David Brewster
Dr David Brewster is a Senior Research Fellow with the National Security College at the Australian National University, where he specializes in South Asian and Indian Ocean strategic affairs. He is also a Distinguished Research Fellow with the Australia India Institute. His previous career was as a corporate lawyer working on complex cross-border transactions and he practised for almost two decades in the United States, England, France and Australia.
Dr Brewster has an international reputation as a leading researcher in Indian Ocean strategic affairs. He is the author of numerous articles that explore maritime security issues in the Indian Ocean as well as India’s security relationships throughout the region.
Major reports and books include India as an Asia Pacific power, which considers India’s strategic role in the Asia Pacific, and The India-Australia Security Engagement: Challenges and Opportunities. His most recent book is India’s Ocean: the story of India’s bid for regional leadership which examines India’s security relationships and strategic ambitions throughout the Indian Ocean. His next book will trace the development of Australia’s strategic role in the Indian Ocean region.
Address: Sydney
Dr Brewster has an international reputation as a leading researcher in Indian Ocean strategic affairs. He is the author of numerous articles that explore maritime security issues in the Indian Ocean as well as India’s security relationships throughout the region.
Major reports and books include India as an Asia Pacific power, which considers India’s strategic role in the Asia Pacific, and The India-Australia Security Engagement: Challenges and Opportunities. His most recent book is India’s Ocean: the story of India’s bid for regional leadership which examines India’s security relationships and strategic ambitions throughout the Indian Ocean. His next book will trace the development of Australia’s strategic role in the Indian Ocean region.
Address: Sydney
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Books by David Brewster
The conference brought together many eminent experts and policy practitioners from key Indo-Pacific countries to discuss the complex interplay of strategic competition and cooperation across the Indo Pacific. This is reflected in the great diversity of perspectives in included this volume: from Japanese views on naval strategy; to fresh perspectives about the management of security tensions in the East and South China Seas; debates about Japan future security role in the Indian Ocean; the future of new maritime security partnerships including India, and indeed, the future of the maritime domain. Anyone concerned about maritime security in our region will find new and policy-relevant insights.
In this timely new book, India’s Ocean: the story of India’s bid for regional leadership, David Brewster examines India’s growing strategic role in the Indian Ocean. It asks:
• What are India’s strategic ambitions in the Indian Ocean?
• Who are India’s regional military partners?
• How is India responding to the growing Chinese presence in the region?
• How will this contest affect Australia?
The future of the Indian Ocean will be a competition between great powers. Is it destined to become India’s Ocean?
‘What happens in the Indian Ocean will define India’s strategic future, and that in turn will do a great deal to set Asia’s course in the Asian Century. David Brewster gives us a perfect guide to the forces shaping India’s role in the Ocean that bears its name. It is a lucid, lively, comprehensive and judicious account of one of the central strategic questions of our times.' – Professor Hugh White, Australian National University
'A knowledgeable India hand, David Brewster explores India's maritime ambitions and provides an incisive assessment of its potential to wield influence across the Indian Ocean region.' – Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd), Chief of Naval Staff, Indian Navy 2004-06
'In this book, David Brewster [outlines] a realistic trajectory for India as an Indian Ocean power. In so doing he explains the power relationships and the subregional dynamics that will determine how smooth or otherwise this course will be. This book fills an important gap for scholars and policymakers striving to understand how India will affect the Indo-Pacific strategic order in the 21st century.' – Rory Medcalf, Director, International Security Program, Lowy Institute
Two excerpts from the book are available for download. One describes Operation Cactus, India's 1988 intervention in the Maldives to avert an attempted coup, and international reactions to India's actions.
The second excerpt looks at the background to India's planned intervention in Mauritius in 1983 to avert a feared coup against Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth by Paul Berenger.
• What are India’s military ambitions in our region?
• How will the rise of India change the strategic landscape of Asia and beyond?
• Will the United States and India form a coalition against China?
• Who are India’s regional military partners?
• How will this battle of the giants affect Australia? Can Australia afford not to take sides?
The future of our region is a struggle between great powers. India will be an indispensible part of that new balance of power.
Raja Mohan commented that the book “could well become the benchmark with which to evaluate India’s changing role in the rapidly-evolving security dynamic in East Asia.” (Journal of the Indian Ocean Region, 2012).
