G1 : SEAS AND OCEANS

Key Questions :
1. Why are maritime spaces (seas & oceans) critically important to globalization?
2. How are seas and oceans (maritime spaces) claimed by different states in need of protection,
and territories with open circulation (freedom of the seas)?
3. Why are some territories on the margins of globalization, based on their relation to maritime
spaces?
4. How can countries overcome such marginalization?
5. What transformations are underway in access to and regulation of maritime spaces?
6. What rivalries or conflicts are emerging in maritime spaces?
7. Compare what constitutes maritime power for France and for the United States?
8. What challenges contest the projection of French and American power in maritime spaces?

Learning objectives :
 Identify the main maritime routes and the major stakes
 Evaluate the importance of maritime spaces in globalization.
 Analyze why access to the sea affects territories unequally.
 Analyze how conflicting interests in maritime spaces leads to tensions between states.
 Analyze and provide examples of geopolitical issues associated with maritime spaces
 Evaluate the economic, diplomatic and military importance of maritime spaces for France
and the United States respectively.

Key Terms :
Maritime Spaces
Exclusive Economic Zones : is an area (200 nautical miles from the shore) of the sea in which
a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and exploitation (related terms :
sovereign territory, contigus zone, international water, continental shelf)
UN Convention Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) : adopted after the Convention of Montego Bay in Jamaica
in 1982, lays down a comprehensive regime of law and order in the world's oceans and seas
establishing rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources, defines : sovereign territory,
contigus zone, EEZ and international water
Flags of Convenience (FOC) : If a ship sails under a flag of convenience, it means it is operated or
taxed under the laws of a country different from its home country in order to save money (related
terms: open registry)
Piracy : in waterways and choke points, internationally fought OM different scales : national (military
presence and bases in major maritime routes and choke points, especially Indian Ocean), regional
(Operation Ocean Shield by NATO off the African coast and Operation Atalanta by the EU) and
international (UN)
Containerization : the process of unitization of cargoes in exports, Lift On Lift Off (LOLO: load
transfer) and Roll-on Roll-off (RORO: load roll), developed fast since the 70’s, reduces time and cost
of trade, 66% of the value of global trade is carried in containers
Choke points: canals and straits (the English Channel, the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Strait of
Malacca, Arctic Sea Routes) : slows down delivery, piracy, canal different from channel, the Suez
Canal blockage in 2021 because of a ship (estimated total trade loss roughly $54 billion)
Maritime Power : a nation with a very strong navy, which often is also a great power and can easily
control their coast, and exert influence upon both nearby and far countries (maritime superpower,
blue water navy)
Naval Power: Factors: history (conquests, Empire building, Maritime routes, Naval forces), territory
sovereignty, overseas territories, EEZ’s), economic (Ports, Commercial activities, Fisheries, Offshore
hydrocarbon deposit), technology (Shipping, offshore operations, submarine cables)/ Elements:
geopolitical and geostrategic (naval forces, aircraft carriers, submarines, piracy), geoeconomic
(shipowners, ports, trade, resources), geocultural (cultural influence, tourism?)/ Dynamics:
Territorialization and Maritimization, Securing and Controlling Maritime Routes, Exploitation and
Valorization of Maritime Resources

