Functionalist Regional Cooperation: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation for Peace in the Region

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is one of the prominent regional organizations in the world in many aspects such as the largest population and the biggest workforce. Since its inception in 1985, SAARC follows the principles of making decisions by consensus; and non-discussion on contentious bilateral issues. According to the SAARC Charter member states are ‘desirous of peace, stability, amity and progress in the region through strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter and Non-Alignment (Ahmed and Bhatnagar , 2008). Somehow, one of the greatest barriers for the SAARC has been recurring inter-state conflicts between member states, which have posed significant challenges (ibid).They are the dilemmas such as overlapping goals and conflicts among its members that make regional cooperation a challenge. The SAARC countries at present experience various security challenges. Peace and Security for the region is one goal that all members would want to achieve amidst insecurity, terrorism and environmental challenges in this century. However, what the 18th SAARC Summit evidently shows is the desire of SAARC to achieve deep cooperation through functional areas. Although vast literature on regional integration has been established, most of them are Eurocentric. Therefore it is worthwhile to examine how such theories can be discussed from the non-European perspectives. In this context, Functionalism has great relevance to understand regional settings out of the Europe. Functionalism as a theory supports the idea of growing interconnectedness and interdependence between nation states located in a specific region (Singh, 2017). David Mitrany, the pioneer of Functionalism specifically mentioned world peace can be achieved through efficient administration of limited resources and use of experts than politicians. More importantly, the core assumption of functionalist theory in this sense is that, as nation’s states gets interdependent and interrelated to each other the possibility of bilateral or even regional conflict between nation states gets reduced or even eliminated to a large extent. With the growing geostrategic, geo political importance of the region, it is important to revisit the working of SAARC and embark on an academic discourse on how to make regional cooperation more effective. The Indian Ocean today has become the gateway not only to Asia but to the rest of the world. SAARC as a functionalist organization for Peace would achieve what we need most in the region, deep peaceful cooperation .Primarily, based on the above key theoretical assumption of Functionalism; this paper aims to investigate its application to study the role of SAARC in maintaining the regional peace and security. Further this paper draws insights from its last summit; 18 SAARC Summit to further scrutinizes the functional utility of the organization.

Although vast literature on regional integration has been established, most of them are Eurocentric. Therefore it is worthwhile to examine how such theories can be discussed from the non-European perspectives. In this context, Functionalism has great relevance to understand regional settings out of the Europe. Functionalism as a theory supports the idea of growing interconnectedness and interdependence between nation states located in a specific region (Singh, 2017). David Mitrany, the pioneer of Functionalism specifically mentioned world peace can be achieved through efficient administration of limited resources and use of experts than politicians. More importantly, the core assumption of functionalist theory in this sense is that, as nation's states gets interdependent and interrelated to each other the possibility of bilateral or even regional conflict between nation states gets reduced or even eliminated to a large extent.
With the growing geostrategic, geo political importance of the region, it is important to revisit the working of SAARC and embark on an academic discourse on how to make regional cooperation more effective. The Indian Ocean today has become the gateway not only to Asia but to the rest of the world. SAARC as a functionalist organization for Peace would achieve what we need most in the region, deep peaceful cooperation .Primarily, based on the above key theoretical assumption of Functionalism; this paper aims to investigate its application to study the role of SAARC in maintaining the regional peace and security. Further this paper draws insights from its last summit; 18 th SAARC Summit to further scrutinizes the functional utility of the organization. The International Relations theorists developed various theories on formation of regional and international organizations. Earlier the theories on International Society and Regime theory addressed the study of international regimes to theorize international governance. Since World War II, there is a rapid growth of many organizations for economic, social, cultural partnerships around the world. Not to be left behind the South Asian countries too came up with a plan for regional cooperation through an international /regional organization.
The World Bank in 2017 reported that despite its shared history, culture, and geography, South Asia is the least economically integrated region in the world. But with greater cooperation, the region can better develop, share resources, and foster a sense of common destiny and mutual belonging among its people (World Bank, 2015). In 2012, the Indian Council of World Affairs and Association of Asia scholars organized a two-day conference that brought together scholars and academics from all the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations. The agenda didn't focus on how to resolve political disputes or reduce political tensions but to discuss a way forward or to reclaim its space in the world, regional integration is a must, and the time has come for SAARC to help transform South Asia in the same way that the European Union has changed Europe.
Indian National Security Advisor at the time, Shivshanker Menon said: "We have a moment in history which we should seize if we wish to transform South Asia," stated during the opening address to the conference in 2012(The Diplomat, 2012). There were many other scholarly gatherings in the region on how to make SAARC a more successful regional organization since that time and continues every year in the academic debate. The success of SAARC so far since its inception in 1985 is the record of 18 summits to its credit is not a small achievement for a region with diversity in all spheres.
As argued by Ashish Singh, despite the socio-cultural similarities, relationship among SAARC nations are characterized by mutual distrust and hostilities (2017) .Therefore, this paper examines the utility of Functional perspectives to achieve peace in South Asia through SAARC while mainly adopting the qualitative research methodology, reviewing the existing scholarly literature.

