Roundtable in Asia Policy 20.3
Darshana M. Baruah’s The Contest for the Indian Ocean and the Making of a New World Order
Throughout history, the Indian Ocean has been an essential space for trade, commerce, and culture. In this book review roundtable on The Contest for the Indian Ocean and the Making of a New World Order, Frédéric Grare, Nilanthi Samaranayake, Isabelle Saint-Mézard, Pradeep Taneja, Sanjay Chaturvedi, and Darshana M. Baruah discuss this complex and diverse region, the role of small island agency, and the ocean’s potentiality as a geopolitical flashpoint.
Power Asymmetry and Competition in the Indo-Pacific: The Island States of the Indian Ocean
Frédéric Grare
Prioritizing the Indian Ocean in the Indo-Pacific
Nilanthi Samaranayake
The Agency of Island States in the Geopolitics of the Indian Ocean
Isabelle Saint-Mézard
The Island States Have Agency in the Contest for the Indian Ocean—but How?
Pradeep Taneja
Opening, Broadening, and Deepening the “Geo” in the Geopolitics of the Indian Ocean
Sanjay Chaturvedi
Author’s Response: Reframing the Indian Ocean Debate
Darshana M. Baruah
Frédéric Grare is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Security College at the Australian National University (Australia).
Nilanthi Samaranayake is an Adjunct Fellow at the East-West Center in Washington, D.C. (United States).
Isabelle Saint-Mézard is Professor at the French Institute of Geopolitics at Paris 8 University (France). She is also a Research Associate Fellow on South Asia at the Institut français des relations internationales (IFRI). Her research interests include India’s foreign and defense policies, great-power competition in the Indian Ocean, and the strategic role of the Indian Ocean within the broader Indo-Pacific framework.
Pradeep Taneja is a Senior Lecturer in Asian politics, political economy, and international relations at the University of Melbourne (Australia).
Sanjay Chaturvedi is Senior Vice President, Dean of the Faculty of International Studies, and the Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at South Asian University (India).
Darshana M. Baruah is currently the Shangri La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Indo-Pacific Defence and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)–Asia (Singapore).
About Asia Policy
Asia Policy is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal presenting policy-relevant academic research on the Asia-Pacific that draws clear and concise conclusions useful to today’s policymakers. Asia Policy is published quarterly in January, April, July, and October and accepts submissions on a rolling basis. Learn more