The book explores India’s role as a normative power, with solid credentials based on a long history of thalassic experience of states of South India. It examines how India has been interpreting international law and rules for the exploitation of living and non-living resources in her way.

The book presents an analysis of India’s activities in four key areas of maritime governance and a description of its roles in the Indian Ocean Region. It highlights India as a maritime security and sustainable maritime development model alternative to the Chinese. The volume also showcases a holistic, interdisciplinary picture of India’s maritime policy and thoroughly explains its historical and semiotic background. Further, it discusses India’s endeavours as a new version of the ASEAN+ cooperation model combined with the US hub and spoke system adapted to new time and place conditions.

Researchers interested in India, the Indian Ocean, and maritime affairs in general would find the book informative and systematising knowledge about maritime governance in the Indian Ocean Region. The book will be useful to students, researchers, and teachers from the departments of international relations, political science, economics, public policy and administration, and defence studies. It will especially be a useful read for diplomats, policy analysts, think tank members, and those interested in international law of the sea and maritime research centres. It also offers practical insights for those interested in Indian foreign policy, the Indian Ocean Region, and maritime governance in general and scholars researching the role of states in international relations, the instruments of foreign policies of emerging powers in the Global South, and the maritime strategies of developing countries.