Open research questions in South Asian Studies and Conflicts
54 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 3,469 South Asian Studies and Conflicts papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
The future of civil society in India depends upon strengthening democratic institutions, encouraging active citizenship, and fostering constructive partnerships among government, academia, private organizations, and community groups. Institutional capacity-building, transparent governance practices, financial accountability, digital innovation, and community participation will enhance the effectiveness of civil society organizations. Greater collaboration with educational institutions and research organizations can further improve evidence-based policymaking and social innovation. As India continues to pursue inclusive and sustainable development, civil society will remain indispensable in protecting constitutional values, promoting participatory governance, safeguarding human rights, and ensuring that development policies reflect the aspirations of diverse communities.
Civil Society in India: Democratic Participation, Governance, and Social Transformation · 2026 · DOIWhile this study provides significant findings, it also has certain limitations. The find- ings are deeply rooted in the Indian context, limiting their significance for other nations’ electoral systems. The interpretivist approach may not fully capture the full spectrum of public opinion; rather, it captures only participants’ subjective perspectives on the policy, i.e., Academic Stakeholders (PhD Scholars). A larger number of left-leaning participants M et al. Discover Global Society (2026) 4:92 Page 15 of 18 address the ideological leanings of the results, but it also emphasises the nuanced, criti- cal perceptions inherent in the segment of the Indian academic community.
Given the far-reaching constitutional, political, and administrative implications of One Nation, One Election (ONOE), its consideration as an electoral reform requires a cautious, inclusive, and phased approach. The following recommendations aim to balance governance efficiency, national interest, and democratic pluralism, while addressing concerns raised by various political stakeholders. 1. Build Broad Political and Federal Consensus ONOE should not be advanced as a unilateral reform driven by the ruling party alone. A structured and sustained dialogue involving national parties, regional parties, state governments, and constitutional experts is essential. Parliamentary committees, inter- state councils, and all-party consultations must play a central role to ensure that the reform reflects collective democratic will rather than partisan priorities.
ASSESSING THE FEASIBILITY OF SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS IN INDIA: GOVERNANCE AND DEMOCRATIC PERSPECTIVES · 2026 · DOIThe present study is subject to certain limitations that should be considered while interpreting the findings: i. The study is geographically confined to Andro Village in Imphal East District, Manipur. Therefore, the findings may not be generalized to other rice wine-producing communities or regions with different socio-economic and cultural contexts. ii. The study focuses exclusively on women engaged in rice wine brewing. Consequently, the experiences and empowerment outcomes of women involved in other household-based industries have not been examined. iii. Some respondents were reluctant to disclose detailed information regarding their income, production activities, and household affairs. This may have affected the completeness and accuracy of certain responses. iv. The business environment is dynamic and subject to continuous socio-economic, political, and policy changes. As a result, the findings of the study represent the conditions prevailing during the period of data collection and may change over time. v. Since the study relies primarily on self-reported information collected through questionnaires, there is a possibility of response bias, which may influence the accuracy of some findings.
