Appropriating the Indo-Pacific Construct: An Analysis of Eurocentrism from a Southeast Asian Perspective (original) (raw)

THE 'INDO-PACIFIC' IDEA: ORIGINS, CONCEPTUALIZATIONS AND THE WAY AHEAD

Journal of Indian Ocean Rim Studies (JIORS) , 2019

The Indo-Pacific concept—representing the 'maritime underbelly‘ of Asia—is being used increasingly in the contemporary geopolitical discourse. The paper examines the progressive genesis of the Indo-Pacific idea since the 1920s, along with the circumstances that led to its rebirth in 2006. Essentially, this was a result of the increased 'security‘ linkages between the two oceans, with China being a major factor. In the main analysis, the paper explores the strategic drivers, interests, approaches and perspectives of the key regional players and stakeholders— like the ASEAN, Australia, China, the EU, Japan, and the USA, with a specific focus on India. Based on an exploratory research methodology, the paper analyses the current trends, deducing a policy-relevant prognosis for the regional countries and stakeholders. In particular, it examines the emerging Indo-Pacific multilateral architecture, and the leading role that the existing organizations like the EAS and the IORA could play in it, along with the new Quadrilateral Dialogue (Quad 2.0). The paper concludes with recommendations to meet the overarching objective of the Indo-Pacific vision: economic, material and societal prosperity of maritime-Asia. These are of much relevance for Indian policy-making, considering its long-overdue formal articulation of a national-strategy. In context of the Quad 2.0, it suggests that 'security‘ issues need not receive undue salience, since military strategy is merely a mechanism for 'assurance‘ and 'insurance‘ to achieve the ends of the Indo-Pacific vision.

Reaching Beyond the Indo-Pacific

This article calls for an expansion in the study of Asian geopolitics beyond the Indo-Pacific axis. China's geostrategic rise and that of Asia's other main powers are phenomena that bear multiple maritime and continental manifestations. Insofar as Asia's powers meet in different regions, the "primary" Indo-Pacific theater cannot be isolated from developments in Central, South, Southeast, Northeast Asia, the northwestern Pacific, or the Arctic. By conceptualizing seapower and landpower as an interactive dyad in geostrategy and zooming in on the maritime and continental directions of China, India, and Russia, this article depicts Asia as an increasingly interdependent geopolitical whole.

The " Indo-Pacific " – Regional Dynamics in the 21st Century's New Geopolitical Center of Gravity

Rising Powers Quarterly, 2018

As the United States’ titular position in the international system is seemingly in retreat, questions regarding the efficacy of the post-World War II liberal order have surfaced. In this emerging multipolar world, two distinct constellations of power are forming. In one camp are states that largely support the current global governance structure; in the other, states that wish to upend or at least refashion the American-led structure that many say favors status-quo powers over rising states. Nowhere is this division more apparent than in the “Indo-Pacific.” As this article shows, the Indo-Pacific is increasingly used by governments and leaders as a central organizing idea around which choices are made about their position in the future global order. Although, as a concept, the Indo-Pacific means, and will mean, different things to different people, the number of nascent state strategies tethered to this neologism indicates the term’s powerful salience. Under the banner “Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” these strategies are crafted in response to the general “threat” of a China-dominated world and evince a shift in the position of certain state actors is underway; from causal adherence or outright disinterest in upholding the U.S. post-War global governance structure to one of increasing support.

Europe In The Indo-Pacific: Moving From Periphery To The Centre ?

2019

The rise of China and the economic ascent of Asia, more generally, are redrawing the world's geopolitical map. The emerging rivalry between China and the United States (US) has begun to transform the Indo-Pacific into a major site of strategic contestation. Despite wide disagreement on the nature, scope and motivations behind the promotion of the Indo-Pacific, the new geographic construct is beginning to gain traction. The Indo-Pacific may or may not substitute the earlier inventions like the Asia-Pacific, but it will capture some key elements of the changing regional geography and shape the regional discourse. The nature of the political, economic and security architecture for the region will continue to animate the US, China, Japan, India and other regional actors. Europe, it has been widely assumed, will have no interest in the Indo-Pacific. That presumption is rooted in two important trends. In post-colonial Asia, there was inevitable diminution of Europe's historic political weight in the region as the US took up the burden of securing the region. Since the end of the Cold War, Europe has been preoccupied with the reshaping of its own structures of integration and had little time for Asian geopolitics.

