Drawing on our recent work on the governance of submarine data cables, Tobias Liebetrau and I presented some first findings concerning the politics of this infrastructure at an event on the 27th of November.
The Conference, organized by the Munich Center for Technology in Society had the theme of “Logistical Power. Infrastructure and State Formation Beyond the Nation State”.
In our presentation we paid particular attention to the question of when and how infrastructures, such as the submarine data cable network, become visible and invisible.
Held on November 25th, Tim Edmunds and I presented our understanding of the concept of blue crime, based on a recently published paper. The concept of blue crime is an invitation to think across disciplines how organised crime plays out at sea. It also has the objective to investigate how different responses interrelate and what could be done about the fragmentation of the response.
The Information Fusion Centre (IFC) based in Singapore is one of the most important international hubs for sharing information on the maritime domain. It enhances the global understanding what issues at sea need attention.
One element of this work are frequent events for maritime stakeholders and an interested public. On the 25th of November I had the pleasure to contribute to the 2020 Maritime Security Webinar.
Submarine data cables are one of the most important critical infrastructures of the digital age. Surprisingly little is known about how the cable network works, how it is governed and what kind of politics it entails.
In a new exploratory research project funded by the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science, we study the cable network focusing on the cases of Denmark and South Africa. The project is a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, the Institute for Security Studies (Pretoria), and the SafeSeas network on maritime security.
In a new book chapter I discuss the emergence of maritime domain awareness (MDA) as an idea and how it manifests in regional cooperation. I discuss the assumptions that MDA draws on in the light of various theoretical debates. Read it here.
The chapter is the outcome of a NATO funded conference that was held last year in Copenhagen. See the entire book here.
Our book Capacity Building for Maritime Security. The Western Indian Ocean Experience is now out. The volume, co-edited with Tim Edmunds and Robert McCabe is one of the outcomes of our British Academy funded research project.
In the chapters 14 authors, many of which are from the Western Indian Ocean region investigate the challenges linked to maritime security in general, but also in particular countries.
The book starts with an overview of the challenges linked to maritime security capacity building. It offers a framework for evaluating and studying gaps, needs and progress in developing maritime security responses. Seven countries are studied in detail: Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, Kenya, Seychelles, Djibouti, and Somalia.
The book complements the best practice toolkit for maritime security capacity building published earlier. It is a must read for anyone interested in maritime security, how to best organize responses, and how to deliver capacity building. It is a major new source for those engaged in improving maritime security, ocean governance, but also provides new analytical thinking for the scholarly debate.
What are the consequences of the Anthropocene for maritime security? How will climate change and heigthened awareness for marine conservation impact blue crimes and the work of maritime security forces?
Piracy, smuggling and illegal fishing are three blue crimes increasingly high on the international agenda. Such crimes have different expressions across the world’s maritime regions and affect human lives, political stability and economic interests in different ways, ranging from their impact on coastal communities to international shipping and even national security. What other crimes need attention? How are crimes linked to each other? These are the questions that we will discuss at a SafeSeas webinar on blue crime and the transformation of the maritime security agenda on Thursday, September 10th.
On the 31st of August the new academic term begins in Denmark. For the University of Copenhagen, and the Department of POlitical Science I am a member of, I will be a special term given the ongoing challenges of dealing withe Corona regulations. Keeping students and staff safe and complying with distancing regulations, implies for the department that many courses will either be taught online or blended.
In the term I teach my first year graduate level lecture on Concepts in International Relations. The course investigates the importance of concepts for the study and practice of world politics and then revisits a number of them, ranging from concepts such as ‘knowledge’, ‘order’, ‘modernity’, and ‘practice’ to concepts such as ‘anthropocene’, or ‘queer’.
