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This article evaluates South Korea's state practice of international law, highlighting its consistent adherence to fundamental principles and active contributions to new norm development. The Korean Constitution's monistic approach integrates international treaties and customary international law as part of domestic law, promoting harmony between national and international legal standards. The analysis covers Korea's judicial support for international norms, commitment to peace under Article 5 of the Constitution, treaty-making mechanisms, and significant contributions to maritime safety and human rights. By exploring these diverse areas, the article argues that Korea is both a norm-taker and a norm-maker, aligning with modern international law principles while fostering the development of new norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International law does not fully explain the global community, which has valid interests apart from sovereign nations. Many different things come to mind when one thinks of this global community: a collection of independent states, a universal idea of humanity, an international organization, or even a non-governmental group charged with on behalf of Earth or its inhabitants. While realists in international relations may find these ideas more fantastical the farther they stray from traditional state sovereignty, the fact that individuals, communities, and corporations all have a say in treaty-making, international litigation, and other areas of international law shows that it is not always a "States only" affair. A sense of interests, rights, and responsibilities is given to the international community. State or non-state entities representing the international community are required to carry out the rights and responsibilities of the international community. This article takes a step away from theoretical speculation and towards practical scenario analysis by looking at the potential roles the international community's avatar may play in a treaty regime to preserve and responsibly use marine biological diversity in BBNJ. According to the underlying assumption, all worldwide community members, or erga omnes, shall be held responsible for BBNJ's actions. They will not focus on just one country or two sides and will not be bilateral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the legal situation relating to the Sea of Azov in the light of the Russian suspension of shipping on 24 February 2022. While this act received little scholarly or political attention, there is a debate concerning the legality of the suspension of shipping, mainly whether it is governed by the law of naval blockade under the laws of naval warfare. The article analyses the situation from the perspectives of both international humanitarian law (IHL) and the law of the sea (LOS) and examines how the interaction between the two legal regimes affects the analysis. The article supports the conclusion that the Russian conduct does not constitute a naval blockade but may be an accepted practice within the legal regime of naval warfare. In addition, it holds that LOS affects both the laws of naval warfare and the status of the Sea of Azov. Furthermore, the article raises doubts as to the relevance and applicability of the legal concept of naval blockade in modern international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the concept of islands in international law and its implications for the South China Sea dispute. Islands are important for various reasons, such as territorial sovereignty, maritime rights, and natural resources. However, the legal binding definition of artificial islands has not been enacted by any international document until now. This paper traces the historical development of the concept of islands, from the Hague Conference in 1930 to the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982. It also analyses the challenges and opportunities of artificial islands, which are man-made structures that can serve different purposes but can also create various legal and environmental problems. Artificial islands are especially relevant for the South China sea dispute, which involves multiple costal states, while China has significant geopolitical and economic implications. This paper argues that the South China Sea dispute can be resolved through cooperation and dialogue, based on international law framework. Taking into account the provisions of UNCLOS, South China Sea dispute, state practise, and legal scholarship, this article aims to unpack the complexities surrounding artificial island and implications of artificial islands on the international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 2018, the Indonesian government enacted Government Regulation No. 4, 2018, related to the Safeguard of the Airspace Territory of the Republic of Indonesia. While this regulation primarily addresses national airspace defense and security, several articles of the law directly pertain to the law of the sea. These include the right of overflight in Indonesian airspace above archipelagic sea lanes, the right of overflight above artificial islands, and regulations concerning the Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). This article focuses on Indonesia's practices under the new regulation as they relate to the law of the sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Republic of the Philippines' recent partial submission to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) concerning the outer limits of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (M) from its baselines. The submission, grounded in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), relates to the West Palawan Region, located in the South China Sea. The article explores the procedural aspects of the CLCS rules in dealing with areas of continental shelf subject to overlapping