SAARC's position in South Asia; Challenges and opportunities

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the largest regional organization in terms of population, which was created to provide economic and cultural cooperation among member countries. The wave of regionalization and regional integration that started in Europe after the Second World War spread to other regions over time. With the expansion of documentaryism, various theories such as functionality, new functionality, interdependence and institutionalism have emerged to explain this phenomenon. One of the regions affected by documentary trends was South Asia. Therefore, these regional countries have started to establish regional institutions to facilitate regional cooperation. In this thesis, the constructivism approach, which is one of the important approaches in the field of international relations and regional studies, has been emphasized and the category of convergence and regionalism in international relations has been tried to be explained. Then, the attitude of this approach on regionalism and regional convergence, and the factors and variables that are considered to be effective factors in regionalism, especially in the deepening and institutionalization of regionalization and regional convergence have been discussed and conceptualized by this approach. In this thesis, the constructivism approach, which is one of the important approaches in the field of international relations and regional studies, has been emphasized and the category of convergence and regionalism in international relations has been tried to be explained. In this context, he first explained the theoretical foundations of constructivism. Then, the attitude of this approach on regionalism and regional convergence, and the factors and variables that are considered to be effective factors in regionalism, especially in the deepening and institutionalization of regionalization and regional convergence have been discussed and conceptualized by this approach. Finally, it is stated that this approach can open a new horizon in the field of convergence and regionalism with regional studies. So much that today, studies on convergence and regionalism has become one of the important approaches, especially in the field of comparative analysis. The aim of this thesis is to examine documentarianism in South Asia by focusing on the role of SAARC and the problems and opportunities it faces in the region. Infrastructure problems, territorial and border problems between members, unbalanced power structure in the region, problems of poverty and economic weakness, the impact of India-Pakistan bilateral problems and other issues that hinder the organization have been identified as challenges for SAARC. In addition, the internal reform of the SAARC organization, China's permanent membership in this organization and its positive effects, the need for cooperation among SAARC members to be taken seriously, and a positive perspective on cooperation among SAARC members in the future are among the opportunities and important issues for SAARC. Keywords: SAARC, South Asia, Constructivism, Opportunities and Challenges.