Search

The article reports that the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict disrupted the European energy landscape, particularly the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which aimed to double Russia's natural gas exports to Germany and bypass Ukraine's role as a transit corridor. It mentions that Germany stopped the pipeline's construction marking the end of the Ostpolitik approach that guided Europe's relationship with Moscow for over fifty years on global energy flows and alliance politics.

The article reports that Navy updated its doctrine book NWP 3 to keep the terms in agreement with the joint doctrine NWP 3 describes the levels of war, command-and-control arrangements, and numbered fleets. Topics include the Navy is facing problems to operate globally, given that the seas are interconnected; and the need for global naval coordination, and there is a lack of discussion about naval operations in a joint context with multifleet operations on a global level.

In this paper, Stojanović-Čehajić and Zubčić investigate how the everyday experiences of international maritime industry workers from Croatia provide resources for the rise of right-wing populism. Drawing on individual interviews, focus groups and digital ethnography, they analyse three levels of interconnected everyday experiences which provide resources for core antiinstitutional commitments of right-wing populism among Croatian seafarers: 1) a nationalist political imaginary centred on the conflict between a 'heartland people' and pluralist institutions, and the distrust of institutions and elites resulting from ongoing state corruption/capture; 2) the labour regime of the international maritime industry marked by socio-cultural deprivation, economic insecurity and systemic micromanagement under suboptimal working conditions; and 3) the digital sociality of the 'internet of platforms' hostile to collective deliberation and action, fuelling the experience of collective powerlessness, which is conducive to the dominance of extreme and exclusionary members. Lastly, the authors provide preliminary notes on urgent areas of research for combating the rise of right-wing populism among international maritime industry workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the successes and challenges of NATO and EU interventions off the coast of Somalia. It begins with identifying the mandate of multinational naval missions to fight piracy. After discussing achievements and significant developments in anti-piracy operations, the paper scrutinises NATO's successes and challenges in taking up the fight against piracy in the Horn of Africa region. The article continues with providing reasons for the EU's involvement in combating Somali piracy and explains the need for the continuous expansion of Operation Atalanta's mandate. It then elaborates on the EU's successes and challenges with regards to addressing the threat of piracy off the Somali coast. The study argues that piracy can only be eliminated if multilateral coordination at sea and ashore is enhanced; law enforcement becomes more effective; operational information is more widely shared; and security capabilities are strengthened in the Horn of Africa region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa: Drivers of Strategic Change 320 / 2021-22 Review 323 / ECOWAS: Problems and Prospects: Can this major regional body meet growing economic and military challenges? The first of these was in Mali, when elements of the military, headed by Colonel Assimi Goïta, took power following months of civil protests, political deadlock and growing military discontent over the government's handling of insecurity in the north and centre of the country, forcing the president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, to resign and dismiss the government. For example, the September 2021 coup in Guinea - when Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the head of the country's special forces, announced the dissolution of the government, the suspension of the constitution and detention of the president, Alpha Condé - took place in the wake of protests at president Conde's scrapping of the two-term presidential limit. Despite this, the Mozambican government continued to rule out the deployment of foreign government troops and instead persisted with PMCs, including South Africa-based Dyck Advisory Group, which provided air support for local security forces. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Journal of Social Sciences & Philosophy is the property of Research Center for Humanities & Social Sciences, Academia Sinica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Social Sciences & Philosophy is the property of Research Center for Humanities & Social Sciences, Academia Sinica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Studia Islamika is the property of Center for the Study of Islam & Society of UIN Jakarta and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

China's maritime militia groups have attracted much scholarly attention in recent years. Systematically funded and trained by the Chinese authorities, the militia groups help advance China's maritime claims but risk both intended and unintended physical clashes at sea. Based on the 2001 Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, this study explores the possibility of establishing and recognizing China's state responsibility in relation to the internationally wrongful conduct of its maritime militia. China's maritime militia groups blur the line between fishing boats and naval forces. In essence, they are empowered to perform the critical function of the Chinese government as provided by Chinese internal laws. As shown by emerging evidence, China's maritime militia groups are also instructed, directed, and/or controlled by the Chinese state organs including military authority and party leadership, both central and local. This study finds that the conduct of Chinese maritime militia constitutes the breach of China's international obligations in terms of (1) due regard for other states, (2) maritime safety, (3) marine environment protection and preservation, and/or (4) the overfishing ban. