The current study approaches the legal regime of straits mostly through the prism of maritime security law and has a relatively wide geographical scope. It covers straits located in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the South China Sea. The focus of the book is not only on doctrinal research (particularly on the law of the sea and international security law), but also on international relations, conflict studies (naval hybrid warfare/conflict), and the historical background of recent maritime incidents.
Thus, the book embraces to some extent the law in context approach, which is an interdisciplinary concept that draws on, e.g., political and historical theories while at the same time seeking to “broaden the study of law from within”.1 The present study first identifies the challenges that hybrid threats pose to maritime security law and the legal regime of straits. It proceeds by adopting a regional approach for identifying straits that are impacted by hybrid threats and for carrying out case studies of specific maritime incidents in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the waters around the Arabian Peninsula, and the South China Sea. On this basis, this study finally draws broader conclusions on the interaction between the law of the sea, international security law, humanitarian law, and hybrid threats. It seeks to reach general conclusions about how the law of the sea and international security law operate in hybrid conflicts.
The research results of this monograph are disseminated in a somewhat ‘hybrid’ manner. This manuscript includes both unpublished text as well as analysis that I have published in journal articles and blog posts, but parts of which have now been turned into a book. In other words, while this monograph incorporates many new and unpublished chapters, it also builds on my previous publications on navigational regimes.
Chapter 13 in Part 4, Chapter 4.8.4 of Part 2 and Chapter 7 of Part 2 are partly based on my article that appeared in the French review Stratégique.2 Its editor Matthieu Chillaud kindly gave his permission for translating parts of that article for incorporating it into this manuscript. In addition, Chapter 4 of Part 2 as well as Chapters 10 and 11 of Part 3 are based on my articles ‘The (In)applicability of the Right of Innocent Passage in the Gulf of Finland – Russia’s Return to a Mare Clausum?’3 and ‘The Passage Regimes of the Kerch Strait – To
I have also adapted my blog post ‘Implications of Hybrid Threats for the Order of the Oceans’ to this manuscript. It was published by the Center for International Maritime Security in 2020 and cross-posted in The National Interest blog (under the title ‘What Does Hybrid Warfare Mean for Maritime Security?’) and eurisles (in French, under the title ‘Implications de la guerre hybride pour l’ordre des océans’). I have now mixed it with the rest of the text in Chapters 1 and 3.3 of Part 1 and Chapter 15 of Part 5. Chapter 18 of Part 5 incorporates my blog post ‘Guidelines for Grey Zone Naval Incidents: Distinguishing between the Rules of Armed Conflict and Law Enforcement’ that was published in the nclos Blog in 2022. Chapter 4.8.2 of Part 2 is partly based on my post ‘Russia’s Blockade in the Sea of Azov: A Call for Relief Shipments for Mariupol’ that appeared in ejil: Talk! in 2022. An updated version of Chapter 5.3.1 of Part 2 appeared on Brill’s blog ‘Humanities Matter’ in August 2022 soon after the publication of the arbitral award on the preliminary objections of the Russian Federation in the case concerning the Kerch Strait incident.
Most of these papers have been published during my fellowship at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea. The editors of the journals have confirmed that the relevant publication licences allow me to adapt, republish or mix these previously published articles in this monograph. I thank the editors as well as the anonymous reviewers for their work on the relevant manuscripts.
W Twining, Jurist in Context: A Memoir (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2019) 162.
‘Le régime légal de la partie septentrionale de la mer Baltique dans le contexte des récents développements de sécurité’, Stratégique 2019(1–2).
Published in The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (2021) 36(2).
Published in Ocean Development & International Law (2021) 52(1).
Published in Utrecht Journal of International and European Law (2012) 28.
Published in Ocean Development & International Law (2022) 53(2).
Published in Utrecht Journal of International and European Law (2011) 27.