South & Central Asia


ISE is committed to supporting nationally led initiatives in South and Central Asia. Past work has been conducted in Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and state-level transformation in India. With extensive experience in Afghanistan, ISE also works to support reform programs in public financial management, infrastructure, social and economic development, and natural resource management. ISE’s engagement in Afghanistan has also formed the basis of a lessons learned program for continued analysis of reform efforts of the country’s public institutions, economy, and grievance redress mechanisms.

Asia Regional Connectivity Project


The Silk Roads had a rich history stretching back two millennia. An ancient network of routes connecting Europe and Asia, the Silk Roads facilitated prosperity and cultural exchange. More than a commercial network, it comprised reinforcing institutional systems, incorporating finance, transport, and cultural exchanges across vast distances. Today, some forty countries lie along the ancient Silk Roads, accounting for a majority of the world’s population and representing substantial opportunities. ISE’s Asia Regional Connectivity (ARC) project is examining the strategies of multilateral organizations, states, and private firms, exploring opportunities for synergies on the future shape of connectivity and exchange in the region. The ARC project builds on previous ISE analysis on the New Silk Roads.

A Framework for a New Silk Road in Asia Report 1

The old Silk Road was not only a fixed route, but a constellation of rules, agreements, relationships and institutions that created an integrated economic and political system across Asia. The New Silk Road should similarly…

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A Framework for a New Silk Road in Asia Report 2

Just as ancient transcontinental trade networks generated prosperity, security and political stability in Asia, a 21st-century Silk Road could secure Asia’s future. The Asian continent is undergoing a great economic transformation that presents tremendous opportunities…

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Nepal: Overcoming Distrust in the Market

Despite Nepal’s economic potential, disagreement on forming an enabling environment for business is entrenching informal and corrupt rules. This impedes licit businesses, restricting trade and investment. This article proposes how the government should partner with…

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Gujarat: The Transition to a West Indian Tiger

Stagnating agriculture and a declining textiles sector characterized the Gujarati economy on its 1960 creation. Poor quality infrastructure compounded the challenge. We look at the five major market-building strategies it adopted to combine investment focus…

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Karnataka: Understanding State Level Transition in India

We explain why Karnataka is an instructive case study, containing both positive and negative lessons. In the last decade income growth has been spectacular; self-interested policy making have led it to be branded India’s most…

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