Towards a networked strategy: framework for maritime South Asia

ABSTRACT This article revisits the widely cited SAGAR speech by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, delivered on 12 March 2015, at Port Louis, Mauritius. It takes the speech as a foundation to revisit the meaning of maritime South Asia, bringing to fore a ‘networked identity’ of the Ocean. This approach, while incorporating a dimension of resilience, also offers a conceptual/policy window to deal with complex traditional and non-traditional threats emanating from maritime space. Concepts from network literature, such as connections, relationality and communication are employed to invoke networked imageries of the Ocean at a metaphorical, conceptual and praxeological level. In arguing for international/interregional maritime cooperation, SDG-14 is presented as an essential background condition for effective translation of SAGAR speech into this novel framework, which helps in raising critical questions related to maritime security and development.