My current research is on maritime security, ocean governance and critical infrastructures, with a focus on Europe and the Indo-Pacific. My broader research interest is on the epistemic foundations of global order. Attempting to combine insights from international relations theory and theories of global governance with contemporary practice theory, new (french) pragmatism and science studies (noteably post-ANT) I study processes and practices of ordering the globe. My empirical interest lies in understanding how the merging fields of security, peace and development, become re-ordered by international organizations (UN, EU, AU), expert commissions and academic research (e.g. the discipline of International Relations).
The maritime security agenda has diversified and multiplied. Environmental concerns, such as poll... more The maritime security agenda has diversified and multiplied. Environmental concerns, such as pollution, illegal fishing and climate change adaptation were included in the debate. Most lately, cyber security concerns, and the protection of offshore energy and underwater data cables further enriched the agenda. Over the course of this expansion, also the spaces that concern maritime security have widened. Today security at sea needs to consider a multi-dimensional spatial domain. Maritime security concerns six spatial dimensions: surface, airspace, low orbit, subsea, seabed and cyber. In this contribution I review the six domains, then reflect on what it implies to think maritime security in 6D and why in particular the seabed requires further attention.
A growing wave of studies in international relations is interested in “infrastructure.” Pipelines... more A growing wave of studies in international relations is interested in “infrastructure.” Pipelines, ports, financial transaction arrangements, and other large technical systems increasingly occupy the minds of international theorists. This theory note provides direction to the debate by offering an important clarification of the concept of infrastructure and how it is theorized. Scholars have very different understandings of what infrastructures are, why they matter, and how to theorize and study them empirically. By outlining three distinct “styles of theorizing infrastructure,” we provide new directions for future research and how it can contribute to broader debates in international theory. The three styles allow to capture the disagreement over whether infrastructure is a theoretical concept at all, or if it solely refers to empirical phenomena. For some scholars, infrastructures are an object of politics, while others see them as developing political force or even agency on their own. Others see broader potential and note that “infrastructuralism” could provide a major new theoretical vocabulary. Each style provides major new avenues for international theory.
Existe una creciente ola de estudios en el campo de las relaciones internacionales que muestra interés por las «infraestructuras»: los oleoductos, los puertos, los acuerdos de transacciones financieras, así como otros grandes sistemas de carácter técnico ocupan cada vez un mayor espacio dentro de las mentes de los teóricos internacionales. Esta nota teórica proporciona a este debate una dirección que poder seguir, ya que ofrece una aclaración importante del concepto de infraestructura y de cómo se teoriza este. Los académicos tienen una comprensión muy diferente de lo que son las infraestructuras, de por qué estas resultan importantes y sobre cómo teorizarlas y estudiarlas empíricamente. Existe un desacuerdo sobre si la infraestructura es un concepto teórico o si se refiere a fenómenos empíricos. Para algunos académicos, las infraestructuras son un objeto de la política, mientras que otros las ven como el desarrollo de la fuerza política o incluso como una agencia por sí mismas. Otros, incluso, llegan a reconocer un potencial más amplio y señalan que el «infraestructuralismo» podría proporcionar una nueva e importante forma paradigmática de teorizar la política internacional. Proporcionamos, mediante el esbozo de tres estilos distintos de teorización de la infraestructura, nuevas direcciones para la investigación futura de la infraestructura y cómo puede contribuir a debates más amplios dentro de la teoría internacional.
De plus en plus d’études en relations internationales s'intéressent aux « infrastructures ». Les pipelines, ports, arrangements de transactions financières et autres grands systèmes techniques sont de plus en plus présents à l'esprit des théoriciens internationaux. Cette note théorique oriente le débat en proposant une clarification importante du concept d'infrastructure et de sa théorisation. Chaque chercheur conçoit différemment les infrastructures, leur importance, leur théorisation et leur étude empirique. Il existe même un désaccord quant à l'existence du concept théorique d'infrastructure, ou s'il s'agit plutôt d'un phénomène empirique. Pour certains chercheurs, les infrastructures sont un objet politique, alors que d'autres les conçoivent comme des forces politiques émergentes ou même, des agents à elles seules. D'autres leur reconnaissent même un potentiel plus vaste et remarquent que « l'infrastructuralisme » pourrait constituer une nouvelle forme paradigmatique majeure de théorisation en politique internationale. En présentant trois styles de théorisation distincts de l'infrastructure, nous proposons de nouvelles pistes de recherche sur l'infrastructure et comment celle-ci peut contribuer aux débats plus larges en théorie internationale.
The Mediterranean Sea is a super data highway in the global digital economy. On the region’s ocea... more The Mediterranean Sea is a super data highway in the global digital economy. On the region’s ocean floor thousands of kilometres of fibre optic cables connect Europe, Africa and Asia. Up to 95% of transregional communications run through these cables. When we discuss security in the cyber domain, we most often focus on data protection, and threats from hackers and ransomware. The fact that digital communications and the Internet depend on a physical infrastructure is often forgotten. It is cables running across the ocean floor that connect islands such as Mallorca, Sicily or Malta to the Internet. It is these cables that allow for communication across regions and enable us to send an email to Asia, or access content that is stored on servers abroad. The cyber security and governance debate, however, hardly pays any attention to the resilience of these cables.
Offshore wind energy production has seen a significant expansion in the past decade and has becom... more Offshore wind energy production has seen a significant expansion in the past decade and has become one of the most important maritime activities. However, the implications of offshore wind farm expansion for maritime security have, so far, received sparse attention in the literature. In this article we conduct one of the first thorough analyses of the security of offshore wind farms and related installations, such as underwater electricity cables, energy islands, and hydrogen plants.
As maritime security policy issues become increasingly complex and the body of related scholarly ... more As maritime security policy issues become increasingly complex and the body of related scholarly research grows, the academic community is emerging as an important maritime security stakeholder. Christian Bueger discusses the range of research activities, the motivations and interest of the researchers involved and how the academic community contributes to maritime security policy and operations at sea.
The protection of critical maritime infrastructures has become a top political priority, since th... more The protection of critical maritime infrastructures has become a top political priority, since the September 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. This contribution reveals why the protection of infrastructures at sea is a difficult task. Reviewing the spectrum of maritime infrastructures (transport, energy, data, fishing, ecosystems) and the potential threats to them (accidents, terrorism, blue crime, grey zone tactics) demonstrates that designating infrastructures as critical and worthy of special protection measures is a political choice. The analysis moreover shows the need of protective instruments that are tailored to the specificities of maritime space, and the need for integrating diverse policy fields, including defense, diplomacy, marine safety, maritime security and cyber security. Cooperation with the infrastructure industry, enhanced surveillance and investments in repair capacities are also required.
The European Union (EU) seeks to become a global maritime-security actor, yet strategic challenge... more The European Union (EU) seeks to become a global maritime-security actor, yet strategic challenges influence its maritime-security strategy process. Is there a distinctive and coherent EU approach to global maritime security, and how should the EU address the growing range of maritime challenges, including the intensification of militarized competition in the Indo-Pacific?
In the capitals and think tanks around the world much debate has taken place on the importance of... more In the capitals and think tanks around the world much debate has taken place on the importance of the Indo-Pacific as a new regional framework. Increasingly, the Indo-Pacific is treated as a fact, not as a geopolitical regional construct. Discussions focus on how to engage with the new region and design strategies. The 2021 AUKUS agreement is a good example of the shifts in thinking that the Indo-Pacific implies. Attention is turned to mini-lateral agreements and traditional military thought. Strategies issued by the UK, France or the EU have a similar emphasis. What does Indo-Pacific thinking imply for small island states such as the Seychelles? On the surface, agreements such as AUKUS and the new regional construction of the Indo-Pacific do not matter much for small island concerns. Yet, as I show in this contribution Seychelles and other small island states in the region need to pay close attention to the developments that Indo-Pacific discourses imply and need to start strategizing how they find their voice in the debate.
2021 is a key moment of opportunity for UK maritime security. The publication of the government’s... more 2021 is a key moment of opportunity for UK maritime security. The publication of the government’s Integrated Review in March is being followed by a systematic ‘refresh’ of the UK’s 2014 National Strategy for Maritime Security. In this article, Christian Bueger, Timothy Edmunds and Scott Edwards examine the role and significance of this strategy refresh, consider key priority issues for enhancing maritime security, and reflect on the challenges and opportunities that policymakers will face turning strategy into action. They conclude by arguing that getting maritime security right will be critical to delivering on the UK’s ambitions in security and foreign policy more widely.
Ten years after the last large scale piracy attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, other maritime c... more Ten years after the last large scale piracy attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, other maritime crimes such as illicit fishing and maritime smuggling have emerged. The spill over of conflicts in Yemen and Mozambique and maritime grey-zone activities have also become major maritime security issues. Yet, perhaps the most worrying-though largely underappreciated-trend is the surge of naval activity and strategic competition in the region. This is a major dilemma for the region: The region relies on external military actors to protect vital shipping lanes, but the presence of these actors also risks importing geopolitical tensions that could undermine regional maritime stability. How can the region address these maritime insecurities and the evolving militarization dilemma? We investigate the regional maritime security architecture to identify institutions that can help the region manage the militarisation dilemma. We argue that only the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (SHADE) mechanism and the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) can help mitigate geopolitical competition in the region. Preparing these mechanisms to deal with the militarisation dilemma will be vital for the long-term prosperity of the Western India Ocean.
The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of Internation... more The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of International Relations theory. This article develops the model of pragmatic ordering to conceptualise change. The model of pragmatic ordering synthesises recent theoretical arguments for a focus on ordering advanced in-practice theory, pragmatist philosophy, and related approaches. It also integrates evidence from recent global governance research. We propose a five-stage model. According to the model, once a new problem emerges (problematisation), informality allows for experimenting with new practices and developing new knowledge (informalisation and experimentation). Once these experimental practices become codified, and survive contestation, they increasingly settle (codification) and are spread through learning and translation processes (consolidation). We draw on the rise of the maritime security agenda as a paradigmatic case and examine developments in the Western Indian Ocean region to illustrate each of these stages. The article draws attention to the substantial reorganisation of maritime space occurring over the past decade and offers an innovative approach for the study of orders and change.
Maritime Security is one of the preconditions for developing the blue economy. Maritime crimes, r... more Maritime Security is one of the preconditions for developing the blue economy. Maritime crimes, ranging from piracy, smuggling to illegal fishing, or the lack of compliance with environmental laws and regulations, undermine the efforts to protect the environment, create employment and harvest ocean resources sustainably. While the importance of maritime security is generally recognized, the majority of countries continue to struggle with developing the capacities required. This challenge is substantial for small island states in particular, which need to govern vast maritime spaces with very limited human and financial resources, but also in coastal countries with generally weak security institutions and government capacities. Substantial efforts are underway to address capacity-building gaps. The investments in maritime security have significantly increased in the past decade; a wide range of international programs for capacity building have been set up. Yet, progress seems slow. How can the capacity gap be better addressed? This was the core question that the SafeSeas network was trying to answer. Setting out to capture the experience in maritime security capacity building in the Western Indian Ocean, the goal of the project was to collect core lessons and to develop best practices. The result of the project: a best practice toolkit for capacity building (SafeSeas, 2018). In the following I provide an introduction to the rationale of the tool kit as well as an overview of its core insights.
Transnational organised crime at sea is a growing international concern. However, and despite its... more Transnational organised crime at sea is a growing international concern. However, and despite its importance, the concept remains uncertain and contested. This ambiguity has led to a tendency to focus on individual challenges such as piracy or illegal fishing, rather than convergencies and synergies between and across issues, and has stymied a concerted international policy response. Debate continues over the term itself, what illicit activities it incorporates and excludes, and how these can be meaningfully conceptualised in ways that both recognise the diverse nature of the concept yet also provide a basis for an integrated response to the challenges it presents. In this paper, we address this lacuna by providing a systemic conceptualisation and analysis of transnational organised crime at sea. Our goal is to provide a firm basis for future enquiries on the different types of blue crime, to trace their distinct characteristics and identify how they intersect, and to consider what kinds of synergies can be built to respond to them. In so doing, we organise the nascent academic and policy discourse on blue criminology and maritime security to provide a new framework for navigating this complex issue for practitioners and analysts alike.
