Vivian Forbes

Reinvigorating IOR-ARC

The importance of closer regional cooperation amongst the countries of the Indian Ocean cannot be over-emphasised. Several states in the Indian Ocean Region were, during 2011, developing at impressive rates, creating major opportunities for trade and investment. The emergent significance of the Indian Ocean itself presently calls for a cooperative approach among the littoral and island states. Indeed, with expanding globalisation and the increasing need for security of energy, food and fresh water, the Indian Ocean is heaving ahead as the key region for global security. Within the Indian Ocean Region, there exist several examples of important subregionalisms, such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation; however, there is only one region-wide grouping, namely, the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation, or IOR-ARC. The IOR-ARC concept, inaugurated in Mauritius in 1997, was conceived as an attempt towards regional or sub-regional cooperation based on a holistic approach that would combine state-to-state and academic business interactions. The agenda of the IOR-ARC is primarily centred on areas such as trade and investment, science and technology, education and training, sea piracy, natural disasters and communicable diseases. A tri-continental Association of this variety may not have been able to make marked progress, especially with regard to a preferential trading arrangement or a free trade agreement. The regionalism that has been envisaged under the IOR-ARC is mutually complementary and supportive and is also non-competitive. The IOR-ARC is based on principles of open regionalism for strengthening economic cooperation and, particularly, trade and investment. There are positive indications that the IOR-ARC may take on a renewed salience in the future owing to renewed regional interest; it is likely that Indian Ocean linkages will improve, not just in matters of trade but also on a number of other issues, including non-traditional security threats and challenges such as sea piracy, climate change, food security, human security and environmental issues. Since India assumed the chair and Australia the vice-chair in 2011, the IOR-ARC could be invigorated and Indian Ocean regionalism enhanced, anabling newer avenues for cooperation to be explored. The Indian Council of World Affairs and the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG) are to be congratulated for hosting an international conference on the theme ‘Reinvigorating Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation Journal of the Indian Ocean Region Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2012, 102 105

Research agendas for the Indian Ocean Region

One of the principal commitments of the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region (JIOR) is to facilitate a regional voice in the identification, research and analysis of policy issues of common regional concern. This implies the acceptance and encouragement of eclectic frameworks and philosophical predispositions of local, national, regional and global orientations, of multiple agendas, and of a true openness to critical reflection. However, the Journal’s central focus on issues of common regional interest and concern, by implication, has as its ultimate outcome, the development of programmes directed towards the betterment of the life chances of Indian Ocean communities and peoples. This necessitates the acquisition of policies aimed at facilitating the creation of just, peaceful and resilient localities, communities and states in the Indian Ocean Region. To ensure this outcome, the Indian Ocean Region is replete with policy questions that necessitate collective state responses. The aim of this editorial essay is to present the views of some of the members of the JIOR international editorial board on what they consider to be important research issues for the Indian Ocean Region. These issues are discussed under six broad interrelated and overlapping headings geopolitical change, state security, maritime jurisdiction and security, environmental security, literary and cultural studies and regionalism.

There Goes the Neighbourhood: Australia and the Rise of Asia

There Goes the Neighbourhood: Australia and the Rise of Asia, by Michael Wesley, Sydney, University of New South Wales Press, 2011, vii + 195 pp., index, A

Indian Ocean Region: Maritime Regimes for Regional Cooperation

25 (paperback), ISBN 978 174223 272 0 Thi...

Conclusion: Future Prospects and Possibilities

Review(s) of: Indian Ocean Region: Maritime Regimes for Regional Cooperation, by Manoj Gupta, Springer, New York, 2010, xxiv, 400 pages, ISBN 978-1-4419-5989-8.

Continental Shelf Boundary: Mozambique and Tanzania

national and regional policy. To this end, we have divided the chapter into three main sections: first, there is an interrogation of the use and usefulness of the term “Australia’s arc of instability” when it comes to making policy; second, follows a discussion of what regional policy dilemmas remain for the Australian Government; and third, there is a brief outline of some outstanding issues which must be addressed if Australia is to have a constructive role in improving regional stability.

Implementation and Ratification of UNCLOS a Regional Commentary

On 28 December 1988 the Governments of the People’s Republic of Mozambique and the United Republic of Tanzania entered into an Agreement dividing the continental shelf between the two countries. The agreement, signed in Maputo, is yet to be ratified. The preamble to the document notes that the two countries were ‘animated by the desire to draw closer the friendship, solidarity and their good neighbourliness’ and ‘inspired’ by the principles of the Third United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS III). Both states are signatories to the Convention. Tanzania ratified the Convention on 30 September 1985. Mozambique has not ratified the Convention (as at June 1992).

Australia's Arc of Instability: The Political and Cultural Dynamics of Regional Security

Coastal states, by their very nature, have sought to extend their maritime boundaries and jurisdiction over adjacent waters. Island states have sought to do the same. Land-locked states as well as shelf-locked states perceive themselves to be geographically disadvantaged and, naturally, do not approve of excessive claims to maritime territory.Negotiations to reconcile these differences and to codify a new law of the sea were held over a period of nine years culminating in the signing of the text and the Final Act at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982. On that day, delegates from 117 states affixed their signatures to the document, the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, referred to as UNCLOS III. The Convention provides rules for effectively governing the wealth and uses of the sea. These new laws hold immense promise for the developing nations. Provisions were incorporated into the text of the Convention to protect their rights and to share the oceans’ wealth. Nine years h...