Functionalist Cooperation
Functionalism today has emerged as the dominant theory of the law of the international organizations. The fundamental idea of public institutions should serve the common good. The idea of international / regional organizations not serving the common good is unthinkable. The work of Paul S. Reinsch is examined by Jan Klabber in the context of Institutional Law in an article written in 2014 (Klabbers, 2014 It is interesting to analyze the writings of Reinsch at the beginning of the 20 th century before the origin of the League of Nations, as he describes the structure of an organization and functions outlining the functionalist approach. He stated that the unions have an administrative organ, and, typically, the tasks of these organs are presented as administrative nature: collecting and disseminating information, preparing future meetings. Thus Reinsch laid the foundation of the design, the discussion on functions and organs of organizations came next. What is interesting is that Reinsch is an early scholar who recognized the value of international organization for peace in the world. He stated "the political nature of international organizations is channeled away from their concrete effects on member states and instead linked to their contribution to world peace. Organizations are not so much apolitical but are political on higher level and for a good cause: They contribute to world peace -if "world peace" an ambition shared by statesmen (Ibid, p.658). A University Professor turned diplomat he had a positivist outlook on the cooperation of international organizations.
David Mitrany (1948), discussed cooperation among technical experts in a functional area will result in the creation of an international agency that will push nations to cooperate rather than wage war. Mitrany who was employed at the British Foreign Office during the World War II, and later as a Professor at Princeton University published his work titled A Working Peace System (1966) in which he advocated the significance of functional cooperation