Maritime security capacity-building is a growing field of international activity. It is an area t... more Maritime security capacity-building is a growing field of international activity. It is an area that requires further study, as a field in its own right, but also as an archetype to develop insights for capacity-building and security sector reform in other arenas. This article is one of the first to analyse this field of activity. Our empirical focus is on the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. Here, international actors have launched multiple capacity-building projects, initially in response to Somali piracy. We document the significance, extent and variety of capacity-building activities in this region and examine the ways in which capacity-building at sea has incorporated innovative characteristics that develop and expand the capacity-building agenda as traditionally understood. Our conclusion highlights the need to pay more attention to the maritime domain in international security and development studies and considers ways in which the maritime capacity-building experience may offer important lessons for other fields of international policy.
Journal of International Relations and Development, 2019
This is a study of pirate agency. Starting from an understanding of agency as an effect of 'agenc... more This is a study of pirate agency. Starting from an understanding of agency as an effect of 'agencements', I offer a reconstruction of six of such formations. Relying on different experiences with Somali piracy, ranging from watching movies, playing computer games, participating as an observer in various meetings, taking field notes, talking to interlocutors to reading academic literature, I show how different agencements produce different forms of agency. Throughout this reconstruction, we meet different pirates, moral bandits, enemies and villains, criminals, entrepreneurs, pirates as 'symptoms' and the pirate in denial. These are forms of agency that are the effects of the relations and practices of distinct agencements. Various 'actors', 'objects' and 'practices' produce these relations: journalists, moviemaker, game developer, diplomats, military officers and international bureaucrats, as well as various scientists across the disciplinary spectrum are all in the business of producing pirate agency. They engage in a diverse set of rhetorical and material activities, such as calculating, modelling, negotiating, writing or history telling and engage with a broad host of artefacts, and inscriptions, such as movies, games, policy documents, or legal texts. The analysis presents a primer for the study of the multiplicity of agency and its production.
This article presents an empirical study that aims to draw out core elements of an assemblage the... more This article presents an empirical study that aims to draw out core elements of an assemblage theory of global governance. Situating assemblage theory in the third, practice-oriented generation of global governance research, I argue that it provides us with a feature-rich toolbox sensitive to the routine matters of international cooperation, the role of artefacts, and the vitality of territories of governance. To showcase the advantages of an assemblage approach, I study a paradigmatic case: the organization of the international community's fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia. This effort has not only been very successful, with no major piracy incident reported from 2012 to 2016, but also a 'miracle' that can be explained by the close cooperation of all actors involved. I zoom in on one of the core components of this cooperation, the so-called Best Management Practices (BMP), which organize state-industry relations. I present a detailed study of the making of the BMP and the territory it established, and show how it became a core tool of governance. The case study documents the analytical power of assemblage theory for understanding global governance. Acknowledgements: Earlier versions of the article were presented at research seminars at ETH
This article examines the rise of maritime security in concept and practice. We argue that develo... more This article examines the rise of maritime security in concept and practice. We argue that developments in the maritime arena have flown beneath the radar of much mainstream international relations and security studies scholarship, and that a new agenda for maritime security studies is required. In this article we outline the contours of such an agenda, with the intention of providing orientation and direction for future research. Our discussion is structured into three main sections, each of which outlines a core dimension of the maritime security problem space. We begin with a discussion of the issues and themes that comprise the maritime security agenda, including how it has been theorized in security studies to date. Our argument is that the marine environment needs to be understood as part of an interlinked security complex, which also incorporates strong connections between land and sea. Second, we examine the ways in which maritime security actors have responded to these challenges in practice, focusing on issues of maritime domain awareness, coordination of action, and operations in the field. Third, we turn to the mechanisms through which the new maritime security agenda is being disseminated to local actors through a process of devolved security governance. We focus particularly on efforts to distribute knowledge and skills to local actors through capacity building and security sector reform. In the conclusion, we outline the future challenges for maritime security studies that follow from these observations.
Journal of the Indian Ocean Region, 14(2): 170-188,, 2018
A lack of capabilities is most often taken to imply a lack of influence. The foreign policy of th... more A lack of capabilities is most often taken to imply a lack of influence. The foreign policy of the Seychelles provides a surprising case of successful small state diplomacy that counters this claim. With a population of less than 100,000 and a diplomatic service of 100 staff, Seychelles is recognized as a broker in international organizations and as an agenda setter in ocean governance. This article explores this success in four steps. First, we unpack why the current diplomatic success of Seychelles is a surprise. Second, drawing on literature on small state diplomacy, we identify three sources of small state influence: capability and location, political culture and institutional design, and political strategy. Third, we analyze recent Seychellois diplomacy in light of the factors as well as the limitations of Creole small state diplomacy. We conclude by discussing what other small states may learn from the Seychelles
What has become known as post-factual politics poses particular challenges to the role of experti... more What has become known as post-factual politics poses particular challenges to the role of expertise, calling for a new type of reflexivity able to inform scholarly strategies towards policy. Taking recent literature on the ‘practice turn’ as our point of departure, we argue for introducing a sense of ‘practical reflexivity’ that can provide guidance for the practice of scholars. Practical reflexivity focuses on the everyday practices of scholars rather than epistemic ideals or formal methodological rules. It directs our attention to the relation between academic and other practices. At this conjunction, several practical challenges arise. We discuss three major challenges and identify them as the epistemic, the autonomy and the performativity dilemmas. To seek answers to these, we explore the repertoire provided by three reflexive strategies outlined in neo-Gramscianism, Bourdieusian praxeology and pragmatism. The outcome is a tool for rethinking the relation between everyday practices of scholars and non-scholarly practices that may be usefully adopted in the current situation
The practice turn provides new avenues for core questions of international relations and European... more The practice turn provides new avenues for core questions of international relations and European Studies. This article draws on a practice theoretical account to shed new light on the constitution of agency in global politics. An understanding of agency as achievement that requires significant practical work and the participation in international fields of practice is developed. Drawing on the case of the field of counter-piracy practice and the European Union’s (EU’s) work to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia, it is shown how the EU achieved the position as a core actor in the field. A detailed discussion of the EU’s work in interrupting and knowing piracy, in building capacity, and in governing piracy is provided.
The maritime security agenda has diversified and multiplied. Environmental concerns, such as poll... more The maritime security agenda has diversified and multiplied. Environmental concerns, such as pollution, illegal fishing and climate change adaptation were included in the debate. Most lately, cyber security concerns, and the protection of offshore energy and underwater data cables further enriched the agenda. Over the course of this expansion, also the spaces that concern maritime security have widened. Today security at sea needs to consider a multi-dimensional spatial domain. Maritime security concerns six spatial dimensions: surface, airspace, low orbit, subsea, seabed and cyber. In this contribution I review the six domains, then reflect on what it implies to think maritime security in 6D and why in particular the seabed requires further attention.
A growing wave of studies in international relations is interested in “infrastructure.” Pipelines... more A growing wave of studies in international relations is interested in “infrastructure.” Pipelines, ports, financial transaction arrangements, and other large technical systems increasingly occupy the minds of international theorists. This theory note provides direction to the debate by offering an important clarification of the concept of infrastructure and how it is theorized. Scholars have very different understandings of what infrastructures are, why they matter, and how to theorize and study them empirically. By outlining three distinct “styles of theorizing infrastructure,” we provide new directions for future research and how it can contribute to broader debates in international theory. The three styles allow to capture the disagreement over whether infrastructure is a theoretical concept at all, or if it solely refers to empirical phenomena. For some scholars, infrastructures are an object of politics, while others see them as developing political force or even agency on their own. Others see broader potential and note that “infrastructuralism” could provide a major new theoretical vocabulary. Each style provides major new avenues for international theory.
Existe una creciente ola de estudios en el campo de las relaciones internacionales que muestra interés por las «infraestructuras»: los oleoductos, los puertos, los acuerdos de transacciones financieras, así como otros grandes sistemas de carácter técnico ocupan cada vez un mayor espacio dentro de las mentes de los teóricos internacionales. Esta nota teórica proporciona a este debate una dirección que poder seguir, ya que ofrece una aclaración importante del concepto de infraestructura y de cómo se teoriza este. Los académicos tienen una comprensión muy diferente de lo que son las infraestructuras, de por qué estas resultan importantes y sobre cómo teorizarlas y estudiarlas empíricamente. Existe un desacuerdo sobre si la infraestructura es un concepto teórico o si se refiere a fenómenos empíricos. Para algunos académicos, las infraestructuras son un objeto de la política, mientras que otros las ven como el desarrollo de la fuerza política o incluso como una agencia por sí mismas. Otros, incluso, llegan a reconocer un potencial más amplio y señalan que el «infraestructuralismo» podría proporcionar una nueva e importante forma paradigmática de teorizar la política internacional. Proporcionamos, mediante el esbozo de tres estilos distintos de teorización de la infraestructura, nuevas direcciones para la investigación futura de la infraestructura y cómo puede contribuir a debates más amplios dentro de la teoría internacional.
De plus en plus d’études en relations internationales s'intéressent aux « infrastructures ». Les pipelines, ports, arrangements de transactions financières et autres grands systèmes techniques sont de plus en plus présents à l'esprit des théoriciens internationaux. Cette note théorique oriente le débat en proposant une clarification importante du concept d'infrastructure et de sa théorisation. Chaque chercheur conçoit différemment les infrastructures, leur importance, leur théorisation et leur étude empirique. Il existe même un désaccord quant à l'existence du concept théorique d'infrastructure, ou s'il s'agit plutôt d'un phénomène empirique. Pour certains chercheurs, les infrastructures sont un objet politique, alors que d'autres les conçoivent comme des forces politiques émergentes ou même, des agents à elles seules. D'autres leur reconnaissent même un potentiel plus vaste et remarquent que « l'infrastructuralisme » pourrait constituer une nouvelle forme paradigmatique majeure de théorisation en politique internationale. En présentant trois styles de théorisation distincts de l'infrastructure, nous proposons de nouvelles pistes de recherche sur l'infrastructure et comment celle-ci peut contribuer aux débats plus larges en théorie internationale.
The Mediterranean Sea is a super data highway in the global digital economy. On the region’s ocea... more The Mediterranean Sea is a super data highway in the global digital economy. On the region’s ocean floor thousands of kilometres of fibre optic cables connect Europe, Africa and Asia. Up to 95% of transregional communications run through these cables. When we discuss security in the cyber domain, we most often focus on data protection, and threats from hackers and ransomware. The fact that digital communications and the Internet depend on a physical infrastructure is often forgotten. It is cables running across the ocean floor that connect islands such as Mallorca, Sicily or Malta to the Internet. It is these cables that allow for communication across regions and enable us to send an email to Asia, or access content that is stored on servers abroad. The cyber security and governance debate, however, hardly pays any attention to the resilience of these cables.
Offshore wind energy production has seen a significant expansion in the past decade and has becom... more Offshore wind energy production has seen a significant expansion in the past decade and has become one of the most important maritime activities. However, the implications of offshore wind farm expansion for maritime security have, so far, received sparse attention in the literature. In this article we conduct one of the first thorough analyses of the security of offshore wind farms and related installations, such as underwater electricity cables, energy islands, and hydrogen plants.
As maritime security policy issues become increasingly complex and the body of related scholarly ... more As maritime security policy issues become increasingly complex and the body of related scholarly research grows, the academic community is emerging as an important maritime security stakeholder. Christian Bueger discusses the range of research activities, the motivations and interest of the researchers involved and how the academic community contributes to maritime security policy and operations at sea.
