Revisiting Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace during the Cold War

Abstract

The Indian Ocean appeared large within the context of superpower rivalry in the Indian Ocean during the Cold War, especially after Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and its entry into the warm waters of Indian Ocean. The prophecy of Alfred Thayer Mahan an American naval strategist becoming a reality, “Whoever controls the Indian Ocean dominates the Asia. In the 21^st century the destiny of world will be decided on waters”. The European powers, after Second World War gradually gave up most of their territories in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Even though, Britain and France maintained a modest but notable colonial presence in the Indian Ocean. Whereas  with the coming up of Cold War between U.S. and Soviet Union, new comers on the scene, gradually appeared with their naval forces and imposed their geopolitical, geostrategic and geo-economic weight on littoral powers in the Indian Ocean. It is in the context of binary division of cold war the present paper purports to examine the history of the zone of peace process within the Indian Ocean, as it relates to the interests of regional littoral states and extra regional powers entry in the Indian Ocean. Further the paper also tries to examine the role and response from these regional and extra regional powers in the formation of Indian Ocean as a zone of peace.