Journal Articles by Christian Bueger
Global Studies Quarterly, 2025
Multinational military gatherings are important sites of international interaction. High level mi... more Multinational military gatherings are important sites of international interaction. High level military officials meet on a regular basis in different configurations, and a carefully orchestrated global calendar coordinates these events. States build, maintain and strengthen diplomatic, organizational and interpersonal relations at these events. This article argues that understanding the logic and global political functions of such gatherings requires a study from the inside. Zooming in on naval symposiums, I present the results from participant observations obtained in attending fifteen such meetings. I show how these gatherings have a common structure and are driven by symbolic content and ritualized actions, such as gift exchanges, the celebration of food and culture, and the repetition of narratives. I conclude that gatherings have an important role in facilitating transnational (maritime) security communities.
KIMS Periscope, Jan 1, 2024
The maritime security agenda has diversified and multiplied. Environmental concerns, such as poll... more The maritime security agenda has diversified and multiplied. Environmental concerns, such as pollution, illegal fishing and climate change adaptation were included in the debate. Most lately, cyber security concerns, and the protection of offshore energy and underwater data cables further enriched the agenda. Over the course of this expansion, also the spaces that concern maritime security have widened. Today security at sea needs to consider a multi-dimensional spatial domain. Maritime security concerns six spatial dimensions: surface, airspace, low orbit, subsea, seabed and cyber. In this contribution I review the six domains, then reflect on what it implies to think maritime security in 6D and why in particular the seabed requires further attention.
International Studies Quarterly, 2023
A growing wave of studies in international relations is interested in “infrastructure.” Pipelines... more A growing wave of studies in international relations is interested in “infrastructure.” Pipelines, ports, financial transaction arrangements, and other large technical systems increasingly occupy the minds of international theorists. This theory note provides direction to the debate by offering an important clarification of the concept of infrastructure and how it is theorized. Scholars have very different understandings of what infrastructures are, why they matter, and how to theorize and study them empirically. By outlining three distinct “styles of theorizing infrastructure,” we provide new directions for future research and how it can contribute to broader debates in international theory. The three styles allow to capture the disagreement over whether infrastructure is a theoretical concept at all, or if it solely refers to empirical phenomena. For some scholars, infrastructures are an object of politics, while others see them as developing political force or even agency on their own. Others see broader potential and note that “infrastructuralism” could provide a major new theoretical vocabulary. Each style provides major new avenues for international theory.
Existe una creciente ola de estudios en el campo de las relaciones internacionales que muestra interés por las «infraestructuras»: los oleoductos, los puertos, los acuerdos de transacciones financieras, así como otros grandes sistemas de carácter técnico ocupan cada vez un mayor espacio dentro de las mentes de los teóricos internacionales. Esta nota teórica proporciona a este debate una dirección que poder seguir, ya que ofrece una aclaración importante del concepto de infraestructura y de cómo se teoriza este. Los académicos tienen una comprensión muy diferente de lo que son las infraestructuras, de por qué estas resultan importantes y sobre cómo teorizarlas y estudiarlas empíricamente. Existe un desacuerdo sobre si la infraestructura es un concepto teórico o si se refiere a fenómenos empíricos. Para algunos académicos, las infraestructuras son un objeto de la política, mientras que otros las ven como el desarrollo de la fuerza política o incluso como una agencia por sí mismas. Otros, incluso, llegan a reconocer un potencial más amplio y señalan que el «infraestructuralismo» podría proporcionar una nueva e importante forma paradigmática de teorizar la política internacional. Proporcionamos, mediante el esbozo de tres estilos distintos de teorización de la infraestructura, nuevas direcciones para la investigación futura de la infraestructura y cómo puede contribuir a debates más amplios dentro de la teoría internacional.
De plus en plus d’études en relations internationales s'intéressent aux « infrastructures ». Les pipelines, ports, arrangements de transactions financières et autres grands systèmes techniques sont de plus en plus présents à l'esprit des théoriciens internationaux. Cette note théorique oriente le débat en proposant une clarification importante du concept d'infrastructure et de sa théorisation. Chaque chercheur conçoit différemment les infrastructures, leur importance, leur théorisation et leur étude empirique. Il existe même un désaccord quant à l'existence du concept théorique d'infrastructure, ou s'il s'agit plutôt d'un phénomène empirique. Pour certains chercheurs, les infrastructures sont un objet politique, alors que d'autres les conçoivent comme des forces politiques émergentes ou même, des agents à elles seules. D'autres leur reconnaissent même un potentiel plus vaste et remarquent que « l'infrastructuralisme » pourrait constituer une nouvelle forme paradigmatique majeure de théorisation en politique internationale. En présentant trois styles de théorisation distincts de l'infrastructure, nous proposons de nouvelles pistes de recherche sur l'infrastructure et comment celle-ci peut contribuer aux débats plus larges en théorie internationale.
IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook 2023, 2023
The Mediterranean Sea is a super data highway in the global digital economy. On the region’s ocea... more The Mediterranean Sea is a super data highway in the global digital economy. On the region’s ocean floor thousands of kilometres of fibre optic cables connect Europe, Africa and Asia. Up to 95% of transregional communications run through these cables. When we discuss security in the cyber domain, we most often focus on data protection, and threats from hackers and ransomware. The fact that digital communications and the Internet depend on a physical infrastructure is often forgotten. It is cables running across the ocean floor that connect islands such as Mallorca, Sicily or Malta to the Internet. It is these cables that allow for communication across regions and enable us to send an email to Asia, or access content that is stored on servers abroad. The cyber security and governance debate, however, hardly pays any attention to the resilience of these cables.
Ocean Yearbook 38, 2024
Offshore wind energy production has seen a significant expansion in the past decade and has becom... more Offshore wind energy production has seen a significant expansion in the past decade and has become one of the most important maritime activities. However, the implications of offshore wind farm expansion for maritime security have, so far, received sparse attention in the literature. In this article we conduct one of the first thorough analyses of the security of offshore wind farms and related installations, such as underwater electricity cables, energy islands, and hydrogen plants.
RSIS Brief, No. 10/023,, 2023
As maritime security policy issues become increasingly complex and the body of related scholarly ... more As maritime security policy issues become increasingly complex and the body of related scholarly research grows, the academic community is emerging as an important maritime security stakeholder. Christian Bueger discusses the range of research activities, the motivations and interest of the researchers involved and how the academic community contributes to maritime security policy and operations at sea.
Marine Policy, 2023
The protection of critical maritime infrastructures has become a top political priority, since th... more The protection of critical maritime infrastructures has become a top political priority, since the September 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. This contribution reveals why the protection of infrastructures at sea is a difficult task. Reviewing the spectrum of maritime infrastructures (transport, energy, data, fishing, ecosystems) and the potential threats to them (accidents, terrorism, blue crime, grey zone tactics) demonstrates that designating infrastructures as critical and worthy of special protection measures is a political choice. The analysis moreover shows the need of protective instruments that are tailored to the specificities of maritime space, and the need for integrating diverse policy fields, including defense, diplomacy, marine safety, maritime security and cyber security. Cooperation with the infrastructure industry, enhanced surveillance and investments in repair capacities are also required.
Naval War College Review, 2023
The European Union (EU) seeks to become a global maritime-security actor, yet strategic challenge... more The European Union (EU) seeks to become a global maritime-security actor, yet strategic challenges influence its maritime-security strategy process. Is there a distinctive and coherent EU approach to global maritime security, and how should the EU address the growing range of maritime challenges, including the intensification of militarized competition in the Indo-Pacific?
Seychelles Research Journal, 2022
In the capitals and think tanks around the world much debate has taken place on the importance of... more In the capitals and think tanks around the world much debate has taken place on the importance of the Indo-Pacific as a new regional framework. Increasingly, the Indo-Pacific is treated as a fact, not as a geopolitical regional construct. Discussions focus on how to engage with the new region and design strategies. The 2021 AUKUS agreement is a good example of the shifts in thinking that the Indo-Pacific implies. Attention is turned to mini-lateral agreements and traditional military thought. Strategies issued by the UK, France or the EU have a similar emphasis. What does Indo-Pacific thinking imply for small island states such as the Seychelles? On the surface, agreements such as AUKUS and the new regional construction of the Indo-Pacific do not matter much for small island concerns. Yet, as I show in this contribution Seychelles and other small island states in the region need to pay close attention to the developments that Indo-Pacific discourses imply and need to start strategizing how they find their voice in the debate.
RUSI Journal, 2021
2021 is a key moment of opportunity for UK maritime security. The publication of the government’s... more 2021 is a key moment of opportunity for UK maritime security. The publication of the government’s Integrated Review in March is being followed by a systematic ‘refresh’ of the UK’s 2014 National Strategy for Maritime Security. In this article, Christian Bueger, Timothy Edmunds and Scott Edwards examine the role and significance of this strategy refresh, consider key priority issues for enhancing maritime security, and reflect on the challenges and opportunities that policymakers will face turning strategy into action. They conclude by arguing that getting maritime security right will be critical to delivering on the UK’s ambitions in security and foreign policy more widely.