The protection of critical maritime infrastructures has become a top political priority, since th... more The protection of critical maritime infrastructures has become a top political priority, since the September 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. This contribution reveals why the protection of infrastructures at sea is a difficult task. Reviewing the spectrum of maritime infrastructures (transport, energy, data, fishing, ecosystems) and the potential threats to them (accidents, terrorism, blue crime, grey zone tactics) demonstrates that designating infrastructures as critical and worthy of special protection measures is a political choice. The analysis moreover shows the need of protective instruments that are tailored to the specificities of maritime space, and the need for integrating diverse policy fields, including defense, diplomacy, marine safety, maritime security and cyber security. Cooperation with the infrastructure industry, enhanced surveillance and investments in repair capacities are also required.
The European Union (EU) seeks to become a global maritime-security actor, yet strategic challenge... more The European Union (EU) seeks to become a global maritime-security actor, yet strategic challenges influence its maritime-security strategy process. Is there a distinctive and coherent EU approach to global maritime security, and how should the EU address the growing range of maritime challenges, including the intensification of militarized competition in the Indo-Pacific?
In the capitals and think tanks around the world much debate has taken place on the importance of... more In the capitals and think tanks around the world much debate has taken place on the importance of the Indo-Pacific as a new regional framework. Increasingly, the Indo-Pacific is treated as a fact, not as a geopolitical regional construct. Discussions focus on how to engage with the new region and design strategies. The 2021 AUKUS agreement is a good example of the shifts in thinking that the Indo-Pacific implies. Attention is turned to mini-lateral agreements and traditional military thought. Strategies issued by the UK, France or the EU have a similar emphasis. What does Indo-Pacific thinking imply for small island states such as the Seychelles? On the surface, agreements such as AUKUS and the new regional construction of the Indo-Pacific do not matter much for small island concerns. Yet, as I show in this contribution Seychelles and other small island states in the region need to pay close attention to the developments that Indo-Pacific discourses imply and need to start strategizing how they find their voice in the debate.
2021 is a key moment of opportunity for UK maritime security. The publication of the government’s... more 2021 is a key moment of opportunity for UK maritime security. The publication of the government’s Integrated Review in March is being followed by a systematic ‘refresh’ of the UK’s 2014 National Strategy for Maritime Security. In this article, Christian Bueger, Timothy Edmunds and Scott Edwards examine the role and significance of this strategy refresh, consider key priority issues for enhancing maritime security, and reflect on the challenges and opportunities that policymakers will face turning strategy into action. They conclude by arguing that getting maritime security right will be critical to delivering on the UK’s ambitions in security and foreign policy more widely.
Ten years after the last large scale piracy attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, other maritime c... more Ten years after the last large scale piracy attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, other maritime crimes such as illicit fishing and maritime smuggling have emerged. The spill over of conflicts in Yemen and Mozambique and maritime grey-zone activities have also become major maritime security issues. Yet, perhaps the most worrying-though largely underappreciated-trend is the surge of naval activity and strategic competition in the region. This is a major dilemma for the region: The region relies on external military actors to protect vital shipping lanes, but the presence of these actors also risks importing geopolitical tensions that could undermine regional maritime stability. How can the region address these maritime insecurities and the evolving militarization dilemma? We investigate the regional maritime security architecture to identify institutions that can help the region manage the militarisation dilemma. We argue that only the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (SHADE) mechanism and the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) can help mitigate geopolitical competition in the region. Preparing these mechanisms to deal with the militarisation dilemma will be vital for the long-term prosperity of the Western India Ocean.
The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of Internation... more The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of International Relations theory. This article develops the model of pragmatic ordering to conceptualise change. The model of pragmatic ordering synthesises recent theoretical arguments for a focus on ordering advanced in-practice theory, pragmatist philosophy, and related approaches. It also integrates evidence from recent global governance research. We propose a five-stage model. According to the model, once a new problem emerges (problematisation), informality allows for experimenting with new practices and developing new knowledge (informalisation and experimentation). Once these experimental practices become codified, and survive contestation, they increasingly settle (codification) and are spread through learning and translation processes (consolidation). We draw on the rise of the maritime security agenda as a paradigmatic case and examine developments in the Western Indian Ocean region to illustrate each of these stages. The article draws attention to the substantial reorganisation of maritime space occurring over the past decade and offers an innovative approach for the study of orders and change.
Maritime Security is one of the preconditions for developing the blue economy. Maritime crimes, r... more Maritime Security is one of the preconditions for developing the blue economy. Maritime crimes, ranging from piracy, smuggling to illegal fishing, or the lack of compliance with environmental laws and regulations, undermine the efforts to protect the environment, create employment and harvest ocean resources sustainably. While the importance of maritime security is generally recognized, the majority of countries continue to struggle with developing the capacities required. This challenge is substantial for small island states in particular, which need to govern vast maritime spaces with very limited human and financial resources, but also in coastal countries with generally weak security institutions and government capacities. Substantial efforts are underway to address capacity-building gaps. The investments in maritime security have significantly increased in the past decade; a wide range of international programs for capacity building have been set up. Yet, progress seems slow. How can the capacity gap be better addressed? This was the core question that the SafeSeas network was trying to answer. Setting out to capture the experience in maritime security capacity building in the Western Indian Ocean, the goal of the project was to collect core lessons and to develop best practices. The result of the project: a best practice toolkit for capacity building (SafeSeas, 2018). In the following I provide an introduction to the rationale of the tool kit as well as an overview of its core insights.
Transnational organised crime at sea is a growing international concern. However, and despite its... more Transnational organised crime at sea is a growing international concern. However, and despite its importance, the concept remains uncertain and contested. This ambiguity has led to a tendency to focus on individual challenges such as piracy or illegal fishing, rather than convergencies and synergies between and across issues, and has stymied a concerted international policy response. Debate continues over the term itself, what illicit activities it incorporates and excludes, and how these can be meaningfully conceptualised in ways that both recognise the diverse nature of the concept yet also provide a basis for an integrated response to the challenges it presents. In this paper, we address this lacuna by providing a systemic conceptualisation and analysis of transnational organised crime at sea. Our goal is to provide a firm basis for future enquiries on the different types of blue crime, to trace their distinct characteristics and identify how they intersect, and to consider what kinds of synergies can be built to respond to them. In so doing, we organise the nascent academic and policy discourse on blue criminology and maritime security to provide a new framework for navigating this complex issue for practitioners and analysts alike.
Maritime security capacity-building is a growing field of international activity. It is an area t... more Maritime security capacity-building is a growing field of international activity. It is an area that requires further study, as a field in its own right, but also as an archetype to develop insights for capacity-building and security sector reform in other arenas. This article is one of the first to analyse this field of activity. Our empirical focus is on the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. Here, international actors have launched multiple capacity-building projects, initially in response to Somali piracy. We document the significance, extent and variety of capacity-building activities in this region and examine the ways in which capacity-building at sea has incorporated innovative characteristics that develop and expand the capacity-building agenda as traditionally understood. Our conclusion highlights the need to pay more attention to the maritime domain in international security and development studies and considers ways in which the maritime capacity-building experience may offer important lessons for other fields of international policy.
Journal of International Relations and Development, 2019
This is a study of pirate agency. Starting from an understanding of agency as an effect of 'agenc... more This is a study of pirate agency. Starting from an understanding of agency as an effect of 'agencements', I offer a reconstruction of six of such formations. Relying on different experiences with Somali piracy, ranging from watching movies, playing computer games, participating as an observer in various meetings, taking field notes, talking to interlocutors to reading academic literature, I show how different agencements produce different forms of agency. Throughout this reconstruction, we meet different pirates, moral bandits, enemies and villains, criminals, entrepreneurs, pirates as 'symptoms' and the pirate in denial. These are forms of agency that are the effects of the relations and practices of distinct agencements. Various 'actors', 'objects' and 'practices' produce these relations: journalists, moviemaker, game developer, diplomats, military officers and international bureaucrats, as well as various scientists across the disciplinary spectrum are all in the business of producing pirate agency. They engage in a diverse set of rhetorical and material activities, such as calculating, modelling, negotiating, writing or history telling and engage with a broad host of artefacts, and inscriptions, such as movies, games, policy documents, or legal texts. The analysis presents a primer for the study of the multiplicity of agency and its production.
This article presents an empirical study that aims to draw out core elements of an assemblage the... more This article presents an empirical study that aims to draw out core elements of an assemblage theory of global governance. Situating assemblage theory in the third, practice-oriented generation of global governance research, I argue that it provides us with a feature-rich toolbox sensitive to the routine matters of international cooperation, the role of artefacts, and the vitality of territories of governance. To showcase the advantages of an assemblage approach, I study a paradigmatic case: the organization of the international community's fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia. This effort has not only been very successful, with no major piracy incident reported from 2012 to 2016, but also a 'miracle' that can be explained by the close cooperation of all actors involved. I zoom in on one of the core components of this cooperation, the so-called Best Management Practices (BMP), which organize state-industry relations. I present a detailed study of the making of the BMP and the territory it established, and show how it became a core tool of governance. The case study documents the analytical power of assemblage theory for understanding global governance. Acknowledgements: Earlier versions of the article were presented at research seminars at ETH
This article examines the rise of maritime security in concept and practice. We argue that develo... more This article examines the rise of maritime security in concept and practice. We argue that developments in the maritime arena have flown beneath the radar of much mainstream international relations and security studies scholarship, and that a new agenda for maritime security studies is required. In this article we outline the contours of such an agenda, with the intention of providing orientation and direction for future research. Our discussion is structured into three main sections, each of which outlines a core dimension of the maritime security problem space. We begin with a discussion of the issues and themes that comprise the maritime security agenda, including how it has been theorized in security studies to date. Our argument is that the marine environment needs to be understood as part of an interlinked security complex, which also incorporates strong connections between land and sea. Second, we examine the ways in which maritime security actors have responded to these challenges in practice, focusing on issues of maritime domain awareness, coordination of action, and operations in the field. Third, we turn to the mechanisms through which the new maritime security agenda is being disseminated to local actors through a process of devolved security governance. We focus particularly on efforts to distribute knowledge and skills to local actors through capacity building and security sector reform. In the conclusion, we outline the future challenges for maritime security studies that follow from these observations.
Journal of the Indian Ocean Region, 14(2): 170-188,, 2018
A lack of capabilities is most often taken to imply a lack of influence. The foreign policy of th... more A lack of capabilities is most often taken to imply a lack of influence. The foreign policy of the Seychelles provides a surprising case of successful small state diplomacy that counters this claim. With a population of less than 100,000 and a diplomatic service of 100 staff, Seychelles is recognized as a broker in international organizations and as an agenda setter in ocean governance. This article explores this success in four steps. First, we unpack why the current diplomatic success of Seychelles is a surprise. Second, drawing on literature on small state diplomacy, we identify three sources of small state influence: capability and location, political culture and institutional design, and political strategy. Third, we analyze recent Seychellois diplomacy in light of the factors as well as the limitations of Creole small state diplomacy. We conclude by discussing what other small states may learn from the Seychelles
What has become known as post-factual politics poses particular challenges to the role of experti... more What has become known as post-factual politics poses particular challenges to the role of expertise, calling for a new type of reflexivity able to inform scholarly strategies towards policy. Taking recent literature on the ‘practice turn’ as our point of departure, we argue for introducing a sense of ‘practical reflexivity’ that can provide guidance for the practice of scholars. Practical reflexivity focuses on the everyday practices of scholars rather than epistemic ideals or formal methodological rules. It directs our attention to the relation between academic and other practices. At this conjunction, several practical challenges arise. We discuss three major challenges and identify them as the epistemic, the autonomy and the performativity dilemmas. To seek answers to these, we explore the repertoire provided by three reflexive strategies outlined in neo-Gramscianism, Bourdieusian praxeology and pragmatism. The outcome is a tool for rethinking the relation between everyday practices of scholars and non-scholarly practices that may be usefully adopted in the current situation
The practice turn provides new avenues for core questions of international relations and European... more The practice turn provides new avenues for core questions of international relations and European Studies. This article draws on a practice theoretical account to shed new light on the constitution of agency in global politics. An understanding of agency as achievement that requires significant practical work and the participation in international fields of practice is developed. Drawing on the case of the field of counter-piracy practice and the European Union’s (EU’s) work to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia, it is shown how the EU achieved the position as a core actor in the field. A detailed discussion of the EU’s work in interrupting and knowing piracy, in building capacity, and in governing piracy is provided.