submissions or disputes and assesses the broader implications for international law and the law of the sea. This article provides an analysis of the legal and scientific basis of the submission, the implications for regional maritime claims, and the reactions from other claimant States and extra-regional powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the legal and political consequences of the 2018 Timor Sea Compulsory Conciliation on Australia and Indonesia relations. The dispute over the Timor Sea, fueled by the desire for oil and gas resources, has historical roots and has shaped Australia-Timor-Leste and Indonesia-Timor-Leste relations. The Compulsory Conciliation process, conducted behind closed doors, led to significant outcomes. It recommended a new maritime boundary, primarily favoring Timor-Leste, and established a resource-sharing framework for the Greater Sunrise gas field. These findings, enshrined in a treaty, have far-reaching implications for international law and dispute resolution. The article assesses the impact on Australia's diplomacy, Indonesia's response, and the role of Timor-Leste in the post-Conciliation landscape. It explores prospects for cooperation and challenges in Australia-Indonesia relations. The Conciliation's significance lies in its lessons for international law adherence and peaceful resource management in contested waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue, based on an international conference commemorating 40 years of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC), Copenhagen, March 2023, examines emerging issues of resilience of the Convention. More than 40 years have passed since the adoption of the LOSC. Currently, the LOSC faces many challenges that were unforeseen at the time of its adoption in 1982. An essential question thus arises as to whether and how it is possible to address these unforeseen issues under the LOSC. Here, resilience of the LOSC must be envisaged. The six articles in this Special Issue provide an insight into the resilience of the LOSC, examining some cutting-edge matters the LOSC faces today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) is a pillar serving the objectives set forth in the United Nations Charter. The comprehensive compulsory dispute settlement mechanism under Section 2 of Part XV has established jurisdiction concerning disputes about the interpretation or application of the LOSC. Yet, there are situations in which disputes that relate to the LOSC arise in a broader context, one area of which relates to disputed territorial titles. This article examines the applicable conditions allowing courts and tribunals competent under Article 288(1) of the LOSC to extend jurisdiction to disputes that need not limited to the LOSC but relate also to territorial disputes. While the case law suggests a general reluctancy to exercise jurisdiction in any such situations, there may be prima facie unexplored legal sanctuaries within the LOSC, allowing courts and tribunals to disregard certain jurisdictional objections that arise from the existence of territorial claims of either of the disputing parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waters claimed on the basis of historic grounds represent an anomaly in the face of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) provisions on the measurement of marine spaces. In fact, they deviate from the codified prescriptions pertaining to both rules and exceptions governing the drawing of baselines. This contribution outlines the intricate theoretical evolution of this anomaly, the considerations developed during its challenging codification, and the reasoning of international courts and tribunals that have contributed to clarifying regimes and legal terms associated with claims based on historic reasons. Furthermore, it assesses the impact of the anomaly through a brief overview of national practices and the (failed) attempts to quantify them. The anomaly reveals certain paradoxes, but also asserts its necessary presence within the system, to the extent that the LOSC provisions related to historic claims can be counted among the elements on which the LOSC has grounded its resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the course of more than twenty years of operation, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) has made 40 recommendations to submitting coastal States regarding the outer limits of the continental shelf. Only 12 of these recommendations have been used to establish final and binding limits so far. The past practice of the CLCS demonstrates that not all coastal State submissions are simply accepted and that, in fact, various disagreements arise throughout the process. Based on a review of all recommendations issued by the CLCS, this article presents an overview of the various issues subject to disagreement between the CLCS and the submitting coastal State, discusses potential options and solutions for resolving these disagreements, and analyses those disagreements and the practice of the CLCS in light of the resilience of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall resilience of the Convention – its durability, its flexibility and its plasticity in the face of myriad challenges that have unfolded over time – is largely attributable to certain design features within the Convention, to a willingness to 'bend' the Convention toward practical outcomes when necessary, and to the foresight of the drafters in closely tying the Convention to other agreements and standards, as well as to the general field of international law, so that the Convention might evolve as the world evolves. There are risks in flexibility and plasticity; in measured doses they promote resilience, while if taken too far they can erode confidence and support in the regime. Ultimately, such resilience rests on the good faith of States and other relevant actors in pursuing common ground in regulating a common space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"China's Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order" by Isaac B. Kardon is a comprehensive examination of China's maritime claims and activities in the East Asian waters, specifically the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea. The book analyzes China's attempts to influence international maritime rules, focusing on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It discusses China's revisionist goals and its impact on the regional and international order. While the book lacks a broader focus on the perspectives of key global actors such as the United States and the United Nations, it provides valuable insights into Chinese maritime influence and its implications for the international order. [Extracted from the article]