African Security Review, 2022
Ten years after the last large scale piracy attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, other maritime c... more Ten years after the last large scale piracy attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, other maritime crimes such as illicit fishing and maritime smuggling have emerged. The spill over of conflicts in Yemen and Mozambique and maritime grey-zone activities have also become major maritime security issues. Yet, perhaps the most worrying-though largely underappreciated-trend is the surge of naval activity and strategic competition in the region. This is a major dilemma for the region: The region relies on external military actors to protect vital shipping lanes, but the presence of these actors also risks importing geopolitical tensions that could undermine regional maritime stability. How can the region address these maritime insecurities and the evolving militarization dilemma? We investigate the regional maritime security architecture to identify institutions that can help the region manage the militarisation dilemma. We argue that only the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (SHADE) mechanism and the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) can help mitigate geopolitical competition in the region. Preparing these mechanisms to deal with the militarisation dilemma will be vital for the long-term prosperity of the Western India Ocean.
Review of International Studies, 2021
The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of Internation... more The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of International Relations theory. This article develops the model of pragmatic ordering to conceptualise change. The model of pragmatic ordering synthesises recent theoretical arguments for a focus on ordering advanced in-practice theory, pragmatist philosophy, and related approaches. It also integrates evidence from recent global governance research. We propose a five-stage model. According to the model, once a new problem emerges (problematisation), informality allows for experimenting with new practices and developing new knowledge (informalisation and experimentation). Once these experimental practices become codified, and survive contestation, they increasingly settle (codification) and are spread through learning and translation processes (consolidation). We draw on the rise of the maritime security agenda as a paradigmatic case and examine developments in the Western Indian Ocean region to illustrate each of these stages. The article draws attention to the substantial reorganisation of maritime space occurring over the past decade and offers an innovative approach for the study of orders and change.
Seychelles Research Journal 1(2): 149–56, 2019
Maritime Security is one of the preconditions for developing the blue economy. Maritime crimes, r... more Maritime Security is one of the preconditions for developing the blue economy. Maritime crimes, ranging from piracy, smuggling to illegal fishing, or the lack of compliance with environmental laws and regulations, undermine the efforts to protect the environment, create employment and harvest ocean resources sustainably.
While the importance of maritime security is generally recognized, the majority of countries continue to struggle with developing the capacities required. This challenge is substantial for small island states in particular, which need to govern vast maritime spaces with very limited human and financial resources, but also in coastal countries with generally weak security institutions and government capacities.
Substantial efforts are underway to address capacity-building gaps. The investments in maritime security have significantly increased in the past decade; a wide range of international programs for capacity building have been set up. Yet, progress seems slow. How can the capacity gap be better addressed? This was the core question that the SafeSeas network was trying to answer. Setting out to capture the experience in
maritime security capacity building in the Western Indian Ocean, the goal of the project was to collect core lessons and to develop best practices. The result of the project: a best practice toolkit for capacity building (SafeSeas, 2018). In the following I provide an introduction to the rationale of the tool kit as well as an overview of its core insights.
Marine Policy, 2020
Transnational organised crime at sea is a growing international concern. However, and despite its... more Transnational organised crime at sea is a growing international concern. However, and despite its importance, the concept remains uncertain and contested. This ambiguity has led to a tendency to focus on individual challenges such as piracy or illegal fishing, rather than convergencies and synergies between and across issues, and has stymied a concerted international policy response. Debate continues over the term itself, what illicit activities it incorporates and excludes, and how these can be meaningfully conceptualised in ways that both recognise the diverse nature of the concept yet also provide a basis for an integrated response to the challenges it presents. In this paper, we address this lacuna by providing a systemic conceptualisation and analysis of transnational organised crime at sea. Our goal is to provide a firm basis for future enquiries on the different types of blue crime, to trace their distinct characteristics and identify how they intersect, and to consider what kinds of synergies can be built to respond to them. In so doing, we organise the nascent academic and policy discourse on blue criminology and maritime security to provide a new framework for navigating this complex issue for practitioners and analysts alike.