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turcology Research is the property of Ataturk University Coordinatorship of Scientific Journals and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, three steps are made. First, an effort is made to show a consequential effect of maritime insecurity on seafarers and marine professionals; they are at risk of a complicated string of processes that impact their lives. Second, there is the risk to the environment and property. Third, the economic cost of traditional maritime crimes is examined against the potential maritime trade expansion from implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Third, the policy and regulatory measures implemented in the region against piracy are assessed to propose additional measures for improvement. Essentially, the study deploys a case study approach with a three-year field observation over the Gulf of Guinea region and is supported by outcomes of various remote interviews, in addition to online surveys conducted over three months—findings are juxtaposed with the estimated cost of piracy and potential implications for policies driving economic advancement. The results showed inadequate maritime surveillance despite enormous legal frameworks amidst the current structures of regional and international corporations. The piracy cost is high and inevitable as a factor of insurance coverage passed onto end consumers. Response to piracy has been reactionary rather than proactive, as attacks have continued in territorial and offshore areas into 2021. The impact will be visible on AfCFTA post-COVID-19. The study highlights the need for a community-based approach to surveillance modelled after the community policing model currently implemented in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, ROK has constructed a multi-pronged implementation framework for marine ecological environment protection, maritime security management and maritime security in the field of non-traditional marine security. Through close cooperation among multiple departments, ROK has actively built a comprehensive marine pollution control system, optimized maritime security management system, strengthened maritime security jurisdiction, and actively promoted bilateral and multilateral marine non-traditional security cooperation. However, its policy implementation is also faced with the negative impact from the domestic political operation, the intensification of maritime disputes within the region due to the integration of maritime forces, the imperfection of regional cooperation mechanisms and the difficulty in raising the level of mutual trust due to the continuous disputes between countries, which makes it impossible to fully exert its practical effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the agency of local societies of the Sino-Korean maritime frontier in the circulation, utilisation, and management of intelligence that was intertwined with Chosŏn Korea's subtle central-local relations in the international environment of northeast Asia during the Ming-Manchu conflict. It argues that the enhanced mobility of coastal populations in a highly pivotal sea space contributed to their multilateral espionage activity, within which their individual influence developed and deviated from state interests. This is exemplified by the wartime career of Ch'oe Hyoil, a Korean military man and intelligence agent residing on the Ŭiju coast, who shifted political identities and connected with multiple powers to acquire and transmit intelligence within the Ming-Manchu confrontation. His premediated escape to the sea in 1639 particularly illuminates the connectivity of coastal communities and the various roles of administrations at different levels in handing border espionage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a general agreement that piracy poses a significant threat to maritime shipping, empirical evidence regarding its economic consequences remains scarce. This paper combines firm-level Chinese customs data and ship position data with information on pirate attacks to investigate how exporting firms and cargo ships respond to maritime piracy. It finds that overall exports along affected shipping routes fall following an increase in pirate activity. In addition, piracy induces firms to switch from ocean to air shipping, while remaining ocean shipments become larger. At the ship-level, the paper provides evidence for re-routing, as container ships avoid regions prone to pirate attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Navy escorts are considered crucial in countering illegal piracy attacks. In this paper, a novel approach is developed to investigate the effect of navy escorts on piracy incidents by models based on two enhanced Tree-Augmented Naïve (TAN) Bayesian networks. This approach offers a systematic investigation into the various factors that influence pirate activities, and helps to identify changes in piracy attack behaviors when confronted by navy escorts and assess the effectiveness of anti-piracy measures. An empirical study is conducted utilizing a unique data set compiled from multiple sources from 2000 to 2019. The empirical evidence shows that there was a gradual reduction in the incidence of piracy attacks in East Africa following the implementation of navy escorts in 2009, but with a surge in 2010 and 2011. The data set is, thus, divided into two time periods at the point of 2009 to facilitate a robust and comprehensive analysis, resulting in the development of two TAN models. Meanwhile, the geographical distribution of pirate attacks has shifted from international waters to port areas and territorial waters. We argue that the surge and geographical shift could be attributed to the calculating behavior of pirates when they encounter external pressures. Finally, a Shapely approach is introduced to evaluate the potential effectiveness of the implemented risk management strategies from a Game Theory perspective. This study offers new insights into the promotion of navy escorts and contributes to the development of a framework for assessing piracy risks in uncertain and dynamic anti-piracy environments., (© 2024 Society for Risk Analysis.)

