Towards a networked strategy: framework for maritime South Asia

ABSTRACT

This article revisits the widely cited SAGAR speech by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, delivered on 12 March 2015, at Port Louis, Mauritius. It takes the speech as a foundation to revisit the meaning of maritime South Asia, bringing to fore a ‘networked identity’ of the Ocean. This approach, while incorporating a dimension of resilience, also offers a conceptual/policy window to deal with complex traditional and non-traditional threats emanating from maritime space. Concepts from network literature, such as connections, relationality and communication are employed to invoke networked imageries of the Ocean at a metaphorical, conceptual and praxeological level. In arguing for international/interregional maritime cooperation, SDG-14 is presented as an essential background condition for effective translation of SAGAR speech into this novel framework, which helps in raising critical questions related to maritime security and development.

KEYWORDS:

• Networks
• sustainable development
• SAGAR
• maritime cooperation

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank two anonymous referees for their very insightful suggestions and the commissioning editor for his useful inputs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Medha Bisht is Senior Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, South Asian University. Her research interests are Asian strategic thought and practice, critical water diplomacy, and South Asia in International Relations.

Notes

1 While the SAGAR speech has received considerable amount of attention by both scholars and practitioners, this article is specifically inspired by a range of chapters published in Kumar (2017).

2 This article draws on two distinct presentations made in two different settings. The first was the Pacific Area Security Sector Working Group on Counterterrorism, organized by PACOM on 27–31 August 2018 in New Delhi and the second was a workshop on Maritime South Asia, organized by South Asian University, New Delhi, 21 October 2019.

3 A good exception to this is the ‘Water Diplomacy Framework’ offered by Islam and Susskind (2013). While the authors underline the relevance of network- based approaches, its prescriptive thrust on rational choice theories is a bit misplaced. The reason for this oversight is the focus of negotiation literature on ‘success’ rather than ‘understanding,’ and this gap, between negotiation and dialogue has not been addressed by Islam and Susskind. Johnson (1991) offers a preliminary understanding of the difference between the two.

4 This is unlike structural realism, where specific attributes or characteristics of actors become important.

5 This article does not intend to advance methodological and theoretical nuances offered by different traditions of network literature, but draws key attributes from them to emphasize alternative ways of thinking about interaction between ‘actors’ in international relations.

6 For a more detailed understanding of resilient thinking refer to Walker and Salt (2006, pp. 31–38).

7 Both BIMSTEC and IORA have been establishing specialized agencies, to promote activities in cooperation. For example, there are two agencies affiliated with the IORA. For instance, Regional Cenre for Science and transfer of technology (RCSTT) in Iran and Fisheries Support Unit in Oman. BIMSTEC has centres such as BIMSTEC Energy Centre in Bengaluru, BIMSTEC Disaster Management centre in Noida and BIMSTEC cultural industries observatory in Bhutan (De, 2017, p. 140).

8 The author would like to thank one of the anonymous reviewers for highlighting this point.