Third World Quarterly , 2020
Maritime security capacity-building is a growing field of international activity. It is an area t... more Maritime security capacity-building is a growing field of international activity. It is an area that requires further study, as a field in its own right, but also as an archetype to develop insights for capacity-building and security sector reform in other arenas. This article is one of the first to analyse this field of activity. Our empirical focus is on the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. Here, international actors have launched multiple capacity-building projects, initially in response to Somali piracy. We document the significance, extent and variety of capacity-building activities in this region and examine the ways in which capacity-building at sea has incorporated innovative characteristics that develop and expand the capacity-building agenda as traditionally understood. Our conclusion highlights the need to pay more attention to the maritime domain in international security and development studies and considers ways in which the maritime capacity-building experience may offer important lessons for other fields of international policy.
Journal of International Relations and Development, 2019
This is a study of pirate agency. Starting from an understanding of agency as an effect of 'agenc... more This is a study of pirate agency. Starting from an understanding of agency as an effect of 'agencements', I offer a reconstruction of six of such formations. Relying on different experiences with Somali piracy, ranging from watching movies, playing computer games, participating as an observer in various meetings, taking field notes, talking to interlocutors to reading academic literature, I show how different agencements produce different forms of agency. Throughout this reconstruction, we meet different pirates, moral bandits, enemies and villains, criminals, entrepreneurs, pirates as 'symptoms' and the pirate in denial. These are forms of agency that are the effects of the relations and practices of distinct agencements. Various 'actors', 'objects' and 'practices' produce these relations: journalists, moviemaker, game developer, diplomats, military officers and international bureaucrats, as well as various scientists across the disciplinary spectrum are all in the business of producing pirate agency. They engage in a diverse set of rhetorical and material activities, such as calculating, modelling, negotiating, writing or history telling and engage with a broad host of artefacts, and inscriptions, such as movies, games, policy documents, or legal texts. The analysis presents a primer for the study of the multiplicity of agency and its production.
European Journal of International Relations, 2018
This article presents an empirical study that aims to draw out core elements of an assemblage the... more This article presents an empirical study that aims to draw out core elements of an assemblage theory of global governance. Situating assemblage theory in the third, practice-oriented generation of global governance research, I argue that it provides us with a feature-rich toolbox sensitive to the routine matters of international cooperation, the role of artefacts, and the vitality of territories of governance. To showcase the advantages of an assemblage approach, I study a paradigmatic case: the organization of the international community's fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia. This effort has not only been very successful, with no major piracy incident reported from 2012 to 2016, but also a 'miracle' that can be explained by the close cooperation of all actors involved. I zoom in on one of the core components of this cooperation, the so-called Best Management Practices (BMP), which organize state-industry relations. I present a detailed study of the making of the BMP and the territory it established, and show how it became a core tool of governance. The case study documents the analytical power of assemblage theory for understanding global governance. Acknowledgements: Earlier versions of the article were presented at research seminars at ETH
International Affairs, 2018
This article examines the rise of maritime security in concept and practice. We argue that develo... more This article examines the rise of maritime security in concept and practice. We argue that developments in the maritime arena have flown beneath the radar of much mainstream international relations and security studies scholarship, and that a new agenda for maritime security studies is required. In this article we outline the contours of such an agenda, with the intention of providing orientation and direction for future research. Our discussion is structured into three main sections, each of which outlines a core dimension of the maritime security problem space. We begin with a discussion of the issues and themes that comprise the maritime security agenda, including how it has been theorized in security studies to date. Our argument is that the marine environment needs to be understood as part of an interlinked security complex, which also incorporates strong connections between land and sea. Second, we examine the ways in which maritime security actors have responded to these challenges in practice, focusing on issues of maritime domain awareness, coordination of action, and operations in the field. Third, we turn to the mechanisms through which the new maritime security agenda is being disseminated to local actors through a process of devolved security governance. We focus particularly on efforts to distribute knowledge and skills to local actors through capacity building and security sector reform. In the conclusion, we outline the future challenges for maritime security studies that follow from these observations.