“Maritime Security, New Technology and Ethics: Evolving Challenges and Opportunities’”, AscoMare Yearbook on the Law of the Sea, Volume 3,, 2024
What does the expansion of infrastructure at sea imply for maritime security? In an age in which ... more What does the expansion of infrastructure at sea imply for maritime security? In an age in which our dependency of maritime infrastructures - energy platforms, data cables, pipelines - is on the rise, the seas become heavily industrialized and urbanized. This requires new maritime security thinking. This article provides a primer for rethinking maritime security as a form of critical maritime infrastructure protection.
The rise of the maritime security agenda in the light of global security issues, such as piracy, ... more The rise of the maritime security agenda in the light of global security issues, such as piracy, extremist violence, smuggling or illegal fishing has led to profoundly new thinking about the oceans. In this chapter I ask in what ways the new maritime security agenda is productive of ocean spaces and novel spatial thinking. Identifying a range of examples of new spaces, the chapter shows how these spatialities enable different forms of governance and international collaboration.
In: Ish-Shalom, Piki. ed. Concepts at Work : On the Linguistic Infrastructure of World Politics, University of Michigan Press, 2021
Blue economy is a recent concept that stands for a major reevaluation of
the potential of the oce... more Blue economy is a recent concept that stands for a major reevaluation of the potential of the oceans. The concept has made a remarkable career journey across the world. Starting its travel in the sustainable development discourse, it has become one of the main ways for how the oceans and seas are discussed in public policy and world political debates. This chapter analyzes the trajectory of the concept of blue economy to sketch out a practice-driven form of concept analysis.
Praxis as a Perspective on International Politics, Chapter: 4, Bristol University Press, 2022
This chapter reflects on the concept of 'theory' from a practice-theoretical perspective. What ki... more This chapter reflects on the concept of 'theory' from a practice-theoretical perspective. What kind of practice is "theorizing'? What are the different styles through which practices are theorized? Starting out from a reflection of what it means to think about theory as a practical activity, the chapter sets out to identify different ways of how theory is made. It provides a useful guide for those interested in handling and making theory.
Polycentrism: How Governing Works Today, edited by Frank Gadinger and Jan Aart Scholte, 2021
Assemblage theory provides an innovative approach to analysing governance and a unique position t... more Assemblage theory provides an innovative approach to analysing governance and a unique position to understand processes and situations of polycentrism. It's strength lies in understanding constellations that involve large numbers and multiple forms of actors and in exploring governing relations that are informal and often subject to rapid change. It is also best suited to understand situations where there is an overlap between jurisdictions and where new governance techniques, such as best practices, or public private partnerships are employed. Assemblage theorizing originates in political anthropology and geography where scholars drew on insights from social theory, relationalism and practice theory. Today, assemblage theorizing is adopted across disciplines to study governance at different scales from the city to regions and global processes. As a particularly parsimonious theory, it allows us to capture how issues and problems give rise to territories of governance at different scales and unique actor constellations become formed to address them. This chapter provides a concise overview of assemblage theory as an analytical tool for studying governance. We start by exploring the core conceptual apparatus of assemblage theory, and discuss concepts such as territorialisation and socio-material relations. Laying out the basic understandings of techniques, legitimacy and power that emerge, we turn to empirical examples to further explore these. We draw on the examples of the governance of two particular spaces, the oceans and cyberspace, in order to illustrate the analytical power of the approach. Both spaces involve complex territories and actor constellations. In the empirical discussion, we show how governing evolved using best practices and private public partnerships. Both examples show how assemblage often imply de-politicisation with power relations often becoming hidden.
“Praxeological Political Analysis”, edited by Michael Jonas, Lorenz Lassnigg, Beate Littig and Angela Wroblewski, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 87-106, , 2016
Within the study of international relations, 'international practice theory' has become a well-es... more Within the study of international relations, 'international practice theory' has become a well-established perspective that offers new avenues for the study of world politics. This chapter surveys the practice turn in the discipline of international relations (IR). We argue that IR has not only covered a quite fascinating range of issues and problems by drawing on practice theory, but has also developed its own innovative version of the practice turn: international practice theory (IPT). By taking practices as the core unit of analysis, IR scholars have demonstrated how practice theory offers a distinctive way of studying the world of global politics. With the turn to practice, they move away from prevalent theoretical foci on interest and norms, or frames and discourse. Practice scholars instead study practical activities in world politics and how they renew and reproduce social order. In particular, the everyday practices of actors such as, diplomats, terrorists, environmentalists, pirates, bureaucrats, and financial brokers have become the objects of investigation. The problems and issues, as well as the theoretical and methodo-logical versions of IPT, provide fruitful insights for the broader practice theory debate. Our survey of practice theoretical debates in IR hence seeks to foster the trans-disciplinary debate between IR and other practice-driven research in the humanities and social sciences.
The SAGE Handbook of the History, Philosophy and Sociology of International Relations , 2018
We have become used to conceptualizing the scientific study of International Relations (IR) as a ... more We have become used to conceptualizing the scientific study of International Relations (IR) as a discipline or as a community of scholars. Describing IR in such a way firstly clarifies that IR scholarship is done by people. IR is more than a set of abstract principles, theories or ideas; it includes scholars and their activities. Contrary to earlier debates, much of the contemporary discussion on the nature, structures and identity of IR relies on such an idea. Thinking of IR as a community is intuitive and has normative resonance. Who would not want to be a member of a community? What else could academia be than a community? Yet, the foundations and consequences of representing IR in these terms have hardly been discussed. This is hence the first task of the following contribution: What are the premises of representing IR in such a way? And what consequences and effects does the community concept have? The importance of asking these reflexive questions can hardly be underestimated. Concepts and self-descriptions have consequences for how we teach and practise our art, and, perhaps most importantly, how we review and evaluate the work of others. Conceptual clarification is also important for the project of the sociology of IR. It requires clear premises and conceptual foundations. Is ‘community’ the most appropriate unit of analysis for working in and studying IR? Our discussion comes to the conclusion that there are serious politics at stake if IR is represented as a community.
in ‘The political anthropology of internationalised rule,’ edited by Sarah Biecker and Klaus Schlichte, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, Chapter 2,, 2020
Most of the stuff that today’s political scientists are interested in is not bounded by a ‘field’... more Most of the stuff that today’s political scientists are interested in is not bounded by a ‘field’. By abandoning the concept of field, several genuine methodological problems of interpretive political analysis come to the fore and it is these that require close consideration. I start with a discussion of what is problematic about the concept of field and the epistemic practice of field work. I argue that once we abandon the concept of field, a range of problems seem less important - such as the problem of 'access', while others come to the fore. We need to pay particular attention to the practical problems of multiplicity, temporality, access, and proximity. My core intention is to contribute to conceptual awareness in the dialogue of anthropology and political science, and the need to focus on concrete and practical problems of research practice.
n “Knowing Governance. The epistemic construction of political order”, edited by Richard Freeman and Jan-Peter Voß, Palgrave MacMillan, , 2015
In this chapter I tell the story of a collaboration between academics and an informal governance ... more In this chapter I tell the story of a collaboration between academics and an informal governance mechanism. It is a story about learning lessons with the CGPCS and about how knowledge about governance is produced in practice and how the co-production of knowledge between scholars and policy practitioners unfolds. In telling this story my argument is firstly empirical. My claim is that if we are interested in how knowledge about governance is produced then we have to proceed empirically.Since empirical discussions require a range of sensitizing concepts, I here develop two: the concept of ‘laboratory’ and of ‘experimenting’. Both concepts do not only play a role in the way I structure and tell the narrative, but they have also been core epistemic devices in the collaboration.
in Assembling Exclusive Expertise: Conflict Resolution Knowledge in Practice“, edited by Anna Leander and Ole Wæver, London: Routledge, 2019
The 2012 animated comedy "The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!" tells the story of an en... more The 2012 animated comedy "The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!" tells the story of an encounter between a pirate crew and a scientist, none other than Charles Darwin. This chapter tells the story of an encounter of experts with Somali pirates set roughly at the same time when the movie hit the cinemas. I recast how different constellations of Somali piracy expertise were assembled in response to the emerging problematic situations. My story is told from the inside out. I start with a range of personal reflections on how I assumed the role of a piracy expert and use a range of personal encounters with fellow experts and with the governors of counter-piracy to develop a narrative of how Somali piracy knowledge was made. The results is a narrative of how piracy knowledge has moved as the crisis unfolded and was increasingly managed. Following this life-cycle of the piracy crisis allows us to understand how different problematic situations assemble distinct expertise and how the expertise that matters changes over time.
Technology and World Politics: An Introduction”, edited by Daniel R. McCarthy, Abingdon: Routledge,, 2017
This book chapter provides a succinct introduction to Actor Network Theory (ANT) and how it has b... more This book chapter provides a succinct introduction to Actor Network Theory (ANT) and how it has been discussed in International Relations. Arguing that ANT offers "empirical theory" we review a range of classical ANT studies and discuss what concepts they develop. We continue in exploring what one can 'do' with ANT to study international relations and global politics.
Within less than a decade piracy has been turned from a marginal economic problem into a global s... more Within less than a decade piracy has been turned from a marginal economic problem into a global security problem. A surprising array of international actors addresses piracy and coordinates their activities. In this contribution we interrogate this astonishing story of international cooperation. We argue that what we observe here is a global security governance arrangement under construction. We conduct a praxiographic analysis of the current counter-piracy governance arrangement. A praxiographic analysis takes as the main unit of analysis practice, that is, collective patterns of action which entail speech and doings. Based on this evidence we carry out what can be called an “informed speculation” about the future of the arrangement. Based on the notion of macro-securitization we develop three different forms of expectations (or scenarios) of what characterizes the piracy governance arrangement: 1) an interest based “alliance” or “coalition of the willing”; 2) as a forming “security community” of cosmopolitan or regional scale; or as a 3) hybrid “global security assemblage”.
Practice theoretical perspectives have become a major perspective in security studies. This chapt... more Practice theoretical perspectives have become a major perspective in security studies. This chapter surveys the practice turn in security studies by drawing on a range of exemplary studies
in The Global Politics of Science and Technology, edited. by M.Mayer, M.Carpes, and R. Knoblich, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 39-54, Aug 26, 2014
The role and functions of expertise in international politics is, since decades, a core research ... more The role and functions of expertise in international politics is, since decades, a core research theme in IR. This chapter outlines a history of how the relation between science and international politics has been approached in IR through the lenses of expertise. My intention is to offer a heuristic device. I argue that the debate can be structure in three generations. A first generation is interested in experts as actors that have a causal influence on international politics. The second generation scrutinizes discourses of expertise and their constitutional role in making the international. And the third generation concentrates on practices of expertise and the way these perform the epistemic arrangements of the international. To think about the study of expertise in the frame of three generations each offering different insights and carrying advantages and problems provides not only a practical tool for sorting ideas, but clarifies what one ‘buys in’ by following a specific generation.
Contact groups reflect a search of the international community for organizational innovation. Thi... more Contact groups reflect a search of the international community for organizational innovation. This contribution discusses the Contact Group off the coast of Somalia (CGPCS) which was an attempt to develop innovative global governance solutions to a problematic situation, that is, the escalation of Somali piracy starting in 2009. What can we learn from this Group? Can the CGPCS and its working practice become a role model for how responses to other global problems are organized and for how future contact groups are designed?
