Preface -- Part I Theoretical Perspectives on Maritime Strategy -- Chapter 1 What Is Meant by “Maritime Strategy”? -- Chapter 2 Components of Maritime Military Strategy and an Analytical Framework -- Part II Deciphering the Maritime Strategies of Maritime Powers -- Chapter 3 The Maritime Strategy of the United States Dependence on Sea Control and Power Projection -- Chapter 4 The Maritime Strategy of the United Kingdom: Declining Strength and Unchanged Force Composition -- Chapter 5 The Maritime Strategy of Japan: Area Denial against the Soviet Union and China and the Pursuit of Sea Control -- Part III Deciphering the Maritime Strategies of Land Powers -- Chapter 6 The Maritime Strategy of Russia: Consistent Area Denial and Limited Power Projection -- Chapter 7 The Maritime Strategy of India: From Typical Land Power to Control of the Indian Ocean -- Chapter 8 The Maritime Strategy of China: From Area Denial to Sea Control and Power Projection -- Conclusion Causal Inferences on Maritime Strategies -- Afterword (Very Personal Acknowledgments) -- List of Citations and References -- Index.

Open Access

This open access book is quite an ambitious study about how to use comparative methods to analyze contemporary military strategy in the maritime domain. Based on the three strategic concepts of area denial, sea control and power projection, this book analyzes the intensive conventional capabilities of six major powers’ military strategies. These include the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, the so-called ‘sea powers,’ and Russia, China and India, which are usually recognized as ‘land-powers.’ Through the analysis, this book aims to accomplish the following three main objectives: 1. To reconsider the basic concepts of maritime military strategic studies, which have not changed for almost one hundred years, and to propose a new analytical framework based on the following three elements—as well as verifying the appropriateness of this framework. a. The capability with which a country can deny military threat against its territory through the maritime domain within the geographic theater, i.e., roughly one thousand to two thousand kilometers from its coastline (area denial). b. The capability with which a country can obtain military superiority or disrupt an adversary’s military superiority in the open ocean (sea control). c. The capability with which a country can project military power from the maritime domain to other countries’ territories, accomplishing military strategic objectives (power projection). 2. To verify the six major powers’ long-term military strategic objectives, for example, whether the country aims to enhance its power in the maritime domain, or to project its military power to the other countries/areas beyond the maritime domain; to do this by analyzing each country’s force building directions. In addition, this book assesses each country’s capability for high-intensive conflict and unravels each security/military strategic objectives. 3. By examining the strategic objectives of major powers, this book may contribute to establishing Japan’s future defense strategy.

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