Date of Award

Fall 2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Political Science & Geography

Program/Concentration

Graduate Program in International Studies

Committee Director

Richard W. Maass

Committee Member

Cathy Xuanxuan Wu

Committee Member

Vlasta Zekulic

Abstract

Sea control has been marketed and accepted as a norm within the global commons, with a variety of states arguing for their visions of control to be viewed as legitimate. As a piece of the global commons, sea lanes are a critical enabler for the global economy and possess significant military and political significance, yet the literature revolving around ideas of sea control treats it as a military achievement at the end of a campaign and remains focused on naval power as the key mechanism for state involvement. What best explains the mechanism states use to achieve sea control, especially when considering sea control as something beyond just a military objective? This dissertation argues sea control is a norm proposed by a single state, marketed to a set of regional actors for acceptance, and then considered legitimate once a majority of states within the region accept it. This framing reshapes sea control away from a process solely of military campaigns and towards a whole-of-government effort where multiple vectors of state power are exercised in presenting the norm of that state controlling the sea lanes, ranging from economic to military to the power of state narratives. This is explored through a process-tracing analysis of the sea control endeavors pursued by the United States in the Caribbean, China in the South China Sea, and Russia in the Black Sea. Ultimately, these cases point towards legitimacy as a factor promoting stability while the powers pursuing sea control build up their military capabilities to sweep rival fleets from the regional sea, highlighting the importance of nonmilitary contributions to a final military objective.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/ya8g-8856

ISBN

9798302863201

ORCID

0009-0007-8477-057X

Download

Share

COinS