The Power of ‘Oceanic Thinking’: Reimagining Small State Agency and Sovereignty Amid Sino-Indian Hegemonic Competition in the Indian Ocean

By focusing on Sri Lanka and Maldives as small island states where Sino-Indian competition is evident, and adopting a Gramscian theoretical approach, this paper examines the spatialisation of power and deterritorialisation of sovereignty in the Indian Ocean. It poses two core questions: Where is power located in the oceanic space? And what does sovereignty mean in a maritime context? Through an analysis of Sri Lanka’s emphasis on infrastructure and Maldives’ prioritisation of land reclamation and spatial reconfiguration, this paper advances two interlinked arguments. First, it demonstrates that small states do not merely resist great power hegemony but actively shape the domains and modalities of competition, thereby exercising governance in spaces traditionally dominated by great powers. Second, in exercising this agency, small states enact a form of sovereignty that transcends territorial autonomy, embracing the fluidity and dynamism of oceanic spaces. Overall, this paper disrupts conventional geographies of power that rigidly separate domestic from foreign, autonomy from dependency, and land from sea, offering a reimagined framework for understanding governance in the Indian Ocean.