Maritime Strategies of India, China and the United States
in the Indian Ocean Region: An Analysis Based on Offesive Realism Cover Image

Strategie morskie Indii, Chin i USA w regionie Oceanu Indyjskiego: analiza w kategoriach realizmu ofensywnego
Maritime Strategies of India, China and the United States in the Indian Ocean Region: An Analysis Based on Offesive Realism

Author(s): Jakub Zajączkowski
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, International relations/trade
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar Sp. z o.o.
Keywords: offensive realism; maritime strategy of India; maritime strategy of China; maritime strategy of the US; foreign policy; power; navy

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyse the development of naval capabilities in the Indian Ocean region. In order to explain and understand this issue we first have to examine the maritime strategies declared and implemented in this area by India, China and the United States.The theoretical instrument used in this case study is offensive realism, which is one of the best defined and structured versions of the theory of realism. The choice of this instrument is determined by its ontological and epistemological principles, which emphasise the significance of active international strategies that states undertake in the anarchic international environment in order to improve their parameters of power as the condition of survival and ensuring security. It is not the purpose of this article to verify the principles of offensive realism by empirically testing the hypotheses inferred from it. It is instead to be used asa heuristic instrument for examining the maritime strategies of major actors in the Indian Ocean region.With the above in mind, the article has been designed as follows. The first part presents the general methodological principle of the analysis. The second part discusses the Indian Ocean region in form of a case study and justifies the choice of this specific area as the subject of the study. The third part analyses the activity of India, China and the United States in the region in terms of important variables concerning material and non-material factors. The last part of the articleis a summary and contains the conclusions presented in the form of answers to the research questions at the source of this analysis.

  • Issue Year: 51/2015
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 37-70
  • Page Count: 34
  • Language: Polish