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BIG Lab Fellow Dr. Halina Sapeha examines the governance framework of shared sovereignty and its potential for the resolution of maritime boundary disputes. Despite the decline in territorial conquest and disputes over traditional land boundaries, boundary disputes still exist, though their nature has evolved. Many contemporary disputes are centred around access to maritime resources (Mitchell 2016). With approximately 39% of maritime boundaries not being settled (Østhagen 2021), the potential for confrontation and escalation remains high. This study explores when and why states agree on shared sovereignty arrangements and the effectiveness of this governance framework for resolving maritime boundary disputes. The BIG Dyads Database provides comparable data world-wide, including indicators for all existing terrestrial and maritime border dyads. The indicator on special features includes 16 dyads with shared sovereignty zones: i.e. 13 dyads with a joint regime and a tridominium. The number of cases makes it possible to identify patterns of interest and analyze the potential of shared sovereignty mechanism for resolving maritime boundary disputes.
See below for a recording of Halina’s talk.
