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March 7, 2004
Review: Maritime strategy
SPREAD over 279 pages and comprising five chapters, Dr Anil Kumar Singh’s book tries to present a view of India’s security concerns in the Indian Ocean region. Unfortunately, the author does not succeed very well because he takes on a number of objectives. Resultantly, the book leaves a reader confused about what is being said. Is it about economic security or maritime strategy or India’s perception of the Indian Ocean region (IOR)?
The chapter on the geopolitics of the ocean borrows from Mahan’s famous views on the significance of the Indian Ocean. Although latest research contradicts the statement as being Mahan’s, the basic objective of the author is to prove the significance of maritime strategy, especially for island nations such as India and others, and to evaluate how global superpowers had deep interest in the region during the days of the Cold War. The trade passing through the ocean, particularly oil, is what makes security of this region vital for all. This is certainly the case with the IOR states.
Unfortunately, the author’s key argument regarding the significance of a maritime strategy because even major countries are island states gets bogged down due to the fact that he tries to bring in a lot of subjects in this section including an analysis of thinkers on maritime strategy.
The chapter dealing with India’s perception of the Indian Ocean is, in fact, weaker than the first one. Based on the fact that India constitutes about 60 per cent of the population of the IOR and has vital interests like trade, etc, the author claims that India is a key player in the region. Instead of explaining New Delhi’s maritime strategy, Dr Singh gets into an analysis of the broader security design of the region including a description of the battles that India fought with its neighbours.
The chapter also contains a discussion on the US and China’s interests in the Indian Ocean. However, the arguments fail to present India as a key player. Needless to say, that this particular view presents a popular notion in India that has no basis thus far because New Delhi’s fundamental military strategy remains continental.
The third chapter is a sharp turn towards another direction — a discussion of economic cooperation and cooperative security. Singh starts the discussion by presenting different models of the region evaluating the different concepts such as open regionalism and the impact of globalization on regionalism. His main argument is that cooperative security would benefit the IOR. An issue that he does not address, however, is the inherent contradictions between the concept of cooperative security and India’s objective of establishing its supremacy in the IOR.
The fourth chapter is really where the author has looked at the problems and prospects of security in the Indian Ocean. Again, the main drift is towards non-traditional security or threats like political underdevelopment, rampant poverty, drug trafficking, terrorism, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, problems of resource depletion and other related issues. Singh is of the view that these threats pose a greater problem for security than anything else. Here, the basic suggestion is that it is through a cooperative security approach that such problems could be resolved.
In the conclusion the author summarizes his arguments in the earlier chapters.
The book definitely contains several interesting arguments such as the concept of cooperative security in the region and is useful as far as the narrative on the history of CSCAP and various other regional initiatives such as ASEAN goes. The details would be useful for those researching on these particular issues. However, one encounters problems in understanding the basic argument that the author is trying to make. There is certainly no linkage between the chapter that discusses India’s naval strategy and its plans for the Indian Ocean in the context of the concept of cooperative security. If Dr Singh is trying to propose cooperative security in a region dominated by India, then this is a notion that does not come out very clearly in this book.
One would have definitely wanted the author to think this idea through. Furthermore, one hopes that he even looks into the entire concept of the Indian Ocean. Truly, being one of the largest countries of the IOR, India has credible claims to exercise greater power. However, it is premature to suggest that India is a formidable naval power of the region. Even if that was to happen, one had expected the author to link such a development with the other concept of economic cooperation and economic security. After all, the IOR is a big region that comprises other important states as well like South Africa, Australia and others with their maritime and naval interests as well.
Then there is also the issue of the interests of external forces such as the US and China. How would these states react to an Indian dominated IOR and what impact this might have on economic cooperation, and what threats might then emerge for India are issues that need greater attention of experts.
India’s Security Concerns in the Indian Ocean Region
By Dr Anil Kumar Singh
Har-Anand Publications Pvt Ltd., F-1211, Chittranjan Park, New Delhi-110019
Tel: 51603490
Fax: 26270599. Email: haranand@mantraonline.com
ISBN 81-241-0921-4
308pp. Indian Rs495
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