Q&A
Darshana M. Baruah, Satyendra Prasad, Denghua Zhang
{
"authors": [
"Darshana M. Baruah"
],
"type": "other",
"centerAffiliationAll": "",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"Carnegie India"
],
"collections": [],
"englishNewsletterAll": "",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "",
"programs": [],
"projects": [],
"regions": [
"South Asia",
"India",
"United States",
"Asia"
],
"topics": [
"Security",
"Foreign Policy"
]
}
Source: Getty
Other
Expanding India’s Maritime Domain Awareness in the Indian Ocean
Rather than just looking at Maritime Domain Awareness collaboration as a reaction to China’s rise, India must see it as a necessary step to maintain its position in the Indian Ocean and secure its strategic leverage in its primary area of interest.
Published on Jul 25, 2016
Source: Asia Policy 22
The Indian Ocean is an area of primary importance to the Indian Navy and has generally been free of conflict compared with the Pacific. India’s location naturally makes its navy one of the key players in the region and an important security provider for the Indian Ocean community. In recent years, the country has significantly focused on improving its maritime domain awareness (MDA) in response to maritime security threats in coastal waters and much farther afield, and this initiative is now increasingly being driven by China’s presence in the Indian Ocean.
India’s image as a regional leader was badly damaged when targets in Mumbai, India’s financial hub, were attacked from the sea on November 26, 2008. The attacks were carried out by nonstate actors originating from Pakistan and involved the perpetrators hijacking an Indian fishing vessel and sailing to Mumbai. These attacks brought to the forefront vulnerabilities in India’s defense strategy and led to a reorientation of its maritime security policies to place much greater emphasis on MDA. India’s recently released maritime security strategy emphasizes MDA as a critical requirement for maritime security and an essential tool to deter adversaries and maintain a strategic advantage.1 It is a broad concept, involving awareness of the positions and intentions of all actors (whether friendly, hostile, or neutral) and in all dimensions (on, over, and under the seas).
India’s vision of MDA now extends beyond its coastal waters and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to cover much of the Indian Ocean. While India largely operates by itself in MDA, it will increasingly need to cooperate with key partners, including the United States. This essay looks at India’s evolving interest in MDA and concludes that the country needs to work more closely with its regional friends and develop a new maritime outlook in the face of a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape in the Indian Ocean region...
Read Full Text
Notes
1 Indian Navy, Ensuring Secure Seas: Indian Maritime Security Strategy (New Delhi, October 2015), http://indiannavy.nic.in/sites/default/files/Indian_Maritime_Security_Strategy_Document_25Jan16.pdf.
About the Author
Darshana M. Baruah
Former Nonresident Scholar, South Asia Program
Darshana M. Baruah was a nonresident scholar with the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where she directs the Indian Ocean Initiative.
- How Chinese Financing Shapes the Pacific
- Why Climate Change Is Especially Dire for IslandsIn The Media
Darshana M. Baruah
Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Pushing Beirut into an Armed Conflict With Hezbollah Is InsaneCommentary
The party’s domestic and regional roles have changed, so Lebanon should devise a disarmament strategy that encompasses this.
Michael Young
- Continental Asia and the Rise of Portfolio PoliticsArticle
“Central Asia” as an analytical category is itself part of the problem. The term is a Soviet administrative inheritance, drawn along lines that served the convenience of Moscow. The Central Asian states the Soviets named no longer see themselves through this category alone and are not aligning across political blocs but are instead building external partnerships sector by sector, assigning different partners to different functions.
Jennifer B. Murtazashvili
- Delimitation After Defeat: India’s Unfinished Debate Over RepresentationPaper
The battle over representation and regional power has been delayed—not resolved—and will shape the future of India’s federal balance.
Louise Tillin, Milan Vaishnav, Andy Robaina
- In Russia, Private Companies Have Been Left to Pick Up the Tab for Ukrainian Drone AttacksCommentary
The cost of air defense has become an unregistered tax on revenue for businesses. While military rents are consolidated in the federal budget, the costs of defense are being spread across the balance sheets of companies and regional governments.
Alexandra Prokopenko
- California’s Global Trade Cities: Driving Local and National OutcomesPaper
Cities across the United States facilitate investment in American communities. Yet, because global attention remains focused on U.S. trade policy, their distinctive and bold local approaches to international trade and investment promotion are often underappreciated.
Wyatt Frank, Marissa Jordan