Professor Bronson Percival, a former senior US diplomat, stated that, “Officials and scholars concerned with security issues in Asia, particularly those entranced with the assumption that India will help the US “hedge” against China’s rise, should read this book.” (Contemporary Southeast Asia, 2012).
Harsh Pant commented that the book "is an important contribution as it asks an important question often overlooked in the analyses of Indian foreign policy: What are the causes and consequences of India's growing role in the Asia Pacific region? This is a subject that needs critical scrutiny as India expands its footprints, ever so gradually, in the region." (Contemporary South Asia, 2013)
See other book reviews attached.
India and Australia share a language, a colonial past, many civil and political institutions, and democratic values. But despite these commonalities, they have long operated in largely separate strategic spheres. A non-aligned India was largely preoccupied with its immediate security problems in South Asia, while Australia traditionally focused on security concerns in East Asia and the Pacific.
These spheres of strategic interest are converging. The two countries now share many concerns, including over the growing impact of China on the strategic environment. The rise of India as a major regional power means that it is assuming greater security responsibilities in the Indian Ocean region and is starting to be seen a significant strategic player in the Pacific. India is also beginning to see Australia as one of several new security partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
This paper explores the opportunities and challenges in the growing security relationship between India and Australia. It will discuss the evolution of their strategic roles, particularly in the Indian Ocean, and the changes in the relationship, before considering several concrete areas of security cooperation.
The conference brought together many eminent experts and policy practitioners from key Indo-Pacific countries to discuss the complex interplay of strategic competition and cooperation across the Indo Pacific. This is reflected in the great diversity of perspectives in included this volume: from Japanese views on naval strategy; to fresh perspectives about the management of security tensions in the East and South China Seas; debates about Japan future security role in the Indian Ocean; the future of new maritime security partnerships including India, and indeed, the future of the maritime domain. Anyone concerned about maritime security in our region will find new and policy-relevant insights.
In this timely new book, India’s Ocean: the story of India’s bid for regional leadership, David Brewster examines India’s growing strategic role in the Indian Ocean. It asks:
• What are India’s strategic ambitions in the Indian Ocean?
• Who are India’s regional military partners?
• How is India responding to the growing Chinese presence in the region?
• How will this contest affect Australia?
The future of the Indian Ocean will be a competition between great powers. Is it destined to become India’s Ocean?
‘What happens in the Indian Ocean will define India’s strategic future, and that in turn will do a great deal to set Asia’s course in the Asian Century. David Brewster gives us a perfect guide to the forces shaping India’s role in the Ocean that bears its name. It is a lucid, lively, comprehensive and judicious account of one of the central strategic questions of our times.' – Professor Hugh White, Australian National University
'A knowledgeable India hand, David Brewster explores India's maritime ambitions and provides an incisive assessment of its potential to wield influence across the Indian Ocean region.' – Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd), Chief of Naval Staff, Indian Navy 2004-06
'In this book, David Brewster [outlines] a realistic trajectory for India as an Indian Ocean power. In so doing he explains the power relationships and the subregional dynamics that will determine how smooth or otherwise this course will be. This book fills an important gap for scholars and policymakers striving to understand how India will affect the Indo-Pacific strategic order in the 21st century.' – Rory Medcalf, Director, International Security Program, Lowy Institute
Two excerpts from the book are available for download. One describes Operation Cactus, India's 1988 intervention in the Maldives to avert an attempted coup, and international reactions to India's actions.
The second excerpt looks at the background to India's planned intervention in Mauritius in 1983 to avert a feared coup against Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth by Paul Berenger.
• What are India’s military ambitions in our region?
• How will the rise of India change the strategic landscape of Asia and beyond?
• Will the United States and India form a coalition against China?
• Who are India’s regional military partners?
• How will this battle of the giants affect Australia? Can Australia afford not to take sides?
The future of our region is a struggle between great powers. India will be an indispensible part of that new balance of power.
Raja Mohan commented that the book “could well become the benchmark with which to evaluate India’s changing role in the rapidly-evolving security dynamic in East Asia.” (Journal of the Indian Ocean Region, 2012).