Organization :
1. Essential vectors of globalization (introduction) : international trade, waterways and choke
points
Choke points: canals and straits, Global Flows of the World Economy (Increasing specialization and
size of ships, 2018 : 28 million cruise passengers, 90% of goods are exported by ships), flows of
information (Submarine cables, 2018: 99% of internet traffic), the Connected Core (Global ports,
waterways, and Chokepoints/ North America, Western Europe, East Asia :most significant trade
flows/ Maritime facades, or port regions)
2. Consequences and Risks : true cost of shipping, excessive globalization, lockdown, pollution
(bilge dumping), laws of international water
Bilge dumping : leaves a black stripe, ship tracking with automatic information system (AIS), the 2008
crises and COVID-19 drop of trade then rebounds, UN Convention Law of the Seas (UNCLOS),
Exclusive Economic Zones
3. Ressources : fishing and overfishing
Biotic and abiotic ressources (fisheries, aquaculture/ sand, hydrocarbons, oil), resources depletion,
illegal fishing, fishes don’t reproduce themselves fast enough compared to the rate we exploit them
4. Arctic Case Study : How does the opening up of new sea routes increase geostrategic stakes
and power rivalries in the Arctic? exploitation of resources, new trade routes, geopolitical
stakes. The arctic council, Russia, the US, Canada, Norway, China, Denmark, climate change
(place where the ocean acidification is the fastest, activity create debris and noises pollution)
5. South China Sea Case Study : territorial competition, economic issues and freedom of
movement. Territorial competition, economic stakes, freedom of movement
Ressources (large fish stocks, hydrocarbons, 40% of global liquid natural gaz), 1 third of global
shipping (economic), sovereignty (challenging UNCLOS, Spratleys and Paracels islands where China
installed military bases, 9 dash line : 10 with Taiwan), Filipinos fishers arrested by Chinese coastal
guards, threat to freedom of navigation
6. Maritime Power : comparative analysis of the US and France (characteristics and challenges)
Both control the two largest EEZs, and they assert their respective maritime power despite the loss
of competitiveness of their ports, economic role of maritime spaces (resources, the flows of goods
and information), military and diplomatic aspects of maritime power, Maritime Power, Naval Power,
Factors (territory) : largest EEZ, (economics) : 2019: marine economy contributed about $397 billion
to US GDP, $665.7 billion in sales/ 2.4 million jobs, 2018-2019: Marine-related GDP grew 4.2%/ best
sectors (depending on sales) : tourism and recreation+national defense and public
administration+offshore minerals, Elements (geoeconomic) : US coasts, Factors (technology) : a lot of
offshore acreage off limit/ half of the top 10 universities in oceanography, Elements (geopolitical and
geostrategic) : 11 (the most) aircraft carriers

MIND MAP
LESSON :

Introduction :

The maritimization of economies and the opening up of international trade have given the seas and
oceans a fundamental role seas and oceans a fundamental role in supplying resources (fish, energy,
biochemicals, etc.), as well as for the movement of people and material and immaterial exchanges.
The importance of these routes and their itineraries vary according to the nature of the flows (of raw
materials, intermediate products, industrial products, goods, etc.), industrial products,
information...). But territories are unevenly integrated into globalization.
Maritime routes and undersea cables, like ports and operating areas, are concentrated on a few main
axes. Major upheavals are taking place, geostrategic stakes and power rivalries, particularly around
international canals and straits. The development and use of seas and oceans are part of an
ambivalent logic between freedom of movement and the desire to appropriate, enhance and protect
them. The delimitation of exclusive economic zones (EEZs) is today the main cause of tension
between States, due to the resources present in these zones and the desire of these States to exploit
them.

Seas and oceans: essential vectors of globalization

→ How do maritime spaces contribute to globalization?

1. Seas and oceans: major spaces

- Maritime spaces make up a global planetary ocean. The planet's seas and oceans cover an area of
around 361 million km2, or 71% of the globe's surface. They are not only discontinuities between
continents, but also spaces that encourage interaction and the circulation of goods and human
societies. Today, the seabed is home to the submarine cables that enable 99% of international
telecommunications and intangible information exchanges (Internet).
- Maritime routes have played a major role in the world's economic history. Many civilizations have
developed by controlling the seas and oceans, thus becoming maritime powers (Greek cities in
Antiquity, Venice in the Middle Ages, the United Kingdom in the 11th century...). The Mediterranean
Sea, the China Sea and the Caribbean Sea have been economic and cultural interfaces for centuries.
Today, with the melting of the Arctic Ocean ice, new shipping lanes are opening up that should make
it possible to link the world's major ports more rapidly.
- Certain strategic gateways concentrate maritime traffic. A small number of maritime routes account
for the bulk of goods flows (hydrocarbons, agricultural raw materials, manufactured goods, etc.)
between continents. Straits (Hormuz, Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb, Bosphorus, etc.) and canals (Suez,
Panama) thus play a major geostrategic role in globalization.
SEE ARCTIC CASE STUDY

2. The maritimization of economies

- Maritime flows are at the heart of the globalization of trade. Nearly 1 billion tonnes of goods were
traded by sea in 2017, representing 90% of intercontinental flows. The gigantism and modernization
of ships (supertankers, container ships, etc.) have reduced transport costs. The transport of
hydrocarbons (oil, gas) and raw materials (metals, grains...) clearly dominated in volume (82.9%) that
of manufactured goods by container (17.1%) in 2017.
- There are many players involved in the globalization of maritime transport. The maritimization of
the global economy has intensified with the development of shipbuilding. Japan, China and South
Korea build 90% of the world's new ships. Major shipping companies (CMA-CGM, Cosco...), flags of
convenience (Panama, Liberia) and cruise lines (Royal Caribbean) play a major role in the growth of
maritime transport. Illicit flows (clandestine migrants, drug trafficking, financial transfers to offshore
centers) also contribute to making seas and oceans globalized spaces.
- Territories are unevenly integrated into the maritimization of the economy. 75% of maritime trade
takes place between the European (Northern Range), Asian and North American seaboards, where
the main ports (Ningbo, Singapore, Rotterdam, Los Angeles), major economic centers and global
metropolises are concentrated. The maritimization of the global economy has turned landlocked
states into peripheral regions of globalization.