This research aims to analyze the fundamental duty of the sailor in the safety of sea traffic from a technological perspective. Thus, the purpose of the study is to verify, regarding the Constitution, the theme of safety, correlating it with the legislation of sea traffic, namely the Law n° 9.537/97 main national standard on maritime traffic safety (LESTA); with Decree n.°. 2.596 of 1998 (RLESTA) that regulates the referred rule; and with the infra-legal rules issued by the Brazilian Navy (maritime authority). The main aspects related to the safety of sea traffic will be studied in this work, in regard to the technological purpose in order to unveil the importance of the seafarer in compliance with these rules. This practice by the sailor will be extremely valuable for the promotion of safety of sea traffic, demonstrating that, in addition to an action of solidarity, according to the hypothesis presented, the achievement of safety of waterway traffic by this group will be unveiled, under the phenomenological method, as a fundamental duty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the different scenarios to be faced as a result of the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, and the rescue operations carried out. These consequences are of a very diverse nature, since some of them affect only specific individuals, but others, however, affect society as a whole. On the one hand, there are the short-term consequences, which refer to criminal proceedings, either against NGOs and the crews of their ships, or against State officials. On the other hand, the long-term consequences (and that we have not faced yet), would be the threat to the free movement system (Schengen), and the possible knock-on effect. In this regard, a recent predictive mathematical model created ad hoc to try to measure this knock-on effect is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to identify the security and defense threats in the context of the current criminal and terrorist multi-domain by reviewing the evolution of warfare from the beginning of the 20th century to the present, examining the emergence of new domains: the air domain and the space and cyberspace domains, in addition to the traditional land and maritime domains. Then, a documentary analysis identifies the new threats and defense and security decisions adopted by multilateral organizations in this regard. Finally, it evidences the acceleration of vital processes from the air domain, which has encouraged the mutation of ever greater threats converging in cyberspace today. The challenge is to anticipate, contain, deny, and deter new threats in a complex framework of transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern maritime security issues have a great importance for Bulgaria. However, in view of the fact that the Law of the sea is governed mainly by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea adopted in 1982, there is a leading international law approach. In this regard, one of the purposes of this paper is to consider the content of the concept of "maritime security". It is required to identify and analyze the components of maritime security as well as to synchronize legislation between countries in the field of both maritime and criminal law. The marine environment predisposes to the commission of a large number and different types of crimes. Most common threats are: transportation of illegal immigrants by sea, theft and fraud of goods, smuggling of drugs, illegal transportation and trading weapons and chemicals, armed robbery and piracy, terrorist acts, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as crimes against the environment. In order to identify mechanism to overcome the abovementioned threats, we need to pay attention to the role of international organizations in ensuring maritime security, namely: NATO, the UN, the International Maritime Organization and the European Maritime Safety Agency. Considering the fact that in general there is a lack of adequate measures ensuring High seas security, we shall overview the processes revealing the necessity of sanctioning mechanisms and strategies for overcoming the addressed at the current paper, problem. Important aspects of the maritime security are: Satellite System INMARSAT, legal acts adopted by the above stated international organizations. The legal acts must be systematized especially considering the dynamic changes in the conditions for the functioning of international security. In this line of thinking, it is necessary to follow current trends in order to build a well-functioning system of institutions at international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Relaciones Internacionales, Estrategia y Seguridad is the property of Revista de Relaciones Internacionales, Estrategia y Seguridad and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Conjuntura Austral is the property of Conjuntura Austral and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Arts Magazine is the property of Thamar University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There is a widespread belief within both the scholarly and policymaking community that there is no broadly accepted international definition of terrorism. It is indeed the case that the United Nations has not succeeded in finalizing a counterterrorism treaty, and that acts of violence are often followed by a debate over whether they constitute acts of terrorism. This Article argues, however, that the vast majority of nations have in fact committed to adopting a substantive definition of terrorism and are steadily incorporating that definition into their domestic law through their adherence to the standards promulgated by the Financial Action Task Force. The widespread commitment to this definition offers scholars and policymakers the opportunity to move