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India and Southeast Asia
Towards Security
Convergence
Former MEA secretary and Ambassador to Indonesia Sudhir Devare’s new book is thus a welcome contribution, for no such foundation can be laid without informed and energetic interaction and better understanding, not just in MEA corridors, but in the wider academic and policy analysis community. The book is an outcome of a stint as a research fellow at the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore. The effort does not escape a "fellowship book" feel to it. Its many sound arguments and a larger vision are blurred by a class room feel to it in parts, and security is not an entirely happy choice as an analytic framework for the South East Asian region and India, which is characterised, as he himself notes, by a dispute-free environment and an absence of fear. Nevertheless, he largely succeeds in his aim to "identify the areas of convergence and divergence," and explore the basis for a cooperative security framework. After all, there is no easy convergence of security interests either. Devere invokes British international relations scholar Barry Buzan’s famous characterisation of modern Europe as a "security community" with a very high commonality of security interests. Such a community is unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere. While one chapter examines security convergence in detail, others discuss economic cooperation and integration, and the dynamics of cultural links and diasporas. There is also an important chapter on Myanmar, laying out the challenge that both ASEAN and India face with a country that still insists on isolating itself, and poses many security challenges for India. It only whets the appetite, though, and there is an urgent need to further explore the foreign policy and security objectives of this problematic country. The most useful chapter is perhaps the one that focuses attention on seas as connecting links and the need to preserve the "strategic integrity of the Indian ocean region." As the author notes, the expansion of the Indian Ocean Rim – Association for Regional Cooperation, in terms of number of members has not been matched by substantive progress in terms of cooperation amongst them. Changing that should be high on our list of foreign policy goals. It is after all, quite easy to get caught up in our relations with the big powers at the core of the international system. While they are obviously important, better periphery-to-periphery links will serve India well in its rise to global power status. |
IF India is going to get a
good "Look East" and make a success of this oft-stated goal
for more fruitful ties with our South-East Asian neighbours, the
foundations have to be laid in terms of a clear understanding of both
the dynamics of foreign policy vis-ŕ-vis these nations, and our actual
objectives.