Christian Bueger


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AMARIS moves to phase 2

Our new research project AMARIS, Analyzes MARitime InSecurity in Ghana. Across 4 work packages the participants based in Copenhagen and Accra investigate expressions of blue crime in Ghana, national maritime security governance as well as capacity building assistance. The project is organised in three phases. To complete phase 1 the inception phase, we held our first larger meeting – the kick off day – on 25.06.2020. The main discussions were devoted to research methodology and data gathering strategy for the upcoming field phase.

The AMARIS team, meeting at the virtual kick off day


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What are the peace and security challenges of the maritime?

A new handbook chapter that I co-authored with Dr. Jessica Larsen from the Danish Institute of International Studies in Copenhagen, provides an overview and synthesis of the challenges that security, development and peace policies face at sea.

Published in a new handbook on Peace, Security and Development the chapter discusses different manifestations of blue crime, the responses to it, and emerging topic areas, such as port security, critical infrastructures at sea or environmental crime. The chapter makes a strong claim for paying more attention to the intersections of blue crimes and calls for more interdisciplinary connections. The Chapter is available here. For a free copy please contact me.


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Do we have the right data for fighting piracy?

One of the core objectives of our Transnational Organised Crime at Sea Project is to systematically review what kind of evidence is available on different forms of blue crime. In a recent event we investigated what kind of data is available on marine piracy and how it can be improved for different purposes reaching from early warning, incident responses, prosecution to trend analysis and policy formulation. Held on the 9th of June, we discussed the outcome of a report on piracy together with representatives from the IMB, shipping industry, UNODC and academia. Here is the video:


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Covid and Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea

I had the pleasure to contribute to an event organised by our partner the Center for Maritime Law and Security Africa (CEMLAWS) based in Ghana. CEMLAWS is one of the work package leaders in our new project AMARIS. The webinar, held this Monday, focused on current trends and developments in the region. As current number indicate pirates are increasingly widening their operational terrain in the region, attacking more frequently in the Gulf of Guinea countries, and going further out to sea. The same time capacity building efforts are progressing well. Yet there are worries that Covid leads to less resource committments both within and from outside the region. Participants hence called for more innovative thinking making the best out of the current situation. Watch the video here:

https://www.facebook.com/cemlawsafrica/videos/2325873727718954/


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Blue Ideaslab on Crimes and Order at Sea

As part of the ongoing discussion on the blue turn and divergent research perspectives on ocean governance, international relations and maritime security, we held another iteration of the blue ideaslab on the 28the of May. The blue ideaslab provides an open format to discuss research and project ideas as well as work in progress. While previous versions were held physically at the University of Copenhagen, this iteration was online, which also enabled broader international participation. Three sets of ideas were discussed under the title “Crimes and Order at Sea”. Jan Stockbruegger from Brown University introduced his research on the history of maritime order, Edyta Rozko, Senior Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway presented insights from her ongoing research project on fisheries, and Tim Edmunds and myself presented our recent paper on the intersections between different blue crimes.


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Event on recent maritime security developments in the Gulf of Guinea

To commemorate World Oceans Day, CEMLAWS Africa is hosting a zoom webinar dubbed ‘Gulf of Guinea Oceans Governance Dialogue’ on 8th June to deliberate on recent piracy trends during this Covid-19 era and examine possible responses to curb these threats faced by the region.

CEMLAWS is one of the partners in the Safeseas project AMARIS and I will participate as one of the speakers. Register here https://t.co/2Fzp07gamU?amp=1 to participate!


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Maritime Security Student Conference

On the 6th and 7th of May we held our annual student conference on maritime security in collaboration with the scholars from the SafeSeas network. At the conference students reported on the results of the research projects that they have been carrying out in relation to my seminar on maritime security at the University of Copenhagen. Diverse topics were covered including smuggling at sea, the regional dynamics in the Barent Sea and Arctic as well as the link between infrastructures, energy security and maritime security. Overall 30 contributions were discussed. This year the meeting was held on zoom.


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Is field work the answer? New pre-print on methodology

A couple of years back I wrote a paper about ‘field work’. It was written for a workshop on political ethnography and was a reflection on my then ongoing research on counter-piracy governance. Arguing that ‘field work’ is not the right term for what I as well as many others are engaged in, the paper explores problems such as multi-sitedness, time, proximity and experimentation. The edition of the workshop that contains the chapter is now forthcoming. Read it as pre-print here.


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Review of new book on the coastguard-navy nexus

My review of Ian Bowers and Swee Lean Collin Koh’s “Grey and White Hulls: An International Analysis of the Navy-Coastguard Nexus” is now published with Contemporary Southeast Asia. The book presents one of the first major comparative studies of how countries organise their maritime security structures. Read here.


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New research project AMARIS

Our new research project Analyzing Maritime Insecurity in Ghana (AMARIS) is launching. The project which is part of the SafeSeas family, investigates the inter-linkage between blue crimes in Ghana’s waters, maritime security governance in the country, including a case study of the maritime security strategy, as well as the impact of external capacity building assistance. The project is funded by the Danish International Development Agency DANIDA and is a cooperation between the University of Copenhagen, CEMLAWS Africa, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, and the University of Ghana. It will run until 2022. Part of the project is a training school for junior maritime security analysts from West Africa. More information will be available soon on the SafeSeas website.