Indo-Pacific reluctance and the gulf: an examination of maritime domain awareness as an influence shaping regional maritime security efforts

Abstract

ABSTRACTMaritime security, while a challenge for littoral states in the Gulf region, has not evolved to reflect global maritime trends. The maritime challenges in the Gulf region point out the necessity of reforming approaches to maritime security and investing in a greater understanding of how the global commons will define the health of individual Gulf states. This paper examines how Gulf states, despite enjoying modern maritime forces, remain fixated on traditional mechanisms for addressing maritime threats. Using a Maritime Domain Awareness framework for analysis, this paper argues that Gulf states lag in information sharing processes tied to maritime security operations that have become a common approach in the Indo-Pacific. Without greater investment by Gulf maritime services into the information sharing arrangements, the Gulf becomes more vulnerable.KEYWORDS: Gulf cooperation councilIndo-PacificMaritime domain awarenessInformation sharing mechanisms Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States differs from other Indo Pacific concepts in its geographic scope. The United States concept sees the Indo Pacific as ending at the boundary of United States Indo-Pacific Command, or the border between India and Pakistan. However, within the United States bureaucracy this boundary expands in relation to specific security and diplomatic efforts. The Indo-Pacific, as the United States interprets it, overarchingly is about the states of the Western Pacific.2 Combined Maritime Forces is one of the most successful cooperatve naval organizations in the contemporary age. Its task forces provide a constant naval presence in regional waters and helped to eliminate the danger from Somalia-based pirates. It serves as a constant training and consultation institution that in turn helps to advance naval interoperability. The lack of attention on this institution speaks to the persistence of sea blindness in the Gulf.Additional informationNotes on contributorsJeffrey PayneJeffrey Payne currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Near East South Asia (NESA) Center for Strategic Studies. He pilots NESA’s maritime security programming, including its ongoing series devoted to the Indian Ocean Region and wider Indo-Pacific. In addition, he leads NESA’s engagements relating to maritime and littoral information sharing/data analysis.