9 - Political and Security Dynamics in the Indian Ocean Region: Role of Extra-regional Powers

Summary

Historically, the Indian Ocean region has been a critical geo-strategic space of competitive maritime security that features the presence of extra- regional naval forces. During the pre-1945 period, the Indian Ocean was regarded as an imperial territory and British lake featuring colonial basing and expansion. During the 1950s and 1960s, it was a region for colonial domination and also an area of interest to the United States. With the exit of British naval forces from East of Suez in 1970s, the region witnessed superpower interest, resulting in dominance by the United States and the Soviet Union.

The 1971 India-Pakistan War was a watershed event and further reinforced the fact that the Indian Ocean was fast emerging as a strategic sea space of super power rivalry. The India-Pakistan naval engagements during the war continued against the backdrop of a significant move by a U.S. Carrier Task Force comprising the nuclear aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise in an apparent measure of U.S. support to Pakistan and assurances by the Soviet Union to India about the presence of the Soviet naval fleet in the region.

Today, the Indian Ocean has emerged as an area of geo-economic and geo-strategic consequence to a large number of Indian Ocean littorals as well as to non-littorals. Enormous energy and natural resources of the region appear to drive the importance of the Ocean. Besides, globalization has the promise and potential for further regional economic development. At the same time, the Indian Ocean is also witness to developing power rivalries, power transitions, and growing asymmetric conflicts. Also there are the emerging geo-energy stakes in the adjoining Central Asian region that hold promise for the prosperity of the energy-hungry growing economies of the Asia Pacific region.

Besides, the regional events following the September 11 incidents and the 2003 U.S.-led war on Iraq have transformed the maritime space of the Indian Ocean. At the peak of operations during the U.S.-led War on Terror, more than a hundred ships, submarines and support vessels were deployed in the North Arabian Sea.