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This project aims to train scholars and develop academic cooperation between EU and South Asian countries in order to grasp the dynamics and problems of democratisation and governance in Asia. By combining interdisciplinary academic expertise, this network will enlarge the knowledge base on the processes both enhancing and affecting social, economic and political development, on public policy goals as well as on conflict and conflict resolution. Methodologically there will be a particular focus upon micro processes to be grasped in the context of national, regional and global reconfigurations. Through academic exchange, workshops and interfacing with non-academic actors, it is planned to establish and to train a team of scholars from European and South Asian Universities who will be able to expand the academic expertise and to make it available to practitioners, especially in order to strengthen the EU-potentials to cooperate with Asian partners.
Since the old ‘world order’, characterized by the competition of two different and opposed systems of society, politics and economy, broke down at the end of the 1980s, processes of global transformation have accelerated and intensified. As for instance in South Asia, the classical model of ‘the state’ and its modes of governance are increasingly questioned. Apart from threats to the authority of the state coming from globalised economic competition, the internalization of law and regionalisation, the state is also challenged by local-level dynamics. Globalised communication and various local re-interpretations of identities and values contribute to intensified interactions, negotiations, and conflicts at different societal levels. To grasp the nature of these processes belongs to the foremost tasks in the social science research. The results are expected not only to contribute to achieving sustainable institutional bases for societal development, but also to strengthen the cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the Asian region.
Analysis at the level of the nation state continues to be the focus of most academic agendas, be it at the European or South Asian Universities, while it is increasingly supplemented by regional and world systems approaches. However, our understanding and knowledge of local-level socio-political transformations is still restricted. Realising that national and supra-national policy frameworks and public policy do not adequately empower or integrate the needs and aspirations of communities, and bearing the potentials for conflict in mind, it is important to go beneath the national level and take various sub-national dynamics with their respective micro politics and policy-issues into consideration. These insights need to be combined with broader multi-level perspectives on political and social change. A core principle to be grasped is that of democracy with a strong emphasis upon local initiatives, issues of participation, equity and decision-making. Considering democratic institutions as an important base for good governance opens a wide field of research with policy-making implications, also for EU-management of economic cooperation.
Exchanges between the selected European (United Kingdom, Germany) and Asian (Nepal, Sri Lanka) Universities can significantly contribute to developing human resources within the academic system addressing the thematic field of multi-level political transformations. While the political science is leading in this field, this discipline can greatly benefit from exchanges with neighbouring social sciences: social anthropologists and development sociologists may contribute additional methodical knowledge and skills to deal with the new phenomena of community transformations and multi-level exchanges. Generally, social science disciplines should re-consider how to enhance the interdisciplinary research and staff-training in the fields of politics and policy. There is a significant lack of expertise in these research areas, and there is a need for academic cooperation within the South Asian social science as well as between South Asian and European academic institutions.
The countries of the Universities participating in this cooperative project have very diverse histories of and experiences with democracy and democratization. Apart from what the partner countries can learn from each other in terms of historical and present insights, common visions for future modes of governance and democracy are well worth discussing, analysing and improving as well. By creating this academic research partnership, by exchanging and deepening knowledge, as well as refining research and teaching tools, the overall objective of the project is to train scholars in both regions, to enhance cooperation between the European Union and South Asia and contribute to enabling South Asians to pursue successful development and peaceful co-existence in their countries.
The project purpose is to enhance social science research and the EU-South Asian exchanges in the fields of democratization, governance and conflict in South Asia. It therefore aims at:
- Upgrading the skills of university staff through individual development and participation in excellence networks between the EU and Asia;
- Mutual exchange and co-operation between universities, scholars and disciplines;
- Strengthening the individual and common empirical knowledge base and developing analytical tools;
- Strengthening capacities to disseminate acquired knowledge within academia as well among practitioners, working especially in the field of EU-development co-operation in Asia;
- Enhancing the capacities of individual scholars by providing them opportunities to develop their skills through access to libraries, gaining teaching experience, participating in training, and by being involved in teamwork among academicians;
- Developing the academic knowledge base to be used in dissemination through publications, advisory work and university teaching;
- Contributing to local capacities to advance good governance.
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