Factors Influencing the Formulation of Maritime Policy at International Level - Coursework Example

Factors influencing the formulation of maritime policy at international level The formulation of the maritime policy at the international level is a function of diverse factors, considering that it is an area of policy formulation that entails the sharing of marine resources amongst different states, with no particular tangible borders. In this respect, conflicts are bound to arise once in a while regarding the claims related to ownership or use of the maritime resources. In this respect, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was established as an institution of the United Nations in 1948 and its headquarters were established in the United Kingdom (Jin, 2006:7). The institution was charged with the responsibility of establishing the necessary maritime policy that would guide the use of the maritime resources amongst nations, while at the same time enhancing safety and sustainability of the marine life (Gold, 1986:42). The institution has been in existence since then, having established a range of regulations that guide the international maritime environment through international convention agreements, with a membership of 171 countries by 2010 (Quevauviller, Roose & Verreet, 2011:13). Nevertheless, despite the existence of an institution that is tasked with the establishment of the maritime policy regulations, the policy process is still wanting in many aspects, owing to the abstractness of the sovereignty of the marine resources, which makes it difficult to establish binding policies that will eliminate all the maritime conflicts between nations. Therefore, the following are some of the factors that influence the formulation of maritime policy at the international levels: Economic factors The closer analysis of the maritime policy formulation process suggests that the formulation of these policies is largely a factor of the economic circumstances, as opposed to the rational decision-making of the policy formulators (Jin, 2006:12). Maritime transport is a concept that dates back to many centuries ago, and the effect of this mode of transport has been the globalization of the world. Thus, the mere fact that ships and other water vessels needs to move from one place to the other through foreign territories is a reason enough to indicate that regulations guiding such movements must be established (Victor, 1998:33). Considering that maritime transport was the basic means of undertaking international trade before the human civilization that later created the road, rail and air transport, rules regulating the mode in which international trade through water was undertaken became necessary. The mere fact that maritime transport controls about 75%-85% of world trade, through enhancing the transportation of the most bulk and heavy commodities such as the raw materials for industries and agricultural products, is a mere indication that trade and economic factors are major determinants of the international maritime policy formulation (Jin, 2006:18). It is the importance of the maritime trade in the global economy that has seen the sector being controlled by more liberal policies and regulations than most of the other trade sectors. It is the importance of the maritime trade that has seen major initiatives by the United Nations, the International Labor organization (ILO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to have a unification of the maritime regulatory framework that would make maritime trade flow smoothly (Leal, 2010:1184). Additionally, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has made bold attempts to have the Maritime Transport Services (MTS) committee of the IMO integrate the maritime transport and trade into the WTO framework, owing to the important nature of the maritime trade on the global economic scale. Therefore, the economic factors have played a very big role as factors influencing the maritime policy formulation process, and in most cases overcoming the rational decision-making factor, to give economic considerations an upper hand. The economic factor does not only influence the maritime policy formulation process, but has always caused a policy crisis, owing to the conflicting needs to liberalize maritime trade on the one hand, and the need to offer sufficient protection to the maritime resources (ILO, 2013:2). Thus, while many countries within the IMO have been supportive of more liberalized maritime trade policies in spirit, the desire has always conflicted with the protectionism need, to safeguard both their inter-territorial integrity of the nations, and thus avoid unnecessary international conflicts. Nevertheless, both the liberalization and the protectionism ideals have been termed as unethical, since either way, it interferes with the fundamental principle for the formulation of the maritime policy, which is to facilitate and support all nations ship fleets in the seas and international waters, to ensure all of them compete on the same footing (Chircop, 2012:44). Nevertheless, the need to formulate policies that are appropriate for the accomplishment of both national and international maritime industry objectives have always conflicted, considering that different nations seek to apply protectionism policy measures nationally, and at the same time seek liberalism in the international waters. This is the major headache that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have been facing while trying to push for neutral maritime regulations that will see both the international maritime industry and the national maritime industries of different countries converge objectively (ILO, 2013:2). The economic factor affects the maritime policy formulation process more than the rational decision-making angle, owing to the constant changes in the global economic environments, which consistently presents new challenges to the maritime policy formulation process. This means that the policies have to keep adjusting at different times, not to suit the rationality of the maritime environment protection, but to suit the nature of the international economic needs. Most importantly, is the fact that; as opposed to the other economic policy formulation environments that are driven purely by the market forces of demand and supply, the maritime policy formulation environment is faced by a host of factors that affects the dynamics of the policy formulation process, thus making it uniquely complex for the international maritime policy formulation to be readily predictable as happens with other foreign relations, labor and trade policies (Jin, 2006:9). Further, there is a conflict of economic interests that serves to complicate the maritime policy formulation process at the international level, such as shielding the domestic economy versus opening a window for international cooperation. Thus, the economic factor is a major influence to the maritime policy formulation at the international level. Legal factor The legal framework under which the maritime industry operates is yet another factor that influences the maritime policy formulation at the international level. This is because; the abstractness of the maritime industry is unmatched by any other industry in the global economy, since there lacks clarity and absoluteness in determining the legal ownership of the maritime resources (National research Council, 1972:27). For example, while it is easy to formulate a maritime policy in relation to the demarcation of the areas different nations can undertake their fishing activities; it is absolutely difficult to define what happens with the legal ownership of