Dr Prakash Gopal1
1Ancors, University of Wollongong, Australia
Biography:
Prakash Gopal is a Lecturer at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong since October 2023. He is a former Indian navy officer with over two decades of experience in maritime security operations, policy and strategy. He served as a communications and electronics warfare specialist onboard numerous ships, and also commanded an anti-submarine corvette. In 2018, Prakash took up a PhD position at ANCORS. His research examined the concept of littoral security and developed a framework for the security of critical infrastructure in littoral areas. Prakash completed his PhD in April 2023.
In addition to Lecturing at ANCORS, Prakash is also a non-resident Fellow of the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney, and an Academic Fellow of the Australia-India Institute, University of Melbourne. His research interests include India’s foreign and security policy, maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean Region, and the protection of critical maritime infrastructure.
Abstract:
Maritime governance has been a vital aspect of Australia’s engagement with its immediate neighbourhood comprising Southeast Asian and Western Pacific states. Australia is generally viewed as a pioneer and regional leader in maritime policy formulation, conservation of the marine environment, efforts to harness the Blue Economy, and more recently, exploring the use of the marine environment as a source of clean energy. Traditional discussions of maritime governance tend to ignore national and regional security efforts, which are generally viewed through a zero-sum, geopolitical lens. Security, however, plays a larger role as an enabler of all maritime governance activities, by deterring and defeating threats to the regional and international order.
Within the United States’ conceptualisation of national power as the sum of diplomatic, informational, military and economic (DIME) measures, the military, or more broadly the security element, has a significant role in furthering national interests and regional outcomes. This paper seeks to outline Australia’s security efforts, and examine their effects on regional maritime governance efforts. It will study Australia’s maritime security and capacity building activities in its neighbourhood and identify impacts of such efforts on the ability of regional states to use the maritime domain for social and economic benefits. The paper will identify those measures that have been effective in bolstering regional maritime governance, and recommend policy options for Australia to enhance its contributions to support its regional partners.