The emergence of India as a regional and potentially global power is forcing us to rethink our mental map of the Asia Pacific. We are only just beginning to discern how India may alter the global economic landscape. How will the rise of India change the strategic landscape of Asia and beyond?
This book provides a comprehensive assessment of India's international relations in the Asia Pacific, a region which has not traditionally been understood to include India. It examines India’s strategic thinking about the Asia Pacific, its relationships with China and the United States, and India's increasingly close security ties with other major countries in the region. It considers the consequences of India’s rise on the Asia Pacific strategic order and asks whether India is likely to join the ranks of the major powers of the Asia Pacific in coming years.
1. India as a Great Power 2. Developments in Indian Strategic Thinking about the Asia Pacific 3. Sino-Indian Strategic Competition and the Asia Pacific 4. The United States and India’s Strategic Role in the Asia Pacific 5. Northeast Asia: India’s Peer Relationship with Japan 6. Indochina: India’s Political Partnership with Vietnam 7. Archipelagic Southeast Asia: India’s Relationships with Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia 8. India’s Uncertain Partnership with Australia 9. India’s Maritime Security Ambitions in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific 10. Understanding India’s Engagement with the Asia Pacific 11. India as an Asia Pacific Great Power
Biography
David Brewster is a Visiting Fellow with the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University. He has written widely about India’s strategic relationships in the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean. He is currently completing India as an Indian Ocean Power, which explores India's strategic power and influence in the Indian Ocean.
"India as an Asia Pacific Power makes a valuable contribution to the explanation and understanding of the main features of contemporary Indian foreign policy. The book will likely be appreciated by those interested in the teaching and theorizing the ongoing transformations in global life as a result of Asia’s increasing prominence in the patterns and practices of world affairs. It is expected therefore that Brewster’s account will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, Asia-Pacific affairs, and security studies." - Emilian Kavalski, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Western Sydney, Australia; East Asia Integration Studies
"In India as an Asia Pacific Power, David Brewster... offers a crisp and very readable analysis of India's strategic viewpoint and how it may develop in the future... [it] is a strong book, clearly the work of an author with an appreciation for the nuances of Indian security issues. This work should be useful not only to those readers who focus on Asian security questions, but also to those with an interest in the great power politics of this century and the development of the global security environment." - C. Dale Walton, University of Reading, UK; Comparative Strategy, 31:2
"Brewster's analysis does make an important contribution to the literature... [he] provides us with a comprehensive understanding of why and how India's strategic priorities in the region have changed since the end of the Cold War. Brewster also makes an important contribution in the study of Indo-Chinese relations." - Bidisha Biswas; India Review, 11:2
"Brewster’s book, India as an Asia Pacific Power, makes a major contribution, in large part by sorting out the jumble of information and opinions found elsewhere. It is well-organized and serves as a good foundation for further analysis. Officials and scholars concerned with security issues in Asia, particularly those entranced with the assumption that India will help the US “hedge” against China’s rise, should read this book... This book provides a very useful overview of India’s role in the Asia Pacific." - Bronson Percival; Contemporary Southeast Asia, Vol. 34, No. 1 (2012)