Th is article examines a case in which three fisher men were sentenced for people smuggling after having rescued 99 refugees from their sinking ship near Indonesia. Th e analysis is grounded in the juxtaposition of three different sets of mobility rules-Indonesian migration law, customary law of the sea, and international law for search and rescue at sea. It argues that recent mobility restrictions at the Indonesian state level implemented to deter maritime movements are in violation of longer-standing local and international sets of mobility rules meant to protect lives at sea. Th e findings show a legal precedent that could cause potential non-state rescuers to abandon rescue to avoid state sanctions, while states may enjoy impunity for disregarding international law concerning the rescue of people in distress at sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mawani has penned a breathtaking book that challenges the terra-centric understanding of modern (Western) law through an anti-colonial narrative of a ship, its passengers, and the ambitiously defiant journey they took together across the timespace of the erstwhile British Empire. Five years after its publication, this book review seeks to revisit this narrative and distinguish Mawani's work as pathbreaking for the theorisation of law at a planetary scale in ways that also account for the 'non-human' and 'more-than-human' relations. Unlike many newer strands of scholarship seeking to theorise more-than-human dimensions of law- be it in ecological or technological contexts- Mawani's novel 'oceans as method' approach refuses to erase the centrality of racialised violence to the legal empire, including in law's foundational concepts like time, jurisdiction, object and subject. The last section offers some reflections on how engagements with the contexts of caste could have rendered the work richer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the historical and continuing Cambodia-Thailand maritime dispute in the Overlapping Claims Area of the Gulf of Thailand, first looking into the history of the dispute to identify primary sticking points that have led to the five decade deadlock and then considering current politics, attendant risks and possibilities of finding a solution to the deadlock. The author argues that policy makers have a historic opportunity to seize the moment by using large amounts of political capital accumulated in the elections last year to break the longstanding impasse. Policy makers must pay heed to nationalisms in both countries to lessen the risks of negotiation failure. If policy makers stick to international law as the basis of their negotiations and of the narrative they present to their publics, and push forward with territorial claims that provide for equitable distribution of the disputed area's 11 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, both countries could achieve energy security in the short and medium term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime security governance is crucial for Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago spread across a vast water area about the size of the United States. The existence of several law enforcement institutions to uphold Indonesian laws made governance and authority fractured and weak. Consequently, BAKAMLA was established to improve Indonesian maritime security governance by synergising and monitoring law enforcement at sea. Despite being supported politically by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, institutionally, BAKAMLA remains underperforming. This article discusses whether the existence of BAKAMLA fulfils Indonesia's political and security needs to have an integrated coast guard institution. The article considers relevant literature and the research phase employed in-depth interviews with stakeholders of Indonesia's law enforcement officers at sea. This article concludes that BAKAMLA is still relevant if significant adjustments are made to institutional empowerment by revising and harmonising relevant laws. Such revision reflects the aspirations of political support and will from the Indonesian government to BAKAMLA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean protection is essential to avoid climate disaster. Phytoplankton, seaweeds, and sea grasses produce more than half of Earth's oxygen-- exceeding all terrestrial forests and plants combined--and absorb about ninety percent of the heat generated by rising emissions. Yet oceans continue to be sites for brazen environmental law violations, from illegal fishing to toxic dumping. International criminal law has largely ignored these crimes, even when they amount to offshore environmental atrocities. Meanwhile, legal structures for ocean governance tend to focus on regulatory compliance, self-policing, and dispute resolution, all of which have proved inadequate to protect oceans and coastal communities. Without more global enforcement, environmental criminals will continue to operate with impunity at sea, even as their crimes exacerbate existential climate threats. Mare