To address these questions, offer a brief reflection on how we can learn from governance experiments. This leads to the argument that the core approach of the CGPCS can be described as ‘experimental governance’. The CGPCS can be seen as a ‘laboratory’ in which several innovative governance ideas have become tried and tested. I discuss a range of these experiments. Since an experiment is always tied to the conditions under which it has been conducted, the context in which the CGPCS operates requires to be taken into account. As many participants have argued the conditions under which the CGPCS operates are relatively unique. Yet, not all of these are necessary conditions. Nor, should we assume that similar constellations will ever exist in the near future. Hence, there is great promise that the experiments of the CGPCS provide major insights for other problematic situations and fields of global governance. I conclude with a reflection of the areas in which a replication of CGPCS experiments will be particularly promising.
Durch die Erfindung eines formalen Kerns des Regierens ist die politische Welt in ihrer Gesamthei... more Durch die Erfindung eines formalen Kerns des Regierens ist die politische Welt in ihrer Gesamtheit unverständlich geworden. Zu Recht werden Regierungspraktiker nicht müde darauf hinzuweisen, dass Politikwissenschaft, wenn sie sich nur für die formalen Entscheidungsverfahren interessieren, wenig zum Verständnis des politischen Geschehens beizutragen hat. Was der reduzierte Institutionenbegriff den Politikwissenschaften (und der Politik) gestohlen hat – die zahlreichen Orte, an denen Politik stattfindet, die nicht-öffentlichen Verfahren, die Beteiligung anderer Akteure als dem des professionellen Politikers, die politischen Institutionen, die nur wenig verregelt sind, oder das politische Handeln, das weder rational noch regelgeleitet erscheint, die Vielfalt des politischen Handelns
– bringt die Informalitätsforschung wieder zurück. Regierungsforschung rückt näher an den politischen Alltag, interessiert sich für die Feinheiten, die Mikrophysik politischen Entscheidens und studiert die Diversität des politi-schen Biotops. Mag diese Entwicklung zwar nicht den Beifall der Sparsamkeitstheoretiker finden, so muss sich die Informalitätsforschung dennoch der Kritik stellen, ob sie sich auf angemessener theoretischer Grundlage be-wegt. Hier zeigt sich, wie wir in diesem Beitrag deutlich machen, die Schwäche des derzeitigen Programms. Formelles Handeln und informelles, die formale Institution und die Informelle, lassen sich nicht gerecht-fertigt voneinander abspalten.
This paper investigates the contribution that securitization and praxiography can make to the stu... more This paper investigates the contribution that securitization and praxiography can make to the study of maritime security. It investigates the concept of maritime security, its history and reference objects and provides a discussion of counter-piracy practices. While not offering detailed empirical results, the chapter outlines a research agenda on maritime security.
The problem of contemporary piracy has led to the rise of a complex organizational field. A myria... more The problem of contemporary piracy has led to the rise of a complex organizational field. A myriad of organizations have become active in counter-piracy. This chapter sets out to disentangle the field of counter-piracy. A systematic mapping of the different practices and actors engaged in counter piracy is presented. Counter-piracy activities are captured as organized in different functional streams or categories of practice, including governance, epistemic, military, law enforcement, development stream, and humanitarian streams. The intention behind this mapping is that in the meantime it has become very difficult to navigate through the complex organizational jungle of counter-piracy. Coordinating the diverse counter-piracy actors is an ongoing challenge not the least to avoid contradictory projects, and duplication. It is also important to guarantee a better management of knowledge about piracy and counter-piracy and to ensure that lessons learned by one agency are recognized and considered by another. The chapter reviews over fifty organizations and their contribution to the counter-piracy field.
„Politische Narrative. Möglichkeiten eines politikwissenschaftlichen Analysekonzepts“, herausgegeben von Frank Gadinger, Sebastian Jarzebski und Taylan Yildiz, Springer VS: Wiesbaden, 2014.
Die Praxiographie, das empirische Studium von Praktiken, steht vor einem grundsätzlichem methodol... more Die Praxiographie, das empirische Studium von Praktiken, steht vor einem grundsätzlichem methodologischen Problem: Wie lassen sich Praktiken studieren, wenn der Zugang zur unmittelbaren Beobachtung der Tätigkeiten, die Praktiken konstituieren, verschlossen ist? Der Beitrag geht dieser Frage am Beispiel der Praktik der somalischen Piraterie nach und entwirft eine Antwort, die sich auf das Studium von Narrativen konzentriert. Eine Praktik, wie die der Piraterie, lässt sich nicht ohne weiteres durch ein klassisches ethnographisches Methodenspektrum wie der teilnehmenden Beobachtung erschließen. Jedoch lässt sich über öffentliche Aussagen von somalischen Piraten ein Narrativ rekonstruieren, das der Praktik zu Grunde liegt. Dieses Narrativ ist als konstitutiver Teil der Praktik zu verstehen. Das Narrativ ist sowohl von instrumentellem Nutzen zur Durchführung der Praktik, als auch ein identitätsstiftendes Konstrukt. Grundlage eines solchen Verständnisses von Narrativen ist die Abkehr von einem repräsentativen Textverständnis hin zu einem pragmatischen und performativen Verständnis. Der Beitrag ist in drei Teile strukturiert. Der erste Teil untersucht in konzeptioneller Hinsicht den Zusammenhang von Narrativen und Praktiken. Der zweite Teil rekonstruiert das Grand Narrativ der somalischen Piraterie anhand von Passagen aus Interviews und Presseerklärungen von Piraten und „folgt“ dann dem Narrativ in denjenigen Situationen, in denen es genutzt wird. In einem dritten Teil wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern die skizzierte Untersuchungsperspektive der narrativen Praxeologie auch Anwendung in anderen Feldern finden kann, in denen teilnehmende Beobachtung nur schwerlich möglich ist.
in “Critical Security Methods: New Frameworks for Analysis“, edited by Claudia Aradau, Jef Huysmans, Andrew McNeal and Nadine Voelckner. London: Routledge ,, 2014
Our main claim is that, rather than distance, what should define security scholarship is a well-n... more Our main claim is that, rather than distance, what should define security scholarship is a well-negotiated proximity to practice. A return to practice stresses the need for seeking proximity to the world of practitioners and their activities, and more carefully listening and talking to those whose lives are at stake. Security from such a perspective is best understood by a focus on the practices constituting security, and the variety of diff used and mundane actions and objects – some of them of a profoundly oppressive character – by which security practice is performed. Security studies then are a project of proximity and close engagement with the flow and the infrastructures of the everyday and the mundane, and those discriminated by security practices. We draw on contemporary practice theorists and pragmatist thinkers to investigate in more detail the move towards a critical security methodology driven by proximity. We discuss the importance of recognizing and strengthening the multifaceted networks in which research is embedded, the practical value of academic knowledge and how our understanding of theory and methodology transforms from such a perspective. We then proceed to outline how participant observation provides a repository of terms and modes of engagement for negotiating proximity in such a way (section three). Drawing on examples of participant observation on security we explore core dimensions of negotiating proximity.
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, 2024
Maritime zones are increasingly vulnerable to conventional and non-conventional threats, includin... more Maritime zones are increasingly vulnerable to conventional and non-conventional threats, including the proliferation of missile and drone technologies, the illicit flow of arms and the challenges of protecting critical maritime infrastructure from an increasingly complex threat landscape. This highlights the pressing need for a stronger integration between maritime governance and the international frameworks aimed at promoting disarmament, arms control and cooperative security.
The recently adopted Pact for the Future reflects an urgent commitment to enhancing international cooperation in this domain. In particular, Action 22 of the Pact calls for more coordinated global efforts to secure our oceans through stronger maritime governance, environmental stewardship and measures to prevent the escalation of conflicts at sea. With increasing threats from climate change, geopolitical tensions and technological developments, acting swiftly and decisively is necessary to prevent further destabilization of our maritime environments.
Within this context, UNIDIR’s report marks the first comprehensive exploration of contemporary maritime security and provides an essential baseline for understanding these diverse and complex challenges, setting the context for future in-depth studies.
Report for the UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme, 2020
Climate change, biodiversity loss and the proliferation of marine regulations profoundly change t... more Climate change, biodiversity loss and the proliferation of marine regulations profoundly change the maritime law enforcement environment. New and different forms of blue crimes are likely to emerge and need responses. Novel environmental protection regimes increase the need for effective law enforcement. The same time marine infrastructures and seagoing capacities face new challenges to operability linked to sea level rise, higher waves and extreme weather events. This report provides a concise summary of these developments with a focus on the South Pacific Islands. It concludes 1) that current climate change and biodiversity vulnerability assessment and adaption strategies need to consider more fully law enforcement requirements; 2) there is the need for focused assessments of the consequences of climate change and biodiversity concerns for maritime law enforcement; 3) the report calls for realizing stronger synergies between projects that target maritime security, blue economy, and marine protection in the light of the anthropocene
This Policy Brief is the result of the two-day workshop on "Maritime Infrastructures: Protecting ... more This Policy Brief is the result of the two-day workshop on "Maritime Infrastructures: Protecting subsea data cables in Europe and the Atlantic", held in Lisbon on the 29 th and 30 th of June 2022, on the sidelines of the United Nations Ocean Conference, in a partnership between the Atlantic Centre, SafeSeas, the University of Copenhagen, and the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. The workshop, which brought together academics and stakeholders from the industry, European
IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS Requested by the SEDE sub-committee of the European Parliament, 2022
The EU's subsea data cable network is both vital for global connectivity and vulnerable. This stu... more The EU's subsea data cable network is both vital for global connectivity and vulnerable. This study provides a systematic review of the current security threats, as well as the actors at the origin of these threats. Building on reports and expert input, the paper takes stock of current awareness, preparedness and response mechanisms, both at the EU and Member State level. A number of recommendations suggest how to improve the resilience of the cable network. Proposals build on the need to enhance EU-wide awareness, improve coordination and share information across EU institutions and Member States. In addition, surveillance capabilities must be advanced, response and repair mechanisms strengthened, and the topic mainstreamed across external action.
Tackling maritime security is one of the major global challenges today.
Safeguarding internationa... more Tackling maritime security is one of the major global challenges today. Safeguarding international transport by sea; preventing accidents and disasters; fighting transnational organised crimes like piracy and the trafficking of narcotics and weapons; addressing fishery crimes and preventing other environmental crimes are all vital for international security and realising the prospects of the blue economy. Maritime security is a global task. It requires effective maritime security governance at both national and regional levels, but also external capacity building to assist countries in developing their human and material capacities. Significant investments have been made in maritime security and a rich experience base has been built over the years regarding how to organise maritime security governance and do capacity building work. This report consolidates this experience and identifies best practices to organise maritime security more efficiently and devise ways in which it can be effectively supported by donors. It provides guidelines for mastering maritime security. Mastering maritime security requires reflexive capacity building. What reflexivity means in practice is demonstrated in this report by drawing on the experience of the Western Indian Ocean region. The report is an important toolkit for all practitioners involved in maritime security. It also provides an essential guide for the planning, programming and implementation of capacity building for maritime security.
Accurate knowledge of maritime activities is vital for maritime security and the development of t... more Accurate knowledge of maritime activities is vital for maritime security and the development of the blue economy. Although international donors have provided significant assistance, there are still no reliable regional maritime domain awareness structures in the Western Indian Ocean. This policy brief reviews current activities to identify opportunities through low-tech solutions, human resources and collaboration for improvement of maritime domain awareness in the region.