Journal of the Indian Ocean Region, 14(2): 170-188,, 2018
A lack of capabilities is most often taken to imply a lack of influence. The foreign policy of th... more A lack of capabilities is most often taken to imply a lack of influence. The foreign policy of the Seychelles provides a surprising case of successful small state diplomacy that counters this claim. With a population of less than 100,000 and a diplomatic service of 100 staff, Seychelles is recognized as a broker in international organizations and as an agenda setter in ocean governance. This article explores this success in four steps. First, we unpack why the current diplomatic success of Seychelles is a surprise. Second, drawing on literature on small state diplomacy, we identify three sources of small state influence: capability and location, political culture and institutional design, and political strategy. Third, we analyze recent Seychellois diplomacy in light of the factors as well as the limitations of Creole small state diplomacy. We conclude by discussing what other small states may learn from the Seychelles
GeoForum, 2017
What has become known as post-factual politics poses particular challenges to the role of experti... more What has become known as post-factual politics poses particular challenges to the role of expertise, calling for a new type of reflexivity able to inform scholarly strategies towards policy. Taking recent literature on the ‘practice turn’ as our point of departure, we argue for introducing a sense of ‘practical reflexivity’ that can provide guidance for the practice of scholars. Practical reflexivity focuses on the everyday practices of scholars rather than epistemic ideals or formal methodological rules. It directs our attention to the relation between academic and other practices. At this conjunction, several practical challenges arise. We discuss three major challenges and identify them as the epistemic, the autonomy and the performativity dilemmas. To seek answers to these, we explore the repertoire provided by three reflexive strategies outlined in neo-Gramscianism, Bourdieusian praxeology and pragmatism. The outcome is a tool for rethinking the relation between everyday practices of scholars and non-scholarly practices that may be usefully adopted in the current situation
Uploads
Journal Articles by Christian Bueger
Existe una creciente ola de estudios en el campo de las relaciones internacionales que muestra interés por las «infraestructuras»: los oleoductos, los puertos, los acuerdos de transacciones financieras, así como otros grandes sistemas de carácter técnico ocupan cada vez un mayor espacio dentro de las mentes de los teóricos internacionales. Esta nota teórica proporciona a este debate una dirección que poder seguir, ya que ofrece una aclaración importante del concepto de infraestructura y de cómo se teoriza este. Los académicos tienen una comprensión muy diferente de lo que son las infraestructuras, de por qué estas resultan importantes y sobre cómo teorizarlas y estudiarlas empíricamente. Existe un desacuerdo sobre si la infraestructura es un concepto teórico o si se refiere a fenómenos empíricos. Para algunos académicos, las infraestructuras son un objeto de la política, mientras que otros las ven como el desarrollo de la fuerza política o incluso como una agencia por sí mismas. Otros, incluso, llegan a reconocer un potencial más amplio y señalan que el «infraestructuralismo» podría proporcionar una nueva e importante forma paradigmática de teorizar la política internacional. Proporcionamos, mediante el esbozo de tres estilos distintos de teorización de la infraestructura, nuevas direcciones para la investigación futura de la infraestructura y cómo puede contribuir a debates más amplios dentro de la teoría internacional.
De plus en plus d’études en relations internationales s'intéressent aux « infrastructures ». Les pipelines, ports, arrangements de transactions financières et autres grands systèmes techniques sont de plus en plus présents à l'esprit des théoriciens internationaux. Cette note théorique oriente le débat en proposant une clarification importante du concept d'infrastructure et de sa théorisation. Chaque chercheur conçoit différemment les infrastructures, leur importance, leur théorisation et leur étude empirique. Il existe même un désaccord quant à l'existence du concept théorique d'infrastructure, ou s'il s'agit plutôt d'un phénomène empirique. Pour certains chercheurs, les infrastructures sont un objet politique, alors que d'autres les conçoivent comme des forces politiques émergentes ou même, des agents à elles seules. D'autres leur reconnaissent même un potentiel plus vaste et remarquent que « l'infrastructuralisme » pourrait constituer une nouvelle forme paradigmatique majeure de théorisation en politique internationale. En présentant trois styles de théorisation distincts de l'infrastructure, nous proposons de nouvelles pistes de recherche sur l'infrastructure et comment celle-ci peut contribuer aux débats plus larges en théorie internationale.
While the importance of maritime security is generally recognized, the majority of countries continue to struggle with developing the capacities required. This challenge is substantial for small island states in particular, which need to govern vast maritime spaces with very limited human and financial resources, but also in coastal countries with generally weak security institutions and government capacities.
Substantial efforts are underway to address capacity-building gaps. The investments in maritime security have significantly increased in the past decade; a wide range of international programs for capacity building have been set up. Yet, progress seems slow. How can the capacity gap be better addressed? This was the core question that the SafeSeas network was trying to answer. Setting out to capture the experience in
maritime security capacity building in the Western Indian Ocean, the goal of the project was to collect core lessons and to develop best practices. The result of the project: a best practice toolkit for capacity building (SafeSeas, 2018). In the following I provide an introduction to the rationale of the tool kit as well as an overview of its core insights.