beyond fundamental, longstanding debates over the nature of terrorism and focus on applying this definition on the global stage. With a definition of terrorism in effect, terrorist actors and their supporters can be identified and isolated more effectively, with more innocent lives protected, and terrorism itself met clearly with the international opprobrium of banned international practices like piracy and slavery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acotaciones: Investigación y Creación Teatral is the property of Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramatico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article reviews the peculiarities of distance learning platforms usage in law enforcement educational institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Distance learning at U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, which is based on the Online Campus have been substantiated. Particular attention is paid to topical issues of training on such online training mod-ules of the Campus: crime scene, driving training, drugs, firearms, health, interviews, investigation, law, topography, maritime training, personal security, technical means, terrorism, stopping vehicles, etc. There are also programs to study the courses "Small Arms" and "Use of Force" in the online training modules of the Campus. The specifics of professional training of border guards in Asian countries have been revealed: the use of platforms of law enforcement agencies; focus of training on the devel-opment of basic competencies and the ability to solve problem situations; the opportunity to take online courses for all categories of staff at a con-venient time; creation of a three-level round-the-clock system of functioning of training of specialists. Peculiarities of professional training of border guards of European countries have been outlined considering the usage of both the platforms of institutions and joint platforms of international organizations, namely: web platform Virtual Aula of Agency FRONTEX; CEPOL DL (e-Net) web platform; European Coast Guard Training (ECGTP) platforms; ILIAS EU Mission EUBAM; Connect & Learn UNHCR; UNODC and others. Special attention is paid to the capabilities of the Virtual Aula web platform for training teachers, instructors, external experts, etc. Web platform Virtual Aula of Agency FRONTEX presents up-todate information on educational programs conducted in Europe. Characteristics of distance learning platforms usage in higher law enforcement educational institutions in Ukraine have been presented. Distance learning course of the English language for border guards have been developed and implemented. Considerable attention is also paid to the disclosure of online assessment of knowledge: the test of self-control on the topics, modules, and procedure of final assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the dilemmas, obligations and opportunities faced by heritage professionals in elaborating cultural 'assets' among the breadwinning practices of contemporary, artisanal communities. It takes as its case study the authors' Bahari Yetu, Urithi Wetu ('Our Ocean, Our Heritage') project and its engagement with maritime practitioners in and around the town of Bagamoyo, Tanzania. The article identifies Bagamoyo's contemporary maritime scene as meriting heritage recognition on a global level, yet sitting entirely outside the country's legal and political conception of heritage. Moreover, it acknowledges that 'heritage' as founded on the livelihood-earning activities of the community's practitioners, such as boatbuilders, fishers and mariners. These often operate at subsistence level, yet are subject to transformative economic, social and environmental forces, as well as government agencies with no heritage remit. Drawing upon and reporting their co-creative engagements and activities with the Bagamoyo community, the authors argue for a non-reifying and people-centred approach to 'living' heritage situations such as that of maritime Bagamoyo, in which the tools of heritage engagement are deployed to amplify the concerns of the practitioner community to a wider audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work is to present the archaeological and historical background of viticulture and winemaking from ancient times to the present day in the Mediterranean basin. According to recent archaeological, archaeochemical and archaeobotanical data, winemaking emerged during the Neolithic period (c. 7th–6th millennium BC) in the South Caucasus, situated between the basins of the Black and Caspian Seas, and subsequently reached the Iberian Peninsula and Western Europe during the local beginning of Iron Age (c. 8th century BC), following the main maritime civilizations. This review summarises the most relevant findings evidencing that the expansion of wine production, besides depending on adequate pedo-climatic conditions and wine-growing practices, also required the availability of pottery vessels to properly ferment, store and transport wine without deterioration. The domestication of wild grapevines enabled the selection of more productive varieties, further sustaining the development of wine trade. Other fermented beverages such as mead and beer gradually lost their relevance and soon wine became the most valorised. Together with grapes, it became an object and a system of value for religious rituals and social celebrations throughout successive ancient Western civilizations. Moreover, wine was used for medicinal purposes and linked to a wide variety of health benefits. In everyday life, wine was a pleasant drink consumed by the elite classes and commoner populations during jubilee years, festivals, and banquets, fulfilling the social function of easy communication. In the present work, emphasis is put on the technical