Mapping maritime security in the Indian Ocean: changing contours and increasing complexities

Readers may recall the editorial introduction to issue 3, volume 18, of the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region (Chaturvedi, 2022), titled ‘Indianoceanness and its Indo-Pacific dimensions,’ especially the key point made therein that for academia as well as policymakers a serious and systematic engagement with the Indo-Pacific –both as a vast and dynamic biogeographical region of overlapping sub-regions and as a multidimensional policy construct – is not a matter of choice but necessity. The current edition of the journal reiterates the need to pluralize the Indo-Pacific without losing sight of Indianoceanness and underlines the critical importance of broadening and deepening the security agenda in and for the Indo-Pacific on the intriguing intersection of non-traditional and traditional threats.

Highlighting the complex spatiality of non-traditional threats to common and comprehensive security at the outset in the current edition of JIOR, we have the privilege of publishing the editorial comment – a passionate appeal of critical importance and universal relevance – by Kamran Abbasi et al., describing ‘climate and nature’ crisis as an ‘indivisible global health emergency.’ This comment has been published simultaneously in multiple journals, and the JIOR, having carried several articles and special issues on this topic in the past, is proud to be on this list. Few would disagree that the urgency of taking long-due climate action at multiple levels –both in formal and informal governance– for the public good of health resonates most graphically throughout the Indian Ocean region. The authors note with a sense of urgency that commitments made so far during COP leave much to be desired in terms of actual compliance and the failure to arrest the trends that are destroying ecosystems and biodiversity and will have ‘catastrophic’ impacts on human health and human security, especially among the deprived and the marginalized sections of society in Global South.

The first article by Anindita Roy Saha and Shubhra Seth critically examines the plight of the Rohingyas who have sought refuge in Bangladesh and are being rehabilitated on the geographically unstable and ecologically sensitive island of Bhasan Char, made further vulnerable due to climate change-induced sea level rise. The authors invite attention to the paradox in the making and call for a critical examination of a taken-for-granted and undifferenced understanding of ‘displacement’ in both its material and discursive dimensions. The case of Rohingyas graphically shows how these communities run the risk of being converted from ‘Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs)’ to potential ‘climate refugees’ as they are being relocated from the Cox Bazar on the mainland to the floating Bhasan Char island, and subjected to yet another round of human and ontological insecurities associated with displacements. The authors, in a thought-provoking manner, argue against both climate reductionism and climate determinism and underline the value of a holistic approach to understanding vulnerability, adaptation, and empowerment.

The critical importance of the Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) for realizing the full potential of the blue economy is widely acknowledged, and the ongoing research on this multisectoral priority area continues to generate demand for ‘data-driven’ detailed case studies from various parts of the globe. The article by Subrata Sarker & Pierre Failler argues that Bangladesh, given its steadily growing dependence on the blue economy, would need an MSP for the entire maritime area. The authors provide a useful account of existing uses of the maritime space of Bangladesh –under agriculture, energy, trade and commerce, and conservation sectors– map the spatial extent of each one of them, identify the areas where data remains deficient, and note the growing conflicts over the problematique of who gets, what, where, when and how from an MSP. Those interested in a critically informed understanding of ‘data’ and its importance in marine spatial planning will find this article insightful and relevant for policymakers throughout the Indian Ocean region and beyond. A critically informed constructivist perspective on ‘data’ shows how excluding certain stakeholders as co-producers in knowledge production about ‘space’ can result in a skewed and fragmented database.

The article by Udyan Das is a theoretically informed, conceptually rich, and empirically engaging contribution to critical maritime security studies. This contribution, taking the case of India and its engagement with the Bay of Bengal as a ‘security space,’ underlines the usefulness of approaching the question of maritime security on the intersection of material and ideational. While acknowledging the role played by the realist framings of the Bay Bengal by India as a zone of security, the author looks deeper into the question of what factors and forces drive India's sense of (in)security. He argues that India's pursuit of an aspirational model of security and related engagements is driven by a complex mix of concerns for strategic autonomy, leadership, and geopolitical pre-eminence.

The next article by Stefy V. Joseph & Sruthi Sadhasivam addresses the challenge of initiating and sustaining common climate action on the Indo-Pacific canvas, which, given the sheer complexity of scale and scope of Anthropocene insecurities, would require global leadership. The authors identify non-renewable solar energy as an area of common critical concern cutting across scales, where India could lead by example by demonstrating its proactive approach to disaster management. India's National Solar Mission holds enormous promise and potential for the Indo-Pacific region and could help ensure greater maritime security and sustainable economic growth for all, as promised under the SAGAR vision. The authors also examine some of the key hurdles in India's pursuit of assuming leadership both regionally and globally, a role that demands, among other things, the economic capacity to effectively implement climate policy and fund climate action plans both nationally and internationally.

The non-traditional threats to maritime security are ascending and will continue to broaden and deepen the meaning of maritime power, which includes naval power in a significant way but is neither subsumed nor exhausted by it. The contribution by Yogesh Joshi shows how the profile and fortune of the Indian Navy have fluctuated in the past, depending on the inclinations and world views of the political leadership, foreign policy priorities, and changes in the regional and global geopolitical-strategic environment. The author accounts for the reasons behind the noticeable upgrade in the profile of the Indian Navy and the growing appreciation of the significant diplomatic and constabulary role it will continue to perform against the backdrop of post-Cold War developments in the Indian Ocean, including the rising profile of China's PLA-Navy. With the Indian Navy being increasingly expected to perform the role of security and stability provider, it would be vital to ensure that the mismatch between aspirations/expectations and resources is addressed with a sense of urgency and priority.

The article by Ambassador Anil Sooklal is a thought-provoking commentary on the IORA Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, which is bound to invite the serious attention of both scholars and practitioners to the urgency of translating the vision and objectives enshrined in the Outlook into an effective Indo-Pacific Action Plan. The distinguished diplomat-scholar identifies with remarkable insights into areas of strategic partnership and cooperation between IORA and its Member States and Dialogue Partners, as well as Regional Organisations that have officially articulated their position on the Indo-Pacific. Underlining the centrality of ASEAN to the IORA Outlook, he makes a passionate and highly persuasive case for a people-centric approach to the Indo-Pacific Action Plan for the mutual benefit of the entire region.

The volume concludes with reviews of two recently published books. The first is the review of Ashton Robinson's René and postcolonial Seychelles: an African chameleon in the Indian Ocean by Derek McDougall. In this highly perceptive and comprehensive review of Robinson's well-researched political biography of France-Albert René (1935–2019), president of Seychelles from 1977 to 2004, McDougall notes the larger relevance of this work in provoking the readers to take a closer and deeper look at the ‘world’ of small island states in the Indian Ocean, their decolonization experiences, institution building and the role of leading political personalities. The second review is of Sanklap Gurjar's seminal work, The Superpowers’ Playground: Djibouti and Geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific in the Twenty-first Century, by Mujeeb Kanth. According to Kanth, this book, drawing skillfully upon the classical geopolitical theories of Mackinder, Mahan, and Spykman, offers excellent insights into the steadily intensifying multi-spatial Great Power struggle in the Indo-Pacific over the control of what Spykman had described as Rimland. The astute analysis by Gurjar shows how strategically located small eastern African states like Djibouti are being perceived as a ‘bridgehead’ located on the intriguing intersection of Mackinder's inner and outer crescents and Spykman's Rimland, thus leading to geostrategic bridging of West Asia and Africa.

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Notes on contributors

Sanjay Chaturvedi

Sanjay Chaturvedi, Chief Editor, Journal of the Indian Ocean Region.