liberum or freedom of the seas has been a foundational principle of ocean law for centuries, dating back to the writings of Hugo Grotius. But unconditional free seas are no longer defensible in the Anthropocene. The idea of free seas falsely presumes an inexhaustible ocean too vast to govern. Consequently, governance models based solely on the principle of free seas continue to legitimate careless national policies, destructive relations with marine ecosystems, and exploitation of vulnerable ocean environments. Moving forward the international community must defend oceans as the heritage of all humankind and work together to protect seas against serious environmental harms. This Article develops a blueprint for targeted forms of international criminalization that would deter offshore ecological destruction. It defends international prosecutions for a range of oceanic environmental crimes, including marine pollution, illegal fishing, and seabed destruction caused by illegal trawling or deep-sea mining. Beyond theories of retribution or deterrence, global criminal prosecutions for environmental harms have expressive value during this time of climate crisis. International criminal convictions showcase humanity's shared concern for ocean life and marine environments. Criminalization of grave ocean harms would signal an ecocentric shift in international criminal law and aid multilateral efforts to protect marine environments and to promote new legal duties to nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on EU policy effectiveness focuses on implementation and compliance within the EU; however, there is a need for a greater understanding of how and why transboundary socio‐ecological issues challenge policy effectiveness beyond the EU's borders. This article introduces the innovative concept of 'ripple effects' of compliance, which are harms perpetuated by structural inequalities, and discusses their implications for EU environmental governance. Contributing to transnational compliance research by integrating political ecology and green criminology, the analysis builds on qualitative data on the illegal bird trade from the Western Balkans into the EU. It demonstrates that compliance with conservation policies within Member States undermines EU policy objectives through crime displacement and institutional misfit, which externalise environmental harm to the Western Balkans. Increased enforcement and monitoring of policy implementation alone cannot function as a panacea for policy ineffectiveness. Addressing these dynamics requires strengthened multilevel and cross‐jurisdictional governance that encompasses entire ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the existence of a dispute is key to establishing and exercising jurisdiction in international adjudication by international courts and tribunals. Much has been written on the definition and emergence of a dispute, but there has been almost no scholarly consideration of the question of the ending of a dispute. This article contends that the extinction of a dispute is a separate and independent legal process, distinct from the mere non-fulfilment of the criteria for the definition of a dispute. It conducts a thorough study of the different means of extinguishing a dispute as recognised thus far in the case law of the ICJ and ITLOS, identifying and analysing three methods by which a dispute may be extinguished. It then demonstrates that each such method is deeply rooted in core legal principles related to the international judicial function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2015 accession of Palestine to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has implications for the rights and obligations of Eastern Mediterranean States. Palestine's maritime entitlements under UNCLOS are almost two and a half times the land area of Gaza in the form of a territorial sea. Palestine's maritime sovereign rights may extend up to 200 NM offshore Gaza within the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf with tremendous economic potential. This article examines Palestine maritime claims under UNCLOS and the corresponding delimitation process. It argues that the application of UNCLOS in the East Mediterranean region may contribute to an equitable settlement of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the vulnerability of the law of the sea to grey-zone lawfare based on the maxim pacta sunt servanda, arguing that this rule can readily be employed as a means of lawfare. Through the broad lenses of (1) passage and operational rights in sovereign waters and (2) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) operational rights, the susceptibility to grey-zone lawfare stratagems and tactics based on both "different pacta" and "different servanda" claims are examined. To this end, the specific issues leveraged to illustrate these uses of the different available pacta strategies in grey-zone lawfare at sea are archipelagic sea lanes passage through neutral archipelagic waters, and due regard in respect of third state operational rights in the EEZ. The analysis of each of these contexts then facilitates assessment of the methodology and rule-source tactics that can be exploited when employing pacta sunt servanda as a means of lawfare in respect of grey-zone operations at sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia is systematically mapping critical infrastructure in the North and Baltic Seas. These activities are intended to unsettle NATO countries and prepare the ground for possible sabotage. The problem is that the international law of the sea does not provide coastal States with clear authority to prevent the collection of intelligence on maritime infrastructure within their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ s). This article argues that coastal States must nevertheless be able to exercise their sovereign rights with respect to