Concepts

Video – Blue Crimes: Rethinking the Maritime Security Agenda

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Christian Bueger (SafeSeas/Uni of Copenhagen) Timothy Edmunds (SafeSeas/Uni of Bristol), Jason Eligh (Global Initiative), Maria Damanaki (ex-EU Marine Commissioner), Cathy Haenlein (RUSI) & Alan Cole (UNODC GMCP) featured in our latest event. The event discussed the blue crime concept, drawing upon a paper written by Tim and Christian. Read the paper related to the event … Read more

Event – ‘Blue Crimes: Rethinking the maritime security agenda’

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10th September, 14.00-15.30 BST Presenter & Panellist Timothy Edmunds (SafeSeas/Uni of Bristol) Panellists Jason Eligh (Global Initiative)Maria Damanaki (ex-EU Marine Commissioner)Cathy Haenlein (RUSI)Alan Cole (UNODC GMCP) Register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6QrSxlSeSKeFF-GueWlxbA Piracy, smuggling and illegal fishing are three blue crimes increasingly high on the international agenda. Such crimes have different expressions across the world’s maritime regions and affect … Read more

New article summarises insights from Best Practice Toolkit

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What are the challenges in governing maritime security? How can the capacity gap closed through capacity building projects? What guidelines can make such work more effective? These are the questions that the SafeSeas Network explored over the last years, culminating in the SafeSeas Best Practice Toolkit titled “Mastering Maritime Security”. In a new short article … Read more

SafeSeas publishes Best Practice Toolkit

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SafeSeas is pleased to announce the publication of the Best Practice Toolkit entitled Mastering Maritime Security: Reflexive Capacity Building and the western Indian Ocean Experience. The report presents the core results of the SafeSeas project drawing on 16 months of research and work with a wide range of partners from the Western Indian Ocean region. The … Read more

Mastering maritime security: SafeSeas forthcoming best practice tool kit

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Maritime security is a global task. It requires effective governance on a national and regional level, but also external capacity building to assist countries in developing the required human, institutional and material capacities needed to manage maritime spaces and enforce regulation within those spaces. Mastering this complex arena requires reflexive capacity building. SafeSeas forthcoming Best … Read more

How can we capture capacity building? New Concept Note published

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Capacity building is a broad concept with no clear definition. It is also a buzzword of International Politics. At SafeSeas we are interested in the practice of capacity as a diverse activity that goes beyond immediate maritime security concerns and is part of the broader picture of maritime governance. But, how can these practices be … Read more

New Concept Note on Kenya and maritime security published

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Kenya’s waters provide significant domestic and international economic opportunities. These prospects are, however, undermined by a wide range of maritime security challenges. The nature of these security concerns, in particular the impact of Somali piracy, has resulted in maritime security becoming an emergent priority for the Kenyan government. As a primer to the SAFE SEAS case … Read more

New Concept Note on Maritime Security in Seychelles published

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The Seychelles provides a particularly interesting case study as an archipelagic Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in which oceans policy for sustainable development and maritime security are core drivers of the governmental agenda. To illuminate these important issues, SAFE SEAS has published a new Concept Note on Maritime Security in Seychelles that examines how Seychelles regulates … Read more

Does capacity building stand for a new era of international engagement?

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Capacity building is the core term through which many global actors describe their international engagement today. While the concept of “capacity building” is anything but new, its arrival in international security discourse is relatively recent. Are we witnessing a major shift in terms of how security actors plan, implement and think about their international engagement? 

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What knowledge does capacity building need? The fallacies of epistemic determinism

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Inherent in contemporary understandings of capacity building is the idea that if a country possesses the right knowledge and technology then it will be able to handle the challenges associated with the Sustainable Development Goals. In consequence, much emphasis of capacity building work is on transferring technology and knowledge to least developed countries. Often, little thought goes into the question what the “right” or “appropriate” knowledge might be. The assumption is that knowledge (such as what functions a maritime security sector has to perform) is universal and can be easily transferred. 

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