interpretation of the selected archaeological and historical sources that may explain present viticultural and oenological practices. Hopefully, this review will contribute to nurturing mutual understanding between archaeologists and wine professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using sources in both Japanese and Portuguese, this article examines how maritime connections on the island of Kyushu facilitated the spread of Christianity there during the Jesuit mission to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century. Part I builds upon recent Japanese-language scholarship on the prevalence of maritime activity and transportation on Kyushu and highlights the importance of so-called "sea peoples" for individual daimyo (regional lords) who ruled the island. Part II reveals how the first Jesuits, such as Francis Xavier, used preexisting maritime routes to missionize and founded new Christian communities along the coasts of Kyushu. Many Japanese Christians in these communities had expertise in maritime matters, which proved useful for transporting missionaries, going to church, fleeing persecution, and providing mutual assistance in times of need. In examining how local maritime networks and "sea peoples" facilitated missionization in Japan, we gain greater insight into how Christianity spread globally during the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past few years have witnessed that the success (or failure) of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) depends to a large extent upon engagement with and responses from recipient countries. The article explores the impact of Southeast Asian countries' domestic socio-political factors on their foreign policymaking and BRI projects in Southeast Asia. Based on comparative political sociology, the article develops a conceptual typology of foreign policymaking and an explanatory typology of socio-political risks, both of which are further applied to studying the socio-political risks that BRI projects entail in the four maritime Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore. The empirical study suggests that the Philippines' 'populist' type of foreign policymaking creates the highest level of risks—both political and societal—for BRI projects and that Singapore's 'procedural' type produces the lowest. Malaysia's 'arbitrary' type and Indonesia's 'democratic' type, meanwhile, generate medium-level political or societal risks. These findings have important policy implications for Chinese-funded overseas projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) marked the last stage in developing a comprehensive and codified legal regime for ocean governance. The resultant United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was a compromise instrument that accommodated the interests of diverse groups at UNCLOS III. As a compromise instrument, the Convention did not address all pertinent issues on ocean governance. Some of the fundamental shortcomings of UNCLOS include a restricted definition of piracy under Article 101 and lack of a definitive enforcement mechanism under Article 105. The article highlights these shortfalls and outlines the efforts by the global community to address the shortcomings in order to combat maritime security threats, both at regional and global levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh's initiation of arbitration proceedings separately against India and Myanmar, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), resulted in the creation of a "grey area", having overlapping continental shelf and exclusive economic zone rights, between India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. There are several examples of cooperative frameworks for management of overlapping maritime claims areas around the world, but no such mechanism exists in South Asia. The resolution of the grey area remains an impediment towards ensuring collective maritime security and comprehensive development of the Bay of Bengal. Being the biggest nation in the region, and with its "Neighbourhood First" policy and its promotion of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to harness shared and accelerated growth through mutual cooperation, India needs to take the lead in seeking a resolution of the grey area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have used terminal narratives when discussing Chamorro culture in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, especially in relation to its maritime connections. Researchers and administrators have done this explicitly by claiming that Chamorro people have lost touch with the sea because of long periods of colonization and implicitly through the routine omission of Chamorro people in studies of Micronesian cultures. Through a historical and archeological study that collaborates with contemporary Indigenous peoples, we argue that Chamorro maritime cultural identity, while it changed in response to the social environment, has persisted into the present. Maritime activities, particularly fishing and canoeing, have been a part of the daily lives of Chamorro people from 4,000 BP to the present, despite restrictions placed on these activities by four colonial powers. Furthermore, we find that asserting maritime connections have become a form of resistance in response to the current political climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten years after the last large scale piracy attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, other maritime crimes such as illicit fishing and maritime smuggling have emerged. The spill over of conflicts in Yemen and Mozambique and maritime grey-zone activities have also become major maritime security issues. Yet, perhaps the most worrying – though largely underappreciated – trend is the surge of naval activity and strategic