Traditional Wine Brewing and Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women in Andro Village, Manipur · 2026 · DOIThe relationship between ritual and theatre, long debated within performance studies and anthropology, finds a particularly rich and complex expression in the Neo-Vaishnavite tradition of Assam. This study has argued that Ankiya Naat and Bhaona challenge reductive distinctions between ritual and theatre by exemplifying a form of performative religion, in which belief is enacted through embodied, communal, and aesthetic practices. Rather than existing as separate or sequential phenomena, ritual and theatre in this context operate along a continuum, reinforcing Schechner’s (2003) proposition that performance encompasses a broad spectrum of human activity, from sacred ritual to staged drama. At the same time, the analysis has demonstrated that while the theoretical frameworks of Schechner, Turner, and Geertz remain foundational, they are not fully adequate for capturing the specificity of Neo- Vaishnavite performance. Turner’s concept of liminality and communitas, for instance, provides valuable insights into the transformative and collective dimensions of Bhaona, yet it tends to overemphasize temporary social suspension at the expense of enduring hierarchies (Turner, 1982). Similarly, Geertz’s interpretive approach foregrounds symbolism and meaning-making but does not sufficiently account for the embodied and performative aspects of religious experience (Geertz, 1973; Beeman, 1993). Schechner’s performance theory, while more flexible, risks universalizing categories that may obscure local epistemologies and cultural specificities (Schechner, 2017). By situating Neo-Vaishnavite theatre within its historical, social, and cultural context, this paper has highlighted the need for a more nuanced and decolonial approach to performance studies. Neo- Vaishnavism is not merely an example that fits within existing theoretical models; rather, it challenges and expands those models by foregrounding indigenous aesthetic systems, community-based participation, and the integration of art and devotion. As Grimes (2012) suggests, the study of ritual and performance must move beyond rigid conceptual boundaries to accommodate the diversity of cultural practices. Furthermore, the analysis has underscored the central role of Neo-Vaishnavite theatre in processes of identity formation and cultural politics. Through Bhaona and related practices, communities in Assam actively construct and negotiate collective identities, drawing upon shared narratives, symbols, and Hemanta Kumar Bora Page | 491 The Academic Volume 4 | Issue 4 | April 2026 aesthetic forms. However, this process is not neutral; it is shaped by institutional structures, power relations, and selective representations that both include and exclude. Thus, Neo-Vaishnavite performance must be understood as a site of both cultural cohesion and ideological contestation. The discussion of modern transformations has further revealed that Neo-Vaishnavite theatre is not a static tradition but a dynamic and evolving practice. Urbanization, globalization, and technological change have introduced new contexts and challenges, leading to adaptations in performance style, audience engagement, and institutional organization. Yet, these transformations have not diminished the tradition’s core significance. Instead, they demonstrate its resilience and capacity for reinvention, confirming that continuity and change are not opposing forces but interdependent processes.
The paper lacks detailed analysis of the internal decision-making processes and motivations of indigenous leaders when choosing to support or oppose British military campaigns during World Wars I and II.
In making this larger argument, she exposes several fascinating narratives about under-researched elements of anticolonialism, providing details about the Chittagong Armory Raid and about protests conducted from prison, as well as examining ideas of what constituted suspicious behavior (including, but not limited to, riding bicycles and posing as a Muslim, 160).
Abstract Compared to Punjab and Bengal, Gujarat's experiences of the Partition of India in 1947 remain curiously under-researched even though the state has a long border with Pakistan and over a million people migrated to Gujarat, mostly from neighbouring Sindh.
Partition and Gujarat: The Tangled Web of Religious, Caste, Community and Gender Identities · 2011 · DOIThis study suggests that ceasefires may impact on conflict dynamics in at least three ways, all interrelated: (1) by affecting the internal cohesion of belligerent groups, (2) by affecting the operational space of armed groups, and (3) by affecting the relations between multiple stakeholders and parties to a conflict, including but not limited to the challenger(s) and the state.
The article draws upon British government documents to fill a gap in the literature, and it ends with a few reflections on Britain's ‘decline’ as demonstrated by the failure to end the conflict over Kashmir in 1965.
In spite of their technical shortcomings and their limited knowledge of India, the articles carried by the Iranian newspapers demonstrate the Iranian public's interest in India's movement for freedom from colonial rule, which they regarded as a source of hope and a model to be followed by other Asian countries suffering from foreign domination.
Each of these authors make similar points: that there are essentially three major hypotheses that have been advanced over the years to account for the spread of “Indian influence” (the Brahmana, Ksatriya, and Vaisya respectively, to which we will return); and that evidence on which to decide amongst these hypotheses is lacking.
38 It remains to be 38 Since 1947 some Muslim specialists of Utrassu-Umanagri have on two occasions threatened to deny their services to the Pandits: the Potters in around 1948 and the Barbers in 1967.
Again this is a form of variation the full implications of which remain to be studied. Until there has been a further study of land grants and orthogenesis it will not be easy to pin-point the factors that govern which caste will be dominant or whether regional dominance will be present at all.
Potential growth of both rice and tea acreage, however, was limited by the rate of growth of population. Another notable Indian, little known else- where but still remembered in Assam as a martyr of the national rebellion of 1857, was closely associated with tea from its very inception.
FUTURE SCOPE Despite the great mass of material on the subject and extensive coverage in scholarly studies, editorial comments and papers in the periodicals, some of the aspects of this issue still remain to be explored.
