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![Indicators of economic openness for major Indo-Pacific countries, 2015. Source: Author’s calculations, from [69]](publication/324524139/figure/fig2/AS:962738872406021@1606546242244/Indicators-of-economic-openness-for-major-Indo-Pacific-countries-2015-Source-Authors.gif)
Indicators of economic openness for major Indo-Pacific countries, 2015. Source: Author’s calculations, from [69]
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The ‘Indo-Pacific’ has emerged as the newest addition to the lexicon of Asian regionalism. Conceived of as the conjunction of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, it reflects the belief that maritime linkages require extending Asian regionalism westwards to include countries on the Indian Ocean rim. It also competes with the longstanding ‘Asia-Pacific’ c...
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Citations
... In Southeast Asia, the US reinforces its legitimacy through initiatives such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which focuses on promoting sustainable development, trade liberalization, and good governance. By advocating for transparency, accountability, and human rights, the US positions itself as a partner committed to regional stability and long-term growth (Wilson, 2018). ...
Southeast Asia plays a pivotal role in the United States (US)-China rivalry, serving as a critical arena for their competing strategies to establish legitimacy. Legitimacy, defined as the recognized authority to influence regional or global systems, underpins the efforts of both powers to align their influence with Southeast Asia’s priorities. The US emphasizes liberal international norms, while China promotes state-led development and economic integration. Southeast Asia, through its geographic and economic significance, holds latent kingmaker potential, capable of shaping the global balance of power. However, fragmented national strategies limit collective influence, underscoring the unrealized potential of regional unity.
... Historically, for instance, Asia-Pacific regional governance focuses on economic cooperation through the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while security cooperation remains underdeveloped in comparison to the Indo-Pacific, which is driven by the security-led approach. 1 Thus, under this new security framework, there is increasing concern over China's rise as a prominent regional force. As a result, this article examines the geopolitical strategies and shifting dynamics of three main players in the region: the United States, India, and China. ...
Article Type: Research Paper
Purpose—The article explores and gives a brief overview of the geopolitical strategy and evolving dynamics of the Indo-Pacific region’s three major players: the United States, India, and China. Furthermore, because the Indo-Pacific area is a “confluence of two seas,” it aims to delve into these players’ maritime dynamics.
Methodology/Approach—Although the article is not a theory application, there is an implicit realist lens employed in which the state is the principal actor. The article examines how power distribution impacts nations’ conduct in international politics, can establish alliances, and produce conflict. The content analysis method is used in this paper.
Findings—The article finds that China’s growing economic, military, and naval might is guiding both India’s and the United States’ objectives in the Indo-Pacific region and, to some extent, promoting strategic collaboration between them.
Practical implications—China’s exponential economic rise, along with rising power asymmetry between India and China, makes it critical for India to strengthen its strate- gic partnership in the region, while the U.S. must also strengthen its strategic partnerships with India to counter China’s aggressive stance.
... The Quad, comprising the United States, Japan, India, and Australia, engages in joint military exercises and diplomatic consultations, which (Kliem 2020) interprets as a collective response to perceived challenges posed by China's assertive policies. AUKUS, a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, further consolidates this trend by enhancing military collaboration and intelligence sharing, particularly in the realm of underwater capabilities and cyber warfare (Wilson 2018). These alliances not only serve as platforms for their members to project power but also as instruments to counteract China's influence, thereby impeding Beijing's efforts to build legitimacy as a benign regional power. ...
... 2. Non-Counteractive Stance: BRICS should avoid positioning itself as a counterbalance to other international groups or alliances, such as AUKUS, which is perceived as a strategy to contain China's influence (Wilson 2018). Instead, BRICS should focus on constructive engagement and collaboration that promotes global stability and prosperity, irrespective of the members' political affiliations. ...
This analysis explores China’s quest for international legitimacy through its leader- ship in the BRICS + expansion, a strategic maneuver to foster a multipolar world that integrates diverse political and economic systems. The evolution into BRICS+is significant, with the collective GDP of member countries reaching $30.76 trillion, accounting for 30% of the global economy. This underscores the alliance’s economic impact and challenges the existing world order. The inclusion of nations like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the UAE offers a blueprint for shared benefits and mutual growth. China advocates for an alternative, inclusive pathway to legitimacy, promoting a world order that values sovereignty, cultural identity, and balanced global governance.
... n further developed this concept, reshaping it in 2018 as the Indo-Pacific Cooperation Concept (IPCC) (Scott 2019). The Indo-Pacific encompasses the territory between the two oceans, however, as argued by Dewi Fortuna Anwar (2020, 114), it represents 'a widening (not shifting) of focus from Asia -Pacific to Indo-Pacific' (see also Shehkar 2018;cf.;Wilson 2018). ...
... Indonesia's vision for Indo-Pacific cooperation is not solely shaped by its maritime and middle power identity (Shehkar 2018) but also influenced by great power politics in the Asia -Pacific (Wilson 2018). The increasing role of China in the region, its stance on the South China Sea, and evolving relations between the US and China have fostered cooperation among actors seeking to elevate their status vis-à-vis these major powers (He and Mingjiang 2020). ...