The current strategy of the International Community to deal with Somali piracy runs the risk of f... more The current strategy of the International Community to deal with Somali piracy runs the risk of failing. By analyzing the current attempts in countering piracy the authors come to the conclusion that one of the fundamental strategic problems is the present narrow-minded focus on deterrence and containment. Alternative (eventually even unconventional) considerations are necessary to complement and enhance strategic thinking in this regard. To understand piracy as a challenge of peacebuilding offers such a possibility to rethink the current strategic perspective and to develop a more comprehensive strategy for countering piracy. In developing and exploring five alternative policy scenarios the authors show how a peacebuilding perspective might enhance and supplement present strategic thinking. By arguing to understand piracy as a ‘wicked problem’ they illustrate the key elements of pursuing sustainability and efficacy in dealing with Somali piracy
Political scientists have started to focus on ‘practice’ as the smallest unit of analysis. Follow... more Political scientists have started to focus on ‘practice’ as the smallest unit of analysis. Following a broader turn in the social sciences towards ‘practice’, the practice focus provides multiple advantages, including better conceptualizations of short term social change, getting closer to the everyday activities of those speaking, writing and doing politics, appropriate conceptualization of agency-structure dynamics, or forms of analysis resonating with other communities than scholarly ones. This paper asks what the methodological implications of the practice turn are. It is argued that the practice focus does not only imply a certain ‘theory’ but also a certain methodology. I advance the term praxiography to speak about the types of analysis produced by practice researchers. I discuss key guidelines of praxiographic research on two layers: firstly, general research strategies which provide empirical access points for research, secondly, guidelines for data collection in the frame of participant observation, expert interviews, and document analysis. I end in suggesting that while praxiography is context driven, and hence required to be tailored to the research problem, it is important to reflect on the repertoire of tools available to praxiographic research strategies.
Political scientists have started to focus on ‘practice’ as the smallest unit of analysis. Follow... more Political scientists have started to focus on ‘practice’ as the smallest unit of analysis. Following a broader turn in the social sciences towards ‘practice’, the practice focus provides multiple advantages, including better conceptualizations of short term social change, getting closer to the everyday activities of those speaking, writing and doing politics, appropriate conceptualization of agency-structure dynamics, or forms of analysis resonating with other communities than scholarly ones. This paper asks what the methodological implications of the practice turn are. It is argued that the practice focus does not only imply a certain ‘theory’ but also a certain methodology. I advance the term praxiography to speak about the types of analysis produced by practice researchers. I discuss key guidelines of praxiographic research on two layers: firstly, general research strategies which provide empirical access points for research, secondly, guidelines for data collection in the frame of participant observation, expert interviews, and document analysis. I end in suggesting that while praxiography is context driven, and hence required to be tailored to the research problem, it is important to reflect on the repertoire of tools available to praxiographic research strategies.
Not long ago piracy was considered as having disappeared in the annals of history. Yet piracy has... more Not long ago piracy was considered as having disappeared in the annals of history. Yet piracy has returned as a major issue on the international security agendas. International security actors, including the UN Security Council, NATO and the EU address piracy as a problem of 'international security and peace'. In this talk I reconstruct how piracy was gradually turned from a minor problem of 'maritime safety' in the 1980s, into a problem of regional security in the 1990s and into a major issue of international security and peace. Drawing on primary resources I interrogate how the problem of piracy was continuously extended. Initially seen as a problem of the safety of seafarers it became increasingly linked to issues such as corruption and weak governance, environmental security, transnational terrorism, humanitarian aid, non-proliferation, failed states and global commerce and trade. Through such linkages the spectrum of threats associated with piracy became extended and the network of actors concerned about it enlarged. I follow the work of John Dewey and Bruno Latour in arguing that what we can observe is the construction of a 'security public'.
The relation between theorists and practitioners of global politics can be described as the inter... more The relation between theorists and practitioners of global politics can be described as the interaction between different communities of practice. To address global problems different of such communities cooperate and compete over the adequate interpretation of situations. The value of drawing on the concept of communities of practice approach (as popularized in IR among other by Emanuel Adler) lies in the attempt to locate meaning and interpretation not within organizational boundaries (e.g. the university, the think tank, bureaucracies or assemblies), but within the practices of communities which often transcend such boundaries. Various communities of practice of global politics have already been analyzed in those terms, including the academic discipline of international relations, the non-proliferation movement, or development and security practitioners. In this contribution we draw on this literature, but investigate the interaction of different communities of practice. We argued that a crucial driver of interaction are what Etienne Wenger, father of the community of practice concept, has described as “boundary objects”, or “boundary concepts”. The concept of boundary objects emphasizes that different communities use the same object, without agreeing on its meaning. Hence, such objects become the central hub for communication and negotiations between communities. In this contribution we use such a (practice-theoretical) sociological conceptualization of the theory-praxis nexus to conduct an empirical study of the rise and fall of different boundary concepts that aim at conceptualizing the relationship between security and development policies. We identify four of these concepts, that is, the concepts of “failed states”, “human security”, “peacebuilding”, “responsibility to protect (R2P)”. All four concepts are crucial in organizing the communications of theoreticians and practitioners over the security development divide. We analyze these four cases of concepts in a three step analysis. We firstly investigate their origins, secondly ask which communities over time interact how through these concepts, and thirdly speculate about the future fate of these concepts and their role in organizing the theory-praxis dialogue. Our primary method is a quantitative co-citation analysis complemented by qualitative text analysis. Our contribution is structured in the following way. The first part will discuss the value a community of practice perspective offers for analyzing the theory-praxis nexus. The second part discusses the notion of boundary concepts and introduces the cases. The third part discusses the results from our four case studies. The paper makes two major contributions to debates in IR. Firstly, it is one of the first attempts of demonstrating the value of practice theory to study the theory-praxis nexus. As such it is of relevance both to the current discussions on practice theory as well as the nascent sociology of the discipline of IR debates. Secondly, the empirical case studies contribute to the ongoing discussions on organizing the security development nexus. The majority of these discussions have been either centered on conceptual abstraction, or on implementation problems. Our sociological analysis adds practical reflexivity to the discussion.
Piracy has become formulated as a global security problem. This paper reconstructs the process by... more Piracy has become formulated as a global security problem. This paper reconstructs the process by which piracy was turned into a problem worthy of international attention and action in focusing on the making of Resolution 1816. Resolution 1816 authorized military measure in the Gulf of Aden and Somali territorial sea. Reading this process as a process of securitization the paper presents an advanced version of securitization theory which integrates ideas from Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The first part of the paper provides an overview of the making of Resolution 1816. The second discusses securitization theory and how it can be used to understand the work and global role of the United Nations Security Council. Some major problems are identified which the securitization perspective on its own cannot address, but which deem important for understanding the career of piracy in the Council. To cope with these, the paper introduces ANT and illustrates how its concepts can lead us to a fuller understanding of the piracy case. The paper makes a threefold contribution to the literature. It is the first study detailing how piracy was turned from a private and national issue into a global one. Secondly it advances our understanding of the working of the Security Council and thirdly it adds to the debates on strengthening securitization theory.
International Relations theorists and international administrations have both started
to employ ... more International Relations theorists and international administrations have both started
to employ an approach from organizational theory, the Community of Practice approach. In
this paper I investigate how International Relations scholars have translated the concept as a
theory useful for conducting practice theory research, and how international administrations
have translated it into a governmental technology. To study the translation process I focus on
the translation work of three actors, that is Etienne Wenger, Emanuel Adler and Jean-Marie
Guéhenno. Over the course of this analysis, I connect what is seemingly unconnected: IR
theory and international administrations. Based on this analysis I ask what the implications of
such a “dual use” of a concept in science and administration are.
In "Praxis as a Perspective on International Relations", edited by Gunther Hellmann and Jens Steffek,, 2021
While theories of practice have significantly advanced our understanding of 'practice', less atte... more While theories of practice have significantly advanced our understanding of 'practice', less attention has been given to the concept of 'theory'. This chapter investigates what it implies to consider theorizing as a practice. The shift to the verb and the valuation of the actual 'work' required to produce theory has substantial consequences: it implies to de-center from the individual mind and understand theory as a collective achievement situated in a distinct milieu and locale; to focus on process and actions, rather than the object ('the theory'); to grasp the practical knowledge, various skills, material resources and objects that are assembled in the production of theory, and to recognize the multiplicity of styles of theorizing. I show what different understandings of 'theory' come to the fore, and then argue that thinking about practice has led to various new, innovative styles of theorizing. I draw on a number of recent practice studies to outline four of such styles: 'mechanism', 'meditation', 'method' and 'experimentation'. Each of these grounds theorizing differently in practice. The chapter provides a much-needed primer for thinking how we can theorize with practices and how recent international practice work provides new points of orientation.
Undersea communication cables are the core critical infrastructure of the digital age. 99% of all... more Undersea communication cables are the core critical infrastructure of the digital age. 99% of all transoceanic digital communication-financial transactions, emails, or voice messaging-is transported through undersea fiber-optic cables. The global submarine cable network is a critical infrastructure that does not receive the analytical attention it deserves. We argue that cable security is a core dimension of current and future international security governance. We present the first systematic survey of the academic discourses that investigate the politics, governance, and protection of submarine data cables. Three rather narrow literatures, study the cables 1) as under threat from hybrid warfare and terrorism, or treat the cable network narrowly as a 2) technical or 3) regulatory problem. We demonstrate the need for broadening out the research agenda and addressing key questions of security governance and geopolitics of this increasingly critical infrastructure.
The Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security and Development, , 2020
This chapter provides firstly a discussion of how maritime security has been conceptualized by si... more This chapter provides firstly a discussion of how maritime security has been conceptualized by situating it in the broader discussions on the role of navies, transnational organized crime, state failure and the sustainable development agenda. We then proceed in discussing the more particular debates on dedicated maritime security issues, in particular piracy, smuggling, and environmental crimes. We end in discussing a range of open questions that will be pertinent to strengthen our understanding of the maritime violence and development link.
The oceans are increasingly understood as a security space. Does the new maritime security agenda... more The oceans are increasingly understood as a security space. Does the new maritime security agenda lead to new spatial configurations? This chapter introduces the concept of 'pragmatic spaces' to explore spatial configurations produced in responses to maritime security. Four exemplary spaces are discussed: how counter-piracy led to the development of high risk areas, how maritime security capacity building produced new regions constructed through codes of conduct, how the identification of smuggling routes established new forms of international partnerships, and how maritime domain awareness systems advance new transnational spaces of surveillance. These new spatial configurations were introduced to manage maritime security issues and enable transnational forms of governance.
in “Concepts at Work: On the linguistic infrastructure of world politics”, edited by Piki Ish-Shalom, Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, , 2021
How do concepts emerge and change? This chapter investigates the concept of the 'blue economy'. T... more How do concepts emerge and change? This chapter investigates the concept of the 'blue economy'. The concept was originally proposed as an alternative to the 'green economy' and as a way of thinking innovation and sustainability. Over the years it has evolved into a concept that is primarily about the economic potential of the sea. The developing blue economy agenda aims at providing new direction for ocean governance, maritime trade, ocean resource exploration and ocean health. Increasingly it is also linked to concerns over maritime security. The chapter investigates the twist and turns that the concept of blue economy has been taking. It draws on a practice theoretical framework that argues that we should appreciate the way in which concepts are responses to concrete problematic situations. A range of such problematic situations are investigated. The chapter offers both, a rich empirical case from one of the least studied areas of global governance, as well as a new way of thinking about conceptual change in practice. Concepts are one of the basic linguistic material of international politics. Yet, the study of concepts is often reduced to a concern of historians of international thought. This misunderstanding is gradually corrected, 1 the awareness is growing that concepts are also a productive entry point for understanding contemporary international politics and how it changes. This new recognition is linked to the re-evaluation of linguistic structures as part of the introduction of discourse-theoretical and post-structuralist thoughts to the discipline of international relations (IR). These textualist perspectives have well advanced our understanding of why and how language matters in international politics. They, however, tend to focus on larger systems of meaning and do not scrutinize single concepts, their evolution, and career. In this chapter, I argue for basing the study of concepts on a practice theoretical perspective. 2 I draw on a contemporary and recently emerged concept: the Blue Economy. The concept of Blue Economy emerged over the last decade as a new way of thinking about and governing the oceans. I use the case of this concept to develop three interrelated claims for practice-based concept analysis: Firstly, following the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Dewey I suggest that the meaning of a concept lies in its use. Concepts have no inherent meaning outside of their use. For Wittgenstein concepts are part of what he called " language games ". For Dewey, making a similar argument decades earlier, concepts had to be seen as part of " conjunct activities " of a community of functional language use. Rather than " language games " or " conjunct activities " I suggest the more established term of " practice " , to refer to the sets of activities within which concepts are used. In consequence, the study of concepts implies to study the practices of which concepts are part, the collectives that carry and enact the practice and the situations they are part (practical configurations).