49 This was received as a great shock in India and it provided solid evidence for the apprehension that China regarded her boundary with India as an open question. Ever since the Sino-Indian border dispute came out into the open early in 1959, Sino-Indian relations have come to be limited to the subject of settlement of the dispute - and this topic is dealt with separately in this issue of the Journal.
It has noted significant problems that remain to be tackled which include inequality, lack of administrative capacity, the Centre-State tussle and the digital divide.
Voice of the Citizen and Choice of the Government: Reassessing the dynamics of Governance in India · 2026 · DOIThe transition from colonial rule to independence and how indigenous leadership managed the integration of their states into the Indian Union is introduced but remains incomplete in the excerpt.
The paper does not comprehensively address what specific negotiation strategies indigenous leaders employed to secure their positions within post-colonial India or the outcomes of these negotiations.
The mechanisms by which nationalist sentiments influenced indigenous leaders' shift in allegiance from British interests to national aspirations are mentioned but not thoroughly analyzed or documented.
The extent to which lower classes were affected by war-related hardships and how indigenous leaders specifically addressed (or failed to address) these grievances requires more empirical documentation.
The economic impact of British reforms on indigenous leaders' traditional revenue sources and their adaptive strategies is not comprehensively examined beyond the general revenue comparison table.
The paper does not provide detailed analysis of how indigenous leaders' loss of legal authority specifically affected different social strata within Sirmaur communities, or longitudinal data on the timeline of social cohesion disruption.
The committee commented: This highly original piece advances underexplored sites for decolonial theorization while embedding evocative methods within its analysis.
A feminist analysis of the coloniality of militarization: thinking with Kashmir at the margins of the Global South · 2025 · DOI
Most-cited papers in South Asian Studies and Conflicts
- ‘I Am <i>Not</i> a Refugee’: Rethinking Partition Migration · Modern Asian Studies · 2003 · 70 citations
- Changing land use/land cover patterns and growing human population in Wular catchment of Kashmir Valley, India · GeoJournal · 2020 · 70 citations
- Assembling Amaravati: speculative accumulation in a new Indian city · Economy and Society · 2020 · 61 citations
- Gender and authoritarian populism: empowerment, protection, and the politics of resentful aspiration in India · Critical Asian Studies · 2020 · 53 citations
- Analysis of landuse and landcover changes in Kashmir valley, India—A review · GeoJournal · 2021 · 51 citations
- E pluribus unum, ex uno plures · Journal of Peace Research · 2015 · 47 citations
- “One nation,” BJP, and the future of Indian federalism · India Review · 2020 · 46 citations
- Towards an integrated political ecology of health and bodies · Progress in Human Geography · 2020 · 38 citations
- The White Town of Calcutta Under the Rule of the East India Company · Modern Asian Studies · 2000 · 36 citations
- Working Through Partition: Making a Living in the Bengal Borderlands · International Review of Social History · 2001 · 34 citations
Most recent work
- Historical revisionism in contemporary India: an analysis of the Mann Ki Baat broadcasts · Commonwealth and Comparative Politics · 2026
- SUB-NATIONAL EMERGENCY IN INDIA, 1950–2024 · Asian Affairs · 2026
- Indigenous Leadership and Its Role in Anglo-Sirmaur Relations · International Journal of Creative and Open Research in Engineering and Management · 2026
- Challenges to Democracy in India’s North-Eastern States: An Outlook · Social Science Journal for Advanced Research · 2026
- AGRARIAN DISTRESS AND ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION IN KASHMIR UNDER SIKH RULE · The Social Science Review A Multidisciplinary Journal · 2026
- Magahi Language and Magadh · Bhashalok भाषालोक · 2026
- The Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and Urban Transformation: Assessing Cultural, Economic, and Identity Shifts in Varanasi · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Changing Society and Culture of the Santal Tribe in Jhargram District of West Bengal · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Examining the Dynamics of Electoral Coalitions in Indian Politics A Case Study Analysis · Journal on Innovations in Teaching and Learning · 2026
- NORTHEAST INSURGENCY AS AN IMPEDIMENT IN INDIA’S ACT EAST POLICY · EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) · 2026
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