Interstate Hostility and Maritime Crime: Evidence from South East Asia

• In Event: Security in Multi-Ethnic Systems

Abstract

Maritime Asia remains crucial to global economic growth and prosperity. Nearly 40% of the world’s seaborne trade transits the South China Sea each year and nine of the top ten busiest container ports in the world are located in the Indo-Pacific region. But uncertainties also pervade the region as governments struggle to combat numerous security challenges, while violent non-state actors and trans-border criminal groups continue to exploit the situation. In this study, we examine the nexus between crime and security as we explore the question: Do non-state criminal actors systematically exploit interstate hostility? To understand this question, we examine trends in two types of maritime criminal activities along the South China Sea’s interstate boundaries—piracy and illegal fishing. For instance, such criminal activities are more likely to occur in border areas of rival countries, where security forces are unlikely to cross the interstate borders, making it easier for non-state actors to escape. Using the original geocoded dataset, we find significant support for our hypothesis that interstate relationships have substantive influence over maritime crime. Our study has important implications for interstate cooperation, international security, and transnational crime.

Authors

• Brandon C. Prins, University of Tennessee

• Aaron Gold, Sewanee: The University of the South

• Anup Phayal, University of North Carolina Wilmington