Research-led teaching is the mantra of today’s leading universities. The idea that world-leading ... more Research-led teaching is the mantra of today’s leading universities. The idea that world-leading research is causally linked to high quality education is the center piece in the identity of contemporary universities and a cornerstone in their reputation and marketing strategies. In this article we argue that the idea of research-led teaching is a plausible and promising, yet idealistic leitmotiv that often has little correspondence to contemporary academic practice. Evaluating the notion against the backdrop of the broader contemporary situation in which the university and its academic practitioners work, we find that the idea of research-led teaching is challenged substantially. In consequence research-led teaching has become more a myth than a practice. Our intent is to open a reflexive discussion of what research-led teaching can mean today, considering that the notion is crucial in today’s academic vocabulary but has hardly been put to scrutiny in a sufficient manner.
This article presents a conceptual exploration of theories of practice with reference to current ... more This article presents a conceptual exploration of theories of practice with reference to current debates in IR. While the concept of practice enlarges and refines the theoretical vocabulary of IR, we stress the importance of theoretical rigour and for limiting what can be considered as practice theory. Drawing on the work of Reckwitz, we first set out the differences between rationalist, norm-based and cultural theories. Theories of practice extend existing culturalist approaches by providing different answers to core ontological and epistemological questions; they understand the social not through frames or discourses, but by taking (international) practices as the smallest unit of analysis. Second, we stress the importance of recognizing the diversity within practice theory and identify two traditions from which practice theory is developed, that is, a critical and a pragmatist one. The landscape in IR has so far been dominated by the critical genre, primarily associated with Bourdieusan praxeology. We argue for more attention to the pragmatist strand notably New French Pragmatism (Boltanski, Latour). The critical and the pragmatist genres can potentially work in a fruitful division of labour. They are capable of addressing different phenomena and creating a productive tension for future research agendas.
The relation of the theory and practice of international relations has received some significant ... more The relation of the theory and practice of international relations has received some significant intellectual attention. Yet, empirical investigations of how the discipline hangs together with other actors remain rare. In adopting the analytical vocabulary of ‘practice theory’ the article suggests to study the relation as the interaction of communities of practice. Major devices for this interaction are ‘boundary concepts’. I study three of these boundary concepts (human security, peacebuilding, the responsibility to protect) and demonstrate how they organize the relation between different communities of practice. I demonstrate the benefits of practice theory to study the relation, and show how it can illuminate the study of global politics.
International Relations theorists and international administrations have both started to employ a... more International Relations theorists and international administrations have both started to employ an approach from organizational theory, the Community of Practice approach. In this article I investigate how International Relations scholars have translated the framework into a theory useful for conducting practice theory research, and how international administrations have translated it into a governmental technology. To study the translation process I focus on the translation work of three actors, that is Etienne Wenger, Emanuel Adler and Jean-Marie Guéhenno. Over the course of this analysis, I connect what is seemingly unconnected: IR theory and international administrations. Based on this analysis I ask what the implications of the ‘dual use’ of a concept in science and administration are. I review different potential applications of the community of practice approach as well as their respective strengths and disadvantages.
The international community has awakened to the importance of the sea. Ocean health, ocean govern... more The international community has awakened to the importance of the sea. Ocean health, ocean governance, maritime security and the blue economy are concepts that have received increasing attention over the past decade. However, caring for the oceans, fostering their economic prospects, and ensuring the security of the sea do not yet feature amongst the top priorities of most states. The Republic of Seychelles is one country that has been a crucial policy entrepreneur and advocate in raising the profile of the world's oceans. Rallying a coalition of small island states around a common cause, ensuring that coastal states recognise the importance of the sea, and taking on leadership roles, such as the chairmanship of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), count amongst the notable achievements of the Indian Ocean nation. Now, former president James Alix Michel (2016) delivers a programmatic text on ocean governance that is likely to set the agenda for years to come. His core concept is that of the 'blue economy'.
Whether global order is drifting towards democratic or technocratic modes of governing is a conte... more Whether global order is drifting towards democratic or technocratic modes of governing is a contested issue. This thesis takes up the challenge of investigating how trends towards global democratization or technocratization play out in the field of United Nations peacebuilding. To do so the ...
This volume brings together scholars from different fields to explore the power, consequences and... more This volume brings together scholars from different fields to explore the power, consequences and everyday practices of security expertise. Expertise mediates between different forms of knowledge: scientific and technological, legal, economic and political knowledge. This book offers the first systematic study of security expertise and opens up a productive dialogue
between science and technology studies and security studies to investigate the character and consequences of this expertise. In security theory, the study of expertise is crucial to understanding whose knowledge informs security-making
and to reflect on the impact and responsibility of security analysis. In science and technology studies, the study of security politics adds a challenging new case to the agenda of research on expertise and policy. The contributors investigate cases such as academic security studies, security think tanks, the collaboration between science, anthropology and the military, transnational terrorism and the ethical consequences of security expertise. Together they challenge our understanding of how expertise works and what consequences it has for security politics and international relations. This book will be of particular interest to students of critical security studies, sociology, science and technology studies, and IR/security studies in general.
The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of Internation... more The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of International Relations theory. This article develops the model of pragmatic ordering to conceptualise change. The model of pragmatic ordering synthesises recent theoretical arguments for a focus on ordering advanced in-practice theory, pragmatist philosophy, and related approaches. It also integrates evidence from recent global governance research. We propose a five-stage model. According to the model, once a new problem emerges (problematisation), informality allows for experimenting with new practices and developing new knowledge (informalisation and experimentation). Once these experimental practices become codified, and survive contestation, they increasingly settle (codification) and are spread through learning and translation processes (consolidation). We draw on the rise of the maritime security agenda as a paradigmatic case and examine developments in the Western Indian Ocean region to ill...
ABSTRACT Undersea communication cables are the core critical infrastructure of the digital age. 9... more ABSTRACT Undersea communication cables are the core critical infrastructure of the digital age. 99% of all transoceanic digital communication—financial transactions, emails, or voice messaging—is transported through undersea fiber-optic cables. The global submarine cable network is a critical infrastructure that does not receive the analytical attention it deserves. We argue that cable security is a core dimension of current and future international security governance. We present the first systematic survey of the academic discourses that investigate the politics, governance, and protection of submarine data cables. Three rather narrow literatures study the cables (1) as under threat from hybrid warfare and terrorism, or treat the cable network narrowly as a (2) technical or (3) regulatory problem. We demonstrate the need for broadening out the research agenda and addressing key questions of security governance and geopolitics of this increasingly critical infrastructure.
Assemblage theory provides an innovative approach to analysing governance and a unique position t... more Assemblage theory provides an innovative approach to analysing governance and a unique position to understand processes and situations of polycentrism. It's strength lies in understanding constellations that involve large numbers and multiple forms of actors and in exploring governing relations that are informal and often subject to rapid change. It is also best suited to understand situations where there is an overlap between jurisdictions and where new governance techniques, such as best practices, or public private partnerships are employed. Assemblage theorizing originates in political anthropology and geography where scholars drew on insights from social theory, relationalism and practice theory. Today, assemblage theorizing is adopted across disciplines to study governance at different scales from the city to regions and global processes. As a particularly parsimonious theory, it allows us to capture how issues and problems give rise to territories of governance at different scales and unique actor constellations become formed to address them. This chapter provides a concise overview of assemblage theory as an analytical tool for studying governance. We start by exploring the core conceptual apparatus of assemblage theory, and discuss concepts such as territorialisation and socio-material relations. Laying out the basic understandings of techniques, legitimacy and power that emerge, we turn to empirical examples to further explore these. We draw on the examples of the governance of two particular spaces, the oceans and cyberspace, in order to illustrate the analytical power of the approach. Both spaces involve complex territories and actor constellations. In the empirical discussion, we show how governing evolved using best practices and private public partnerships. Both examples show how assemblage often imply de-politicisation with power relations often becoming hidden.
Ten years after the last large scale piracy attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, other maritime c... more Ten years after the last large scale piracy attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, other maritime crimes such as illicit fishing and maritime smuggling have emerged. The spill over of conflicts in Yemen and Mozambique and maritime grey-zone activities have also become major maritime security issues. Yet, perhaps the most worrying-though largely underappreciated-trend is the surge of naval activity and strategic competition in the region. This is a major dilemma for the region: The region relies on external military actors to protect vital shipping lanes, but the presence of these actors also risks importing geopolitical tensions that could undermine regional maritime stability. How can the region address these maritime insecurities and the evolving militarization dilemma? We investigate the regional maritime security architecture to identify institutions that can help the region manage the militarisation dilemma. We argue that only the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (SHADE) mechanism and the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) can help mitigate geopolitical competition in the region. Preparing these mechanisms to deal with the militarisation dilemma will be vital for the long-term prosperity of the Western India Ocean.
Moving away from studying actors to studying practices opens a fascinating vista of global govern... more Moving away from studying actors to studying practices opens a fascinating vista of global governance. Kratochwil provokes inquiry into the practical work actual people do in international relations. He helps to move beyond binaries by offering a pragmatic approach to global governance in a fragmented institutional environment. Yet, his criticism of best practices for their problems of applicability and perverse side-effects misses the existence of different kinds of best practices. Some of them have been highly successful, such as the ‘Best Management Practices to Deter Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Coast of Somalia’. One should not underestimate the potential of practices in both advancing scientific knowledge and ‘real-world’ change.
In this introduction to a special section of the September 2019 issue of International Affairs, w... more In this introduction to a special section of the September 2019 issue of International Affairs, we revisit the main themes and arguments of our article ‘Beyond seablindness: a new agenda for maritime security studies’, published in this journal in November 2017. We reiterate our call for more scholarly attention to be paid to the maritime environment in international relations and security studies. We argue that the contemporary maritime security agenda should be understood as an interlinked set of challenges of growing global, regional and national significance, and comprising issues of national, environmental, economic and human security. We suggest that maritime security is characterized by four main characteristics, including its interconnected nature, its transnationality, its liminality—in the sense of implicating both land and sea—and its national and institutional cross-jurisdictionality. Each of the five articles in the special section explores aspects of the contemporary m...
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Journal Articles by Christian Bueger
Existe una creciente ola de estudios en el campo de las relaciones internacionales que muestra interés por las «infraestructuras»: los oleoductos, los puertos, los acuerdos de transacciones financieras, así como otros grandes sistemas de carácter técnico ocupan cada vez un mayor espacio dentro de las mentes de los teóricos internacionales. Esta nota teórica proporciona a este debate una dirección que poder seguir, ya que ofrece una aclaración importante del concepto de infraestructura y de cómo se teoriza este. Los académicos tienen una comprensión muy diferente de lo que son las infraestructuras, de por qué estas resultan importantes y sobre cómo teorizarlas y estudiarlas empíricamente. Existe un desacuerdo sobre si la infraestructura es un concepto teórico o si se refiere a fenómenos empíricos. Para algunos académicos, las infraestructuras son un objeto de la política, mientras que otros las ven como el desarrollo de la fuerza política o incluso como una agencia por sí mismas. Otros, incluso, llegan a reconocer un potencial más amplio y señalan que el «infraestructuralismo» podría proporcionar una nueva e importante forma paradigmática de teorizar la política internacional. Proporcionamos, mediante el esbozo de tres estilos distintos de teorización de la infraestructura, nuevas direcciones para la investigación futura de la infraestructura y cómo puede contribuir a debates más amplios dentro de la teoría internacional.
