Evolving Indian Ocean governance architecture: an Indian perspective

Abstract

The vast Indian Ocean is an active oceanic body encompassing extensive sea borne trade/commerce and energy transfers. Unfortunately, it is also a region plagued with a plenitude of military, economic, religious and racial insecurities and asymmetric maritime threats. However, the common thread that binds the littorals is that most of the regional trade is sea borne and hence it forms one of the primary drivers of economy in the region. In this context, a unified approach towards sea governance for overcoming myriad maritime threats and challenges facing the littorals is a diminished factor. The reason being that is the current maritime security architecture in the region and the various fora that uphold the same are mostly listless and in dire need of impetus. Comparatively bi/multilateral naval engagements have been more successful. Multilateral exercises like the MILAN and IBSAMAR (as a maritime extension of IBSA) have ensured a degree of inter-operability and helped in the maintenance of “good order at sea”. But these naval engagements suffer from inherent lacunae and cannot be substituted for a formal forum. The issue of sea governance is far larger than bi/multilateral naval meets and requires holistic approaches that may be missing from such naval exercises. This article suggests methodologies to infuse energy into existing multilateral constructs and make them relevant towards better sea governance rather than create superfluous newer ones which are often impractical.

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