Indian Ocean Regionalism


Book Description

Pan-regional constructions in the Indian Ocean are of relatively recent origin, are contested and remain relatively weak at present. Sub-regional constructions, on the other hand, have tended to be more focussed, especially in terms of security, and have generally been more successful. The principal purpose of this volume is to critically evaluate the debates surrounding these issues and to elucidate some of the main strengths and weaknesses of regionalism at both scales. The discussion begins at the pan-regional scale with an evaluation of pan-regional contestation, followed up by a chapter on the main pan-regional grouping – Indian Ocean Region-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) – which was renamed Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in 2013. Thereafter, key examples of sub-regional groupings – South Asia, ASEAN, SADC and GCC – are critically discussed in turn. The principal readership for this volume will be: scholars of geography, politics and international relations; students of Indian Ocean studies; regionalism experts; bureaucrats and politicians both within and outside the Indian Ocean Region who wish to gain insights into Indian Ocean matters; scholars who appreciate a view of regional relations ‘from the inside’. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region.




The Indian Ocean as a New Political and Security Region


Book Description

This book analyses the emergence of the Indian Ocean as security complex and a strategic space of central importance and also looks at its prospective future. As well as US-China rivalry, the India-China rivalry is now the defining factor in the Indian Ocean – irrespective of the strategic asymmetry. This new situation has opened a space for middle-powers, old and new, to intervene. The authors argue that this situation may turn into an additional source of instability and that the creation of an inclusive and comprehensive regional security architecture, as well as the strengthening of regional multilateralism, should be the priority of all stakeholders in the coming decade.




Power, Politics and Maritime Governance in the Indian Ocean


Book Description

The Indian Ocean is of tremendous geo-political and strategic relevance. More than eighty per cent of global seaborne trade in oil passes through the Ocean. Access to resources is under-regulated (fishing) or has yet to be conceived (deep sea bed mining) and security concerns such as piracy and the stability of strategically located states, are propelling countries to rethink naval capabilities and priorities. This applies to littoral countries as well as to extra-regional powers such as China, Japan, European countries and the United States, each of which is keenly interested in maintaining and securing open sea-lanes of communication. The revival in maritime concern is prompting new dynamics of competition and cooperation in a region that has historically been characterised by dense cultural, economic and political networks. The Indian Ocean is an extensive and expansive space where no one power has been able to hold sway. Hence, multilateralism and open regionalism are key contributors to stability, both in terms of military as well as commercial coordination. In this issue, scholars from Asia, Europe and the US examine institutions and examples of maritime governance within the Indian Ocean including security arrangements, evolving forms of alliance building and counter-balancing, policy planning and forecasting. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region.




India’s Maritime Strategy


Book Description

The first book by a former Indian naval intelligence officer on Sino-India relations, India’s Maritime Strategy provides a unique insight into the Indian Navy, tracing its post-independence growth and discussing its transformation and future in the 21st century. In the context of the rise of China’s maritime power in the Indian Ocean, this book provides a nuanced view of the extent and scope of India’s maritime reach and the effect of this on Sino-Indian competition. Challenging the view that by developing a favourable environment alone, India could seek to maintain its balance of power with China, it is argued that despite durable bilateral security ties with most regional states, India’s maritime aspirations to be the primary net security provider for the region are unsustainable in the long term. This book presents a comprehensive coverage of India’s bilateral maritime security engagements with all the Indian Ocean regional states, as well as the US, France, UK and Russia. As such, it will be useful to students and scholars of Indian and South Asian politics, international relations and maritime security.




The Indian Ocean and its Role in the Global Climate System


Book Description

The Indian Ocean and its Role in the Global Climate System provides an overview of our contemporary understanding of the Indian Ocean (geology, atmosphere, ocean, hydrology, biogeochemistry) and its role in the climate system. It describes the monsoon systems, Indian Ocean circulation and connections with other ocean basins. Climatic phenomena in the Indian Ocean are detailed across a range of timescales (seasonal, interannual to multi-decadal). Biogeochemical and ecosystem variability is also described. The book will provide a summary of different tools (e.g., observations, modeling, paleoclimate records) that are used for understanding Indian Ocean variability and trends. Recent trends and future projections of the Indian Ocean, including warming, extreme events, ocean acidification and deoxygenation will be detailed. The Indian Ocean is unique and different from other tropical ocean basins due to its geography. It is traditionally under-observed and understudied, yet plays a fundamental role for regional and global climate. The vagaries of the Asian monsoon affect over a billion people and a third of the global population live in the vicinity of the Indian Ocean. It is also particularly vulnerable to climate change, with robust warming and trends in heat and freshwater observed in recent decades. Advances have recently been made in our understanding of the Indian Ocean's circulation, interactions with adjacent ocean basins, and its role in regional and global climate. Nonetheless, significant gaps remain in understanding, observing, modeling, and predicting Indian Ocean variability and change across a range of timescales. As such, this book is the perfect compendium to any researcher, student, teacher/lecturer in the fields of oceanography, atmospheric science, paleoclimate, environmental science, meteorology and geology, as well as policy managers and water resource managers. - Provides interdisciplinary content with a comprehensive overview for students and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines as well as for stakeholders - Presents a broad overview and background on the current state of knowledge of the variability, change, and regional impacts of the Indian Ocean - Includes links to animations, slideshows, and other educational resources