WHAT IS THE INDO-PACIFIC? The New Geopolitics of the Asian-Centred Rim Land

GEOPOLITICS BY OTHER MEANS: THE INDO-PACIFIC REALITY, Book by Italy's ISPI, 2019

In the first Chapter of the new book published by the Italian think-tank Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI) (Institute for International Political Studies) in its book titled "Geopolitics by Other Means. The Indo-Pacific Reality" (February 2019), the author seeks to examine the Indo-Pacific concept in terms of its genesis, drivers, and the geopolitical interests and approaches of some key actors. Based on current trends, the analysis also presents a policy-relevant prognosis on the future relevance of the “Indo-Pacific” concept.

WHERE FROM... WHITHER TO: TRENDS AND TRIBULATIONS OF THE INDO-PACIFIC CONCEPT

The Indo-Pacific Geopolitical OBSERVATORY, IRIS, France, 2023

The Indo-Pacific idea was conceived in 2006-07 due to the growing realization that the security of the Western Pacific littoral states was becoming closely intertwined with the developments in the Indian Ocean Region. There is hardly a comparable concept in history like the Indo-Pacific, which has become so central to the global geopolitical discourse in a short span of less than two decades. This paper traces the evolution of the Indo-Pacific concept since its origin to understand its transformative journey to the present day.

From Asia-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific, in three different world(view)s

México y la Cuenca del Pacífico

There is a sense of déjà vu in the recent Indo-Pacific talk. Twenty years into the twenty-first century, after the interlude of the (US) “unipolar moment”, Asia-Pacific seems to have metamorphosized into the Indo-Pacific, an even vaster expanse. But are we correct in presuming the latest regional construct? Without denying the possibility that it might turn out a useful notion, based on the experience of the Asia-Pacific idea in this article I question the current furor around the Indo-Pacific concept. I probe how the Indo-Pacific region could come into being from three different International Relations (IR) perspec-tives: realism, liberalism, and constructivism. The article is divided into five sections: in the first one I begin by recapping the origins and reach of the Asia-Pacific concept, and then I proceed to trace the origins of the more recent one, Indo-Pacific. In the three following sections I briefly review the three analytical perspectives mentioned (realism, liberalism, ...

ASEAN Outlook on The Indo-Pacific: Politics and Security Challenges on The Indo-Pacific Dynamics

International Law' Student, 2024

It is not every day that we get to see a region being born, or in the Indo-Pacific’s case, perhaps, reborn. And yet, that is precisely what we appear to be witnessing as a consequence of the growing interest in, and even importance of, the ‘Indo-Pacific’ as a focus of scholarly and policy-making attention. At the outset, however, it needs to be recognised that regions are ultimately socially constructed and dependent on processes of recognition, identification and membership that make their exact contours contests and potentially fluid. True, some regions are inherently more likely than others, but they require embedding in social and institutional reality if they are ever to amount to anything more than ‘visionary’ statements, no matter how well intentioned, timely or even functionally necessary such ideas may seem. In this context, processes of regionalism, or the intentional efforts of state-based policymakers to create new cross-border relationships, rationales and responsibilities, are potentially important and illustrative of different dynamics at work in the international system. This is what makes the Indo-Pacific such an interesting case study, of course. ASEAN seeks to manage its relationships with great powers by championing the principles of inclusiveness and neutrality (and maximizing its diplomatic leverage through protecting its privilege to define what these terms mean.) If ASEAN is seen to support the Free and Open Indo-Pacific concept, its cover of inclusiveness and neutrality will be blown.

The ‘Indo-Pacific’ Concept: Retrospect and Prospect (Origin of the Concept in 2006-07)

Since 2010, the ‘Indo-Pacific’ concept has gained increasing prevalence in the geopolitical and strategic discourse. It is now precisely a decade since 2007 when the concept was first proposed by the author in an academic paper. Undeniably, there are distinct differences between Indian Ocean Region and Western Pacific. If so, how did the concept of ‘Indo-Pacific take root? It is a conceptual ‘aberration’? What was the underlying rationale behind the use of the term? This essay seeks to examine these pertinent issues & presents a prognosis on the future relevance of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ concept.