Power Politics in South Asia: Analyzing India-US-China-Pakistan strategic quadrilateral

Abstract

South Asian politics is currently marked by ever-enhancing power politics between India and Pakistan, which is exacerbated by the extra-regional predilections, particularly US and China, to the respective states. Against this backdrop, this research analyzes the security and nuclear dimensions of India-Pakistan power politics. Additionally, it holistically highlights various dynamics of Indo-US strategic partnership and Sino-Pakistan strategic convergence. The theoretical framework used is the concept of power politics to underlie the engagement of regional and extra-regional powers in pursuit of their realist goals in South Asia, while the type of research is exploratory. In the end, it is concluded that the extra-regional influences have been fanning the Pakistan-India contestation, causing instability in the region.