The Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) is a South Asian regional think tank, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Established in 1992, it is an independent, non-profit and non-governmental organization which encourages research, dialogue, networking and deliberation on a broad range of conventional and non-conventional sources of conflict and conditions of peace.
The Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) released its latest publication “Implications of COVID-19 for South Asia: Civil Society Perspectives” during the last week of February, 2021. The chapter titles and authors are as follows:
Chapter 1
Retreat from Democracy, Rise of Executive Authoritarianism and COVID-19 in South Asia: Trends, Context and Futures
Jayadeva Uyangoda
Chapter 2
Regional Governance and Multilateralism in COVID-19 World: Causality or Catalyst?
Mallika Joseph
Nishchal N. Pandey
Chapter 3
Implications on Conflict Patterns and Regional Cooperation Process in South Asia
D. Suba Chandran
Sourina Bej
Chrishari de Alwis Gunasekare
Chapter 4
Sri Lanka and the Pandemic: Bracing the Challenge and its Implications
GPPAC-Sri Lanka
Chapter 5
The Implications of COVID-19 Pandemic for Pakistan: Civil Society Perspectives
Salma Malik
Chapter 6
“New Normal” Nepal: Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Saloni Singh (advisor)
Surabhi Singh
Aslesh Shrestha
Chapter 7
The Role of Government and Civil Society in Responding to the Impact of COVID-19 in Bangladesh
Ashish Banik
Chapter 8
COVID-19 in India: Outbreak, Government Responses and Civil Society Initiatives
Abigail Miriam Fernandez
Samreen Wani
Chapter 9
The Implications of COVID-19 Pandemic for Afghanistan: Civil Society Perspectives
Lailuma Nasiri
The editors of the book, Nimmi Jyathilake, Shavini De Silva and Ayodhya Amarajeewa are Programme Officers at RCSS.
This book, a collective effort of GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict)-South Asia members, consists of nine chapters. The first three chapters focus on the impact on democratic governance in South Asia, multilateralism and regional cooperation. Other six chapters audit country situations and civil society interventions in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Afghanistan. These chapters highlight the importance of positive civil society interventions in generating policies that are more effective, equitable and gender-sensitive that should be capable and influential enough to mobilise societal capacities in order to mitigate adverse social, economic and political effects of the pandemic and to shape the direction of post-COVID South Asia.
The book is now available for purchase for Rs. 1400 (Sri Lankan Rupees) at the RCSS Kodikara Library. The opening hours of the library are 10 AM – 3.30 PM.
You can now contact us on 011 2690913/14 or e-mail to rcss@rcss.org to purchase the book. Visit us at No. 20/73, Fairfield Gardens, Colombo 08, Sri Lanka.
