The politics and governance of the world’s oceans are of pressing importance to Norway, which manages ocean areas six times the size of its land mass.
Oceans are often analysed as sites of environmental politics or economic potential or security dynamics. However, in issues as diverse as maritime power projection in the South China Sea, piracy, public-private partnerships for the blue economy, and preventing plastic pollution, it is the intersection of economics, environment and security that demands further research to elucidate how the world’s oceans are – and could be better – governed.
NUPI’s Centre for Ocean Governance (COG) focuses on these complex and often informal interactions across issue areas and actor groups that shape efforts to govern or dominate ocean space. This focus supplements the Norwegian scholarly community’s existing strengths on issue-specific maritime legal regimes and natural sciences.
Our aim is to deliver high-quality scholarly publications and facilitate policy conversations and public discussion on:
Ocean diplomacy
Our researchers seek to understand why and how diplomacy and expert knowledge shape outcomes in global ocean governance (and why these efforts sometimes fail). This research strand aims to provide advice on how evidence-based policymaking on ocean issues can be further promoted and how the resources and expertise of the non-state actors can contribute to responsible global public goods management.
Geopolitics and security governance at sea
We research how countries’ geopolitical aspirations, and the non-state companies and policy networks with whom these states are associated, shape political relations around the world’s oceans. COG has country-level expertise on the ocean politics of Russia, the U.S., China, Japan, and Brazil, among others.
Comparative and historical research
We engage in systematic, long-lines studies of how the ocean space has become an object for international relations and of the broader networks (state and non-state) that shape policy outcomes for regional seas.
The NUPI research team behind the centre are:
NUPI’s Centre for Ocean Governance is ready to step up to challenge.
The Research Council of Norway awarded NUPI funding for five new research projects.
What impact will the new Biden administration have on Arctic politics? While the Arctic as a region is not likely to figure as feature in the 100-day plan of a new Biden presidency, there are reasons to expect some key changes for the region.
The European Research Council (ERC) yearly awards talented early career researchers project funding through Starting grants. 403 research projects were granted this year, and Elana Wilson Rowe's (NUPI) is one of them.
How to address Arctic security and governance issues in a region marked by climate change and geopolitical challenges?
What opportunities does the Ocean give us? And what challenges does the Ocean face? This webinar will present China Council’s rapport: “Building a Sustainable Ocean Economy for China”.
How can we ensure that the oceans are governed in a secure and sustainable way? How can coastal states like Norway use the oceans to increase their economic growth? Welcome to this seminar and launch of NUPI’s new Center for Ocean Governance.
This webinar offers views on core ocean governance challenges and reflections on how to strengthen ocean-related cooperation from Japanese and European perspectives.
This seminar seeks to take stock of the progress made by states, regional organizations, and their international partners in reducing IUU fishing, discuss the most successful measures available so far, and reflect on the main challenges of such an endeavour and what can be done differently.
In this seminar, we will discuss the role of international cooperation and development assistance in addressing Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.