Seas and oceans: appropriation, rivalries and protection

→ What is at stake in the appropriation of maritime spaces?

1. The appropriation of seas and oceans

- The sharing of maritime spaces is based on international law. The law of the sea was defined by the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) signed in Montego Bay (Jamaica) in
1982. The closer you are to a state's coasts, the greater your sovereign rights; the further away you
are, the greater your freedom: full sovereignty of a coastal state over its territorial waters (12-mile
limit), then sovereignty over the exclusive economic zone (EEZ, 200-mile limit). Beyond this,
international waters, or the high seas, are areas of free circulation, where exploitation of the seabed
is regulated by the United Nations.
- Some countries have huge EEZs. The United States ranks first (12.2 millions km square), ahead of
France (10.1 millions km square), which benefits from its overseas territories. They can regulate
access and the exploitation of natural resources. In 2018, these maritime areas appropriated by
states represented 36% of the world's seas, and the high seas 64%.
- The Law of the Sea protects the high seas while allowing them to be appropriated. Defined as
"global commons", international waters cannot be appropriated or claimed. The International
Seabed Authority (ISA), created in
1994 under the aegis of the United Nations, manages authorizations for the exploitation of seabed
mineral resources. It can grant states that so request an extension of their EEZ up to 350 miles in
order to exploit soil and subsoil resources.

2. Rivalries and geostrategic issues

- Maritime resources and the way they are shared fuel tensions between states. Seas under
exploration, fishing zones, hydrocarbon reserves and disputes over the delimitation of EZs are all
sources of rivalry between coastal states. This is the case in the icy Arctic Ocean, where the melting
of the pack ice is sparking the covetousness of riparian countries for the exploitation of resources
and the control of new merchant shipping routes (the North-East route). These tensions between
states can be highly intense, as in the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Gulf.
- Freedom of navigation on the oceans is increasingly under threat. Freedom of navigation and the
safety of ships are often called into question in many straits, or in certain seas where tensions are
high between neighboring coastal states. China is seeking to impose its sovereignty over maritime
areas it considers to be historically attached to its territory. Piracy is also a major issue (Gulf of Aden,
Gulf of Guinea, Strait of Malacca), mobilizing many states around the world (European operation
Atalante in the Indian Ocean).
- Mastery of the seas and oceans is a factor in the assertion of naval power. A small number of states
have large military fleets to protect their interests. This is the case of France and the United
Kingdom. The United States has the largest naval forces, present on all the world's oceans. As the
world's naval "policeman", the United States (11 aircraft carriers) has to contend with the growing
power of the Chinese navy, which now has two aircraft carriers and numerous submarines. India is
also an emerging naval power.
VOIR SOUTH CHINA SEA CASE STUDY

3. Maritime spaces between threats and protection

- The seas and oceans are under serious threat from human activities. The transport of hydrocarbons
and the use of offshore platforms cause major pollution (oil spills, etc.). The concentration of waste
has led to the appearance of veritable "continents" of plastic (zones of massive accumulation known
as gyres) in all oceans. Every year, almost 10 million tonnes of plastic are discharged into the seas.
This waste degrades ocean waters and endangers much of the marine fauna.
- Appropriation is often the key to protecting the seas and oceans. The Law of the Sea enables
coastal states to set up protection measures and promote the heritage of their island and maritime
domains: preserving mangroves, coral reefs and fish species. In 2018, 5,000 marine protected areas
represented around 7.3% of the surface area of the world's oceans (26 million km2). Since 2017, the
surface area of marine protected areas has exceeded that of their terrestrial equivalents. It could
double by 2030.
- Maritime states are torn between the logics of development and protection. The seas and oceans
represent a capital whose gross marine product (GMP), i.e. the wealth produced, is estimated at
2,500 billion dollars, the equivalent of the world's 7th largest economy. However, their exploitation is
incompatible with the preservation of marine environments and marine biodiversity, which are
essential to the planet's environmental equilibrium.