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Mother of the Oceans

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Lucian Ashworth delves into Elisabeth Mann Borgese’s international thought, showcasing her view of maritime governance as a model for broader global governance.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 8, 2024

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This video video discusses the contributions of Elizabeth Mann Borgese, highlighting her unique role as both a scholar and practitioner in international relations, particularly concerning ocean governance. She played a significant part in the negotiations of the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), advocating for the oceans as the common heritage of humanity. Borgese also served as the director of the International Ocean Institute in Malta and was a member of the Club of Rome. Her notable publications include "The Oceanic Circle," which explores the relationship between human society and the oceans, and she founded the Ocean Yearbook.

Borgese's work reveals the limitations of land-based political frameworks when applied to oceans, stressing the need for a new, ocean-based political model that recognizes the interconnectedness and three-dimensionality of marine environments. She argued that traditional principles of sovereignty could lead to environmental destruction, advocating instead for collaborative governance to sustainably utilize ocean resources. Her insights offer valuable lessons for enriching international relations by incorporating maritime perspectives.

Despite her significant contributions, Borgese remains largely overlooked in mainstream international relations, a phenomenon that particularly affects women scholars who bridge theory and practice. This video video calls for a renewed examination of her work to advance the discipline's understanding of global and environmental issues related to the oceans, emphasizing that the discipline has largely ignored the crucial role of marine environments in international politics.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.000 --> 00:02.125
Elizabeth Manor, Jay-Z kind

00:02.125 --> 00:04.485
of crosses the scholar practitioner divide.

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Um, as a practitioner, she was heavily involved

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in the negotiations

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of the third United Nations Conference on the Law

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of the Sea, otherwise known as Unclos three.

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Uh, and there she championed the idea of the oceans

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as the common heritage if humanity,

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and also worked closely

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with the Aust Austrian delegation to the conference.

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Uh, she also,

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she ran the International Ocean Institute at Malta

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and was the first woman member of the Club of Rome,

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which is a group of intellectuals

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and business leaders,

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who discussed critical global issues.

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But she was also in addition to that, a,

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a writer and a scholar.

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Uh, her publications include, her 1998 book,

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the Oceanic Circle, which is perhaps the best summary

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of her life, work on the relationship

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between human society on the one hand,

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and the oceans on the other.

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She also founded

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and edited the ocean yearbook,

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which brought together work on ocean governance.

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And also after 1978, she was a researcher

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and a professor at Dalhousie University in

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Nova Scotia in Canada.

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Uh, she's also the author of several popular books

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that covered ocean mining, aquaculture

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and the story of the oceans.

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She was very fond of pointing out in her work

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that the Earth's surface was 71% covered in oceans,

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and that by a curious coincidence,

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humans are 71% salty water.

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Uh, yet even then, this figure

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of 71% didn't really tell the whole story.

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And if we factored in the third vertical dimension,

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the oceans actually contained about 99% by volume

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of the space on Earth hospitable to life.

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Yet she's really only came

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to her interest in the oceans in 1967, in her late forties.

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Before then, she was probably better known

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for her 1963 book, the A Center Woman

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and her work on both the Chicago Committee

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to Frame a World Constitution

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and at the Center for the Study

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of Democratic Institutions in California.

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Uh, in addition to this, the fame of the family,

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she came from has to be mentioned.

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She was the youngest child of the author Thomas Mann,

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and had fled from Nazi Germany with her family in the 1930s.

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Uh, she's was recognized in her lifetime

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by honors from both the Austrian

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and Canadian governments, who was a member of the Order

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of Canada, and there is even a German

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survey ship named after her.

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Now, as far as I know that she is one

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of only two international relations scholars

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with a ship named after them.

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Uh, the other being Condoleezza Rice International Relations

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is a discipline or colloquially called IR is very much a

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lamb based field, but the same could be said of course,

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about, most

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of our dominant political and economic ideas.

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Now from J for Jay-Z's point of view are politics based

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around ideas of the nation, state of sovereignty.

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Sharp borders under two dimensional politics is a

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land-based, politics developed

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for an environment built upon solid ground

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and interpreted via two dimensional maps.

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By contrast, she argued the ocean suggests a different set

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of political norms, one,

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based upon the realities of the sea.

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Uh, it's fluid interdependent three-dimensional

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and necessarily interconnected.

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So what concerned Borje Z was

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that the ocean has enormous potential to deliver prosperity

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for the world's population as a whole,

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hence her interest in seabed mining and aquaculture.

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But that these activities required very different

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ocean-based ways of thinking if they were

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to deliver prosperity in a sustainable way

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and to be more than just a dangerous environment,

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degrading stripping of the ocean resources

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by richer countries and larger corporations.

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So in Borje Z's work, the ocean is both a victim

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of misplaced terrestrial assumptions

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and also a medium

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that can teach us a different set of political ideas.

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In the first of these, the ocean is victim

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Borje criticized attempts

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to apply the terrestrial principles of property sovereignty,

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clear boundaries onto the ocean.

