There are many reasons to be dispirited about the absence of proper confidence-building measures in South Asia. The book provides reasons for hope. A rising generation of teachers, strategic analysts, and researchers is applying their considerable talents to bridging the gap between the theory and practice of confidence-building. They are seeking to apply and adapt the literature of CBMs developed in the West indigenizing this body of work for the unique circumstances of South Asia. As this book testifies, there is a growing readiness to propose substantive ideas to break the cycle of negativity and violence that afflicts the region. There is little to be gained by slamming the existing record of negotiating and implementing CBMs in the region, and the contributors of this important volume restrain from doing so. CBMs cannot possibly be panaceas. They are a means to an end, and that end cannot be reached if political and military leaders do not wish to go there. The book is a most timely and welcome addition to the growing body of literature on CBMs in South Asia.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Moonis Ahmar
Moonis Ahmar is Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, Pakistan and Director, Programme on Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution. He specializes in Conflict Resolution and Confidence-Building Measures in the regions of Central Asia, Middle East and South Asia. He is the author of two books, and five monographs he has edited the books entitled, contemporary Central Asia (Department of International Relations and Hanns Seidel Foundation, 1995), Internal and External Dynamics of South Asia Security (Karachi: Fazleesons, 1998), The CTBT Controversy In South Asia (Karachi: Department of International Relations, 2000), The Challenge of Conflict Resolution, 2001), Arab-Israeli Peace Process: Lessons for South Asia (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2001), Paradigms of Conflict Resolution in South Asia (Dhaka: University Press Limited, 2003), The World After September 11: Challenges and Opportunities (Karachi: Program on Peace Studies and conflict Resolution, 2003). He has published his writing in, Asian Survey (Berkeley), BIISS Journal (Dhaka), Contemporary South Asia (Oxford), Central Asia (Peshawar), Eurasian Studies (Ankara), Journal of European Studies (Karachi) Pakistan Journal of American Studies (Islamabad), National Development and Security (Islamabad), Pakistan Perspectives (Karachi) Pakistan Journal of American Studies (Islamabad), Peace Initiatives (Mumbai), Regional Studies (Islamabad), South Asian Studies (Lahore), Strategic Studies (Islamabad) and World Affairs (New Delhi). Presently he is working on a Database on Terrorism and Violent Conflicts in South Asia. He was also the Project Director of Ford Foundation/International Relations Department Research Project, "Peace by Process: Lessons for India and Pakistan from the Middle East," and has also received grants from the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC and Ploughshares Fund, San Francisco, Higher Education commission (HEC), Islamabad and Faculty of Arts, University of Karachi. Dr. Ahmar has organized several International and National Workshops and Seminars.
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