competition in the region. This is a major dilemma for the region: The region relies on external military actors to protect vital shipping lanes, but the presence of these actors also risks importing geopolitical tensions that could undermine regional maritime stability. How can the region address these maritime insecurities and the evolving militarisation dilemma? We investigate the regional maritime security architecture to identify institutions that can help the region manage the militarisation dilemma. We argue that only the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (SHADE) mechanism and the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) can help mitigate geopolitical competition in the region. Preparing these mechanisms to deal with the militarisation dilemma will be vital for the long-term prosperity of the Western India Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European powers have significantly enhanced their involvement in the Indian Ocean in recent years. They have released different versions of Indo-Pacific strategies, enhanced military deployment and security intervention in the region, stepped up participation in regional mechanisms, and deepened maritime security cooperation to expand their economic interests, elevate their geopolitical influence, and advance their great-power ambitions. These measures have led to further militarization of the Indian Ocean region while consolidating India's strategic advantages and generating a synergy with the US Indo-Pacific strategy. At the same time, the European powers' involvement in the Indian Ocean has encountered a series of constraints, including limited input, difficulty in balancing multiple strategic directions, insufficient strategic coordination, and complex challenges for strategic footholds. In the coming years, it will be difficult for European powers to make substantial progress in the region, and supporting India to maintain regional balance of power will be their major option in the short term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime piracy represents a strange reality in a world that considers itself evolved, without primitivism and medieval cruelty. However, the obsolescence of these iniquities often stops the cruel reality to come to surface, namely the fact that the danger and ferocity of these acts could generate unpredictable evolutions able to affect more and more areas of the Planetary Ocean. The implementation of comprehensive international legislation in this area and the allocation of necessary forces and means to combat this scourge are becoming increasingly acute if we take into account the fact that the methods and, especially, the means of carrying out maritime piracy and armed robbery at sea are more and more performing, since pirates and sea robbers have been endowed with the latest communications equipment, ultra-fast ships, efficient weapons, but also a strong power to penetrate, through corruption, the prevention and control systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observers characterize China's behavior in the South China Sea in the recent decade as a continuity of assertiveness, coercion, or delay. Yet, even within a pattern of continuity, China's way of handling interstate crises arising from its maritime territorial claims has varied from case to case, vacillating between escalation that prioritizes "safeguarding sovereign rights" (weiquan) and deescalation that puts an emphasis on "maintaining stability" on its periphery (weiwen). How can we explain this variation? In this article, I develop a framework, the audience cost trade-off hypothesis, to explain when and why China is likely to escalate or deescalate in maritime disputes. I argue that when deciding whether to escalate, Chinese decision makers usually weigh and make a trade-off between their anticipated domestic political costs should they back down and their potential international costs should they take an escalatory stance. I illustrate the framework with a case study of two major interstate crises in the South China Sea: the 2012 China-Philippine standoff in the Scarborough Shoal and the 2014 Sino-Vietnamese clash over the deployment of the oil drilling platform HYSY-981. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 20 February 2020, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the China Coast Guard jointly issued the Notice on Issues concerning Jurisdiction of Maritime Criminal Cases (hereinafter the "Notice"). The Notice aims to ensure the effective performance of maritime right-safeguarding and law enforcement functions by the coast guard agencies, punishing maritime crimes by the law and protecting the State's sovereignty, security, maritime rights and interests, as well as maritime order. Maritime criminal cases have strong international implications and their jurisdiction is subject to this short discussion. It is observed that by clarifying maritime criminal cases jurisdiction may to some extent reduce potential disputes in the context of law enforcement activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 21st century's central economic nexus will be centred on the Indo-Pacific region. Simultaneously, the intensifying US-China competition in the Indo-Pacific is deepening. Regional middle powers must negotiate this competition to ensure their interests remain intact. This article applies a realist framework to analyse the strategic alignment of Australia, Japan, and India in response to the great power competition. It examines the strategy each middle power is pursuing to protect their interests and the motivations behind their approaches. It finds a convergence in middle power interests centred on maritime behaviour, adherence to international law, and investment in regional institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]