Beyond seablindness: a new agenda for maritime security studies

TLDR

Maritime security has risen in concept and practice, yet mainstream international relations scholarship has largely overlooked it, necessitating a new research agenda. The article aims to outline this agenda, positioning the marine environment within an interlinked land‑sea security complex and identifying future research challenges. The discussion is organized into three sections: theoretical issues and themes of maritime security; practical responses by actors, focusing on domain awareness, coordination, and operations; and dissemination of the agenda through devolved governance, capacity building, and security sector reform. The conclusion identifies future challenges for maritime security studies that arise from the proposed agenda.

Abstract

This article examines the rise of maritime security in concept and practice. We argue that developments in the maritime arena have flown beneath the radar of much mainstream international relations and security studies scholarship, and that a new agenda for maritime security studies is required. In this article we outline the contours of such an agenda, with the intention of providing orientation and direction for future research. Our discussion is structured into three main sections, each of which outlines a core dimension of the maritime security problem space. We begin with a discussion of the issues and themes that comprise the maritime security agenda, including how it has been theorized in security studies to date. Our argument is that the marine environment needs to be understood as part of an interlinked security complex, which also incorporates strong connections between land and sea. Second, we examine the ways in which maritime security actors have responded to these challenges in practice, focusing on issues of maritime domain awareness, coordination of action, and operations in the field. Third, we turn to the mechanisms through which the new maritime security agenda is being disseminated to local actors through a process of devolved security governance. We focus particularly on efforts to distribute knowledge and skills to local actors through capacity building and security sector reform. In the conclusion, we outline the future challenges for maritime security studies that follow from these observations.