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From her point of view, this would lead

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to the ultimate destruction of the ocean environment.

04:21.305 --> 04:24.165
But the O Ocean could also act as the basis

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for a new interdependent

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and inclusive model for politics

04:28.355 --> 04:31.205
that necessarily thinks in three dimensions, not to,

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in short, a new model for politics based on the nature

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of the sea and on the kind of institutions

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that would be needed to unlock the wealth

04:39.945 --> 04:42.445
of the oceans both effectively and sustainably.

04:43.185 --> 04:46.005
And it was this view that was behind her advocacy

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of the oceans as a common heritage of humanity,

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of her support for the establishment

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of the International Seabed Authority in particular,

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and Unclos three in general.

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Indeed, she saw the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea,

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UNCLOS three as a bare bones constitution for the oceans,

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which would then be fleshed out by the development of

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functional organizations that would make a reality

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of the ideas promoted by the Law of the Sea Conference.

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And it's here that we also see the essence of borer Z's work

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that also explains why she's often overlooked

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by more mainstream IR scholars.

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She defies the lazy divide

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between the pragmatic and the utopian.

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She's both scholar and practitioner.

05:31.295 --> 05:33.245
She's both idealist and pragmatist.

05:33.465 --> 05:35.805
Uh, she used the world of the practitioner,

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especially the world of Unclos three,

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to advance new ways of doing things.

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If she met resistance to change,

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she would very pragmatically look for new practical roots

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for her idealism, but her idealism never changed.

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Her work was very much rooted in the world of the concrete

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and the practitioner, but she did it. Uh,

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Uh, but yeah, sorry.

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Dumb dumb. But she did not see it as a constraint,

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but rather as a series of as

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yet unrealized avenues for change.

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Uh, it's important to point out that,

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Borzi from 1978 was also an IR professor at

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Dalhousie University.

06:15.905 --> 06:16.965
And despite writing

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and teaching in the areas of maritime governments

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and development, she is also still little known in ir

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outside of the circle of her students

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and immediate colleagues.

06:27.545 --> 06:30.405
Uh, this was a common fate for many IR scholars

06:30.405 --> 06:32.605
who straddled the scholar practitioner divide

06:32.945 --> 06:35.365
and was doubly true for women who often turned

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to other forms of work while academic

06:38.045 --> 06:39.285
career was denied them.

06:40.395 --> 06:43.575
Yet a rediscovery of the works of Boor JayZ

06:43.575 --> 06:47.295
by IR scholars could really help enrich IRS's global

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and topical credentials by bringing in the oceans boor.

06:51.325 --> 06:54.935
Jay-Z's work helps expand our horizons to the other major

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worlds that takes up 71% of the Earth's surface,

06:58.955 --> 07:00.775
the oceans at the same time.

07:01.585 --> 07:04.295
Borje Z's concentration on the interactions

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between governments

07:05.715 --> 07:09.215
and the wider ecology forces us to recognize the importance

07:09.215 --> 07:10.615
of environmental conditions

07:11.075 --> 07:13.255
as both an influence on human governance

07:13.795 --> 07:16.695
and a sphere that is being changed by human activity.

07:17.265 --> 07:20.855
Human Society is in Bo Jay-Z's work both a product

07:20.995 --> 07:22.975
of natural forces and a force

07:23.035 --> 07:24.655
of nature changing its psychology.

07:24.975 --> 07:28.295
Consequently, Bo Jay-Z's work could help us in the effort

07:28.295 --> 07:30.015
to build an IR for the anthrop.

07:30.365 --> 07:32.735
Well, for me, the most important lesson we can draw from

07:33.085 --> 07:35.815
BJ's work is to lift the scales from our eyes

07:35.915 --> 07:38.175
and make us realize that we

07:38.175 --> 07:40.775
who study international politics have ignored the role

07:40.795 --> 07:43.015
played by 71% of the Earth's surface

07:43.475 --> 07:45.655
and 99% of its habitable space.

07:46.395 --> 07:48.935
Um, on the island of Newfoundland where I live,

07:49.005 --> 07:52.615
there's a a name for a person who's unable to go to sea

07:53.115 --> 07:55.335
and contribute to the maritime based economy.

07:56.045 --> 07:57.535
They're called hangar shores.

07:58.035 --> 08:00.135
Uh, so much of the discipline

08:00.135 --> 08:03.335
of IR has been a predominantly hangar shore field,

08:04.635 --> 08:06.855
and it's now time we got our feet wet.