De plus en plus d’études en relations internationales s'intéressent aux « infrastructures ». Les pipelines, ports, arrangements de transactions financières et autres grands systèmes techniques sont de plus en plus présents à l'esprit des théoriciens internationaux. Cette note théorique oriente le débat en proposant une clarification importante du concept d'infrastructure et de sa théorisation. Chaque chercheur conçoit différemment les infrastructures, leur importance, leur théorisation et leur étude empirique. Il existe même un désaccord quant à l'existence du concept théorique d'infrastructure, ou s'il s'agit plutôt d'un phénomène empirique. Pour certains chercheurs, les infrastructures sont un objet politique, alors que d'autres les conçoivent comme des forces politiques émergentes ou même, des agents à elles seules. D'autres leur reconnaissent même un potentiel plus vaste et remarquent que « l'infrastructuralisme » pourrait constituer une nouvelle forme paradigmatique majeure de théorisation en politique internationale. En présentant trois styles de théorisation distincts de l'infrastructure, nous proposons de nouvelles pistes de recherche sur l'infrastructure et comment celle-ci peut contribuer aux débats plus larges en théorie internationale.
While the importance of maritime security is generally recognized, the majority of countries continue to struggle with developing the capacities required. This challenge is substantial for small island states in particular, which need to govern vast maritime spaces with very limited human and financial resources, but also in coastal countries with generally weak security institutions and government capacities.
Substantial efforts are underway to address capacity-building gaps. The investments in maritime security have significantly increased in the past decade; a wide range of international programs for capacity building have been set up. Yet, progress seems slow. How can the capacity gap be better addressed? This was the core question that the SafeSeas network was trying to answer. Setting out to capture the experience in
maritime security capacity building in the Western Indian Ocean, the goal of the project was to collect core lessons and to develop best practices. The result of the project: a best practice toolkit for capacity building (SafeSeas, 2018). In the following I provide an introduction to the rationale of the tool kit as well as an overview of its core insights.
Existe una creciente ola de estudios en el campo de las relaciones internacionales que muestra interés por las «infraestructuras»: los oleoductos, los puertos, los acuerdos de transacciones financieras, así como otros grandes sistemas de carácter técnico ocupan cada vez un mayor espacio dentro de las mentes de los teóricos internacionales. Esta nota teórica proporciona a este debate una dirección que poder seguir, ya que ofrece una aclaración importante del concepto de infraestructura y de cómo se teoriza este. Los académicos tienen una comprensión muy diferente de lo que son las infraestructuras, de por qué estas resultan importantes y sobre cómo teorizarlas y estudiarlas empíricamente. Existe un desacuerdo sobre si la infraestructura es un concepto teórico o si se refiere a fenómenos empíricos. Para algunos académicos, las infraestructuras son un objeto de la política, mientras que otros las ven como el desarrollo de la fuerza política o incluso como una agencia por sí mismas. Otros, incluso, llegan a reconocer un potencial más amplio y señalan que el «infraestructuralismo» podría proporcionar una nueva e importante forma paradigmática de teorizar la política internacional. Proporcionamos, mediante el esbozo de tres estilos distintos de teorización de la infraestructura, nuevas direcciones para la investigación futura de la infraestructura y cómo puede contribuir a debates más amplios dentro de la teoría internacional.
De plus en plus d’études en relations internationales s'intéressent aux « infrastructures ». Les pipelines, ports, arrangements de transactions financières et autres grands systèmes techniques sont de plus en plus présents à l'esprit des théoriciens internationaux. Cette note théorique oriente le débat en proposant une clarification importante du concept d'infrastructure et de sa théorisation. Chaque chercheur conçoit différemment les infrastructures, leur importance, leur théorisation et leur étude empirique. Il existe même un désaccord quant à l'existence du concept théorique d'infrastructure, ou s'il s'agit plutôt d'un phénomène empirique. Pour certains chercheurs, les infrastructures sont un objet politique, alors que d'autres les conçoivent comme des forces politiques émergentes ou même, des agents à elles seules. D'autres leur reconnaissent même un potentiel plus vaste et remarquent que « l'infrastructuralisme » pourrait constituer une nouvelle forme paradigmatique majeure de théorisation en politique internationale. En présentant trois styles de théorisation distincts de l'infrastructure, nous proposons de nouvelles pistes de recherche sur l'infrastructure et comment celle-ci peut contribuer aux débats plus larges en théorie internationale.
While the importance of maritime security is generally recognized, the majority of countries continue to struggle with developing the capacities required. This challenge is substantial for small island states in particular, which need to govern vast maritime spaces with very limited human and financial resources, but also in coastal countries with generally weak security institutions and government capacities.
Substantial efforts are underway to address capacity-building gaps. The investments in maritime security have significantly increased in the past decade; a wide range of international programs for capacity building have been set up. Yet, progress seems slow. How can the capacity gap be better addressed? This was the core question that the SafeSeas network was trying to answer. Setting out to capture the experience in
maritime security capacity building in the Western Indian Ocean, the goal of the project was to collect core lessons and to develop best practices. The result of the project: a best practice toolkit for capacity building (SafeSeas, 2018). In the following I provide an introduction to the rationale of the tool kit as well as an overview of its core insights.
the potential of the oceans. The concept has made a remarkable career
journey across the world. Starting its travel in the sustainable development
discourse, it has become one of the main ways for how the oceans and seas are discussed in public policy and world political debates. This chapter analyzes the trajectory of the concept of blue economy to sketch out a practice-driven form of concept analysis.
Our discussion comes to the conclusion that there are serious politics at stake if IR is represented as a community.
access, and proximity. My core intention is to contribute to conceptual awareness in the dialogue of anthropology and political science, and the need to focus on concrete and practical problems of research practice.
To address these questions, offer a brief reflection on how we can learn from governance experiments. This leads to the argument that the core approach of the CGPCS can be described as ‘experimental governance’. The CGPCS can be seen as a ‘laboratory’ in which several innovative governance ideas have become tried and tested. I discuss a range of these experiments. Since an experiment is always tied to the conditions under which it has been conducted, the context in which the CGPCS operates requires to be taken into account. As many participants have argued the conditions under which the CGPCS operates are relatively unique. Yet, not all of these are necessary conditions. Nor, should we assume that similar constellations will ever exist in the near future. Hence, there is great promise that the experiments of the CGPCS provide major insights for other problematic situations and fields of global governance. I conclude with a reflection of the areas in which a replication of CGPCS experiments will be particularly promising.
– bringt die Informalitätsforschung wieder zurück. Regierungsforschung rückt näher an den politischen Alltag, interessiert sich für die Feinheiten, die Mikrophysik politischen Entscheidens und studiert die Diversität des politi-schen Biotops. Mag diese Entwicklung zwar nicht den Beifall der Sparsamkeitstheoretiker finden, so muss sich die Informalitätsforschung dennoch der Kritik stellen, ob sie sich auf angemessener theoretischer Grundlage be-wegt. Hier zeigt sich, wie wir in diesem Beitrag deutlich machen, die Schwäche des derzeitigen Programms. Formelles Handeln und informelles, die formale Institution und die Informelle, lassen sich nicht gerecht-fertigt voneinander abspalten.
We draw on contemporary practice theorists and pragmatist thinkers to investigate in more detail the move towards a critical security methodology driven by proximity. We discuss the importance of recognizing and strengthening the multifaceted networks in which research is embedded, the practical value of academic knowledge and how our understanding of theory and methodology transforms from such a perspective. We then proceed to outline how participant observation provides a repository of terms and modes of engagement for negotiating proximity in such a way (section three). Drawing on examples of participant observation on security we explore core dimensions of negotiating proximity.
The recently adopted Pact for the Future reflects an urgent commitment to enhancing international cooperation in this domain. In particular, Action 22 of the Pact calls for more coordinated global efforts to secure our oceans through stronger maritime governance, environmental stewardship and measures to prevent the escalation of conflicts at sea. With increasing threats from climate change, geopolitical tensions and technological developments, acting swiftly and decisively is necessary to prevent further destabilization of our maritime environments.
Within this context, UNIDIR’s report marks the first comprehensive exploration of contemporary maritime security and provides an essential baseline for understanding these diverse and complex challenges, setting the context for future in-depth studies.
Safeguarding international transport by sea; preventing accidents and disasters; fighting transnational organised crimes like piracy and the trafficking of narcotics and weapons; addressing fishery crimes and preventing other environmental crimes are all vital for international security and realising the prospects of the blue economy.
Maritime security is a global task. It requires effective maritime security governance at both national and regional levels, but also external capacity building to assist countries in developing their human and material capacities.
Significant investments have been made in maritime security and a rich experience base has been built over the years regarding how to organise maritime security governance and do capacity building work. This report consolidates this experience and identifies best practices to organise maritime security more efficiently and devise ways in which it can be effectively supported by donors. It provides guidelines for mastering maritime security.
Mastering maritime security requires reflexive capacity building. What reflexivity means in practice is demonstrated in this report by drawing on the experience of the Western Indian Ocean region.
The report is an important toolkit for all practitioners involved in maritime security. It also provides an essential guide for the planning, programming and implementation of capacity building for maritime security.
In this contribution we use such a (practice-theoretical) sociological conceptualization of the theory-praxis nexus to conduct an empirical study of the rise and fall of different boundary concepts that aim at conceptualizing the relationship between security and development policies. We identify four of these concepts, that is, the concepts of “failed states”, “human security”, “peacebuilding”, “responsibility to protect (R2P)”. All four concepts are crucial in organizing the communications of theoreticians and practitioners over the security development divide. We analyze these four cases of concepts in a three step analysis. We firstly investigate their origins, secondly ask which communities over time interact how through these concepts, and thirdly speculate about the future fate of these concepts and their role in organizing the theory-praxis dialogue. Our primary method is a quantitative co-citation analysis complemented by qualitative text analysis. Our contribution is structured in the following way. The first part will discuss the value a community of practice perspective offers for analyzing the theory-praxis nexus. The second part discusses the notion of boundary concepts and introduces the cases. The third part discusses the results from our four case studies.
The paper makes two major contributions to debates in IR. Firstly, it is one of the first attempts of demonstrating the value of practice theory to study the theory-praxis nexus. As such it is of relevance both to the current discussions on practice theory as well as the nascent sociology of the discipline of IR debates. Secondly, the empirical case studies contribute to the ongoing discussions on organizing the security development nexus. The majority of these discussions have been either centered on conceptual abstraction, or on implementation problems. Our sociological analysis adds practical reflexivity to the discussion.
to employ an approach from organizational theory, the Community of Practice approach. In
this paper I investigate how International Relations scholars have translated the concept as a
theory useful for conducting practice theory research, and how international administrations
have translated it into a governmental technology. To study the translation process I focus on
the translation work of three actors, that is Etienne Wenger, Emanuel Adler and Jean-Marie
Guéhenno. Over the course of this analysis, I connect what is seemingly unconnected: IR
theory and international administrations. Based on this analysis I ask what the implications of
such a “dual use” of a concept in science and administration are.
between science and technology studies and security studies to investigate the character and consequences of this expertise. In security theory, the study of expertise is crucial to understanding whose knowledge informs security-making
and to reflect on the impact and responsibility of security analysis. In science and technology studies, the study of security politics adds a challenging new case to the agenda of research on expertise and policy. The contributors investigate cases such as academic security studies, security think tanks, the collaboration between science, anthropology and the military, transnational terrorism and the ethical consequences of security expertise. Together they challenge our understanding of how expertise works and what consequences it has for security politics and international relations. This book will be of particular interest to students of critical security studies, sociology, science and technology studies, and IR/security studies in general.