Complexities of governance and sovereignty in maritime security

Abstract

Maritime governance should be tailored to effectively confront the complexity of maritime security challenges, namely their cross-boundary nature, the interlink of maritime threats to one another, as well as their inter-weaving with terrestrial challenges. The complexity of the issue often reveals an inherent tension between the trans-sovereign nature of effective governance at sea and the tendency of involved states to insist on their sovereignty and exclusive jurisprudence. In this article we inquire whether state sovereignty and the resulting power dynamics among states is at odds with the ability to achieve an effective security regime at sea. To tackle this question, which bears both theoretical and policy importance, this article investigates circumstances in which dynamics of governance and sovereignty create by themselves a challenge to effective security at sea. The article ventures into in-depth analysis of two maritime security case studies, Singapore in the Malacca Straits and Frontex in the Mediterranean. The analyses reveal the tensions and contradictions that exist between single states’ sovereignty and jurisprudence, and the goal of supra-state maritime security, and identify ways to overcome them. Conclusively, maritime security requires cross-sovereign thinking and regional approach to governance that includes investments in the development of good governance along the coasts, shared jurisdiction at sea, and a unitary command structure and authority over areas of operations.