Undersea Geopolitics

This book furthers academic scholarship in cutting-edge areas of geographical and geopolitical writing by drawing on a series of little-studied undersea living projects conducted by the US Navy during the Cold War (Project Genesis, Sealab I, II and III). Supported by an engaging and novel empirical setting, the central themes of the book revolve around the practice and construct of ‘territory’, ‘terrain’, the ‘elemental’ and the interrelationships between these material phenomenon and both human and non-human bodies. Furthermore, the book will point to future research trajectories in the form of ‘extreme geographies’ to better understand living practices in a world that is increasingly submerged and extreme.

Long regarded as an empty and inhospitable environment, the deep ocean is rapidly emerging as an ecological hot spot with a remarkable diversity of biological life. Yet, the worlds oceans are currently on a dangerous trajectory of decline, threatened by acidification, oil and gas drilling, overfishing, and, in the long term, deep-sea mining, bioprospecting, and geo-engineering. In The Geopolitics of Deep Oceans, noted environmental sociologist John Hannigan examines the past, present and future of our planets final frontier. The author argues that our understanding of the deep - its definition, boundaries, value, ownership, health and future state - depends on whether we see it first and foremost as a resource cornucopia, a political chessboard, a shared commons, or a unique and threatened ecology. He concludes by locating a new storyline that imagines the oceans as a canary-in-the-mineshaft for gauging the impact of global climate change. The Geopolitics of Deep Oceans is a unique introduction to the geography, law, politics and sociology of the sub-surface ocean. It will appeal to anyone seriously concerned about the present state and future fate of the largest single habitat for life on our planet.

From one of the most admired admirals of his generation -- and the only admiral to serve as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO -- comes a remarkable voyage through all of the world’s most important bodies of water, providing the story of naval power as a driver of human history and a crucial element in our current geopolitical path. From the time of the Greeks and the Persians clashing in the Mediterranean, sea power has determined world power. To an extent that is often underappreciated, it still does. No one understands this better than Admiral Jim Stavridis. In Sea Power, Admiral Stavridis takes us with him on a tour of the world’s oceans from the admiral’s chair, showing us how the geography of the oceans has shaped the destiny of nations, and how naval power has in a real sense made the world we live in today, and will shape the world we live in tomorrow. Not least, Sea Power is marvelous naval history, giving us fresh insight into great naval engagements from the battles of Salamis and Lepanto through to Trafalgar, the Battle of the Atlantic, and submarine conflicts of the Cold War. It is also a keen-eyed reckoning with the likely sites of our next major naval conflicts, particularly the Arctic Ocean, Eastern Mediterranean, and the South China Sea. Finally, Sea Power steps back to take a holistic view of the plagues to our oceans that are best seen that way, from piracy to pollution. When most of us look at a globe, we focus on the shape of the of the seven continents. Admiral Stavridis sees the shapes of the seven seas. After reading Sea Power, you will too. Not since Alfred Thayer Mahan’s legendary The Influence of Sea Power upon History have we had such a powerful reckoning with this vital subject.

First published in 2004, this book is the inaugural volume of the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG) and is based on a selection of papers presented at the IORG launch in Chandigarh in November 2002. The volume emphasizes the complexity and historical and contemporary geopolitical significance of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). It also propagates the necessity for increased intra-regional cooperation, especially in terms of economic and environmental security, maritime boundaries, sea lane security and ocean management, in the spirit of open regionalism, in order to ensure a more secure IOR. In addition, the volume initiates an agenda for future social science policy-orientated research. The book should be of particular interest to policy-makers, business people and academics, as well as citizens of the IOR.

In an era of turbulent ocean geopolitics, where environmental concerns and resource extraction are increasing interest in who owns what at sea, this timely book examines the international politics involved in how states delineate ownership and rights in the ocean.