... It aligns with Indonesia's discourse regarding regional changes, encompassing narratives of the system and relevant issues, and emphasises the necessity to address these changes through cooperative efforts rooted in dialogue and inclusiveness. As J.D. Wilson (2018) concludes, Asia -Pacific cooperation is primarily driven by economic considerations, while the Indo -Pacific places greater emphasis on security matters. This raises the question of how various forms of institutional interaction can be comprehensively explained. ...
The institutionalisation and strengthening of cooperation between Asia-Pacific states have been discussed for over 30 years. While experiencing institutional thickening, assessing integration in the region highlights some obstacles to deepening cooperation such as the lack of a common identity. Multiple forms of cooperation affect regional identity formation, but the question of how states explain belonging to different platforms of cooperation within one region remains neglected. If an actor initiates and contributes to multiple forms of cooperation, what narratives are employed, and what factors determine this discursive approach? By applying the concept of strategic narratives, I analyse how an understanding of a region changes with different platforms of cooperation involving the Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific, and I offer an explanation of discursive politics drawing from foreign policy analysis. I argue that variation in a state's narratives display coherency if they are complementary and that a state's discursive approach can be explained through three drivers: a state's self-conception, perception of regional changes, and patterns of regional institutionalisation. The arguments are substantiated by an analysis of Indonesia's regional engagement and narratives thereof.
... "In this way, attempts to rescale from the Asia-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific not only expand the geographic scale of Asian regional institutions. They also functionally transform Asia from being an economic-to a security-oriented region" (Wilson, 2018). Although never formally defined, the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group has recognised a working definition of the Asia-Pacific composition. ...
In the last decade, the geopolitical construct of the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR) has emerged as a key strategic location in the twenty-first century. IPR has become the central point of convergence, competition, and alignment. The aim of this study is to determine Indo-French cooperation in many areas of IPR. This study focuses on investigating the Indo-French bilateral partnership and the kind of strategic autonomy that has been pioneered and accelerated by India and France in the IPR. This research relies on empirical analysis to explore the goal and objective, and the qualitative mixed method involves investigating the answers to questions. This research focuses on two research questions: the extent to which the French and Indian synergies have achieved success as a strategic partnership and why is the Indo-Pacific region so important to the bilateral partnership of both countries? As a result, the strategic partnership between India and France is on the right track, and both sides have a common understanding of working together in the IPR. Furthermore, both sides continued to increase their corridors for multiple cooperation in the IPR.
... Wilson identifies three clear forms of rescaling to address the shift from the Asia-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific -these include geographic rescaling which brings several other countries into the context of the region's identity. How the Indo-Pacific is defined clearly indicates a minimalist and a maximalist approach -the minimalist approach looks at the erstwhile Asia-Pacific and includes the rise of India, making it the region eastwards from India to cover the expanse of the Asia-Pacific (Wilson 2018). This, however, limits the extent of the Indian Ocean, particularly the western Indian Ocean and does not include the littoral states of the Indian Ocean that expand West Asia and Eastern Africa. ...
... This, however, limits the extent of the Indian Ocean, particularly the western Indian Ocean and does not include the littoral states of the Indian Ocean that expand West Asia and Eastern Africa. The maximalist approach to defining the Indo-Pacific is to include the entirety of the Indian Ocean (both west and east) and western Pacific (Wilson 2018). The work of eminent scholars such as Rory Medcalf too supports this argument. ...
... The Asia-Pacific was driven by an economic integration approach, particularly in how the regional free trade agreements were to be seen in terms of their compatibility with the norms of the global trading arrangements as enshrined in the processes of the World Trade Organization. In comparison, the Indo-Pacific is driven by a security-led approach in terms of how regional states and extra-regional states could respond to the structural shifts in the region that bring with it security challenges to the existing normative order that governs the interstate system (Wilson 2018). ...
... In current policy parlance, the notion of the Indo-Pacific primarily figures as a strategic and security-grounded concept. It constitutes a functional "rescaling" of Asian regionalism, from mere Asia-Pacific economic integration to an Indo-Pacific security-focussed agenda [33]. On the surface, this process seems to be driven forward by the quadrilateral response by the USA, Japan, India, and Australia to China's increasing maritime assertiveness, naval modernisation, SLOCs, and territorial claims. ...
IR literature has become inundated with different descriptions for the future of international order. The coming age is purportedly marked by China’s ascendancy, American decline, a leaderless “no-one’s world”, or multiple competing modernities. Yet the global fight against climate change or shared COVID-19 strategies convey a different image of the world’s predicament. The situation appears paradoxical: increasingly tense great-power relations are mixed with ever-strengthening interdependencies. This article contributes to these debates by exploring how global orders as well as regionalism today are increasingly defined by various types of connective functional links between intentional actors at various levels of social organisation. To enable a nuanced analysis, the article introduces an analytical framework composed of six connectivity logics, namely cooperation, copying, cushioning, contestation, containment, and coercion. These play out differently within material, economic, institutional, knowledge, people-to-people, and security spheres. The utility of this article’s approach is demonstrated through empirical examples related to the policies of key actors in the Indo-Pacific region.
