The Bay of Bengal: Next theatre for strategic power play in Asia
Abstract This paper explores the factors behind the increasing strategic significance of the Bay of Bengal in the current geopolitical context. The study starts by highlighting the factors contributing to the rising importance of the littoral region from a general economic, geopolitical and energy perspective. It then analyses the specific objectives and strategic aspirations of the major powers involved in the Bay, and how those may turn the area into a hub of converging, and/or conflicting interests. The focus is then shifted toward the smaller littoral nations and their individual relations with the major players. Finally, challenges to stability in the region are discussed, and a cooperative approach is suggested for the context of the Bay. The paper argues that the strategic importance of the Bay will considerably increase in the coming years. As the nations involved are major and rising powers, the power play in the area will inevitably reshape the dynamics of the region. The interests that are at stake are also of crucial importance to the countries involved; hence, their protection will also demand a rapid militarization of the littoral. Most of these countries are now redirecting their focus from land to sea, which is adding a whole new dimension to the importance of the Bay. However, this paper argues that cooperation and competition is in all the nations’ best interest, as any conflict in the Bay region could bring in political, economic and energy insecurity affecting all the concerned countries. Another dimension this paper explores is the implication of this competition on smaller nations and their role in the larger schemes of the major powers. In order to lay out an exhaustive and holistic view, historical, economic, military, geopolitical and social factors have been taken into account in this research
Is the Bay of Bengal regaining its lost importance?
ABSTRACT The Bay of Bengal was important for world trade till the close of the nineteenth century. Weakening imperialism and the newly found independence by nations brought mistrust and weakened the bond of cohesiveness and unity, making the Bay to lose its identity. This was extenuated by the creation of regional identities of ‘Southeast Asia’ and ‘South Asia’. While Southeast Asia restored their unity under ASEAN in 1965 and South Asia under SAARC in 1985, no real effort to revitalize the entire swath of the Bay as one entity was made until the initiation of India’s ‘Look East’ policy in 1991 and later the formation of BIMSTEC in 1997. In the new millennium, the rise of China and India and their interest and focus on this region, has brought about forced cooperation, connectivity and conflict forcing bilateral, multilateral, regional and sub-regional agreements by littoral states. This has led the Bay to acquire an importance that cannot be ignored. The paper evaluates these efforts to decipher if the Bay of Bengal is really regaining its lost importance.
Same Same But Different - also in Europe! A New Methodological Approach in Cross-Country Analysis of Communication Structuresapplied to five EU member states
The EU still lacks a truly European public sphere. On this level, there is still a clear lack of integration between individual member states. This means that national public spheres and cultures are still of great importance for European communication and media professionals. Comparative research into the similarities and differences between different nations is therefore valuable for cross-border PR communication activities. This paper lays out the methodological foundation for such research, discussing possible approaches and difficulties associated with comparative research. The author then introduces a potential heuristic framework for comparative analysis: the International Corporate Communication Compass. This framework is applied to five case-study EU countries (Denmark, Germany, France, Poland and the UK), showing the differences and similarities in a range of different contexts that affect public communication in all its forms. The conclusion examines how the results of such studies could be used in order to compare communication identities of different countries. This can potentially help in the development of a European public identity on the long run and in a first step can led towards a better, more adapted communication structure about European citizenship. Ultimately, communication structures within the EU might become more Europeanized than they