Published in association with Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo The security has an extended meaning beyond its obvious military connotations is increasingly being understood in South Asia: there is better appreciation now of its non-military and human dimensions. Hence, the State needs to cater for its own security and, simultaneously, the security of its individuals which has acquired equal, if not greater significance with the passing years. Hence, the imperative necessity arises to provide for good governance to achieve the ends of both State and individual security. The theoretical problem addressed in this book is discovering the nexus between security and governance in South Asia. Leading scholars of the region have contributed their individual country perspectives on this difficult question. They have scrutinized the conceptual questions that arise by passing under review the systemic challenges to the processes of governance in the region to discern the linkages between insecurity and misgovernance. Several subsidiary issues have also been examined in these essays ranging from the role of the armed forces in the decision-making processes to the debilitating role of the State in retarding democratic political development creating politicized ethnic and religious minorities, to the need for meaningful devolution of financial and administrative authority to the imperative for privileging human security in this discourse and the requirement for a political culture that facilitates pluralism in multi-ethnic societies. The conclusions reached draw attention to the crumbling of democratic institutions, alienation of minority populations and the growing nexus between corrupt elements in the governing elites in South Asia before offering solutions to reverse this dismal trend.