Functionalist alternatives for cooperation
Functionalism is a theoretical approach which emerged towards the middle of the past century as an alternative to federalist designs concerning the organization of international system" ( Alexandrescu , 2007 , p.20 ). Further Functionalism looks at the human nature and development in a very positive manner in comparison to state -centric paradigm of "power politics" or realist way of account of world affairs. According to Functionalism human beings have to rationally decide about what their needs are" (Kurt, 2009, 44).
In this point of view, it is clear that functionalism has suggested a need centric approach to the world politics instead of power centric approach.
"The distinctive characteristic of functionalism is the fact that economic and social problems produce their own resolutions; the usefulness and efficiency of concrete, issue -specific (technical) cooperation and its outcomes legitimized international cooperation"( Ibid , p.45 ). Accordingly what functionalists centrally believe is issue -specific or technical cooperation that derive from non-political domains or where the politics play at threshold level and its effects would sustain international cooperation. In other words, it is a low political agenda that look for the most appropriate "spark" for a cooperative framework which can incrementally move forward. Similarly functionalism is all about how to be organized cooperatively with a functional necessity. In the other way, it is a way of gradual process that initiates a cooperative attempt upon the "most desired and essential needs" of the nations. Therefore this study argues that functionalism is a "pathway approach" to international or regional cooperation. Likewise it is a functional logic that explains how to look for a "strategic preparation" which is based on technical needs of nations that would ultimately establish a long way for cooperation among nations. This raises several questions for the discussion; does functionalism absolutely ignore the political dimension in the cooperation? If not, to which extent it appreciates the political aspect?
Answering to these questions, it would be misleading to say that functionalism is an "absolute anti-political framework" for advancing cooperation among nations. Hence it would be more appropriate to understand it as a framework trough which cooperation can be successfully intensified gradually moving from low political sphere to certain degree of politics. David Mitrany, the pioneer of functionalism "identify the manner in which states could be drawn closer together in order to develop some fields which ignored the limitations of political geography. This approach is called functionalism because it refers to the need of confer a functional / operational character to the relations between protagonists" ( Alexandrescu , 2007, p,25 ).
As suggested by Mitrani, functional necessity would be the best strategy to draw the states which are inherently power laden. "The theorist of the functionalist approach to international relations spoke about the efficiency of transferring a part of a country's economic sovereignty to international executive agencies serving a clearly defined purpose"( Ibid ). In this view, functionalism has proposed an agenda through which nation-states go for cooperation with international agencies based on specified purposes at the lowest political cost.
A variation of functionalism, namely neo-functionalism, became an idea to reckon with due to the experience of the post-World War II integration of Europe. As explained by Ernst B. Haas (1958), over and above technical issues, it is political parties, interest groups, and the views of political elites that influence cooperation. A spill-over from one functional area to another is also likely but conditional on the additional factors.
Other prominent scholars who developed the theory along neofunctionalist lines are Philippe C. Schmitter, Joseph S. Nye and Robert O. Keohane. Writing on "After Hegemony: Transatlantic Economic Relations in the Next Decade" Keohane in 1983/84 raised the question of "How could it be possible for several independent, selfinterested states to cooperate effectively, without a dominant power to devise a strategy and provide incentives for others to comply with its designs?" Answering his own question he refers to cooperation without hegemony. He outlines four conditions that must be met for cooperation to be feasible (Keohane , 2015 , 86 ). These conditions make rational for functionalism as well as when Keohane refers to "Institutions are also important, since they reduce transaction costs, provide information, and may increase the probability that the same actors will continue to interact with each other in the future"( Ibid , p.87). Rational functionalism in cooperation is further strengthened when Keohane states that in the demise of hegemony increases the need for international regimes and institutions.
The institutions are particularly important as they increase the chances that frequent future interactions will take place (Ibid, p.91 There are many scholars who have contributed to the various theoretical stands of international organizations and institutions. However this paper is limited to adopting functionalism to make SAARC a more successful organization to bring sustainable peace to South Asia. None of these objectives can be realized by South Asian countries alone. All South Asian nations require optimal way of engaging with regional cooperation. Therefore, the central concern of this study is to explore the utility of functional approach to achieve peace in South Asia. Hence the following case studies splendidly indicates the growing evidence of continuing threats to peace in South Asia, pandemics along with resurgence of ethno-nationalist conflicts in the region

Intra -Inter Conflict 3 case studies in South Asia
Afghanistan: a fragile political destiny Tensions between the large number of ethnic and religious groups that populate India have also given rise to a number of non-state conflicts.
Primarily these have centered on the Hindu-Muslim divide, but conflicts have also been recorded between tribal groups (such as Assamese against Biharis) and different factions of rebel groups (such as clashes between different organizations in Nagaland) (Ibid).

Nepal: hope for peace and democracy
Highly

Narratives of Civil War of Sri Lanka
Since Above case studies have been presented in brief while there is much more to be said in detail. The idea is to present a summary that is relevant to the discussion. Also it is noteworthy to identify while all countries (except Bhutan) underwent periods of intra conflicts in the country, few of those have become major Inter Conflict and War in the region. This has affected the way forward and the economic and political success of SAARC.