The Rise and Return of the Indo-Pacific


Book Description

In the 21st century, the Indo-Pacific region has become the new centre of the world. The concept of the 'Indo-Pacific', though still under construction, is a potentially 'pivotal' site, where various institutions and intellectuals of statecraft are seeking common ground on which to anchor new regional coalitions, alliances. and allies to better serve their respective national agendas. This book explores the 'Indo-Pacific' as an ambiguous and hotly contested regional security construction. It critically examines the major drivers behind the revival of classical geopolitical concepts and their deployment through different national lenses. The book also analyses the presence of India and the U.S in the Indo-Pacific, and the manner in which China has reacted to their positions in the Indo-Pacific to date. It suggests that national constructions of the Indo-Pacific region are more informed by domestic political realities, anti-Chinese bigotries, distinctive properties of 21st century U.S hegemony, and narrow nation-statist sentiments rather than genuine pan-regional aspirations. The Rise and Return of the Indo-Pacific argues that the spouting of contested depictions of the Indo-Pacific region depend on the fixed geo-strategic lenses of nation-states, but what is also important is the re-emergence of older ideas - a class conceptual revival - based on early to mid-20th century geopolitical ideas in many of these countries. The book deliberately raises the issue of the sea and constructions of 'nature', as these symbols are indispensable parts of many of these Indo-Pacific regional narratives. Despite the existence of diverse nation-statist, pan- and sub-regional discourses, the narratives of the most powerful states still dominate 21st century Indo-Pacific statecraft. The term 'Indo-Pacific' has the potential of unsettling various existing bilateral and multilateral geopolitical equations within the Indian Ocean region. Despite substantial heterogeneity in Indo-Pacific regional imaginations, the most dominant 'stories' and 'maps' are crafted and disseminated by the most dominant nation -in this case, the U.S- as it grapples with new ways of retaining its hegemony into the 21st century.




Geoeconomics and Geosecurities in the Indian Ocean Region


Book Description

There are important changes in regional and global demographics ahead of us. A profound rise in the number of citizens in the Indian Ocean Region in the next fifty years will have significant impacts on the state, on the nature and operation of markets and the neo-liberal framework they operate in, and raise new challenges for regional security. This book considers the insufficient dialogue between ever increasing and closer connections between geo-economics and geo-securities in the Indian Ocean Region, and highlights some of the challenges. This book takes a broader understanding of security than what is usually meant in more traditional security frameworks in politics and international relations. Economic and politics are integrally, and obviously, related. This book considers regional themes such as discourses around strategic competition; models of regional cooperative security; Indian Ocean Region domestic economies/ contexts and the military industrial complex; and regional models of identity and cultural belonging. Regions and regionalisms are increasingly being used to challenge power, and the existence of any uniform model of macro-politics and macro-economics (whether it be neo-liberalism or otherwise). Most importantly, these discussions of region enable us to celebrate the similarities that we share as neighbours (in a real geographical sense) and to comprehend and respect these differences in these rich regional communities of markets, cultures, and securities. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region.




India's Ocean


Book Description

This book assesses India’s role as a major power in the Indian Ocean. Many see the Indian Ocean as naturally falling within India’s sphere of influence but, as this book demonstrates, India has a long way to go before it could achieve regional dominance. The book outlines the development of Indian thinking on its role in the Indian Ocean and examines India’s strategic relationships in the region, including with maritime South Asia, the Indian Ocean islands, East Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia. The book then discusses India’s ambivalent relationship with the United States and explores its attitude towards China’s growing power in the Indian Ocean. It concludes by discussing the region’s evolving strategic order – does India have what it takes to become the leading power in the region?




India's Foreign Policy and Regional Multilateralism


Book Description

The book provides a novel analytical perspective on regional multilateralism in South Asia and its neighbouring regions and covers the genesis, evolution and status quo of the four major regional organizations.




Environmental Citizenship in the Indian Ocean Region


Book Description

The scale and severity of our environmental challenges are quickly becoming apparent. The Indian Ocean region features many places particularly vulnerable to the effects of environmental degradation and climate change, which will have profound social, economic, and cultural impacts. The increasing preoccupation with the state of the environment is also having significant political effects, including on the concept and content of citizenship. The language of citizenship has permeated environmental discourse and, conversely, environmental issues are often articulated in the language of citizenship. This book explores environmental citizenship and civil society responses to environmental challenges in the Indian Ocean region. The articles provide practical insights to improve resilience and adaptation, as well as conceptual insights into the nature of environmental citizenship discourse and practice across this vast region, from Mauritius to Malaysia. The volume showcases the complex field of environmental citizenship through a wide range of approaches, and alongside closely related concepts, such as environmental governance, environmental education, environmental justice, and corporate social responsibility. In essence, the book provides a rich, diverse and multidimensional picture of environmental citizenship in the Indian Ocean region. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue in the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region.