Naval power in the Indian Ocean: rising tension, maritime governance and the role of law

Abstract

Maritime areas of the world are fast becoming sites of growing tension and potential confrontation by rising global powers. While the world is well aware of the issues surrounding claims in the South China Sea, another site of rising tension is the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), especially in the context of India and China. Such tensions may be addressed and ameliorated through the agency of law. While dispute resolution mechanisms such as that found in the 'United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea' may provide a possible means of avoiding potential conflict, the force of law is possibly better applied through its more diffuse, but no less powerful, normative effect. That is, the capacity of law to provide boundaries of engagement and to shape vocabularies and frameworks of resolution within the political realm, offer much more hope of success than the rather blunt application of formal processes of adjudication. This article will canvass the manner in which law may have that harmonizing effect within the IOR at a time where actions and reactions hold the real potential for overreaction by any side.