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Awash with contradiction : Capital, ocean space and the logics of the Blue Economy Paradigm

Mallin, Felix and Barbesgaard, Mads LU (2020) In Geoforum 113. p.121-132
Abstract

Over the course of the past decade, the political economy of global ocean space has entered into a process of significant transformation. In this context, multilateral, corporate and financial attention dedicated to so-called ‘blue growth’ and ‘blue economy’ schemes has been extraordinary; consequentially spawning critical inquiries into the origins and motives behind these initiatives. Offering different analytical interpretations of contemporary blue economy politics, as well as their origins and effects, geographers have entered this debate with a strong focus on institutional discourses and policy agendas. Building on critical political economy of ocean space literatures, this paper emphasises instead the role of capital in... (More)

Over the course of the past decade, the political economy of global ocean space has entered into a process of significant transformation. In this context, multilateral, corporate and financial attention dedicated to so-called ‘blue growth’ and ‘blue economy’ schemes has been extraordinary; consequentially spawning critical inquiries into the origins and motives behind these initiatives. Offering different analytical interpretations of contemporary blue economy politics, as well as their origins and effects, geographers have entered this debate with a strong focus on institutional discourses and policy agendas. Building on critical political economy of ocean space literatures, this paper emphasises instead the role of capital in appropriating and re-organising the seas according to its own needs. Our primary aim is to elucidate the territorial-economic tensions and geopolitical antagonisms that drive current trends by historicising the emergence of the Blue Economy Paradigm (BEP). The paper shows that a Procrustean political geography of ocean space increasingly poses a barrier to capitalist expansion.

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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Deep-sea mining (DSM), Geopolitics, Maritime geography, Ocean grabbing, Political economy, UNCLOS
in
Geoforum
volume
113
pages
12 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85084662682
ISSN
0016-7185
DOI
10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.04.021
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
abd8a0cb-fd58-4142-91b2-1836772651a9
date added to LUP
2020-06-10 12:31:49
date last changed
2022-04-18 22:43:44
@article{abd8a0cb-fd58-4142-91b2-1836772651a9,
  abstract     = {{<p>Over the course of the past decade, the political economy of global ocean space has entered into a process of significant transformation. In this context, multilateral, corporate and financial attention dedicated to so-called ‘blue growth’ and ‘blue economy’ schemes has been extraordinary; consequentially spawning critical inquiries into the origins and motives behind these initiatives. Offering different analytical interpretations of contemporary blue economy politics, as well as their origins and effects, geographers have entered this debate with a strong focus on institutional discourses and policy agendas. Building on critical political economy of ocean space literatures, this paper emphasises instead the role of capital in appropriating and re-organising the seas according to its own needs. Our primary aim is to elucidate the territorial-economic tensions and geopolitical antagonisms that drive current trends by historicising the emergence of the Blue Economy Paradigm (BEP). The paper shows that a Procrustean political geography of ocean space increasingly poses a barrier to capitalist expansion.</p>}},
  author       = {{Mallin, Felix and Barbesgaard, Mads}},
  issn         = {{0016-7185}},
  keywords     = {{Deep-sea mining (DSM); Geopolitics; Maritime geography; Ocean grabbing; Political economy; UNCLOS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{121--132}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Geoforum}},
  title        = {{Awash with contradiction : Capital, ocean space and the logics of the Blue Economy Paradigm}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.04.021}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.04.021}},
  volume       = {{113}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}