GEOPOLITICS and geo-economics are seen as parallel pathways to progress. When there is harmonisation between the two, the outcome is good; when political differences come in the way of economic cooperation, the result is increased political tension and under-optimisation of economic activity.

In developing countries, this negative feedback loop is to the detriment of the people, where poor social and economic indicators, worsened by escalating debt burdens due to climate change, are increasing hardships for people.

Politics drive all agendas, but political activity does not take place in a vacuum, nor does it operate in isolation. The changing alignments in the geopolitical landscape at the global level also affect politics in South Asia.

Right now, that world is divided in two camps. The bipolar world, which became a unipolar world, is headed towards a second Cold War theatre.

There is a glimmer of hope that comes from the youth cohort.

The competing ideologies of free market and state capitalism are at the heart of the divide. This battle of political estrangement is embroiled in a desire to create a world order based on the dominance of one system over the other.

This stand-off is not likely to change in the........

© Dawn