The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an international organization comprised of the eight countries in South Asia. This work aims examine the institutional structure, objectives and effectiveness of the SAARC in its role as South Asia's leading regional institution.

Drawing on original research it offers a fresh and accessible account of SAARC, arguing that South Asia forms a unique regional security complex that enables certain forms of regional cooperation and bars cooperation on other issue areas.

The text provides a comprehensive introduction to the SAARC, describing the historical developments that lead to its formation and examining key issues such as:

The work aims to evaluate what scope there is for formal institutions like SAARC to provide a permanent regional security architecture within which South Asian countries can effectively address important issues, and will be of great interest to all students and scholars of Asian security studies and institutions in general and students and scholars of international relations in South Asia in particular.