Reframing the Buffer State in Contemporary International Relations : Nepal's Relations with India and China (Rethinking Asia and International Relations)

Chand, Bibek

Routledge（2024/10発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 164 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781032014180
• DDC分類 327.5496051

Full Description

This book explores buffer states' agency beyond being highly interactive spaces for the competing strategic and security interests of larger powers. Analyzing 21 political events, the author offers a new conceptual framework for the buffer state, which emphasizes strategic utility and agency. Applying this to the case study of Nepal as a buffer state between India and China, he offers a systematic analysis of Sino-Indian interests in the wider region, and Nepal's interactions with and reactions to them, and argues that the buffer state in contemporary international relations is characterized by intense competitive overtures from its contending neighboring states. However, the buffer state is not just a spectator but an active participant that consistently assesses and reassesses its geopolitical position in between much larger competing powers. This reading offers a new understanding of the buffer state as a highly dynamic political space wherein the levels of influence and strategies of bigger powers can be examined.

Aimed at a multidisciplinary audience, this book will be of particular interest to scholars, practitioners and students of international relations, security studies, strategic studies, and Asian Studies.

Contents

1. Introduction 2. Discussing the Buffer State Concept: Old and New Frameworks 3. Contextualizing Nepal as a Buffer State 4. Timeframe I: Critical Junctures 1947-62 5. Timeframe II: Critical Junctures 1962-90 6. Timeframe III: Critical Junctures 1990-2008 7. Timeframe IV: Critical Junctures 2009-2022 8. Conclusion