The research network for Maritime Security and Ocean Governance
By Tim Edmunds and Scott Edwards The number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has increased significantly – up to 4,343 this year compared with 857 in the same period last year. The number of lurid headlines calling for action has also increased significantly but the issue is not always well understood. … Read more
Was Mauritius taking the risk of an oil spill serious? Was the country prepared. Evidence indicates that Mauritius was well equipped. But that was not enough.
By Scott Edwards and Christian Bueger At the time of writing at least 100 people have lost their lives and a further 4,000 have been wounded following an explosion in the Port of Beirut. While the actual cause remains uncertain, the tragedy calls to attention the tremendous consequences of a lack of port security. The … Read more
In the afternoon of August 4th, a major explosion in the port of Beirut killed over 100 people and left thousands wounded. Given the importance of the port for Lebanon’s economy, the consequences will be felt for years. SafeSeas researcher Christian Bueger and Scott Edwards have written a series of commentaries as well as gave … Read more
In mid-June, the TOCAS team, Professor Christian Bueger, Dr Scott Edwards, and Professor Tim Edmunds, sat down for a Q&A discussion to share their work on transnational organised crime at sea with the Partnership for Conflict, Crime & Security Research (PaCCS). PaCCS was created in order to respond to the challenge of addressing threats to … Read more
In the summer of 2019, I began to think about what we know about corruption in the maritime sector. My first impulse was to be found in popular culture. The second season of The Wire takes point of departure in a port. The series delves into criminal networks and the ways in which they make … Read 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 … Read more
Piracy-studies.org is a platform that has published commentaries on contemporary maritime piracy and maritime security from 2010 to 2017. In these years over 80 blog posts were published from authors around the world. These widely read commentaries addressed recent developments on piracy and the global response to it, as well as questions of maritime security … Read more
Transnational organised crime at sea is a growing international concern. However, and despite its importance, the concept remains uncertain and contested. Debate continues over the term itself, what illicit activities it incorporates and excludes, and how these can be meaningfully conceptualised in ways that that both recognise the diverse nature of the concept yet also … Read more
On 25 June 2020, the ‘Addressing Maritime Insecurity in Ghana (AMARIS)’ project held its ‘Kick-Off Event’. AMARIS is a two and a half year initiative funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, administered by the DANIDA Fellowship Centre and based at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. AMARIS started in March … Read more