Authority in Ocean Governance Architecture

Abstract

In this article, we demonstrate that the ocean is a space of politics and explore the what, who, and how of ocean governance. We first sketch the governance architecture and examine challenges and shortcomings concerning political authority. Starting from a definition of “ocean governance,” we highlight that two fundamentally different regulatory approaches are applied to the ocean: a spatial ordering on the one hand and a sectoral segmentation on the other. States are the central actors regulating the use and protection of marine areas, but state sovereignty is stratified, with diminishing degrees of authority farther from the shoreline. As vast marine spaces are beyond the exclusive control of any given territorial state, political authority beyond areas of national jurisdiction must first be created to enable collective decision-making. Consequently, a multitude of authorities regulate human activities in the ocean, producing overlaps, conflicting policies, and gaps. Based on recent contributions to the fast-growing ocean governance research field, we provide a thematic overview structured along the dimensions of maritime security, protection of the marine environment, and economics to unveil patterns of authority in ocean governance.

Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance 2021: Symposium report

“…Ocean governance encompasses many elements. It includes all rules, policies, laws and institutions designed by governmental and/or non-governmental actors on all levels of decision-making, which regulate any human activities concerning the ocean [1] . The session focused on states since states are the central actors that regulate the use and protection of marine areas.…”

Constructing Ocean and Polar Governance

“…The contributions of the first part deal with the patterns and challenges of governance in the oceans and polar regions. Aletta Mondré and Annegret Kuhn provide an overview of the state of the art of political science research on ocean governance, which has only recently taken up the topic in a comprehensive way (Mondré & Kuhn, 2022). The article maps the multilevel structure and multitude of authorities regulating human activities in the ocean and shows that regulatory approaches are fundamentally different depending on whether they follow either a sectoral or a spatial logic.…”

The development of ocean governance for marine environment protection: Current legal system in Taiwan

“…Ocean governance includes many elements, including the rules, policies, laws and institutions established by governmental and/or non-governmental actors at all levels of decision-making that govern any kind of activity related to the ocean (Mondréand Kuhn, 2022;Song et al, 2022). Ocean governance should be different because it has a different definition and scope (Cho, 2006).…”