In national security affairs what often marks Australia’s experience is an insular imagination, a feature that is most striking when it comes to understanding the importance of the sea.
Berlin and Canberra are separated by some 10,000 miles of oceans, continents, hemispheres as well as up to ten time zones.
A spate of escalating hijackings in and around the east African coast between 2005 and 2012 thrust the Horn of Africa into the global spotlight and triggered an unprecedented international response.
Indonesia realises that a substantial, strategic transformation is taking place in the 21st century. The centre-of-gravity of the geo-economic and geo-political world is shifting towards Asia.
There are two reasons why Australia should be interested in the new but now much-discussed maritime aspirations of Indonesia and the trials and tribulations Indonesia faces in turning those aspirations into reality.
The rising power of China and its growing thirst for energy and resources has re-established the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean region.
This discussion articulates the complexity of developing a maritime strategy. Navies are an important aspect of the strategic maritime environment but they remain only one element of a nation’s strategy in the maritime domain.
With the oceans and seas critical elements of the global economy, food and energy security, and livelihoods, the blue economy concept is rapidly gaining currency as an essential element of national security and prosperity.