The Indian Ocean is the world's third-largest ocean and constitutes about 20 percent of the water on the Earth's surface.
It is bounded on the west by East Africa, on the north by India, on the east by Indochina and Australia, and on the south by the Southern Ocean off the coast of Antarctica.
Department of State Background: U.S. Relations
The Indian Ocean region is one of growing geopolitical importance and is characterized by competition and intense rivalries involving both littoral states and external powers. The strategic environment is volatile and has increasing global attention.
India's Grand Strategy and Foreign Policy by
The book explores the competing grand strategic worldviews shaping India's foreign and security policies by analyzing the interaction between normative modern international relations theories and vernacular concepts of statecraft and strategy. To assess the diverse competing ideas which characterize India's debates on grand strategy and foreign policy, the author presents the subculture-cleavage model of grand strategic thought. This innovative analytical framework reveals the complexities of India's strategic pluralism and offers the building blocks for a systematic analysis of grand strategy formation. The book demonstrates that the strategic paradigms, or strategic subcultures, are marked by contending ideas of Indian statehood and civilization, held by policymakers and the informed public, and are a result of ideology-driven perceptions of the country's strategic environment. The author argues that the apparent hybridization and stretching of modern and traditional concepts of international relations in India has become a widespread feature of Indian foreign policy to meet the needs of state formation and nation-building. A unique approach to organizing and understanding the debates and discourse in Indian strategic thinking, the book will be of interest to specialists and students in the field of International Relations, political theory, South Asian Studies, and India's foreign and security policy.
India-China Maritime Competition by
This edited volume critically examines the concept of the "security dilemma" and applies it to India-China maritime competition. Though frequently employed in academic discussion and popular commentary on the Sino-Indian relationship, the term has rarely been critically analysed. The volume addresses the gap by examining whether the security dilemma is a useful concept in explaining the naval and foreign policy strategies of India and China. China's Belt and Road Initiative and its expansive engagement in the Indian Ocean Region have resulted in India significantly scaling up investment in its navy, adding ships, naval aircraft and submarines. This volume investigates how the rivalry is playing out in different sub-regions of the Indian Ocean, and the responses of other powers, notably the United States and prominent Southeast Asian states. Their reactions to the Sino-Indian rivalry are an underexplored topic and the chapters in this book reveal how they selectively use that rivalry while trying to steer clear of making definite choices. The book concludes with recommendations on mitigating the security dilemma. This work will be of great interest to students of strategic studies, international relations, maritime security, and Asian politics. steer clear of making definite choices. The book concludes with recommendations on mitigating the security dilemma. This work will be of great interest to students of strategic studies, international relations, maritime security, and Asian politics.
India and China at Sea: Competition for Naval Dominance in the Indian Ocean by 
Maritime Safety and Security in the Indian Ocean by 
Maritime Security Risks, Vulnerabilities and Cooperation by 
Power, Politics and Maritime Governance in the Indian Ocean by 
The Security of Sea Lanes of Communication in the Indian Ocean Region by 