States must develop new approaches, maritime policies, strategies and tactics to cruise through the contemporary maritime politics. Soft power, as well as economic, commercial, and logistics factors are of critical importance in establishing marine power. It is critical to promote maritime-related products such as films, serials, literature and art, maritime journalism, and maritime photography as part of governmental policies. Marine and maritime security challenges are becoming more important in today’s world. As a result of all these developments, the preparation of a multidimensional and comprehensive work on the oceans and seas at the global level has been brought to the agenda. Our book has been written to elucidate these concerns and contribute to this important scholarly and policy field. This book can also be useful for wider audiences as a comprehensive volume on maritime geopolitics covering many cases from around the world and discussions from Turkish perspectives. CONTENTS PREFACE PART 1. ANTARCTIC AND ARCTIC MARITIME SECURITY INTERACTION WITHIN LIBERALISM, REALISIM AND CRITICAL THEORIES – Burak Şakir Şeker and Hasret Çomak Global Geopolitical Shift: Balance of Power in The Arctic – Ferdi Güçyetmez BALTIC STATES AND ARCTIC NEGOTIATIONS – Öncel Sençerman UNDERSTANDING THE ANTARCTIC BIODIVERSITY AND TURKISH CONTRIBUTION TO ITS PROTECTION – Bayram Öztürk and Mehmet Gökhan Halıcı PART 2. INDIAN AND PACIFIC OCEAN GEOPOLITICS SECURITIZATION PROCESS OF INDO-PACIFIC AND ASIA-PACIFIC THROUGH IR THEORIES WITHIN MARITIME SECURITY INTERACTION – Burak Şakir Şeker THE GEOPOLITICS OF INDO PACIFIC REGION – İnci Sökmen Alaca ASEAN AND ITS ROLE IN THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC – Ahmet Ateş and Süleyman Temiz REGIONAL CHALLENGES AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: THE COMPLEX REALITIES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC GEOPOLITICS – Amba Pande THE WIDER NORTH AND THE NEW GEOPOLITICS OF THE NORTH PACIFIC: CRYOPOLITICS – Ebru Caymaz and Fahri Erenel PART 3. MARITIME POLICIES OF GLOBAL AND REGIONAL ACTORS THE AFRICAN UNION’S MARITIME SECURITY STRATEGY AND ITS IMPACT ON CONTINENTAL PEACE AND STABILITY – Asena Boztaş and Huriye Yıldırım Çınar CONTEMPORARY GEOPOLITICAL ASPECTS OF THE ATLANTIC: ACTORS, ISSUES, AND COOPERATION – Ahmet Ateş THE GEOPOLITICAL SCENARIOS OF THE “QUAD” COUNTRIES, THE UNITED STATES, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA AND INDIA – Duygu Çağla Bayram RUSSIAN NAVAL DOCTRINE AND RUSSIAN NAVY MODERNIZATION – Ahmet Sapmaz THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF THE CASPIAN SEA FOR REGIONAL AND GLOBAL ACTORS – Volkan Tatar MEDITERRANEAN GEOPOLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL BALANCE – Hüseyin Çelik EXISTING AND PROSPECTIVE CENTRAL PARADIGMS OF EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN ENERGY GEOPOLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: DO / WILL ALL THE RELATED PARTIES SEEK FOR COLLABORATIONS OR CONFRONTATIONS? – Sina Kısacık TURKEY’S INTEGRATION OF ITS MIDDLE EAST – EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (ME-EM/MEM) AND CYPRUS (MEM-C) STRATEGIES IN ITS FOREIGN POLICY – Soyalp Tamçelik THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER AND TURKEY’S STRUGGLE IN THE BLUE HOMELAND – Doğan Şafak Polat THE GEOPOLITICAL REALITY OF THE ISLAND SEA – Hüseyin Çelik PART 4. MARITIME COMMERCE, ECONOMICS AND MARINE ENVIRONMENT A SHORT HISTORY OF MARITIME TRADE – Haldun Aydıngün AUTOMATION AND CYBERSECURITY IN MARITIME COMMERCE – Alaettin Sevim GEOSTRATEGIC AND GEOPOLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING MARITIME ECONOMICS – Murat Koray MARITIME SPATIAL PLANNING FOR GLOBAL COMMONS – Dinçer Bayer BLUE ECONOMY AND BLUE GROWTH FORA: A PRELUDE – İ. Melih Baş

Invisible as the seas and oceans may be for so many of us, life as we know it is almost always connected to, and constituted by, activities and occurrences that take place in, on and under our oceans. The Routledge Handbook of Ocean Space provides a first port of call for scholars engaging in the ‘oceanic turn’ in the social sciences, offering a comprehensive summary of existing trends in making sense of our water worlds, alongside new, agenda-setting insights into the relationships between society and the ‘seas around us’. Accordingly, this ambitious text not only attends to a growing interest in our oceans, past and present; it is also situated in a broader spatial turn across the social sciences that seeks to account for how space and place are imbricated in socio-cultural and political life. Through six clearly structured and wide-ranging sections, The Routledge Handbook of Ocean Space examines and interrogates how the oceans are environmental, historical, social, cultural, political, legal and economic spaces, and also zones where national and international security comes into question. With a foreword and introduction authored by some of the leading scholars researching and writing about ocean spaces, alongside 31 further, carefully crafted chapters from established as well as early career academics, this book provides both an accessible guide to the subject and a cutting-edge collection of critical ideas and questions shaping the social sciences today. This handbook brings together the key debates defining the ‘field’ in one volume, appealing to a wide, cross-disciplinary social science and humanities audience. Moreover, drawing on a range of international examples, from a global collective of authors, this book promises to be the benchmark publication for those interested in ocean spaces, past and present. Indeed, as the seas and oceans continue to capture world-wide attention, and the social sciences continue their seaward ‘turn’, The Routledge Handbook of Ocean Space will provide an invaluable resource that reveals how our world is a water world.