What are the implications of the maritime security agenda for how the oceans are governed? And what can we learn about international order and change? These are the questions I explore in a new draft paper co-authored with Tim Edmunds (Bristol University). We will present and discuss the paper in the Work In Progress Seminar Series of the International Studies Research Unit of the Department. The discussion takes place on the 18th of May, 4.00-5.30, Park Place 32. Here’s the abstract of the paper (contact me for a copy by email):

The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of international relations theory. In this article the rise of the new maritime security agenda provides us with an exemplary case for how new orders emerge. Investigating the evolution of maritime security and the diverse responses to it, we develop the concept of pragmatic orders. Pragmatic orders emerge in response to new problem spaces and are primarily driven by informal practical activities geared at coping with and governing these spaces. Outlining this approach we detail core characteristics of maritime security and study four elements of it, that is, maritime security strategies, new forms of governance, the episteme of maritime security and the role of capacity building projects. The article draws attention to the fundamental reorganization of maritime space occurring over the past decade, and offers an innovative new approach on how to study orders and change.