An assessment of selected maritime regimes in the Indian Ocean Region

The Indian Ocean is one of the world's least understood regions. The purpose of this research is to assess regime effectiveness of select maritime regimes in the Indian Ocean as a region. The central focus is to examine why regional order in the Indian Ocean is so difficult to achieve and why common maritime interests have not formed the basis of broader regional cooperation to date. The thesis uses a 'rubic model of effectiveness' constructed from a synthesis of 'regime theory' and 'structuration theory' to test the effectiveness of two different maritime regimes in the Indian Ocean Region. The model avoids both overemphasising the role of structure and underestimating the power of actors in regime building and regime effectiveness. The maritime scientific research and maritime safety regime of port state control, considered to be the most important maritime regimes, were investigated for cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region. The study is an interdisciplinary one drawing on international maritime law, political science, international relations and international regimes. This thesis addresses the analytical niche of the gap in our understanding about the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean as a region in contemporary world geopolitics and international relations. This places the thesis in the genre of area studies that emphasise regions, regional orders and regional cooperation. The case studies show that the ground work for regional cooperation in the maritime realm has been laid by Indian Ocean countries. At present though, there is insufficient political leadership for the Indian Ocean to be considered as 'one-ocean, one-region' for maritime regimes to be effective. The research finds there is definite value in looking at the Indian Ocean as a region for future analysis of maritime regimes. The thesis argues that international maritime regimes can expand regional cooperation in the Indian Ocean for a new geopolitical region to emerge in the geostrategic maritime realm