Professor Bronson Percival, a former senior US diplomat, stated that, “Officials and scholars concerned with security issues in Asia, particularly those entranced with the assumption that India will help the US “hedge” against China’s rise, should read this book.” (Contemporary Southeast Asia, 2012).
Harsh Pant commented that the book "is an important contribution as it asks an important question often overlooked in the analyses of Indian foreign policy: What are the causes and consequences of India's growing role in the Asia Pacific region? This is a subject that needs critical scrutiny as India expands its footprints, ever so gradually, in the region." (Contemporary South Asia, 2013)
See other book reviews attached.
India and Australia share a language, a colonial past, many civil and political institutions, and democratic values. But despite these commonalities, they have long operated in largely separate strategic spheres. A non-aligned India was largely preoccupied with its immediate security problems in South Asia, while Australia traditionally focused on security concerns in East Asia and the Pacific.
These spheres of strategic interest are converging. The two countries now share many concerns, including over the growing impact of China on the strategic environment. The rise of India as a major regional power means that it is assuming greater security responsibilities in the Indian Ocean region and is starting to be seen a significant strategic player in the Pacific. India is also beginning to see Australia as one of several new security partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
This paper explores the opportunities and challenges in the growing security relationship between India and Australia. It will discuss the evolution of their strategic roles, particularly in the Indian Ocean, and the changes in the relationship, before considering several concrete areas of security cooperation.
A summary of this paper is available for download.
Many are beginning to see a rising India as a major element in the Indo-Pacific strategic balance. Australia’s security relationship with India has been growing much closer over the last decade, driven by concerns about China as well as a host of other shared interests. In the long term, India is likely to become a key security partner in the Indian Ocean and possibly one of Australia’s most important security partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
But there has been little consideration how this burgeoning strategic relationship with India will fit with Australia’s core security relationship with the United States or with the US alliance system. India is not a traditional ally or customary partner for Australia. This report looks at the choices faced by Australia in building its strategic relationship with India in a way that fits with the US alliance and the broader regional order.
The relationship is a difficult one: their security relationship is relatively volatile and there are numerous unresolved issues between them. Not least is China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean where it is perceived in New Delhi to be shaping the strategic environment in its favour and forming alignments that could be used against India.
Nor is the relationship well understood. There is relatively little informed analysis of how China and India will interact as maritime powers, and discussion of this area in India and China rarely seeks to explore each other’s perspectives and intentions. There is little understanding of China’s perspectives on the rise of India and expectations about their respective maritime security roles in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The roundtable brings together leading scholars and practitioners from India, China, the United States and Australia to better understand Indian and Chinese perspectives about their respective roles and relationship in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain.
Issues and questions addressed by the essays include:
• What are Chinese and Indian strategic ambitions in the maritime realm, particularly in the Indian Ocean? How do they understand each other’s legitimate security roles in the region?
• What are China’s strategic imperatives in the Indian Ocean? Does China have an Indo-Pacific naval strategy?
• How has New Delhi perceived China’s growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean and how has it sought to address those moves at a political and military level?
• What are India’s options in responding to China’s Maritime Silk Road initiative?
A complete copy of the roundtable is available for download at: http://www.nbr.org/publications/element.aspx?id=899
Our mental maps of the world, including our perceptions of where regions begin and end, can have a profound impact on strategic behaviour. For decades there has been a sharp division between what we understand to be the regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. The line between them effectively cuts the Bay of Bengal in two. These perceptions have inhibited a proper analysis of the strategic dynamics of the area. In this discussion I will argue that the rise of India and the re-conceptualisation of the “Indo-Pacific” makes the Bay of Bengal increasingly matter as a strategic space. Like, the South China Sea, it is necessary understand the Bay as a coherent space in order to properly understand its strategic problems and dynamics.
The note is based on interviews with key Indian decision-makers and Mauritian political leaders who were involved in these events. Neither India’s planned military intervention nor the subsequent political intervention has previously been publicly disclosed.
In the coming years India, Pakistan, and perhaps China will likely deploy a significant number of nuclear weapons at sea in the Indian Ocean. This could further destabilise already nstable nuclear relationships, creating a real risk of a sea-based exchange of nuclear weapons.
India’s intervention in the Maldives in 1988 to ensure political stability has been held up as a model of benign regional leadership – and even a model that might be used further afield in the Indian Ocean.