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.
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
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, director, International Security Program, Lowy Institute for International Policy
Contributors
Michael Auslin Peter Dombrowski James R. Holmes Walter C. Ladwig III William C. Martel Rodger A. Payne Christopher Preble Teresita C. Schaffer Andrew C. Winner Toshi Yoshihara
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.