Challenges for Peace in South Asia
There are many challenges for peaceful regional cooperation in South Asia, most of these are nontraditional security challenges while what is stated in the previous section are the traditional security threats for peace in the region. Apart from the country case studies, the traditional security threats are challenge for peace in South Asia. Among them, nuclear arsenal, absence of nofirst use policy of nuclear arms in Pakistan, terrorism, unregulated floating armoires in the Indian Ocean and maritime piracy are some of them.
The number one priority for SAARC would be to obtain no first use of nuclear policy implemented as a Regional body. At present two rivals in the region, both possess Nuclear weapons. Both countries have gone into war with each other previously.
Hence the no first use of nuclear weapons is an important pledge that needs to be in place. In India, normal nuclear doctrine from January 2003 includes a no first use pledge, albeit with caveats, and this has been emphasized by numerous Indian officials. Its diplomats have often advanced the country's commitment not to use nuclear weapons first as proof of the country being a "responsible" state and thereby a way to resist any pressures to sign any treaties that would affect its nuclear arsenal. It would seem then that the NFU is a core element of India's nuclear weapons posture ( Hagerty , 2015 ). Water security is another challenge for peace in South Asia. Ensuring state cooperation for water security is another priority for SAARC. In the context of environmental governance, drinking water is an issue for many of the South Asian countries except Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

th SAARC Summit: Peace through functional collaboration
Ensuring regional peace requires greater cooperation among South Asian nations while addressing political vulnerabilities deriving from a multiplicity of factors. What is evidently present in contemporary South Asia is these vulnerabilities are mainly shaped and motivated by political factors such as mutual mistrust, asymmetries embedded in regional politics , bilateral disputes among nations and domestic political conditions. Hence both domestic and regional politics can determine peace in South Asia. As discussed in this paper, this political complexity of achieving peace can be successfully addressed with the functionalist alternatives. Therefore, this study explores the functional agenda embedded in 18 th SAARC Summit and its utility to sustain peace in the region.
Looking at the declaration of the 18th SAARC summit from the functionalist lens, it is clear that the declaration has given substantial attention for a functional agenda trough which region can move forward cooperatively. As viewed by the leaders, building connectivity through roads, railways and enhancing the cooperation in the field of energy is crucial to upgrade the regional cooperation in South Asia (SAARC Summit Declaration, 2015).
Apart from that, SAARC leaders have agreed to "identify regional and subregional projects in the area of power generation, transmission and power trade, including hydropower, natural gas, solar, wind and bio-fuel, and implement them with high priority with a view to meeting the increasing demand for power in the region( Ibid ). In addition to this prominent functional scheme, the declaration has looked for a cooperative mechanism in the areas of agriculture, poverty alleviation, environment, blue economy, frameworks to achieve such goals appealing to their own domestic political atmospheres. The third category; political and security areas seems to be more political sensitive spaces to which member countries are very conscious in terms of their national sovereignty. Therefore the degree of cooperation in this sector will be hardly determined by the political will of the member countries. What further is, it is apparent that proposed cooperative agenda by the 18 th SAARC summit can be hierarchically arranged according to the degree of "political sensitiveness" and the "common functional necessity" in different sectors.
Particularly, "one of the key inputs needed to sustain and accelerate economic growth in the region is increasing access to energy, as there is sarong direct relationship between economic growth and energy demand.
Upward social mobility associated with faster economic growth further accentuates the demand energy" (Asian Development Bank, 2011). Further Asian Development Bank reveals that cross-border electricity transmissions, regional trade in energy sources such as electricity, petroleum and natural gases are the best incentives that can accelerate the regional cooperation in the region (Ibid ). Indeed South Asia is a vast powerhouse in terms of its market potential (one-third of humanity resides in this area) and in terms of richly endowed natural resources (e.g., the water of Nepal, natural gas of Bangladesh, coal of India) and qualified human resources" ( Bhatia, 2004, p.7 ). For an instance Bangladesh is the largest natural gas producer in Asia 2012 and it has increased natural gas production by annual average  Hence below grid analysis further demonstrates the relevance of suggested functional agenda adopted by the 18 th SAARC summit in the light of their political sensitiveness and common functional necessity. Ramification process to attribute the autonomy for functional agencies No such clearly defined ramification process in the declaration It requires specified functional agencies with certain autonomy Adopted from (Mitrany , 1966) As analyzed by the above table, it is clear that 18 th SAARC summit is partially compatible with the functionalism as it demonstrates some deviations from functionalist agenda in terms of specification of functional interests and a framework through which cooperation can be incrementally achieved. In other words the 18 th SAARC summit has provided more ambitious and wider functional alternatives being further deviated from what really functionalists have emphasized. Therefore what absence in the 18 th SAARC summit declaration is clear identification of functional areas along with specified functional interests through which South Asian nations can accelerate regional cooperation. Further, the 18 th SAARC summit declaration has not properly answered the questions of how to initiate the functional cooperation and how to progress the cooperation systematically through a gradual mechanism. Similarly, the 18 th SAARC declaration has paid little attention to an appropriate "functional logic" on which South Asian regional cooperation can sustain.