the exploration and exploitation of the EEZ and continental shelf. Consequently, they must be allowed to take the necessary measures to protect the infrastructure serving the exercise of those sovereign rights. This argument could help to establish a legal basis for countering Russian mapping operations in the EEZ s and on the continental shelves of coastal States in the North and Baltic Seas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the legal status of coastal-deprived states. Its objective is to illustrate the rights of a state that is confined and geographically impacted within the exclusive economic zone's living wealth. Additionally, it aims to highlight international variations in the rights of a state that is confined and geographically affected within the exclusive economic zone, as established by the Third Conference on the Law of the Sea. The research focuses on establishing the legal definition of a locked-in state. The present study has adopted an analytical technique to examine the entitlement of states that are geographically impacted and trapped to exercise their right to participate in the welfare of living riches on the high seas. Numerous conclusions and recommendations have been derived, with the foremost being the necessity to revise the Convention on the Law of the Sea on the provisions concerning the status of states lacking beaches and geographically impacted states. This amendment is crucial in safeguarding their entitlement to utilize the open ocean and partake in all fishing, mobility, and exploration endeavors to extract minerals and sustain their livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 1 August 2022, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) rendered its preliminary ruling in the joined cases C-14/21 and C-15/21, which concerned the detention of two German-flagged civilian rescue vessels operated by the German non-governmental organisation Sea Watch. The detention was executed by Italian port authorities following port State inspections carried out pursuant to Directive 2009/16 on Port State Control (PSC Directive). The ECJ's judgment is the first to comprehensively address and clarify the legal framework governing the European Union's system of port State control. The Court provided several clarifications concerning the interpretation of the PSC Directive as well as relevant rules of the international law of the sea. Overall, these clarifications may be considered positive for the rule of law in the context of port State inspections of civilian search and rescue vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The law of the sea is currently understood as a distinct field of international law that came into existence together with (modern) international law. Has this always been so? How did past international lawyers understand what we call today 'the law of the sea'? Were they aware of the fact that this was a separate legal regime? And when did modern conceptions of the law of the sea emerge? This article examines past scholarship, from the sixteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century, in order to identify how law of the sea was conceived in past scholarship and how this conception links to our current understanding of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands have announced their interest in constructing artificial 'energy islands' to enable the integration of large-scale offshore wind energy into the energy system. This raises several legal questions, such as how do these developments fit in the balance of interests required by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, what European Union law is applicable to artificial islands and how Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands approach the construction of artificial islands. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the applicable legal framework and shows the variety of approaches and strategic choices States may have when developing energy islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For half a century, States and international organizations have made efforts to regulate the conduct of transnational business entities through international standards. However, all attempts to adopt binding international rules on business and human rights (BHR) have failed so far, mainly due to the diverging interests of States from the Global North and the Global South. Instead, States and other relevant stakeholders, such as international organizations, transnational corporations, and civil society, have adopted non-binding soft law instruments to curb corporate human rights abuses. Still, the continuous and often flagrant human rights violations by corporations speak against the effectiveness of these soft law instruments. In 2014, only three years after the adoption of the widely commended United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Human Rights Council passed a resolution to start the negotiations of a legally binding instrument (LBI) on BHR. While some see the LBI negotiations as a historic opportunity, States continue to disagree on the need for the international harmonization of standards, with major players like the United States and the European Union being highly skeptical of adopting a BHR treaty. By drawing lessons from international nuclear law, this Article argues that BHR should be regulated through a mix of soft and hard law instruments. It seeks to contribute to the scholarship on BHR that has sought inspiration from other fields of international law that regulate corporate activities, such as anti-corruption law, environmental law, and the law of the sea. The regulatory regime in the nuclear field is well-established and consists of an increasingly dense web of soft law and hard law instruments covering corporate conduct in the nuclear sector. This Article first examines past failed attempts to adopt binding international standards on BHR and gives an overview of the applicable BHR soft law instruments (II). Based on insights gained from international nuclear law, the Article then discusses the upsides and downsides of soft law in regulating corporate conduct (III). The Article concludes by addressing the trend toward taking more BHR hard law measures at the national level. Building on international nuclear law, the Article makes a case for the international harmonization of legally binding standards, which would benefit States from the Global South and Global North (IV). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, the European Union has presented itself on the world stage as a norm entrepreneur and global maritime power. However, this claim to power is belied by its recent experience of a surge in crises – both of domestic and international origin. Nonetheless, the EU's 2021 update to its Arctic Policy noted that, due to the Union's strategic Arctic interests, full engagement in Arctic matters is a geopolitical necessity for the EU. Given the augmented attention on the Arctic region for climate, economic and, increasingly, for security reasons, this is not surprising. However, it does beg the question of how the EU intends to involve itself more thoroughly in Arctic affairs. This article seeks to explore the extent to which the Union's foundational narrative of 'never again' regarding conflict and war can explain EU actions in the Arctic, the EU as a peaceful maritime power and its broader approach to ocean governance, particularly in the Circumpolar North. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship in law and society has engaged in novel ways with maritime spaces, articulating how they inform legal theory more broadly. This essay builds on such scholarship, and on a broad-brushed survey of maritime history, to make two basic arguments. First, a look at political and legal processes regarding maritime spaces reveals that law is transnational 'all the way down'. Legal theorists often assume that transnational legal processes are an added layer beyond domestic and international law. But the maritime perspective reveals that transnationalism comes first, both analytically and historically, as a constant negotiation of the relationship between what is 'inside' and what is 'outside' a polity. Second, the maritime space begins, at least in dominant legal traditions, as an absolute exteriority – imagined as outside or beyond polities and jurisdictions. But with the climate crisis and the emergence of the Anthropocene we may observe an inversion, the sea now appears as a record of harmful human activity; a mirror showing a troublesome collective portrait of humanity. The inversion from a maritime exteriority to the intimacy of ubiquitous environmental harm defines the parameters of law and politics today. The essay concludes with reflections on how the maritime perspective may best be engaged today in responding to that image through political action. It conceptualizes what I call the 'commonist lifeboat' – a model of bottom-up universalism for tumultuous times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "LA COUR! LA MER!" by Mark A. Drumbl explores the intersection of courts and the sea in the context of The Last Colony, focusing on the Chagossian justice journey to redress the UK's partition of Chagos from Mauritius. The narrative delves into the significance of the law of the sea in challenging British sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, culminating in an ITLOS arbitration that found the UK in violation of its obligations to Mauritius. The article emphasizes the importance of individual agency in effecting legal change and highlights the ongoing struggle for justice and self-determination in the face of colonial legacies. [Extracted from the article]

Maritime piracy is a pressing global economic and security challenge, posing significant threats to international shipping and global trade. Contemporary piracy is intrinsically linked to matters of governance and economic marginalization fostered by the globalization of the world economy. The first and second order costs of piracy are not inconsequential. It is estimated that they cost the global economic community about $18 billion a year. Indeed, during their peak the Somali pirates clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of global maritime commerce to aggressive and effective pirate attacks. Using data from the International Maritime Bureau, this paper aspires to provide an understanding of important trends in contemporary maritime piracy, shedding light on the core issues that enable their persistent geographic reach and permanency on the global security landscape. The results indicate that maritime piracy is a global problem but is spatially concentrated in five regions. Geography, political instability, a lack of capacity, and economic marginalization creates conditions conducive to piracy, together with factors such as corruption and poor regional cooperation. The overarching problem is one of governance. First, ineffective governance on land is a primary reason for piracy at sea. Second, the international legal structure provided by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is inadequate and does not provide the necessary framework to control piracy in international space or territorial waters. Ultimately, this paper contributes to the academic discourse on maritime piracy by providing a holistic analysis of contemporary trends using Indonesia and Nigeria as case studies thus offering insights into common underlying drivers and dynamics. Finally, international maritime patrols and regional security efforts appear to have reduced the effectiveness of pirates during the past few years, however, these efforts do little to reduce factors of economic marginalization, societal fragmentation, and political instability on land that enable maritime piracy at sea.