, and efficient in regard of the weak states. Examining the hypothesis, I’ve used theory of neo-liberal institutionalism and functional explanatory method. Findings show that the weak members have been more satisfied than the great members in the present situation.