The Indian Ocean region has rapidly emerged as a hinge point in the changing global balance of power and the geographic nexus of economic and security issues with vital global consequences. The security of energy supplies, persistent poverty and its contribution to political extremism, piracy, and related threats to seaborne trade, competing nuclear powers, and possibly the scene of future clashes between rising great powers India and China—all are dangers in the waters or in the littoral ...

Cultural norms underpin oceans law and policy, shaping rules for everything from maritime shipping to deep seabed mining. The doctrine of freedom of the seas, for instance, is an expression of Western European notions of liberty as much as it reflects geopolitical interests. Similarly, Latin American concepts of dependency theory and anti-colonialism support expansive coastal state rights, while envisioning ocean resources as the 'common heritage' of mankind reflects African communitariani...

International law concerning maritime boundary dispute resolution reflects normative aspirations for peacefully managing some of the most intractable challenges in foreign affairs. Focusing on key international law issues relating to maritime boundary disputes, this book explores how international law and legal institutions facilitate these goals theoretically and practically. This process includes a balance of equities among states grounded in the Charter of the United Nations and the pro...

Autonomous vessels and robotics, artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity are transforming international shipping and naval operations. Likewise, blockchain offers new efficiencies for compliance with international shipping records, while renewable energy from currents and waves and offshore nuclear power stations open opportunities for new sources of power within and from the sea. These and other emerging technologies pose a challenge for the governance framework of the law of the sea, w...

Conflict at sea has been transformed by disruptive technologies, creating a dynamic and distributed operational environment that extends from the oceans to encompass warfare on land, in the air, outer space, and cyberspace. This raises choice of law decisions that include the law of naval warfare and the law of armed conflict, neutrality law, and the peacetime regimes that apply to the oceans, airspace, outer space, and cyberspace. The international law in networked naval warfare must cont...

This volume provides a concise introduction to the issues and debates regarding modern piracy, including naval operations, law, and diplomacy, and focuses on the recent surge of attacks off the coasts of Africa and Asia.In the past decade, the incidence of maritime piracy has exploded. The first three months of 2011 were the worst ever, with 18 ships hijacked, 344 crew taken hostage, and 7 crew members murdered. The four Americans on board the sailing vessel Qu...

The Free Sea offers a unique, single-volume analysis of incidents in American history that affected U.S. freedom of navigation at sea. The book spans more than 200 years, beginning in the Colonial era with the Quasi-War with France in 1798 and extending to contemporary Freedom of Navigation operations in the South China Sea. Through wars and numerous crises with North Korea, North Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran, Russia and China, freedom of navigation has been a persistent challenge for the Unite...

This book examines Arctic defense policy and military security from the perspective of all eight Arctic states. In light of climate change and melting ice in the Arctic Ocean, Canada, Russia, Denmark (Greenland), Norway and the United States, as well as Iceland, Sweden and Finland, are grappling with an emerging Arctic security paradigm. This volume brings together the world's most seasoned Arctic political-military experts from Europe and North America to analyze how Arctic nations are ad...

This book examines the evolution, function, problems and prospects of private security companies in the maritime sector.The private security industry continues to evolve after its renaissance over the past few decades, first in Africa, and later in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite this, little academic work has been done to date on the role of private security in the maritime environment. This lacuna has become more pronounced as the threat of piracy, terrorism, and other acts of mari...

Barack Obama has made it clear that he thinks the world would be a better and more peaceful place if the United States were too weak to affect the course of events. Obama, along with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, has slashed missile defense, dramatically reduced investment in future military technologies, and broken promises to our allies. In addition, Obama is transforming our military into a politically correct force that no one will want to join.In this incisive Broadside, ...

First published in 2007, this book focuses on the security of sea lanes of communication. It was a joint publication between the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA) and the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG) and is an important book for three particular reasons. First, it takes a step forward in identifying key policy themes that can be applied to interstate cooperation around the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Second, the particular theme discussed is not only central to the economic well-b...

The China Seas Crisis: Which Way, Australia? sets the stage for understanding the issues at play in the China Seas as the United States of America reduces its naval presence, leaving open the opportunities for other powers in the region to assert themselves. In particular, the works discussion explores the ins and outs of the relationship between the Peoples Republic of China, which is increasing its influence, and Australia, a longtime and staunch global ally of the United States and Grea...