1st Edition

Conflict and Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific New Geopolitical Realities

Edited By Ash Rossiter, Brendon J. Cannon Copyright 2020
    214 Pages 9 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    214 Pages 9 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book explores the most important strategic questions about the emerging Indo-Pacific region by offering an incisive analysis on the current and future patterns of competition and cooperation of key nations in the region.

    Examining emerging policies of cooperation and conflict adopted by Indo-Pacific states in response to a rising China, the book offers insights into the evolving Indo-Pacific visions and strategies being developed in Japan, India, Australia and the US in reaction to shifting geopolitical realities. The book provides evidence of geopolitical advances in what some see as a spatially coherent maritime zone stretching from the eastern Pacific to the western Indian Ocean, including small island states and countries that line its littoral. It also analyzes the development and operationalization of Indo-Pacific policies and strategies of various key nations. Contributors provide both macro and micro perspectives to this critically significant topic, offering insights into the grand strategies of great powers as well as case studies ranging from the Philippines to the Maldives to Kenya. The book suggests that new rivalries, shifting alliances and economic ebbs and flows in the Indo-Pacific will generate new geopolitical realities and shape much else beyond in the twenty-first century.

    A timely contribution to the rapidly expanding policy and scholarly discussions about what is likely to be the defining region for international politics for coming generations, the book will be of interest to policymakers as well as students and academics in the fields of International Relations, Foreign Policy, Security Studies, Diplomacy and International Law, East and South Asian Studies, East African Studies, Middle East Studies, and Australian Studies.

    1. Conflict and Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific: New Geopolitical Realities

    Ash Rossiter and Brendon J. Cannon

    2. India’s Approach to the ‘Quad’ and the Salience of China

    Jagannath Panda 

    3. Decoding Japan’s "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" Concept

    Teruaki Aizawa and Ash Rossiter 

    4. US Strategic Re-positioning to the "Indo-Pacific": A Paradigm Shift

    David Scott 

    5. Australia and the Construction of the Indo-Pacific

    Miguel Alejandro Híjar-Chiapa 

    6. Competing Regional Visions: China’s Belt and Road Initiative versus the Indo-Pacific Partnership

    Emre Demir 

    7. Japan’s Indo-Pacific: Operationalizing Tokyo’s Vision in Eastern Africa

    Brendon J. Cannon 

    8. China and India: Nautical Games in the Indian Ocean

    Mohan Malik 

    9. Indo-Pacific Geopolitics and Foreign Policy: The Case of the Philippines, 2010-2018

    Renato Cruz De Castro

    Biography

    Ash Rossiter is Assistant Professor of International Security at the Institute of International and Civil Security (IICS) at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

    Brendon J. Cannon is Assistant Professor of International Security at the Institute of International and Civil Security (IICS) at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

    "This volume makes a timely contribution to the literature on the Indo-Pacific. Bringing together a range of leading scholars from across the world, the book reveals the possibilities for conflict and cooperation across this vast geopolitical region. Featuring in-depth case studies—ranging from the Philippines to Japan to East Africa—the volume provides fresh analyses on this critically important region. I highly recommend this book."

    Dr. Satu Limaye, Vice President & Director of East-West Center, Washington, D.C.

     

    "The Indo-Pacific is emerging as a strategically integrated arena of competition and cooperation. The editors and authors should be commended for this book, one that presents with clarity and in well-researched detail the Indo-Pacific strategies and visions of the partner states as well as varied reactions to them across this vast region. It is therefore a significant addition to the study of the international relations of Indo-Pacific."

    Tsutomu Kikuchi, Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo

     

    "This book is an important and timely addition to the developing literature on the Indo-Pacific, including sophisticated discussions of perspectives from India, Japan, the United States, Australia, China and the Philippines. The book is a valuable reminder that different countries construct ideas of their ‘region’ in very different ways."

    Dr. David Brewster, Senior Research Fellow, National Security College, Australian National University, Canberra

    "The Indo-Pacific is a region in the making and a region in flux, with multiple definitions of where it begins and ends. These incisive essays will help scholars and strategists navigate their way through a vibrant and evolving discourse."

    Dr. Sanjaya Baru, Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies & Analysis, United Service Institution of India, New Delhi