Various regions on the globe have experienced regional integration though of varying magnitude and scope. The phenomenon of regionalism is much needed for socio-economic regional development and human security. Regional integration in Europe and South East Asia has produced positive outcomes regarding these objectives. The European Union (EU) is the most successful model of regional integration in the world. On the other hand, South Asia remains the least integrated region in the world. Regional integration in South Asia is at the nascent stage. The intra-regional trade is insignificant as compared to the inter-regional trade of the South Asian states. The bilateral relations of the regional countries are conflictual in nature. This doctoral study attempts to investigate the reasons for the lack of regional integration in South Asia with focus on India’s failure to play its role as a predominant actor of the region. It looks into the challenges and prospects of regional integration in South Asia in the context of the dynamics of India’s role in this case. The thesis argues that India’s role vis-à-vis regional integration in South Asia is determined by the complex interplay of its economic and political interests in the region.

Since 2014, the incessant Russian military intervention in Ukraine has given rise to a large-scale war in 2022 with no abatement since then. To deter Russia’s actions, the European Union and its allies have grappled with an imposition of gradual, extensive economic sanctions, predicting the downturn in the Russian economy, and ultimately the implementation of the Minsk Accords. The European Union perceives these sanctions to be an effective tool of foreign policy and the precursor of conflict resolution. These sanctions influenced the bilateral trade flows at larger level between Russia and the European Union. Russia circumvents the European Union’s extensive sanctions with deft use of economic policies, and by diverging their trade flow from Europe towards African and Asian trade markets. Russian resilience in terms of political behavior and economic policies challenges the efficacy of these extensive sanctions imposed by the European Union. Economic sanctions are often used as a potent tactic of foreign policy’s economic statecraft, influencing the target state at political and economic levels to attain the intended objectives. However, the efficacy of sanctions is debatable among scholars and policymakers. They either view sanctions as a necessary political tool of foreign policy or as a weak and frivolous activity with no outcomes. The limited updated literature on the implementation, impact, and efficacy of sanctions creates a gap. To have a rightful evaluation of the efficacy and use of economic sanctions in the future, an updated perspective is needed. Therefore, this research will anatomize the efficacy by conducting an in-depth case study of the European Union's economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.

Being major political actors in international arena, relations between the European Union and Russia hold immense importance, particularly in the context of European regional context. The purpose of this study is to understand the contemporary challenges the two actors face in the political, security and economic spheres. Using qualitative method, this study analyzes the political issues associated with the EU’s eastward expansion, its eastern partnership and the concerns it has raised for Russia. The presence of NATO, constant Russian interference in the post-Soviet region, cyberwarfare and the US reactions pose crucial security challenges to the region affecting EU-Russia relations adversely. The EU-Russia energy politics and sanctions are another impediment in their contemporary relations. Despite the enormous challenges, numerous possibilities exist for the two actors to ameliorate and upgrade their relationship.

The conflict of Cyprus is a decades old problem between Turkey and Greece. Many resolutions have been presented over the years. However, the efforts made by the two sides to resolve the issue peacefully have lacked persistence. The EU maintains significant influence and leverage vis-à-vis both parties as Greece is its member state and Turkey is part of its custom union. However, it has failed to resolve the Cyprus conflict so far. Still, the EU has the potential to mediate between Greece and Turkey to resolve this longstanding conflict. This paper highlights the EU tools for conflict resolution and the role it has played in resolving the Cyprus conflict. Further, it examines the prospects for an effective EU role in this regard.

This study aims to understand the causes of recent migration trends that erupted from Middle East. The costly US foreign policy of regime change in the region backfired as the local dynamics were ignored amidst the exercise of this policy. The Arab springs for democratization turned violent as different power groups fought to gain power in the absence of viabe social fabrics of the Middle Eastern states. Failure of the state led to civil war that created inhumane conditions for the masses. This compelled populace to migrate to other regional states like Turkey and Jordan as well as Europe. In the beginning, Europeans were quite welcoming but scepticism increased after few terrorist attacks and threat of ISIL fighters camouflaging into Europe with these migrants. This led to a populist pressure on the European Union to get tough with the migration policy. Some eastern European members didn’t agree to the EU liberal migration policy. However, Germany continued its liberal stance on the refugees that was termed as moral imperialism by the Frugal Four. Amidst the EU’s divided position on the refugees, the protectionist propaganda advocated by the far right Eurosceptic parties attained public attention. In this context, this paper attempts to examine the potential political implications of the divisive European politics over refugees for the European Union.

The topic of the research is “Impact of BREXIT on UK’s relationship with Northern Ireland” and the purpose of my research is to find out the possible challenges for UK regarding Northern Ireland after BREXIT. Precisely, how will the phenomenon of Brexit impact political and economic relations between UK and Northern Ireland. The context of this research is related to the historical events that led to Northern Ireland’s separation from the Republic of Ireland, the consequent civil war in Northern Ireland and finally resolution of the problem in 1998. Civil war in Northern Ireland was mainly about the socio-cultural and economic relations between Irish ethnic community in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. The problem was resolved through the removal of border restrictions between the two sides. This objective was easily achieved because both UK and Republic of Ireland were then EU members and, therefore, experienced free movement of goods, services, capital and people. Brexit principally reinstalls the border restrictions and hence can potentially revive the historial conflict. It is important to underline that only England and Wales voted in favour of “Leave”; Scotland and Northern Ireland voted for “Stay” in the EU. Though a hard border between Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland has been avoided through a special provision of Brexit, this solution creates another problem. This creates a problem for UK-Northern Ireland relationship as the Brexit deal brings Northern Ireland closer to the EU and away from the UK.

Brexit is the act of leaving the EU by the United Kingdom as a result of referendum held by British Conservative Party in June 2016. United Kingdom has always been a reluctant member of the EU. It has always expressed a number of concerns regarding the economic and political policies of the Union. UK has always been against the supranational integrative approach of the EU and has been in favor of only intergovernmental economic cooperation. Brexit has wide-ranging implications for the UK. The country has a historical regional political, economic and security role in Europe and that role is going to change after Brexit. As member of the EU, UK has played regional role alongside France and Germany. These three regional powers have been assertive in the regional leadership and strategic calculus of Europe. These big three of the EU also backed each other in the regional political and security issues of Europe. UK has a very strong regional economic role too. British economy has always been conspicuous at regional as well as international level. At regional level, UK has been at the forefront of the efforts to determine various tariffs in Europe. Great Britain has always promoted free trade, market economy and mercantilism in the region. UK’s choice to go for Hard Brexit or Soft Brexit will determine that how much its regional economic role changes after Brexit. Britain’s regional security role in Europe has been very important as it has always cooperated with other European states in matters related to the regional security. UK has extended cooperation in enforcing EU’s legal instruments to ensure regional security. This study aims to investigate the paradigm shift in the Britain’s regional economic, political and security role after Brexit. Great Britain is likely to face epic uncertainties in the post-Brexit era in every area. This research looks into causes of Brexit, its historical background and changes in Britain’s regional role after Brexit comes into force. This study argues that Great Britain will mostly face adverse effects in its regional political, economic and security role after Brexit.