This book offers a timely and rigorous examination of how maritime warfare is evolving in a post-Cold War, increasingly multipolar world. Challenging legacy assumptions rooted in Cold War–era naval strategy, it traces the transition from ideologically driven, state-centric maritime confrontation to a far more fragmented and uncertain security environment shaped by multiple power centres, emerging technologies, and diffused threats.

At its core, it argues that the global power equilibrium has shifted decisively away from unipolarity, even as debates persist over the nature of contemporary power distribution. As maritime threats – from strategic competition and grey-zone operations – to regional security and contested commons expand and transform, this power equilibrium shift has become prominent. With no single power capable or willing to underwrite global maritime security, traditional models of naval dominance and deterrence have increasingly become inadequate and compelled to adapt.

Distinctive in its approach, this book integrates strategic theory, geopolitical analysis, and regional security perspectives to examine the rise of multipolarity, the emergence of new maritime powers, and evolving concepts of cooperative security at sea. It foregrounds the need for adaptive maritime warfare strategies that balance competition, deterrence, and collaboration.

Scholarly, policy-relevant, and pedagogically valuable, this book fills a critical gap in strategic warfare literature by systematically linking multipolarity with changing maritime threat scenarios. It is an essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and students engaged in contemporary and future debates on naval power, maritime security, and global order.

Capt. (Dr) Nitin Agarwala is a senior Indian Navy officer, naval architect, and maritime scholar with over three decades of experience spanning warship design, repairs and maintenance, quality assurance, education, and strategic research. He holds a PhD in Technology from the Cochin University of Science and Technology and advanced degrees from IIT Kharagpur and IIT Delhi. His work bridges hard engineering with maritime security, geopolitics, and public policy. A prolific author and reviewer, he has published extensively on shipbuilding, blue economy, emerging technologies, the Indo-Pacific security, and maritime technological issues with linkages to international relations and public policy. He regularly guides students in their research at naval and civilian academic institutions.