21st Century High Politics in the Indo-Pacific & the Bay of Bengal

Set in the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR), this book attempts to analyze the transition of the shift in world politics and economics’ center of gravity – and the ramifications thereof – on geopolitics, security, global trade, sea-lanes as well as the formation and restructuring of alliances and alignments. It also highlights the importance of the Bay of Bengal as a new frontier for development and confrontation. It describes the key players in this region, their interests, compulsions and imperatives, and covers different strategies launched by the United States, China, India, Japan, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar to strengthen their ties and elevate their status in global and regional high politics. Finally, the book takes an analytical approach to scrutinize whether the IPR is emerging as a key unit of analysis in geopolitical discourse. It tries to link the activities of the South China Sea with the Bay of Bengal through the Strait of Malacca. The criticality of sea-routes is germane here. The author provides ramifications and reflections – a particular uniqueness of this book – on this evolving region by making futuristic projections.