Claiming the Sea: Asian Perspectives on Maritime Dominance

Join us for an interdisciplinary conference exploring maritime power, competition, and cooperation across Asia’s seas. About the Conference Asia’s seas have long served as arenas of commerce, cooperation, contestation, and conflict. Today, the maritime expanse stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Arctic stands at the center of global geopolitics, economic flows, environmental pressures, and strategic competition—military, legal, and otherwise. With these dynamics in mind, this conference seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on how maritime dominance is conceptualized, pursued, and contested across Asian contexts. Agenda Thursday, October 29: 1:30PM: Opening Remarks Andrew Wilson, U.S. Naval War College Bruce Dickson, George Washington University 1:45-3:15PM: Panel I—Indian Ocean Darshana M. Baruah, Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Indo-Pacific Defence and Strategy Deepa Ollapally, George Washington University Nirmal Verma (Admiral RET), U.S. Naval War College 3:15-3:30PM Coffee Break 3:30-5:00PM Panel II—China Xiaobing Li, University of Central Oklahoma Shuxian Luo, University of Hawai’i Kathleen Walsh, U.S. Naval War College Friday, October 30: 9-10:30AM Panel III—Southeast Asia/Littoral/Oceania Satu Limaye, The America + Asia Project Shawn McHale, George Washington University Jonathan Ping, Bond University 10:30-10:45AM Coffee Break 10:45AM-12:15PM Panel IV—Northeast Asia/Korea/Japan Alexis Dudden, University of Connecticut Alessio Patalano, King’s College Daqing Yang, George Washington University 12:15-1:15PM Lunch 1:15-2:45PM Panel V—Arctic Russia Pavel Devyatkin, The Arctic Institute Richard Moss, U.S. Naval War College Michael Petersen, Center for Naval Analyses 2:45-3PM Coffee 3:00PM Wrap-up Session and Next Steps Andrew Wilson, U.S. Naval War College Bruce Dickson, George Washington University Peter Lorge, Vanderbilt University Doors will open no sooner than 15 minutes before the start time. The Elliott School can coordinate with the university to reasonably accommodate most disabilities. If you need specific accommodations, please contact the Sigur Center at [email protected]. Requests should be made as soon as possible, but at least three days prior to the program to ensure accommodation. About the Speakers Andrew R. Wilson is the John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies. Professor Wilson has lectured at military colleges and civilian universities across the United States and around the world. The author of numerous books and articles on Chinese military history, Chinese sea power, and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, his most recent co-edited volume is Traversing the Belt and Road: The World According to China and China According to the World . Professor Wilson is also featured on The Great Courses , with lecture series including The Art of War ; Masters of War: History’s Greatest Strategic Thinkers ; and Understanding Imperial China: Dynasties, Life and Culture . Professor Bruce Dickson received his B.A. in political science and English literature, his M.A. in Chinese Studies, and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. He joined the faculty of The George Washington University and the Elliott School in 1993. Professor Dickson's research and teaching focus on political dynamics in China, especially the adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party and the regime it governs. In addition to courses on China, he also teaches on comparative politics and authoritarianism. His current research examines the political consequences of economic reform in China, the Chinese Communist Party’s evolving strategy for survival, and the changing relationship between state and society. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the US Institute of Peace, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Darshana M. Baruah is the Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Indo-Pacific Defence and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Her work focuses on maritime security, defence partnerships, island states, and Indian Ocean geopolitics. She previously worked at the Australia India Institute and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she established the Indian Ocean Initiative. She is the author of The Contest for the Indian Ocean: And the Making of a New World Order (Yale University Press, 2024). Deepa Ollapally is a political scientist specializing in Indian foreign policy, India-China relations, and Asian regional and maritime security. She is a Research Professor of International Affairs. She also directs the Rising Powers Initiative, a major research program that tracks and analyzes foreign policy debates in aspiring powers of Asia and Eurasia. Dr. Ollapally is currently working on a funded book, Big Power Competition for Influence in the Indian Ocean Region , which assesses the shifting patterns of geopolitical influence by major powers in the region since 2005 and the driver…