October Issue Contents

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From the Editor’s Desk The developments of the past decade in global strategic environment indicate the possibilities of an active Indian Ocean Region. The security of Indian Ocean region is now threatened by pirates and terrorists. Half of the global trade in energy is passing through the Indian Ocean and many are speculating a war on seas. Similarly, recent reports indicate that terrorists are using sea routes to smuggle arms and ammunition for their activities. Added to this, some of the littoral states are providing safe havens to the terrorists to pursue their nefarious designs. Some recent reports indicate that South-East Asia is slowly emerging as a nerve centre of arms and ammunition to insurgency movements and terrorists organizations like al-Qaeda. In these circumstances, one of the major issues confronting littoral and hinterland states is how to make the Indian Ocean Region a zone of development. In this process, it became clear that the region comprises Islands of prosperity accompanied by Islands of poverty and neglect. At another level, extra regional powers are trying to make inroads into the Indian Ocean Region and question India’s preeminence in the region. The Chinese construction of Gwadar port in Pakistan and Coco Islands in Myanmar have added new dimensions to the already over crowded region. Still at another level, the internal strife among the Indian Ocean littoral and hinterland states for a variety of reasons has further complicated the situation. The civil war like situation in countries like Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and even Pakistan is giving an opportunity for extra regional powers to carve out a place for themselves. Some countries are even talking in terms of redrawing the map of Indian Ocean region. All this can be attributed to lack of good governance and globalisation of various economics. This in no way undermines the vulnerability of the Indian Ocean Region to various pulls and pressures in the coming years. We at the World Focus thought it is an appropriate time to take stock of some of the recent developments that is taking place in the Indian Ocean Region. We are grateful to Prof. Gopal, IGNOU New Delhi for being the Guest Editor of this Issue. New Delhi G. Kishore Babu October 2007 Editor

India’s Strategic Interests in the Coming Decades

D.Gopal

Today Asia is the new geo-political theatre of global politics thanks to a network of bilateral and multilateral mechanisms for economic co-operation emerging in the continent. In an attempt to prioritise its foreign policy goals to protect its legitimate national interests, India has to necessarily craft a policy of multiple engagements with countries both within and outside Asia. To meet these challenges, India is increasingly inclined to pursue a variety of strategies ranging from unilateral initiatives, concessions in trade and investment to confidence building measures. Basic to these overtures is India’s conviction that it should, as in the past, function as an equal partner in the comity of nations.

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Conflict Situations in the Indian Ocean Region

R. Narayanan

Many of the past conflicts in the Indian Ocean Region have been resolved. But over time new ones have only replaced them. At one level these conflicts, generated by terrorism and drug trafficking, threaten the evolving fabric of the global society. At another level, conflicts triggered by the currently witnessed ethnic resurgence leading to genocide, secession and low intensity civil conflicts are sapping the energy of the civil societies and drain their scarce resources in these nascent economies. Meeting these new challenges without doubt call for a regional organisation that has a well-crafted built-in security mechanism.

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External Powers in the Indian Ocean Region 6

Darvesh Gopal

During the long years of the colonial era the Indian Ocean region served as the battleground for the rich and industrialising European nations leading finally to British primacy in the region. With the retreat of European imperialism and the advent of the Cold War in the second half of the 20th Century, the two super powers reinforced their maritime influence directly or indirectly through an impressive array of facilities in the region. The post-Cold War has heralded a socio-politico-strategic shift in perception and policies of the major powers, importantly China and the US regarding the Indian Ocean.

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China’s ‘String of Pearls’ in the Indian Ocean

Srikanth Kondapalli

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Regional Groupings and Their Impact on the Indian Ocean Region

Sailaja Gullapalli

Regionalism, in the present context of globalisation, encompasses both political and economic interests of the nation-states. The formation and proliferation of the regional

groupings, termed as a wave of new regionalism, was most significant in the 1980s and 1990s. Almost all the nations of the world came together under different regional groupings and these groupings now wield considerable influence in the gamut of regional relations. Not only the political but also the economic interests came to be best served through these groupings. Nevertheless, these groups have not tasted much success uniformly all over the world and many of them need to reorient their approaches to be successful.

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Need to protect EEZ: A challenge for

the growing trade in Indian Ocean Region

Madhu Bala

India is amongst the top ten countries in respect Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Barring two countries in its neighbourhood -- Bangladesh and Pakistan, -- India has already demarcated its maritime boundaries with the other countries of the region. The challenges India faces need to be addressed on a multi-layered basis. Some challenges that are predominantly located around the Indian coast require a unilateral approach. These deal with policing and constabulary functions. Other challenges require a bilateral

approach, such as military exercises involving navies from other countries. The most desirable format is the multilateral approach towards solving transnational crimes and maintaining maritime order.

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India and Indian Ocean Rim Countries Co-operation:

Slow Groundwork or Stalled Regionalism?

Priti Singh

IOR-ARC is a gigantic economic grouping with its membership extended to 19 countries of Asia and Africa. This supra-regional framework has offered great opportunities to member states. Nonetheless, it poses as many challenges to littoral states of the Indian Ocean. Procedural formalities laid down in the organisation such as the tripartite dialogue consumes considerable amount of time with regime changes that occur quite frequently in some of the member countries.

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