Water Conflicts and Maritime Challenges in 21st Century Asia

The oceans and seas of the world are at a crucial crossroads in their history. The densities of change generated by the globalization of the world economy keep on increasing through the leading regions of ocean value. At the same time, coastal administration and management issues are becoming wider and very numerous. This volume contributes in-depth investigation of ocean conflict, governance and strategy from an interdisciplinary context, involving an immense spectrum of features of correlations between the oceans and seas. It also investigates the complex human activities on the oceans, examining in particular the marine conflicts in Asia. The books of Kishor Mahbubani (The Great Convergence: Asia, The West and the Logic of One World; The Asian 21st Century; The New Asian Hemisphere) and Parag Khanna (The Future is Asian) provided an insight about Asia beyond border and land conflicts: the key claims in these narratives are that Asians are back in their old civilizations, and the 21st century will be “the Asian Century”. But the considerable part about a maritime future in Asia is missing and needs further deliberation. Therefore, the purpose of this volume is to explore the attitudes of some of the main actors involved in Asian maritime policy, and their responses to the challenges of internal and territorial security in Asian waters.