India in Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy

This paper investigates India's role within Japan's Indo-Pacific strategy with regard to geopolitical dynamics and their imprint on the strategic landscape of the region. From its original use by Karl Haushofer through its revival by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Indo-Pacific has emerged from a geographical concept to a multidimensional strategic construct through a synthesis of the Indian and Pacific Oceans into a single regional construct. The shift in conceptualization from the Asia-Pacific toward the Indo-Pacific reflects a wider focus on security, rule-based order, and economic stability as part of responses to the BRI of China and its general growing assertiveness. These are the four sections that give a structure to the study: the realist theoretical framework, Japan's FOIP strategy, the developing Indo-Pacific concept of India, and the actual strategic alignment of India and Japan. Realism, especially neorealism, forms the analytical perspective that bases its vision in the anarchical character of international relations and the resulting security dilemmas that come along with it in the Indo-Pacific region. This section looks in depth at Japan's FOIP strategy, which is driven by the trinity of principles related to international law, economic prosperity through connectivity, and maritime security. The thesis further discusses India's strategic response, from its historical emphasis on continental over maritime security to the present, growing focus on partnerships in the Indo-Pacific. Strategic alignment between India and Japan in issues related to balancing China's influence is an essential component of their partnership in ensuring regional stability. In sum, this thesis concludes that taken together, India and Japan's Indo-Pacific converging interests serve their national security and economic objectives while fostering a more balanced power structure in a region growing increasingly fraught with geopolitical competition.