... Sehingga tidak ada yang alami, abadi, atau esensial tentang pembentukan wilayah atau kawasan. Poin umumnya jelas bahwa kemajuan dalam navigasi dan eksplorasi membuat koneksi menjadi mungkin antara tempat-tempat yang secara geografis terpencil, gagasan tentang adanya wilayah yang berbeda dan terpisah itu tidak realistis lagi dengan perkembangan zaman (Wilson, 2018). Hal yang perlu disadari bersama bahwa eksistensi suatu wilayah sangat penting saat ini karena daya tawarnya yang bisa membuka kerjasama pengembangan negara untuk menggapai kemajuan ekonomi yang lebih besar. ...
Kesadaran dalam melakukan kerjasama internasional harus ditumbuhkan oleh pemerintah pusat terhadap pemerintah daerah. Dinamisnya perkembangan dunia mengharuskan pemerintah pusat menjadi lebih terbuka dalam setiap peluang yang ada demi pembangunan yang lebih merata. Makalah ini menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif dengan mengembangkan teori dan konsep dalam proses analisis berdasarkan data yang dikumpulkan dari buku, jurnal, dan sumber terbuka lainnya. Adapun tujuan utama dalam tulisan ini adalah untuk mengungkap peluang dan tantangan yang dihadapi pemerintah daerah di Indonesia dalam praktik paradiplomasi, khususnya di kawasan Indo-Pasifik. Berdasarkan hasil kajian, peluang pemerintah daerah dalam ekspansi internasional di kawasan Indo-Pasifik cukup potensial karena negara wilayah di kawasan Indo-Pasifik memiliki banyak kesamaan yang menjadi salah satu indikator krusial dalam praktik paradiplomasi. Kesempatan ini sayangnya belum berjalan secara maksimal karena banyak praktik paradiplomasi yang sejauh ini tengah berjalan hanya sampai pada tahap perjanjian bersama atau MoU saja; kemudian adanya pandemi yang membuat sejumlah hubungan bilateral terpaksa vakum; dan masalah teknis lainnya. Walupun begitu, pemerintah pusat harus terus berperan aktif dalam mendorong pemerintah daerah untuk lebih bertaji dalam kerjasama luar negeri dalam lingkup kawasan.Awareness in conducting international cooperation must be raised by the central government to local governments. The dynamic development of the world requires the central government to be more open in every opportunity that exists for a more equitable development. This paper uses qualitative research methods by developing theories and concepts in the analysis process based on data collected from books, journals, and other open sources. The main objective of this paper is to uncover the opportunities and challenges faced by local governments in Indonesia in the practice of paradiplomacy, especially in the Indo-Pacific region. Based on the results of the study, the opportunities for local governments in international expansion in the Indo-Pacific region are quite potential because regional countries in the Indo-Pacific region have many similarities which are one of the crucial indicators in the practice of paradiplomacy. Unfortunately, this opportunity has not run optimally because many para-diplomacy practices that have been running so far have only reached the stage of a collective agreement or MoU; then there was a pandemic that forced a number of bilateral relations to be vacuumed; and other technical problems. Even so, the central government must continue to play an active role in encouraging local governments to be more ambitious in foreign cooperation within the region.
... The instinctive distinction between 'friends' and potentially 'enemies' remains a potentially powerful influence on strategic thinking in Australia. 52 The anxious ally From its inception, then, Australia has been an 'anxious' nation, 53 continually fretting about its literal and figurative place in the world. The search for more powerful allies has been, and remains, a central concern of governments of all political persuasions. ...
Discusses the way existing 'strategic cultures' can define threats and dangers in a way that neglects the impact of climate change.
... Today, "The raison d'etre of the Indo-Pacific is maritime security: developing institutions and governance arrangement to manage the SLOC interdependencies linking countries on the Pacific and Indian Ocean rims." 372 As China has risen, it has developed a more assertive grand strategy based on both trans-regional economic integration following both sea-and land-based transportation routes and a more powerful military. Its emergence not only threatens its immediate neighbors but has captured the attention of Indian and American strategists and policymakers. ...
The field of grand strategy is exceptionally American-centric theoretically, methodologically and empirically. Indeed, many scholars treat the United States as a unique case, and thus incomparable. This Element addresses the shortcomings of this approach by developing a novel framework for the purpose of systematic comparison, both within and among different countries. Using the United States as a benchmark, three dimensions are considered in which grand strategy can be compared: first, attributes of the major types commonly discussed in the literature; second, similarities and differences in the implementation of grand strategies over time, using US strategic relations with contemporary Russia as an example; and finally, across space, properties of the grand strategies that are interactively employed by other major powers in relation to the United States in the Indo-Pacific. The Element can be used by scholars and students alike to expand analysis beyond the confines that currently dominate the field.
