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Gulf-Asia Historical Relations: An Overview

 A. K. Pasha

 

The Gulf region has seen the establishment of continuous maritime contacts with Gujarat and the West Coast of India. With the rise of the Europeans, the Arab-Islamic lakes, as the Indian Ocean, Gulf and Red Sea were known, came to be dominated first by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, the French and soon the British, who became the undisputed masters of the area. US attempts to push the Eisenhower Doctrine rekindled Western attempts to dominate the area. In the aftermath, there emerged two fiercely competitive security systems at work in the region. One was an Arab security system led by Egypt and supported by some Arab states and the USSR, China and India. The other was the Western-backed security system supported by Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, the US and Britain, and indirectly supported by Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and others. The US invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan have given a new boost to Islamic groups, which are resorting to greater violence. India’s energy needs are growing and everything possible must be done to secure close ties with oil producers in the Gulf. India must work with secular and democratic forces to maintain the regional security and stability so very essential to protect its interests and prevent the spread of violence and terrorism from this volatile region to India in the future. Are the GCC monarchies willing to share power with their own people and reduce their dependence on the US? Will the US allow them to become truly democratic and independent of US influence? It is surely possible for India to strive for good ties with the US and Israel (without identifying too closely with their agenda in the Gulf) and also maintain close ties with the Arabs and Iranians.

 

Gulf Energy Security: The Changing Dynamics

Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Singh

 

Energy consumption is both a necessary condition for growth and a consequence of it. The energy security calculations of the exporter are similar in many respects to those of the importer. Gulf countries have experienced many dynamic changes on the energy front. Firstly, although they are the main suppliers of petroleum energy, many Gulf countries have witnessed increases in domestic energy consumption, compelling them to diversify their energy sources. Secondly, many reports indicate a declination in oil reserves. Gulf countries too are going to face the ‘peak oil’ situation combined with decreasing oil reserve discovery rates. Thirdly, the market for energy exports is gradually shifting from the traditional destinations of the US and Europe to Asia, which has now emerged as a major market for energy exports. Fourthly, the global financial meltdown has drastically affected Gulf energy projects.

 

India and the Gulf: The Maritime Security Dimension

G. V. C. Naidu

 

The employment of military might to forge links and advance strategic interests has emerged as a major facet of India’s post-Cold War diplomacy. The maritime horizon, which used to be limited to the immediate vicinity, is now expanding to include a larger region of the Indian Ocean. The Persian Gulf and Southeast Asian regions figure prominently in the revamped maritime security sphere. Accordingly, the Indian Navy is undergoing fundamental changes in force composition and striving to become a truly blue-water capable force in order to play a bigger role in the Indian Ocean region. Along with acquiring power projection capabilities, the Indian Navy has also embarked upon an extensive outreach program, establishing a variety of strategic cooperation arrangements. Bolstered by successes in Southeast Asia, the Navy is forging defense and security links with the countries of the Gulf in a big way. From the perspective of the Gulf nations, it would be prudent to enlist Indian security involvement in one form or the other as an additional security asset to deal with unforeseeable and unexpected contingencies—both traditional and non-traditional in nature. These developments must be viewed against the backdrop of fundamental changes taking place in India-Gulf relations, which are becoming multi-faceted rather than being limited to energy. The article examines the growing salience of the Persian Gulf region for India, the broad changes the Indian Navy is undergoing in terms of force structure and profile and the defense (particularly naval) diplomacy being pursued by New Delhi in the Gulf region.

 

 

Defining the Collective Security Regime: The Diverse Imperatives of the Sub-Region

Manan Dwivedi

 

Many observers see the end of the Cold War coupled with the more recent ouster of Saddam Hussein’s regime as providing an opening for an entirely new security environment in the Persian Gulf. The incidents of war in the region have led many observers to call for an alternate framework to be established and nurtured for the next several decades that would be more conducive to peace than the balance-of-power competition. A new Gulf Security Architecture is at times defined as informal security cooperation and at other times as a formal institution composed of nation-states. The article aims to visualize the international conflict mitigation concern of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The article will analyze the creation of “a Collective Defense framework” to avoid unwanted international interventions and the role of external nation-state actors in maintaining and sustaining peace and stability in the region. The confrontations betwixt State and Non-State actors constitute a significant cause of concern in regional peace negotiations. It would also be difficult to limit a collective security institution in the Persian Gulf geographically. The question of how the US plays a significant role in maintaining or marring a Collective Security Regime remains another poser for the regional collective framework. In the final analysis, the roots of Arab-Persian competition for power in the Gulf run deeper than any diplomatic commitment to collective security.