Book Review: The Indian Ocean region: Security, stability and sustainability in the 21st century. Report of the Australia India Institute Task Force on Indian Ocean Security

Ever since Robert Kaplan's 2009 essay in Foreign Affairs, it has been fashionable in foreign policy circles to trumpet the importance of the Indian Ocean to the global strategic and economic order. In fact, this return of the Indian Ocean to ‘centre stage’ considerably pre-dated Kaplan's article, and has been driven by, among other things, the emergence of India as a major power, the extension of China's economic and strategic interests west of the Strait of Malacca, the growing reliance of major Asian economies on maritime energy supply lines to the Middle East and Africa and deepening US security engagement in the region. This mix of economic, strategic and transnational security factors is likely to keep influencing global interest in this once-neglected region. Yet scholars and diplomats alike struggle to explain precisely what defines the Indian Ocean as a geopolitical system, or to present a convincing model of regionalism to help minimise frictions and maximise cooperation among the countries of the Indian Ocean rim as well as external stakeholder nations.