Publication Date
2023
Publication Title
Berkeley Journal of International Law
Abstract
The law of the sea is not an area of international law generally associated with democracy. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is one of the world’s most broadly accepted and effective treaties, incorporating all kinds of States. The central cleavages among these states— coastal vs. maritime powers, developing countries vs. industrialized nations, landlocked vs. those with access to the seas—have only coincidental links to the global division of democracy and dictatorship. Yet, the law of the sea has surprising connections with democracy in that democratic states are enthusiastic users of the UNCLOS system. Furthermore, the oceans, so long viewed as a zone free of national jurisdiction, are increasingly an arena for domestic struggles within democratic countries. The institutional structures of the UNCLOS shape, and will likely continue to shape, the availability of the seas as a space for democratic contestation. Finally, the interaction between the law of the sea and democracy is beginning to receive pushback from authoritarian regimes concerned with security. In this sense, what I have elsewhere called “authoritarian international law” is beginning to rear its head.
Recommended Citation
Tom Ginsburg, "The Law of the Sea and Democracy," 41 Berkeley Journal of International Law 115 (2023).