Conclusion
From a socio -economic perspective, South Asia today, is one of the most dynamic regions in the world, with a population of 1.67 billion people and economic growth of 7.1 percent over the last decade. The World Bank stated in 2012, that South Asia will play an important role in the global development story as it takes its place in the Asian Century. It has the world's largest working age population, a quarter of the world's middle-class consumers, the largest number of poor and undernourished in the world, and several fragile states of global geopolitical importance. With inclusive growth, South Asia has the potential to change global poverty through functional cooperation while waving a path for sustainable peace.
In the context of promoting regional peace, South Asia is a region where several major religions that promote peace were born and spread to the world. A region with a rich heritage and culture, South Asia has enormous potentials. The powerful non state actor who preached nonviolence and had a mass following from around the world is a South Asian. It is a region that was successful introducing the Indian Ocean Peace Zone proposal in 1975, A UN resolution in the height of Cold War. In contributing to World Peace today, South Asia leads the way in United Nations Peacekeeping.
World's largest troop contribution to UN Peacekeeping comes from South Asia with India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal among the top 5 troop contributors.
Yet the historical political tensions resulting in mistrusts cross border conflicts and traditional and non -traditional security threats have marred successful regional integration and SAARC a somewhat failed body. Therefore, the study has suggested an acceptable hierarchy of functional areas in which contemporary SAARC can achieve effective cooperation in the functional terms with the minimum interruption of political sensitiveness.
As argued by the paper the 18th SAARC declaration should be located in a domain where the functional utility is higher for member states with positive storylines. Then the cooperative agenda proposed by the 18th SAARC summit will be more pragmatic and effective. So that, SAARC can sustain Peace in South Asia as a functionalist organization while prioritizing functional necessities derive from common regional interests. Further, these functional necessities should be specifically recognized and appropriately integrated in a low political domain.
Hence, this paper explores several prospects for SAARC to be a more effective regional organization to achieve regional peace .Firstly; South Asia has to collectively address the factors influencing both intraregional relations and its relations with the outside world. Thus, SAARC cannot afford to ignore the both traditional and non-traditional security challenges arising from the above context. Secondly, SAARC has to identify a common functional framework through which its members can gain variety of gains.
More specifically, economic gains can be the priority of such framework with the emphasis of necessary social and political cooperation. As the third point, SAARC needs to incrementally develop a cooperative plan for regional peace based on common functional necessities. Particularly, SAARC Summits can serve as effective forums where the SAARC leaders can afford for consensus building and enhancing mutual trust for ensuring peace in the region. Finally, SAARC members should adopt an approach to make sure that both domestic and regional issues are not a deterrent to achieve regional peace and cooperation. To elaborate, SAARC members should strategically ignore their bilateral disputes which are largely shaped by socio-historic and geographical factors and promote functional collaboration among the nations. As history evidently shows South Asia has more often been a source of conflict which has hampered the regional