Geopolitical Challenges along India’s Continental and Maritime Borders: A Political Geography Perspective
Keywords:
Political Geography, Geopolitics, India, Borders, Territoriality, Maritime Security, South AsiaAbstract
India’s geopolitical landscape is shaped by its extensive continental and maritime borders, which constitute critical spaces of territoriality, power, and strategic interaction. Despite India’s growing regional and global stature, persistent border disputes, regional rivalries, and maritime security concerns continue to pose significant geopolitical challenges. Existing scholarship largely examines these challenges through strategic or diplomatic lenses, often overlooking their spatial and political-geographical dimensions. This paper adopts a political geography perspective to analyze India’s geopolitical challenges along its land and sea borders. Grounded in theories of territoriality, border dynamics, and critical geopolitics, the study employs a qualitative and analytical methodology based on secondary data sources. By integrating continental and maritime borders within a unified framework, the paper highlights how borders function as dynamic geopolitical spaces shaped by historical legacies, regional power struggles, and global strategic shifts. The study contributes to political geography by offering a spatial interpretation of India’s border challenges and emphasizing the need for border-sensitive geopolitical strategies.
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