the fish that moves from one territory to the other. Additionally, while it is easy to demarcate the boundaries under which different nations should operate in the high seas, it is difficult to determine what the course of action would be for a water vessel that strays from the demarcated territory after being pushed by the wind or during sea turmoil (Zacharias, 2014:5). In addition, defining the grounds on which the international maritime companies should undertake their trade interactions is a daunting task, because the maritime laws and regulations applicable in one territory might not hold for another. This simply means that the formulation of a cooperative legal framework for international maritime policy is an elusive move, which then leaves the International Maritime Organization establishing policy rules and regulations that will universally concur with the international maritime environment, which completely leaves out some legal policy formulation on the hands of individual nations, regions or trading partners, since such laws might not be applicable under all jurisdictions (Moore & Nordquist, 1999:77). Political factor Equally complex is the maritime policy formulation of a political nature, since the global political agendas are so diverse such that they barely concur on pertinent issues. Therefore, the political factor influences the international maritime policy formulation based on the context in which the maritime policies emerge (Zacharias, 2014:2). Maritime industry is unique from most of the other industries in the economy, owing to the fact that it is not only relevant for the economic development of different nations, but also predominantly essential for national security and defense (Jin, 2006:11). Therefore, regardless of whether the legal and the economic agendas of different nations are in congruence internationally, the political factor may hinder the enactment of such policies, if they are perceived by one or more nations to be a threat to their security and defense systems. It therefore follows that the maritime policy formulation follows more of the political considerations than either the economic forces of demand and supply or the legal correspondence of the international agenda. Despite the fact that the national needs may agree with the international needs in a maritime agenda that might create economic advancement for the international community, the military demands for security and safety will always take preference in many countries (Zacharias, 2014:4). It is therefore no wonder that the historically attempted negotiations between the World Trade organization (WTO) and the Maritime Transport Service (MTS) committee have not yielded any meaningful headway. The security and defense interests of different nations have taken preference over the economic benefits that such nations could gain from the integration of the MST framework within the WTO (Gold, 1986:41). Further, the political need to maintain the already established position for different nations globally is another political hindrance to the enactment of maritime policy at the international level, which would spur more economic growth and alter territorial dominance. Therefore, the most dominant and the already established countries in the maritime industry will not be lenient to support a maritime policy that might benefit all nations equally, since they would rather forego the economic benefits that would go with the policy enactment and implementation, at the expense of losing their already established political position globally (Leal, 2010:1187). There are two major reasons for which a nation may politically interfere and reject a maritime competitive policy. First, to safeguard the marine advantage that includes the defense and security strategy that may also entail aggression. In this respect, a nation that has the aggression capacity against other territories may not ratify a maritime policy that seeks to create an equally enabling defense or economic competitive opportunities. Secondly, a country may politically interfere with a potential competitive maritime policy, to hinder other nations from benefiting from the outcome of the enactment and implementation of the policy, especially where such nations are perceived to be political enemies (Gold, 1986:39). Therefore, politics is an important factor that is at play in influencing the marine policy formulation at the international level. Social factor Social factor is yet another major influence on the maritime policy formulation at the international levels. This is because; there are a host of complex relationships between the maritime industry and the society where the industry operates (Jin, 2006:17). In this respect, the social welfare factor plays a major role in influencing which policies will be adopted and which ones will be discarded by the international community. For example, the International Labor organization (ILO) has been instrumental in influencing the policy formulation of the maritime industry internationally, so as to safeguard the welfare of its unionized workers such as the interest of the seafarers who are abandoned on the high seas, spending months in the sea without pay or social amenities assistance (Quevauviller, Roose & Verreet, 2011:61). Under the International labor organization (ILO) Maritime Labor Convention that was held in 2006, the ILO secured various social welfare support benefits for the seafarers, which included decent pay and decent conditions of work, medical covers as well as accommodation and paid annual leaves (Zacharias, 2014:5). This just demonstrates one angle of the social factor influencing the maritime policy formulation process; so that such policies can suit the interest of the society under which the maritime industry operates. The social factor may also come into play in the process of the formulation of the maritime policy at the international level, when a nation or a host of them wants to reserve their national identity and prestige (Victor, 1998:73). Under such circumstances, the nations may not ratify a maritime policy that may see them compete equally with the other nations that they perceive as lowly prestigious. References Chircop, A. E. (2012). The regulation of international shipping: International and comparative perspectives : essays in honor of Edgar Gold. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers Gold, E. (1986). Maritime transport: The evolution of international marine policy and shipping law. Lexington, Mass. [u.a.: Lexington Books [u.a. ILO. (2013). Basic facts on the Maritime Labor Convention 2006. The International Labor Organization standards. Jin, Cheng. (2006). Maritime Policy in China after WTO:”Legal and Economic Approach. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. 1-55. Leal, C. P. (2010). Marine Policy: What factors affect the decision making process when setting TACs? 34, 6: 1183–1195. Moore, J. N. & Nordquist, M. H. (1999). Current maritime issues and the international maritime organization. The Hague [u.a.: Nijhoff. National research Council. (1972). International marine science affairs: A report. Washington, D.C: National Acad. of Science. Quevauviller, P., Roose, P., & Verreet, G. (2011). Chemical marine monitoring: Policy framework and analytical trends. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley. Victor, D. G. (1998). The implementation and effectiveness of international environmental commitments: Theory and practice. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.: MIT Press. Zacharias,M. (2014).Marine Policy: An Introduction to Governance and International Law of the Oceans. Routeledge. 1-5. Read More