Strategic Futures for the Indian Ocean

Strategic Futures for the Indian Ocean

Roundtable with Arzan Tarapore, David Brewster, Hu Bo, Zack Cooper, Rohan Mukherjee, Peter J. Dean, Kate Sullivan de Estrada, and Caitlin Byrne
July 29, 2021

India is the most consequential strategic actor in the Indian Ocean but its capabilities and intentions—and therefore the ocean’s strategic trajectory—will continue to evolve. This Asia Policy roundtable surveys divergent scenarios for key states’ strategic behavior in the Indian Ocean and the policy implications of these scenarios for these states and other actors in the region.

Indian Ocean Strategic Futures: Re-Examining Assumptions of Capability and Intent
Arzan Tarapore and David Brewster

Prospects for China’s Maritime Strategy in the Indian Ocean
Hu Bo

Indian Ocean Futures: Implications for U.S. Strategy
Zack Cooper

Keeping China Out, the United States In, and Pakistan Down: India’s Strategy for the Indian Ocean Region
Rohan Mukherjee

From Deft Diplomacy to Rebalancing Hard Power: Australia and Indian Ocean Strategic Futures
Peter J. Dean

Can Minilaterals Deliver a Security Architecture in the Indian Ocean?
Kate Sullivan de Estrada

Small-State Responses to Strategic Dynamics in the Indian Ocean
Caitlin Byrne

Conclusion: Strategic Policy in the Indian Ocean Region
Arzan Tarapore


Arzan Tarapore is the South Asia Research Scholar at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University (United States) and a Senior Nonresident Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR).

David Brewster is a Senior Research Fellow with the National Security College at the Australian National University (Australia).

Hu Bo is the Director of the Center for Maritime Strategy Studies and a Research Professor at the School of International Studies, Peking University (China).

Zack Cooper is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (United States).

Rohan Mukherjee is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale-NUS College (Singapore).

Peter J. Dean is the Chair of Defence Studies and Director of the University of Western Australia’s Defence and Security Institute (Australia).

Kate Sullivan de Estrada is Associate Professor in the International Relations of South Asia at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford (United Kingdom).

Caitlin Byrne is the Director of the Griffith Asia Institute at Griffith University (Australia), a Fellow of the Australian Institute for International Affairs, and Faculty Fellow of the University of Southern California’s Center for Public Diplomacy (United States).


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