Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

India's ‘Monroe Doctrine’ and Asia's Maritime Future

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 32; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09700160802404539

1754-0054

James R. Holmes, Toshi Yoshihara,

International Maritime Law Issues

Abstract Many scholars assume that the European model of Realpolitik will prevail in Asia as the dual rise of China and India reorders regional politics. Others predict that Asia's China-centric tradition of hierarchy will reassert itself. But Indians look as much to 19th century US history as to any European or Asian model. Indeed, successive prime ministers have explicitly cited the Monroe Doctrine to justify intervention in hotspots around the Indian periphery. The Monroe Doctrine, however, underwent several phases during the USA's rise to world power. Analysing these phases can help South Asia analysts project possible futures for Indian maritime strategy. Notes 1 Government of India, INBR-8, Indian Maritime Doctrine, Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), New Delhi, April 25, 2004, p. 64. 2 Sureesh Mehta, 'Foreword', in Freedom to Use the Seas: India's Maritime Military Strategy, Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), Government of India, New Delhi, May 28, 2007, p. iii, emphasis added. 3 Ibid.; Arun Prakash, 'Shaping India's Maritime Strategy: Opportunities and Challenges', Speech at the National Defence College, New Delhi, November 2005, at http://indiannavy.nic.in/cns_add2.htm (Accessed August 5, 2008). At the time Adm. Prakash was superintending the development of the Maritime Military Strategy. 4 Jawaharlal Nehru, India's Foreign Policy: Selected Speeches, September 1946−April 1961, Government of India, Delhi, 1961, pp. 113–115, emphasis added. 5 Indian and foreign commentators use 'Indira Doctrine' or 'Rajiv Doctrine' interchangeably with 'India's Monroe Doctrine'. Devin T. Hagerty, 'India's Regional Security Doctrine', Asian Survey, 31(4), 1991, p. 352. 6 Dilip Bobb, 'Cautious Optimism', India Today, August 31, 1987, p. 69. See also Devin T. Hagerty, n. 5, pp. 351–363. 7 Devin T. Hagerty, n. 5, pp. 351–353. See also Bhabani Sen Gupta, 'The Indian Doctrine', India Today, August 31, 1983, p. 20; and Raju G.C. Thomas, India's Search for Power: Indira Gandhi's Foreign Policy, 1966–1982, Sage, New Delhi, 1984, esp. p. 292. 8 Manish Dabhade and Harsh V. Pant, 'Coping with Challenges to Sovereignty: Sino-Indian Rivalry and Nepal's Foreign Policy', Contemporary South Asia, 13(2), 2004, p. 160. 9 C. Raja Mohan, 'Beyond India's Monroe Doctrine', The Hindu, January 2, 2003, at http://mea.gov.in/opinion/2003/01/02o02.htm (Accessed August 5, 2008). See also C. Raja Mohan, 'SAARC Reality Check: China Just Tore Up India's Monroe Doctrine', Indian Express, November 13, 2005, LexisNexis Database. 10 C. Raja Mohan, 'What If Pakistan Fails? India Isn't Worried … Yet', Washington Quarterly, 28(1), 2004–2005, p. 127, emphasis added. 11 Dexter Perkins, A History of the Monroe Doctrine, Little, Brown, Boston, MA, 1963, p. 186; and Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783 (Little, Brown, 1890), Dover Publications, New York, 1987, p. 346. 12 Stephen P. Cohen detects a certain 'core' of principles uniting Indian thinkers. The conviction that India should be pre-eminent in the Indian Ocean region ranks first among these. Stephen Philip Cohen, India: Emerging Power, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC, 2001, esp. pp. 63–65. 13 Ibid. 14 Dexter Perkins, n. 11, p. 29. 15 J.D. Richardson (ed.), Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. 2, Bureau of National Literature, New York, 1917, p. 287. 16 Ibid. 17 First tested in 2004, the US Navy's 'Fleet Response Plan' allows it to temporarily surge two-thirds of its forces overseas, rather than the customary one-third. Christopher P. Cavas, 'US Navy Heads to Port as Exercises Wind Down', Defense News, July 28, 2004, at http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3108048&C=asiapac (Accessed August 5, 2008). 18 Dexter Perkins, n. 11, pp. 168–169. 19 Richard Olney to Thomas F. Bayard, July 20, 1895, in Ruhl J. Bartlett (ed.), The Record of American Diplomacy: Documents and Readings in the History of American Foreign Relations, Alfred Knopf, New York, 1964, pp. 341–345. 20 Dexter Perkins, n. 11, esp. pp. 266–275. 21 Alfred Thayer Mahan, Naval Strategy, Compared and Contrasted with the Principles and Practice of Military Operations on Land, Little, Brown, Boston, MA, 1911, p. 111. 22 Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevelt, March 30, 1901, in Henry Cabot Lodge and Charles F. Redmond (eds.), Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, 1884–1918, Vol. 1, Da Capo, New York, 1971, pp. 486–487. 23 Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Interest of America in Sea Power, Present and Future (Little, Brown, 1897), Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, IL, 1970, p. 198. 24 Theodore Roosevelt, 'Message of the President to the Senate and the House of Representatives', December 6, 1904, in US Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1904, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1905, p. 41; and Dexter Perkins, n. 11, pp. 228–275. 25 Theodore Roosevelt to Elihu Root, June 7, 1904, in Elting Morison et al. (eds), The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. 4, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1951–1954, pp. 821–823.