Indian Ocean Region: The Neomedieval Analysis 45and violent methods, such as many Islamist groups in Pakistan which on
the one hand orchestrate bomb attacks, and on the other raise funds for
social security for the poor, or for humanitarian aid in case of natural
disaster, supplementing the state in many areas; and even peaceful groups
such as NGOs located in Bangladesh, humanitarian workers in Africa, or
corporations in Australia, or India.
The second factor is the nature of the regional setting. We can find
examples of overall peaceful environments, such as in South-East Asia
(despite many clashes mainly over the South China Sea), but also of many
destabilizing regional spillovers (i.e. in Eastern Africa), or long-term
regional mistrust and occasional violent outbursts (e.g. in South Asia). The
overall regional effects are destabilizing, with the potential for violent
consequences. This is closely connected to the weakness of the states that
are unable to control their borders, which enables violent actors to move
without major restriction and to carry out the attacks. But the control of
the border is not per se sufficient condition for the more peaceful regional
environment as in a case of India and Pakistan.
Finally, there is the overall use of violence in the region which is
unfortunately usually rather high. There are exceptions, such as Australia
and small island countries, but, aside from these, there at least occasional
outbreaks of violence present in the whole region. These outbursts may
originate on a state or non-state level. We can observe crackdowns by the
security forces in places like Bangladesh, as well as army interventions,
civil wars, separatist attacks, terrorist actions, etc.
Country Analysis
Using the data based on these characteristics we were able to create a
graph which should at least approximately pinpoint the locations of
different countries in a New Middle Age theory. The position of the
countries might not be perfectly accurate and a more sophisticated
analysis, impossible in this format, would be needed for some corrections,
but the overall position should not change from the following figure
(Figure 3-1).
Looking at the graph, we can observe a few interesting facts about the
analyzed region. First there are only a few stable countries which are not
prone to violence, or which are prevailingly peaceful. This is the case of
Australia, Mauritius, and Seychelles, and to a lesser degree of Maldives
and Oman. When dealing with these countries, the analysis of the state
institutions is important for understanding the political situation in their
respective territories, and a country-based analysis is reasonable.