Exploring maritime governance: mapping governance indicators and policing in the Gulf of Guinea
Africa harbours are threatened maritime landscapes off its Western, Eastern and Northern coasts. These hubs also represent economic regions with developmental potential, as well as learning environments on how to deal with maritime threats and vulnerabilities during times of peace. The seas off the...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2017
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| In: |
Acta criminologica
Year: 2017, Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 162-177 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | Africa harbours are threatened maritime landscapes off its Western, Eastern and Northern coasts. These hubs also represent economic regions with developmental potential, as well as learning environments on how to deal with maritime threats and vulnerabilities during times of peace. The seas off the Horn of Africa demonstrate elements of landward and maritime responses to stop and turn back recent piracy threats. To the West, the Gulf of Guinea and further north off the Libyan coastline, events are raising threat levels with emergent dangers and vulnerabilities. These developments come amidst optimism that international responses have contained most of the piracy threats off the Horn of Africa. Amongst the clusters of success claimed by those intent upon returning order, the one explanation that captures much of what had to be restored, turns upon upholding governance. In the case of West Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea in particular, maritime security governance has become central to ideas on how to restore order at sea in the waters of the Gulf. Although a concept so often used to cast a wide net over what is wrong at sea, maritime security governance must be placed within its governance and security ambits, then extended to sea. This article presents an outline of the responses to maritime threats off Africa, elevates the maritime security governance debate to argue its utility to address maritime insecurity off Africa and then turns attention to West Africa, in particular the Gulf of Guinea. It is suggested that there is a need for some indicators of maritime security governance as a pathway to counter maritime crime in this strategic and resource rich region. The conclusion proposes a network of African coastal universities working in partnership to design and uphold a maritime security governance index for Africa. |
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| ISSN: | 1012-8093 |