India in the Indian Ocean: A Mismatch Between Ambitions and Capabilities?

Abstract

In February 2008, India hosted naval chiefs from around the Indian Ocean in what was named the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, highlighting the role of the Indian navy as an important instrument of the nation's foreign and security policy. It was also an attempt by India to promote a multilateral approach in the management of the security of the Indian Ocean. India signalled that as a rising power it is willing to fulfil its maritime responsibilities in the region but, unlike in the past when India had been suspicious of what it saw as extra-regional navies, it is now ready to cooperate with other navies in and around the Indian Ocean. Whether India's leadership will be enough to promote genuine maritime multilateralism in the region, however, remains to be seen. The Indian Ocean has long been the hub of great power rivalry and the struggle for its domination has been a perennial feature of global politics. It is third-largest of the world's five oceans and straddles Asia in the north, Africa in the west, Indochina in the east, and Antarctica in the south. Home to four critical access waterways?the Suez Canal, Bab-el Mandeb, the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca?the Indian Ocean connects the Middle East, Africa and East Asia with Europe and the Americas.1 Given its crucial geographical role, major powers have long vied with each other for its control, though it was only in the nineteenth century that Great Britain was able to enjoy an overwhelming dominance in the region. With the decline in Britain's relative power and the emergence of two superpowers during the Cold War, the Indian Ocean region became another arena where the US and the former Soviet Union struggled to expand their power and influence. The US, however, has remained the most significant player in the region for the last several years. Given the rise of major economic powers in the Asia-Pacific that rely on energy imports to sustain their economic growth, the Indian Ocean region has assumed a new importance as various powers are once again vying for the control of the waves in this part of the world. Nearly half of the world's