May 17, 2012
From Regional Sea to Global Lake: The Indian Ocean in the 21st Century
| Throughout much of known history, the Indian Ocean was a major thoroughfare for global commerce. The transatlantic community, however, has traditionally viewed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as the primary loci of strategic import. This mindset is the legacy of decades of naval planning, from WWII to the end of the Cold War, which focused on a series of threats emanating almost exclusively from these two oceanic arenas. |  |
Today, however, things have radically changed. The Indian Ocean, which forms the world’s third largest body of water, has reemerged as a major hub of maritime trade, with more than half of the world’s container traffic, and 70% of the world’s total traffic in petroleum products, passing from its entry point, the Strait of Hormuz, to its congested exit, the Strait of Malacca. Already troubled by the growing problem of piracy and non-state actors off the Gulf of Aden and the Strait of Hormuz, ripples of great power rivalry threaten to disturb the waters, as Asia’s two rising powers, India and China, bolster their naval strength and enhance their already significant blue-water capabilities.
In order to discuss the future of the Indian Ocean Region, as well as its importance for the transatlantic alliance, on November 12 the Transatlantic Academy convened a panel of informed watchers of naval and maritime issues.
The conference, entitled “From Regional Sea to Global Lake: The Indian Ocean in the 21st Century,” featured the participation of academic and military experts from France, India and the United States, who discussed various issues including the stability of global maritime trade in the face of non-state actors, China’s forays into the Indian Ocean, France’s Indian Ocean Policy, India’s naval rise and the future of U.S. naval presence in the region.
Center for a New American Security Senior Fellow and Atlantic Monthly correspondent Robert Kaplan provided keynote remarks. Robert Kaplan is the best-selling author of twelve books on international affairs and travel, the most recent being Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power. Other panelists included: Iskander Rehman, Junior Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy; Vice Admiral Pradeep Kaushiva, former Commandant of the National Defense College at New Delhi; Sunil Dasgupta, professor of political science at the University of Maryland – Baltimore County; Christophe Jaffrelot, Research Director at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at Sciences-Po; Nan Li, associate professor at the Strategic Research Department of the U.S. Naval War College; Oriana Skylar Mastro, Visiting Scholar at the Center for Security and Conflict Studies at George Washington University; James Holmes, associate professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College; and Nicolas Blarel, PhD candidate at the Department of Political Science at Indiana University.