Elizabeth Manor: Bridging Ocean Governance and Scholarship

00:00:00 - Elizabeth Manor, Jay-Z kind of crosses the scholar practitioner divide. as a practitioner, she was heavily involved in the negotiations of the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, otherwise known as Unclos three. and there she championed the idea of the oceans as the common heritage if humanity, and also worked closely with the Aust Austrian delegation to the conference. she also, she ran the International Ocean Institute at Malta and was the first woman member of the Club of Rome, which is a group of intellectuals
00:00:33 - who discussed critical global issues. But she was also in addition to that, a, a writer and a scholar. her publications include, her 1998 book, the Oceanic Circle, which is perhaps the best summary of her life, work on the relationship between human society on the one hand, and the oceans on the other. She also founded and edited the ocean yearbook, which brought together work on ocean governance. And also after 1978, she was a researcher
00:01:07 - Nova Scotia in Canada. she's also the author of several popular books that covered ocean mining, aquaculture and the story of the oceans. She was very fond of pointing out in her work that the Earth's surface was 71% covered in oceans, and that by a curious coincidence, humans are 71% salty water. yet even then, this figure of 71% didn't really tell the whole story.
00:01:38 - the oceans actually contained about 99% by volume of the space on Earth hospitable to life. Yet she's really only came to her interest in the oceans in 1967, in her late forties. Before then, she was probably better known for her 1963 book, the A Center Woman and her work on both the Chicago Committee to Frame a World Constitution and at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in California.
00:02:10 - she came from has to be mentioned. She was the youngest child of the author Thomas Mann, and had fled from Nazi Germany with her family in the 1930s. she's was recognized in her lifetime by honors from both the Austrian and Canadian governments, who was a member of the Order of Canada, and there is even a German survey ship named after her. Now, as far as I know that she is one of only two international relations scholars with a ship named after them.
00:02:41 - is a discipline or colloquially called IR is very much a lamb based field, but the same could be said of course, about, most of our dominant political and economic ideas. Now from J for Jay-Z's point of view are politics based around ideas of the nation, state of sovereignty. Sharp borders under two dimensional politics is a land-based, politics developed for an environment built upon solid ground

Oceans: New Political Norms and Prosperity

00:03:12 - By contrast, she argued the ocean suggests a different set of political norms, one, based upon the realities of the sea. it's fluid interdependent three-dimensional and necessarily interconnected. So what concerned Borje Z was that the ocean has enormous potential to deliver prosperity for the world's population as a whole, hence her interest in seabed mining and aquaculture. But that these activities required very different
00:03:42 - to deliver prosperity in a sustainable way and to be more than just a dangerous environment, degrading stripping of the ocean resources by richer countries and larger corporations. So in Borje Z's work, the ocean is both a victim of misplaced terrestrial assumptions and also a medium that can teach us a different set of political ideas. In the first of these, the ocean is victim Borje criticized attempts
00:04:14 - clear boundaries onto the ocean. From her point of view, this would lead to the ultimate destruction of the ocean environment. But the O Ocean could also act as the basis for a new interdependent and inclusive model for politics that necessarily thinks in three dimensions, not to, in short, a new model for politics based on the nature of the sea and on the kind of institutions that would be needed to unlock the wealth
00:04:43 - And it was this view that was behind her advocacy of the oceans as a common heritage of humanity, of her support for the establishment of the International Seabed Authority in particular, and Unclos three in general. Indeed, she saw the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS three as a bare bones constitution for the oceans, which would then be fleshed out by the development of functional organizations that would make a reality
00:05:14 - And it's here that we also see the essence of borer Z's work that also explains why she's often overlooked by more mainstream IR scholars. She defies the lazy divide between the pragmatic and the utopian. She's both scholar and practitioner. She's both idealist and pragmatist. she used the world of the practitioner, especially the world of Unclos three, to advance new ways of doing things.
00:05:42 - she would very pragmatically look for new practical roots for her idealism, but her idealism never changed. Her work was very much rooted in the world of the concrete and the practitioner, but she did it. but yeah, sorry. Dumb dumb. But she did not see it as a constraint, but rather as a series of as yet unrealized avenues for change. it's important to point out that, Borzi from 1978 was also an IR professor at

Rediscovering Studies of Oceanic Political Influence

00:06:15 - And despite writing and teaching in the areas of maritime governments and development, she is also still little known in ir outside of the circle of her students and immediate colleagues. this was a common fate for many IR scholars who straddled the scholar practitioner divide and was doubly true for women who often turned to other forms of work while academic career was denied them. Yet a rediscovery of the works of Boor JayZ by IR scholars could really help enrich IRS's global
00:06:51 - Jay-Z's work helps expand our horizons to the other major worlds that takes up 71% of the Earth's surface, the oceans at the same time. Borje Z's concentration on the interactions between governments and the wider ecology forces us to recognize the importance of environmental conditions as both an influence on human governance and a sphere that is being changed by human activity. Human Society is in Bo Jay-Z's work both a product
00:07:23 - of nature changing its psychology. Consequently, Bo Jay-Z's work could help us in the effort to build an IR for the anthrop. Well, for me, the most important lesson we can draw from BJ's work is to lift the scales from our eyes and make us realize that we who study international politics have ignored the role played by 71% of the Earth's surface and 99% of its habitable space. on the island of Newfoundland where I live, there's a a name for a person who's unable to go to sea
00:08:04 - They're called hangar shores. so much of the discipline of IR has been a predominantly hangar shore field, and it's now time we got our feet wet.

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