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.

This book provides a synoptic view of the Indian Ocean and maritime security in its contested waters. The volume highlights the competition between major Asian powers to control the Indian Ocean periphery; shows that cooperation amongst the major regional powers could abate the threat of the potential of conflict becoming global and inviting external intervention; and discusses India’s Look East policy and the deepening relation between India and ASEAN. It argues for the need for Indian Ocean states and particularly SAARC members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association to look afresh at their political and security issues and common interests. It also suggests measures for evolving a robust mechanism of maintaining the Indian Ocean as a sustainable zone of commerce, energy, security and peace rather than threat.

This book provides a comprehensive view of the maritime safety and security challenges in countries of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). Various issues such as trans-national crime including piracy, terrorism, drug and arms smuggling; Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) and maritime and aeronautical Search and Rescue (SAR); Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and resource management for sustainable development are viewed from the perspectives of IORA members. It also discusses the role of cooperative organizational structures and the need for capability building and capacity optimization in the light of existing legal frameworks for enhancing maritime safety and security in the Indian Ocean.

This book studies recent attempts to restructure maritime security sectors through capacity building. It innovates both theoretically and empirically. It proposes a new framework for understanding maritime capacity building, drawing on work in peacebuilding and security sector reform. The framework is then applied across empirical case studies from the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region written by scholars from the Global South. The WIO region is a paradigmatic case to study maritime security and capacity building in action. Countries in the region face the full gamut of maritime security challenges, while their indigenous capacities to deal with these are often weak. In consequence, the region functions as an engine of innovation for maritime capacity building more widely. The lessons and best practices from the region have importance consequences for addressing maritime security across the globe.

In the twenty-first century, the Indo-Pacific, which spans from the western Pacific Ocean to the western Indian Ocean along the eastern coast of Africa, has emerged as a crucial geostrategic region for trade, investment, energy supplies, cooperation, and competition. It presents complex maritime security challenges and interlocking economic interests that require the development of an overarching multilateral security framework. This volume develops common approaches by focusing on geopolitical challenges, transnational security concerns, and multilateral institution-building and cooperation. The chapters, written by a cross-section of practitioners, diplomats, policymakers, and scholars from the three major powers discussed (United States, China, India) explain the opportunities and risks in the Indo-Pacific region and identify specific naval measures needed to enhance maritime security in the region. Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific opens by introducing the Indo-Pacific and outlining the roles of China, India, and the United States in various maritime issues in the region. It then focuses on the security challenges presented by maritime disputes, naval engagement, legal issues, sea lanes of communication, energy transport, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, as well as by nontraditional threats, such as piracy, terrorism, and weapons proliferation. It compares and contrasts the roles and perspectives of the key maritime powers, analyzing the need for multilateral cooperation to overcome the traditional and nontraditional challenges and security dilemma. This shows that, in spite of their different interests, capabilities, and priorities, Washington, Beijing and New Delhi can and do engage in cooperation to deal with transnational security challenges. Lastly, the book describes how to promote maritime cooperation by establishing or strengthening multilateral mechanisms and measures that would reduce the prospects for conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is one of the most areas of the world in human terms. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the subregions and countries in the IOR, drawing heavily on a new country risk assessment model developed by Abdullah Toukan, a senior associate with the Burke Chair at CSIS. It provides detailed graphs, tables, and maps covering the IOR as a whole, each major subregion, and each of the thirty-two countries in the region as well as the impact of U.S. and Chinese military forces.

Rapid change in trade, demographics, culture and environment around the Indian Ocean demands a revaluation of how communities, sustainability and security are constituted in this globally strategically important region. Indian Ocean Futures: Communities, Sustainability and Security raises awareness of threats and opportunities beyond popular notions of communities through an examination of issues of concern to local, national, regional and transnational communities around the Indian Ocean Rim. This edited book is organized into three broad areas: the heritage and identity of communities, their sustainability and their security. The first section examines how heritage and identity are negotiated in establishing the basis of communities and public discussion of their futures. The second part explores different practices, technologies and communities of sustainability; from technologies being developed for sustainable coastal regions to the adoption of traditional practices for food management. The final section canvasses the changing landscapes and seascapes of the Indian Ocean in relation to the broad concerns of food, environmental and political security. As such, this volume offers the reader valuable engagement with the complex relations of communities and environments and key discourses shaping understandings of the future of the Indian Ocean region.