The period of 1990’s marked a turning point in world history as the cold war era came to an abrupt end. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Warsaw Pact began to disintegrate fast.
The strategic atmosphere also underwent a major change in the Indian Ocean region. The United States of America emerged as the sole superpower, as newly emerged Russia was too preoccupied with her own problems and China was also just beginning to develop into a major economic and military power, but had not quite reached there.
During the cold-war, the countries of the Indian ocean region had been subject to the competition and rivalry between the two super powers. The post-Cold War era saw the region becoming less stable, with much rivalry, competition, suspicion and turmoil. Moreover, the maritime security environment in the Indian Ocean also underwent transformation. Because of weak government structures and a limited capacity to control maritime domains, all types of illicit activities began to flourish in many parts of the Indian Ocean.
The end of cold-war was accompanied by an economic upswing specially in India which initiated a process of big ticket economic reforms and liberalisation. China was also making rapid economic strides around the same time. Therefore, a new focus was brought upon the Indian Ocean region as an arena featuring important sea lines of communication SLOCs and maritime trade protection specially in the context of the flow of oil.
This paper would discuss India’s maritime concerns in 1990’s in the post-cold war era and how it impacted India’s foreign relations sometimes bringing in paradigm shift in India’s foreign policy. |
