Abstract
This chapter discusses contemporary maritime security and examines the extent of its (non-)traditional nature in the context of international security. Based on the existing literature and adopted strategies, it highlights that there is no internationally accepted definition. Arguably, maritime security’s concept depends on the perspective of the ‘end user’ and it broadens as far as the relevant stakeholders get involved. Still, contemporary maritime security is directly linked and interdependent with human security and development. The combination of human insecurity’s non-traditional nature and the increasing involvement of non-state actors in projecting maritime insecurities, results in its differentiation from the traditional, interstate security challenges.
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Notes
- 1.
Latin, meaning the ‘freedom of the seas’, as described in the Dutch philosopher and jurist Hugo Grotius’ 1609 book, Mare Liberum.
- 2.
See EU Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), available from http://www.emsa.europa.eu/ [accessed May 2015].
- 3.
Includes Money Laundering, Illegal Arms and Drug Traffic, Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea, Illegal Oil bunkering/Crude Oil Theft along African coasts, Maritime Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Human Smuggling and Asylum Seekers Travelling by Sea.
- 4.
Includes deliberate shipwrecking and oil spillage as well as dumping of toxic wastes.
- 5.
Piracy traditionally occurs close to coasts or in narrow seas (straits). It is clearly land-based and concentrated in areas such as the Caribbean, the Gulf of Aden (Somalia), the South China Sea, the Gulf of Bengal and the Gulf of Guinea (off Nigeria). In these areas, vessels are forced to move closer to the coast for both navigational and commercial reasons, offering the ideal prey for the pirates. Furthermore, they are more crowded, hence the resultant slower movement of the ships offers more targets that are easier to approach and board (Murphy 2009: 29–30; Murphy and International Institute for Strategic Studies 2007: 14).
- 6.
Al Qaeda suicide bombers in a speedboat packed with explosives blew in the side of USS Cole, killing 17 sailors, in October 2000 in the Yemeni port of Aden. See BBC On this day (12 Oct), available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/12/newsid_4252000/4252400.stm [accessed May 2015].
- 7.
See BBC News (2002).
- 8.
See BBC News (2009).
- 9.
See International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), ‘Defining FOCs and the problems they pose’, available online from http://www.itfseafarers.org/defining-focs.cfm [accessed April 2015].
- 10.
“It is estimated that annually between $4–9 billion is generated from this illegal activity with encroachment in Sub-Saharan Africa’s waters amounting to about $1 billion. With no effective authority over the territorial waters of Somalia, these fishing fleets have taken control of the 3300 km coastline available to Somalia and its abundant marine resources. It is estimated that annually about 700 international vessels illegally poach in Somali territorial waters exploiting species of high value such as deep-water shrimps, lobsters, tuna and sharks” (Ama Osei-Tutu 2011: 10).
- 11.
The whole story and the full text of the speech are available online from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum; see http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/fourfreedoms [accessed 10 March 2015].
- 12.
See for example BBC News (2015).
- 13.
See for example Fox News (2015).
- 14.
See for example AlJazeera (2015).
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Chapsos, I. (2016). Is Maritime Security a Traditional Security Challenge?. In: Masys, A. (eds) Exploring the Security Landscape: Non-Traditional Security Challenges. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27914-5_4
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