Political boundaries are the key structural elements of nation-states and there is an intrinsic relationship between political boundaries and the security of states. The demarcation of political boundaries in postcolonial South Asia has been one of the major sources of conflicts. A combination of political and economic interests mingled with a geopolitical dimension has been at the crux of the tense relations shared by the South Asian states. From a strategic and security point of view, geography, though not the only security determinant, yet has been the most prominent one in defining regional security dynamics. The present paper is an attempt to understand the geopolitical dimension of security in South Asia primarily in the context of the political boundaries. It attempts to answer the questions like why political boundaries are critical in defining the security relations between states and what the geopolitical implications of the demarcation of political boundaries in South Asia in postcolonial era are.

Boundaries have been critical in defining the relations between states since antiquity. These boundaries could be of two types: geographical and political. Geographical or physical boundaries are bestowed by the nature in the form of rivers, mountain ranges, etc. Political boundaries on the other hand are artificially constructed barriers to demarcate the legitimate spheres of control over the pieces of land, called states.

Political boundaries have been crucial for two major reasons: one, they demarcate the territorial extent of the sovereign states that define the legitimate sphere of control of a given state, and secondly, they create identity barriers that separate states from each other. Although boundaries demarcate the limitations of power and authority of any given states, yet these boundaries may or may not be acting as typical watertight compartments of identities. However, these spatial territorial entities demarcated by boundaries can have religious, ethnic, or linguistic colors. “Boundaries drawn according to cultural elements, such as language, religion or ethnology, are known as anthropomorphic.”1 These types of boundaries are much more consistent with what political scientists call ‘nation-states’. Another important feature of boundaries is that these boundaries are critical from a security point of view and thus much crucial in the geostrategic and geopolitical context, and thus need to act as ‘formidable barrier’2 to ensure the security of a state. Political boundary, as mentioned earlier, is critical in defining the relations between states as it “has its own peculiar combinations of responsibilities and of rights.”3 The relationship between the politics and geography gets much exemplified at the fringes of states where they share frontiers with each other. However, the relationship of states is not merely defined by the de facto boundaries of states but also by the way these boundaries are created and the geopolitical implications of the formation of these boundaries. Thus, to understand the linkages between the political boundaries and security, it is equally important to trace the historical roots of the demarcation of the political boundaries in any given region.

International Relations Journal, Geopolitical Dimension, Political Boundaries, South Asia, security of states, South Asian states, geography, history, demographics, Geopolitics, Security Perspective.