![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
Abstract
Far from being ‘naturally’ delineated by geography or bound solely through shared culture, regions are actively constructed by states and other actors pursuing specific interests. In this article, we analyse the region-building efforts of two rising powers – Brazil and India – as they work to project power and enhance their influence within the Atlantic and Indian oceans, respectively. Through a comparison of their behaviours within their maritime spaces – including naval build-up, international cooperation, and efforts to revive institutions such as ZOPACAS and IOR-ARC – we argue that Brazil and India are paying increasing attention to oceanic rims, albeit for somewhat disparate reasons. While India is increasingly concerned with the role of China within the Indian Ocean, for which it has had to rely on US support, Brazil is primarily driven to protect its oil and to minimise the role of the US and NATO in the South Atlantic. In both spaces, however, the rise of so-called non-traditional threats, including piracy, has further motivated these states' maritime power strategies. The analysis suggests that, within the context of the post-Cold War period, rising powers have begun redefining their strategic regions in terms of their maritime perimeters as a way to project power and influence beyond their continental vicinities.
Notes
1. The concept was initially introduced by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in her September 2011 UN General Assembly speech. Source: http://gadebate.un.org/sites/default/files/gastatements/66/BR_en_0.pdf
2. Agricultural trade being a notable exception, as reflected in Brazil and India's frequently opposed views within the WTO.
3. Daniel Gallo ‘Promete Garré que se construirá un submarino nuclear en el país’ La Nación, 4 de Junio 2010. Source: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1271651-promete-garre-que-se-construira-un-submarino-nuclear-en-el-pais
4. We are considering as examples of Brazilian official discourse the country's defence policy documents, such as the 2012 Defence White Paper (Livro Branco de Defesa Nacional) and the 2008 National Defence Strategy (Estratégia de Defesa Nacional). Both documents are available from the Brazilian Defense Ministry's website: http://www.defesa.gov.br/
5. 2013 statistics from Brazil's Ministério do Desenvolvimento, Indústria e Comércio Exterior.
6. Petrobras (Citation2011)
8. The Brazilian government officially defines the South Atlantic Ocean as consisting of the area between the 16 N parallel and Antarctica, including the western coast of Africa and the eastern coast of South America. According to the Brazilian Navy's Commander, this definition is larger than the actual geographic delimitations of the ocean because it reflects the extension of Brazil's territory and jurisdictional waters beyond the Equator and its foreign policy interests that reach the 16N parallel (de Moura Neto, Citation2010).
11. South Africa's nuclear programme was officially terminated in late February 1990, and the country acceded to the NPT in June 1991. Source: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Safrica/SADisarming.html. Even the great powers kept the South Atlantic nearly free of nuclear bomb tests during the Cold War; while hundreds tests were conducted in the Pacific, only one documented set of tests was carried out in the South Atlantic – the 1958 Operation Argus, through which the US conducted atmospheric tests of three nuclear warheads close to the UK archipelago of Tristan da Cunha.
12. Interview with Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim, Brasília, 6 August 2013.
13. This information is supported by figures from the Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs. Source: http://moia.gov.in/writereaddata/pdf/NRISPIOS-Data(15-06-12)new.pdf
14. Indian Navy (Citationn.d.)
15. Anupama Chandrasekaran (Citation2013)
17. Conal Urquhart (Citation2013)
18. The Hindu (Citation2012)
19. The Hindu (Citation2012)