The Indian Ocean and US Grand Strategy: Ensuring Access and Promoting Security

by Peter Dombrowski (Editor), Andrew C. Winner (Editor), Walter C. Ladwig III (Contribution by), William Martel (Contribution by), Christopher Preble (Contribution by)

Overview

The Indian Ocean, with its critical routes for global commerce, is a potentially volatile location for geopolitical strife. Even as the region’s role in the international economy and as a highway to conflict zones increases, the US has failed to advance a coherent strategy for protecting its interests in the Indian Ocean or for managing complex diplomatic relationships across the region. The Indian Ocean and US Grand Strategy presents a range of viewpoints about whether and how the US should alter its diplomatic and military strategies for this region.

Contributors examine US interests in the Indian Ocean, assess the relative critical importance or imperiled nature of these interests, and propose solutions for American strategy ranging from minimal change to maximum engagement. The book concludes with a comparative assessment of these options and a discussion of their implications for US policymakers. This volume’s perspectives and analysis of the Indian Ocean region will be valued by scholars and students of US foreign policy, South Asia, and security studies as well as by diplomats, military officers, and other practitioners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626161504
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2014
Series:	South Asia in World Affairs series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Peter Dombrowski is a professor in the Strategic Research Department at the US Naval War College.

Andrew C. Winner is a professor and chair of the Strategic Research Department and director of the Indian Ocean Regional Studies Group at the US Naval War College.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction Andrew C. Winner and Peter J. Dombrowski

I. Strategy Options 2. Strengthening Partners to Keep the Peace: A Neo-Nixon Doctrine for the Indian Ocean Region Walter C. Ladwig III 3. Reformulating a Grand Strategy in the Indian Ocean Region: The Case of Containment William C. Martel 4. Leaving Unipolarity Behind: A Strategic Framework for Advancing US Interests in the Indian Ocean Region Christopher Preble 5. Offshore Balancing in the Indian Ocean: Forward or Not at All James R. Holmes and Toshi Yoshihara 6. Cooperative Security in the Indian Ocean Region Rodger A. Payne 7. From Hub to Hinge: A Strategic Framework to Promote US Security Interests in the Indian Ocean Michael Auslin

II. Evolving Recent US Policies into the Future 8. The Indian Ocean: Protecting Access to a Volatile Powerhouse Teresita C. Schaffer 9. Combating Transnational Security Threats in the Indian Ocean: A Focused US Regional Strategy Andrew C. Winner

III. Conclusion 10. Ensuring Access and Promoting Security in the Indian Ocean Peter J. Dombrowski and Andrew C. Winner

List of Contributors

Index

What People are Saying About This

Rory Medcalf

This book intelligently unpacks the assertion that the Indian Ocean is of central strategic importance in the 21st century. It dives into the complexities of the Indian Ocean strategic picture, insightfully assesses the changes as China and India rise, and identifies options for America’s role and response. This range of expert perspectives brings out the tension at the heart of US policy in Asia in this Indo-Pacific era: How to maintain a stabilizing role when the strategic theater is expanding and America’s relative capabilities are not. There is no simple answer but this book usefully underscores how partnerships will be the key.

From the Publisher

"This book intelligently unpacks the assertion that the Indian Ocean is of central strategic importance in the 21st century. It dives into the complexities of the Indian Ocean strategic picture, insightfully assesses the changes as China and India rise, and identifies options for America's role and response. This range of expert perspectives brings out the tension at the heart of US policy in Asia in this Indo-Pacific era: How to maintain a stabilizing role when the strategic theater is expanding and America's relative capabilities are not. There is no simple answer but this book usefully underscores how partnerships will be the key."—Rory Medcalf, director, International Security Program, Lowy Institute for International Policy

Editorial Reviews

Some excellent studies have been published [on the Indian Ocean] and this is one of them. . . . [The book] provides a good cross section of current American thought on the subject.

Ausmarine

This book intelligently unpacks the assertion that the Indian Ocean is of central strategic importance in the 21st century. It dives into the complexities of the Indian Ocean strategic picture, insightfully assesses the changes as China and India rise, and identifies options for America’s role and response. This range of expert perspectives brings out the tension at the heart of US policy in Asia in this Indo-Pacific era: How to maintain a stabilizing role when the strategic theater is expanding and America’s relative capabilities are not. There is no simple answer but this book usefully underscores how partnerships will be the key.

Rory Medcalf