On the Seas of the Indo-PacificRogue Strategies and Maritime Security Threats
£75.00
Pre-order
Published 28 February 2027
About this book
The seas of the Indo-Pacific – the Indian Ocean and its approaches, the western Pacific Ocean and the waters connecting the two – are at the centre of the global trading economy. The trade networks that cross the seas, through waters that are over-controlled and contested, or uncontested and under-controlled, move in and out of legality as they traverse international boundaries and encounter different states’ regulations and enforcement capabilities. At some point in their voyage, much of Indo-Pacific shipping is within range of armed groups setting off from nearby shores.
The Indo-Pacific’s geography, economics and politics means it can simultaneously be the strategic centre of the world and yet rife with complex security threats that defy boundaries and conventional understandings of conflict or sovereignty. Such complexity presents opportunities for rogues, ranging from states to pirates to private groups to everything in between. These rogues work by blurring their paths and complicating countermeasures. This book offers a peek into the Indo-Pacific’s ambiguous threats.
Reviews
The oceans underpin global prosperity—and they are increasingly insecure. This book explains why with uncommon clarity and depth. It captures not only the scale of maritime threats but their defining quality: the blurring of boundaries between crime, conflict, and governance failure that makes security at sea so difficult to achieve. What sets this volume apart is its honest engagement with the ambiguity that defines maritime threats—the grey zones, the jurisdictional gaps, the actors who exploit the vastness of the sea. A vital read.
This compact and eminently readable book explores the shadowland between naval warfare and maritime enforcement, showing how state and substate actors exploit ambiguities in the law of the sea. Hastings’ book should be required reading for navies and coast guards active in the Indo-Pacific.
Table of contents
Acknowledgements
1. Blur: the quandaries of the Indo-Pacific’s seas
2. How to exploit the quandaries
3. Security at maritime chokepoints: Private groups going public
4. Interstate maritime boundary disputes the easy way: States going private
5. Maritime sanctions evasion: States and private groups in cahoots
6. Blue crime: Private groups exploiting the quandaries
7. A menu of imperfect solutions
Notes
Index